A new hunting rifle.

Muir

Well-Known Member
I had a visit from a friend today who had just bought a used Browning Automatic Rifle in 30-06. I told hom that I'd always admired the BAR as a trim, light weight hunting rifle but had never owned one. I commented that he had made a good purchase. We then got into technical talk.

After explaining that the B.A.R. isn't tolerant of heavy (pushing maximum) loadings, and that he probably would need a small base die set for reloading, he left to go about the chores that brought him to town in the first place.

About 30 minutes later he walked in the back door of my house and handed me the B.A.R. saying, "Here. Trade me out of it someday." When I asked hm if he still pined over my Ruger Model 96 Lever action 22WMR with the custom barrel he said he did, so I swapped him for the B.A.R. on the spot. I mounted a Burris 4X on the existing Leupold rings and bases after he left.

I have never loaded for a BAR nor have I hunted with a semi auto rifle bigger than 30 MI Carbine. This should be an interesting experience. I'll post my results when I decide what components to utilize and get to the range. ~Muir
 
i would have thought you will get quite good results with the old BAR !

i had a client many years ago who was posted in germany for 6 or 7 years , i forget now but anyway he used a BAR in .270 win on everything from roe to wild boar !

right must dash its 5.30 am ans im off to have a chat with some red deer ! :D

cheers lee
 
Muir, As always I am green with envy at the way your constitution is constructed 8) , OH! just leave it in the porch! :lol: :lol: , I can just hear the girly squeeling from our licencing bods on reading about the adult way your changeover of firearm went with your buddy. :eek:
 
fb270, in NZ (although not as relaxed as USA, hand guns etc...) it is the same, you register the individual, rather than the individual and the individual weapons. They do the checks and you do the test. You are then either a firearms licence holder or not! None of this; you need mentoring, you can't use this cal, you can't make a decision on if the land is safe to hunt, you can't use a mates rifle, etc... etc...
 
The same in Belgium . We have restrictions on handguns and rimfire rifles . To shoot/stalk you need a shooting license . For this you have to pass a theoretical and practical exam . Once you have your shooting license , you can buy as many rifles and guns as you like .
If you go to a shop with enough cash , you go to come back with 10 or 20 rifles . This from 222 to 700 NE without having to explain where you want to use them for . There is a minimum calibre and energy for roe deer and a minimum for the bigger animals . But you can use your 270 or 300 WM on anything , no questions .
Since a few years we don't have that silly ban on military calibres anymore . The ban still exists in France .

About the BAR . A great rifle . For me the best . Easy to use , low recoil , accurate , .......
A good 30-06 BAR is the only rifle you ever need for game up to heavy reds and boar , both for driven shooting and for high seat /stalking work .
 
My uncle had a BAR 270 he brought for helicopter work, it wouldn't shoot to save itself, it must have just been a lemon rather than a dud range of rifles.
 
I liked that WMR, if I was shooting right handed :eek:

You know my views on that deal :D :D

John
 
Is the BAR and other semi auto's illegal in the UK ? I never hear anything about them .

I don't own one , but zeroed a few for friends . Really great rifles .

Look at the FNAR rifle , an evolution from the BAR for sniping purposes .
 
Hales , the way things are going the only guns we will be allowed will be the sort that have a flag pop out with the word "BANG" printed on it! :lol:
 
finnbear270 said:
Muir, As always I am green with envy at the way your constitution is constructed 8) , OH! just leave it in the porch! :lol: :lol: , I can just hear the girly squeeling from our licencing bods on reading about the adult way your changeover of firearm went with your buddy. :eek:

We are allowed four private transactions a year before we need to go to a dealer to have a transfer but some folks ignore that rule as there is no real way to keep track of it. If one is smart, though, the transactions happen between friends. No-one I know buys or sells guns to or from strangers. Too risky.

Thanks for the encouragement on the BAR. This is it.
BrowningBAR.jpg


It is missing the front sight hood and the front sight blade has been replaced with a higher one so the fellow could use the rear sight, jacked up all the way, with the Leupold base in place. The stock was also shortened for the fellow's (ex) wife and then a spacer added; I will eventually do something about that as well.

I have heard both good and bad about accuracy: mostly good. The trick seems to be keeping the for end screw tightened to the proper torque. I guess I'll see how this shoots next week. I did some experiments with the various 30-06 die sets I have and it seems that my Bonanza set sizes the head down far enough to offer clean functioning in the BAR. That's good news. I wasn't looking forward to buying Small Based dies!

