Stupid Buckmark

[Combat-wombat]

The other day I was over at Judge Bill Clark's ranch (Judge Clark was Reagan's Secretary of the Interior in the first term, National Security Advisor for the second. He's been through some pretty cool stuff, like Russian terrorists bugged his house once, and Saddam Hussein gave him a Beretta M92! Seriously, he still has it.) He's my friend's grandpa, so we sometimes visit the ranch when my friend's in the PRK. Anyway, we were shooting some cans with my Browning Buckmark, and at first it worked okay, but then it got to BANG!, click, wait 30 seconds, remove magazine, eject round, feed new round into chamber, BANG!, click, wait 30 seconds, remove magazine, eject round, feed new round into chamber, BANG!, click, wait 30 seconds, remove magazine, eject round, feed new round into chamber, and so on. We were using Federal American Eagle ammo, which always works for me. I looked at the cartridge, and the firing pin struck too high! I don't know why it fired the first time and not the second, but hey, it did that every single time. I have no idea why the firing pin is striking too high, especially because it doesn't do it the first round, but it does on the second one. Can anyone determine what is causing this?

Moderators-feel free to move this if necessary

 

[Hal]

My guess would be that either the screw(s) are loose or the washer is missing.

 

[Combat-wombat]

A while ago it was acting weirdly like jamming and it fired a 2-round burst. A guy at the gun shop looked it over, determined that it was loose screws, and tightened them. The above incident was the first time we fired it since the screwa were tightened.

 

[hksw]

My Buckmark Standard had done the same thing its second time out. Caused by loose screws. I did two things that has helped in preventing this from happening since. 1 : Loctite, 2 : Using some needlenose pliers, I bent every other tooth of the washers inward slightly so that they will apply more force between the screws and holes. The spurs of the washers seemed too flat ( in their conical shape) to do any good when I examined them after disassembly. Spurs of washers that I've examined from hardware stores and maintenance shops have always seemed to have a twist or bend to them to help them bite into the mating surfaces and also apply pressure when torqued down.

This seems to be a common, but minor (IMO), problem of Buckmarks. My other Buckmarks, an Unlimited and a Bullseye, have not had this problem (yet?).

 

[Omaha-BeenGlockin]

Thought it was James Watt????? IIRC

Buckmarks are a very poor design---I've had 2---first one was a POS--dumped it---years later bought another--thinking the first bad one was just a fluke(ie..lemon)---nope--- same POS as the first one---worse actually. Browning would have to come out with a completely redesigned .22 before I'd ever consider buying another .22 pistol from them. And I STRONGLY discourage anyone from buying a Buckmark.

Dump that thing and get a Ruger MKII---then you won't have all those problems.

 

[Ledbetter]

The Buck Mark is more reliable than the Ruger

I own both, among other .22s. The main reason is that the design of the Buck Mark magazines is much better, presenting the cartridge at a better and more consistent angle to the feed ramp. Look at a five-year old Ruger magazine and a five year old buck mark magazine and you can see a major quality difference in finish as well.

Find someone who knows how to lube it and put it together, and try CCI Blazers or some quality ammo. You may need a new set of washers.

 

[flinch]

My Camper has been a straight shootin, eat anything, accurate kind of gun. I like the design, except the allen screws do come loose. I use clear fingernail polish to keep them tight. You would think Browning would have addressed this a long time ago.

 

[Poodleshooter]

Keep the screws tight. Better yet, use temporary Loctite on them and don't clean the pistol everytime you shoot it. Your first signs that the sight base is loosening will be a shift in impact and high firing pin strikes.
The design is kind of irritating, but I prefer the trigger and gripframe feel to the MkII.
I also shoot both the MkII and the Buckmark.

 

[Jeff]

The Buckmark is more reliable than the Mark II? Wow, I've never heard that one before.

Although I have never fired a Buckmark, I have read one article after another state how unreliable and prone to failure they are. And this is coming from gun writers who usually sugarcoat every single piece they review. I really haven't read too many good things about the Buckmarks.

The Mark IIs on the other hand are superb. Mine has cycled perfectly 100% of the time with the exception of CCI Stingers, which have a slightly longer case if I'm not mistaken. Not to mention it's pretty accurate. I'm not sure I've ever heard of anything bad about the Mark IIs.

 

[Byron]

I have two Buckmark pistols and the Buckmark Sporter Rifle. I used locktite and that solved the loose screw problems. I had misfires using the Federal Bulk Ammo. I shoot only CCI Minimag and have no problems. My Buckmarks are reliable and accurate.
I have owned Ruger Mark I and II and will take the Buckmarks over them.

 

[HSMITH]

I have had my Buckmark 10+ years, I finally loctited the screws too. Use BLUE loctite. There is no 22 even close in reliability and accuracy under a thousand dollars.......

 

[Ledbetter]

I have let my Buck Mark Gold go between 500 and 1000 rounds without cleaning or any degradation in accuracy or reliability. There is certainly no reason to take the gun apart every time you shoot it.

I'm not saying the Mark II is a bad gun. But, somewhat unsurprisingly to me at least, the Browning product is of better quality than the Ruger.

Live and learn. Got any sources for bad Buck Mark reviews? Just curious.

 

[Shmackey]

My Ruger slabside competition model was a terrific pistol. Very accurate, 100% dependable, and even decent triggerwise. However, shooting bullseye with it was like holding out an unabridged dictionary for half an hour.

