JCooperfan1911
member
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2020
- Messages
- 2,709
Around 11 months ago, I bought a brand new Browning SA22 takedown rifle and it arrived with terribly crooked sights. Very disappointed, I contacted Browning customer service and they sent me a pre-paid label. Long story short is I waited 9 months for them to fix the rifle, being overseas during much of the time but finding it still not repaired upon returning home.
I contacted Browning again and asked them to simply send a new rifle. They obliged, and 7 weeks later it arrived at my dealers without tracking so it was just sitting there at the shop for 8 days. So I am not a happy camper and wouldn’t recommend buying a new Browning based on the customer service experience, or lack thereof.
But, the new rifle is very nice. The sights are perfectly aligned. I can only suppose the Japanese at the sight install station had a little too much sake for lunch on that first rifle. Everything is very nice and I had enough daylight to run to the desert to fire it.
I fired about 300 rounds of Aguila Super Extras. I had one misfire and a second hit set it off. All other rounds fed and fired properly. The trigger is very crisp and not overly heavy. It’s a field trigger, but a very serviceable one. Only two minor issues arose. First is the rear sight leaf pin would start to walk every 50 rounds or so. I plan to gently peen one end of the pin and drive it home where it should remain snug,
The second was I cut my finger open on the sharp receiver edges of the charging handle slot. I’ve already taken stones and removed the wire edge and knocked the sharp edges there, it’s just fine now.
Other than that the initial shooting impressions are quite good. The gun kept an 11 round (the magazine capacity of the rifle) group in a 1” circle at 25 yards. Not at all bad for this style of gun, I imagine with the right load and me getting used to the gun it will improve.
The weapon is very light and balanced more towards the stock. It is quite nice to carry about the receiver and the stock housed tube magazine negates the need for a protruding magazine. Rounds are loaded via a port built into the wood.
I am very fond of tube fed .22s for field and plinking type offhand rifles. I find the extra logistics and maneuvering about of magazines to be a pain, and my thumb gets worn out and coated in graphite and lead by days end. With a tube, the magazine is built into the rifle and all you need is a pocket full of ammo for a fun afternoon.
At home, the genius of John Browning became evident in the simplicity and intuitiveness of the firearm. This is one of his designs, still in production since 1914. The machining throughout is very high quality. Even the buttplate and magazine components are all blued steel on this rifle. So far I’ve found no plastic.
I am well pleased with the rifle at this time, and will report back when I can put more rounds downrange. This will be my last new Browning firearm as I do not support companies that don’t back their customers, but so long as the rifle keeps performing I will keep it.
-J.C.F.
I contacted Browning again and asked them to simply send a new rifle. They obliged, and 7 weeks later it arrived at my dealers without tracking so it was just sitting there at the shop for 8 days. So I am not a happy camper and wouldn’t recommend buying a new Browning based on the customer service experience, or lack thereof.
But, the new rifle is very nice. The sights are perfectly aligned. I can only suppose the Japanese at the sight install station had a little too much sake for lunch on that first rifle. Everything is very nice and I had enough daylight to run to the desert to fire it.
I fired about 300 rounds of Aguila Super Extras. I had one misfire and a second hit set it off. All other rounds fed and fired properly. The trigger is very crisp and not overly heavy. It’s a field trigger, but a very serviceable one. Only two minor issues arose. First is the rear sight leaf pin would start to walk every 50 rounds or so. I plan to gently peen one end of the pin and drive it home where it should remain snug,
The second was I cut my finger open on the sharp receiver edges of the charging handle slot. I’ve already taken stones and removed the wire edge and knocked the sharp edges there, it’s just fine now.
Other than that the initial shooting impressions are quite good. The gun kept an 11 round (the magazine capacity of the rifle) group in a 1” circle at 25 yards. Not at all bad for this style of gun, I imagine with the right load and me getting used to the gun it will improve.
The weapon is very light and balanced more towards the stock. It is quite nice to carry about the receiver and the stock housed tube magazine negates the need for a protruding magazine. Rounds are loaded via a port built into the wood.
I am very fond of tube fed .22s for field and plinking type offhand rifles. I find the extra logistics and maneuvering about of magazines to be a pain, and my thumb gets worn out and coated in graphite and lead by days end. With a tube, the magazine is built into the rifle and all you need is a pocket full of ammo for a fun afternoon.
At home, the genius of John Browning became evident in the simplicity and intuitiveness of the firearm. This is one of his designs, still in production since 1914. The machining throughout is very high quality. Even the buttplate and magazine components are all blued steel on this rifle. So far I’ve found no plastic.
I am well pleased with the rifle at this time, and will report back when I can put more rounds downrange. This will be my last new Browning firearm as I do not support companies that don’t back their customers, but so long as the rifle keeps performing I will keep it.
-J.C.F.
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