JAYB liked that .22WMR rifle I traded and he reminded me of a quirk it had. You may not know it but Ol' JAYB is ambidexterous, the bas^$rd. HE shoots equally well right or left. (watched him dust a prairiedog at 200M lefty one hot afternoon...) Well, that Ruger refused to fire when he shot it left handed! When he switched to right hand it fired 100% but never would ignite a round lefty. That'll teach him to show off! ;) ~Muir
 
Wow. I'm guessing it won't be too popular with the assault rifle crowd. I wonder how it shoots??

The trials for my BAR are delayed. Fell down and broke my right hand so I'll be in a cast for a few weeks. :mad: ~Muir
 
I shot that BAR today with some hastily loaded 150 grain FP Sierras. About what I would expect: 1.5" at 100M was the norm for three shots. I used IMR 4064 (47 grains) and got poor case obturation so I know I can step on the accelerator a bit. At least three different sources list a 150 grain bullet and 52 grains of 4064 as the "Pet Load" for the BAR. My reloading books are a bit more conservative so I'm taking it slow. I have some 180 grain SP I will try next. One annoying thing is that I will end up needing a Small Base die for the 30-06. I got several misfires where the firing pin never touched the primer. A sure sign of incomplete locking lug seat. Darnit. I was hoping to avoid that.

On the plus side, the BAR recoil was nothing. It is a very sweet shooting rifle.~Muir
 
The rules here are quite relaxed compared to the U.K.
When I came here I did the firearms saftey "test"if you can call it that, and had a visit from a bloke who wasn`t a copper, just a local to make sure I wasn`t a nutter, he chatted to Kim longer than to me, and that was it.
Strange thing is, I have to have a seperate secure box for bolts and ammo,as a couple of you know, my safe is 270kgs with lockable top box, but thats not good enough :rolleyes:
When we moved house a copper came and had a look at the safe,took about 5 mins then spent ages here, talking about Africa, as his missus is from R.S.A and drinking coffee and playing the sirens on the car for Samuel.
Very very different from U.K plods.
A mate has just left me 3 rifles to look after as he`s going away for 6mnths, so I just put them in my cabinet.
And now I got my NZ fac I can go into a shop and buy any rifle/ammo I want,except pistols and fully auto`s I think you can have those if your a club member,I may take up the pistol shooting again for something to do,and because I can:)
Finn, some shooters in Herefordshire should only be allowed a rifle with flag comes out with "BANG" on it:lol::lol::lol:
 
The rules here are quite relaxed compared to the U.K.
When I came here I did the firearms saftey "test"if you can call it that, and had a visit from a bloke who wasn`t a copper, just a local to make sure I wasn`t a nutter, he chatted to Kim longer than to me, and that was it.
Strange thing is, I have to have a seperate secure box for bolts and ammo,as a couple of you know, my safe is 270kgs with lockable top box, but thats not good enough :rolleyes:
When we moved house a copper came and had a look at the safe,took about 5 mins then spent ages here, talking about Africa, as his missus is from R.S.A and drinking coffee and playing the sirens on the car for Samuel.
Very very different from U.K plods.
A mate has just left me 3 rifles to look after as he`s going away for 6mnths, so I just put them in my cabinet.
And now I got my NZ fac I can go into a shop and buy any rifle/ammo I want,except pistols and fully auto`s I think you can have those if your a club member,I may take up the pistol shooting again for something to do,and because I can:)
Finn, some shooters in Herefordshire should only be allowed a rifle with flag comes out with "BANG" on it:lol::lol::lol:

and the hunting is free.... arrgh what am i doing over here
 
phew! and there was me wondering how big a deer you were after! I thought you meant this BAR :oops::oops:
 

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In the good old days I had a 270 BAR which was my FC issue rifle, I used 130 grain normas, I had a 6x42 pecar on it, for the first while I shot far too quickly and wasted a lot of ammo, however once I got over the excitement of the semi auto 270 , I worked well with it and killed a lot of deer with it untill our law changed :( , it was a lot of rifle for a young 19yr old fc ranger, my boss knew what he was doing though , I couldn't sleep at night with the excitement of going out and raging war on old cervus with my "auto". Those were the days!!!!!

Now I like using a ruger no.1, how the mighty fall
 
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