I sold it and got a Trailside. Feels like it weighs less than half that. At any rate, between a Buckmark and a Ruger, I might try a Buckmark (the nickel one with the cool laminated grips) just for fun. I see no reason why the time-tested design is inherently flawed.

 

[Gerald McDonald]

I own a Ruger MK1 and a Buckmark. For me the reliability is pretty much neck and neck. Buckmarks needs to be kept clean to shoot but feeds more variety than the Ruger. Ergonomics go to the Buckmark for me. Good trigger and the safety and grip angle are pretty close to the 1911. It might be a better match to compare the Ruger 22/45 to the Buckmark. If I had to give up one it would be the Ruger.
Gerald

 

[Jeff]

Maybe I'm thinking of a different gun. The one that I've read about was made by Browning.

Granted, and I should have mentioned this earlier, all the reviews and tests I read were probably more than ten, twelve years ago.

Have they gotten better, assuming this is the same gun?

Ledbetter,

I don't have any specific articles, especially since they are very old, but practically every review I read stated a problem with feeding/ejecting.

I just don't hear about malfunctions with the Rugers.

 

[huaco]

My Buckmark has at least 30 and probably 40 bricks through it. It has been quite reliable since I started shooting only Winchester Super X High Velocity ammo which wasn't long after I bought it and found it to just works much better that way. I usually replace the screws and washers when I replace the buffer which I've done three times. If it starts clicking instead of banging I know it's time to clean it. I think once it gets too dirty around the firing pin it starts to strike lite. My only complaint about this gun it that it requires tools and some time to take apart and clean but I think it was a well spent $210.

 

[HSMITH]

Man, I clean my Buckmark every 4 or 5 BRICKS whether it needs it or not, and that is only a wipe down cleaning without taking anything apart. I shoot it full of WD or something like that and then hose it out with contact cleaner. Wipe it off, oil it up and it is good for another 4 or 5 bricks at least. I have gone well over 25 bricks without taking it apart to clean and I have NEVER had the misfiring trouble you guys talk about. Mine conservatively has 100K rounds through it, and that is quite conservative for a number.

Maybe you guys need to make friends with a spray can of luberstuff and some contact cleaner?

 

[9x19]

Always amusing to see the range of experiences with a particular brand/model of pistol.

I have owned numerous .22 pistols over the past several decades, Ruger 22/45s, Mk Is and IIs, S&W 2206 and 22S and 22A, Browning Challengers and Buck Marks, Bersas, Tauri, Colt's Cadet (oops, can't call it that), even a Colt Ace, so my opinion comes from a fair amount of experience.

I currrently have four Browning BuckMarks:

A 4" Micro with adjustable sights.

A 5.5" Standard with adjustable sights.

A 5.5" Target with Tasco Accu-Dot

A 10" Silhouette with Simmons 2x scope.

They are each accurate, easy to shoot well, possess nice triggers (adjusatble on the Target and Silhouette models) and feel so much nicer to my hand than any of the others I have owned. They are better than most I have owned, and just as good as others, which is why I still have them.

Are the others good guns? Some are, yes.

Do I prefer the BuckMarks to all the others? You bet!

 

[Kingcreek]

I have 2 buckmarks, a 5.5" target with Pro-point (fun!) and a 10" silhouette with 4x Leup (gopher gun).
never had a hitch with either, many rounds thru the 5.5 great triggers, accurate, etc
Only .22 I like as well would be my Colt woodsmans

 

[Jeff]

I guess I can chalk this up to "Don't believe everything you read."

Either that, or these guns have drastically improved over the years.

There are two specific things I remember about this gun. One, I always liked the looks of them. Two, I always associated them with poor performance based on what I read.

Like Ledbetter said, "Live and learn."

 

[mcole]

i solved my rear screw "shooting" loose this way. when i jput in the rear screw, very lightly drag a clear nail polish brush down the screw on one side. put the screw in and tighten. hasln't come loose since and still quite easy to take out. mcole

 

[SteelyDan]

FWIW, I've got a standard Buckmark and I'm happy with it. The ergonomics can't be beat. However, it is more picky about ammo than any other semi-auto I've shot. About every 200 or 300 rounds I have come to expect a snag of some kind, but they've always been very easily remedied. I should pay more attention to what ammo it likes, but it's just not that big of a deal in a .22. I almost bought the Ruger, but it just didn't feel as good.

 

[Thrash1982]

Yep, the buks can be a huge pain, I've had similar problems with them. Although instead of going 'click' on the second round the trigger wont pull at all. But once you tighten those screws on top it works fine for another 100 - 200 rounds or so. Darn annoying when you can never find the right size allen wrench. Browning definately should have fixed this long ago.

 

[Ledbetter]

"It must be this stupid gun."

The last time I went pistol shooting, I took a young woman from my office with no previous experience shooting automatic pistols, although she owns a SWEET little old S&W .38 snubby (which she shot 45 rounds out of, saving 5 for me).

Gave her the Buck Mark and three mags and unrestricted access to a brick of .22 and never heard a peep out of her all afternoon. Just smilin', and smilin'.

Stupid gun!

 

[SigArms226]

In comparing the Buckmark Plus to the MK II, which one has grips better suited to large hands? Am thinking of the 'height' of the grip in particular -

My fingers hung off the bottom of the 22/45 Ruger I held tonight, don't want to have that in a MK II. Seemed to fit the Buckmark fine, but think I would rather have the Ruger KMK 512.