I recently bought and old browning mauser 3006. I do not have much info on the rifle. After looking thru Brownings website there is no listing for this gun. There is no model number on it either. I want to know a date of manufacture. I see these rifles on various auction sites , often called Browning Safari , or High power rifles. Mine has one forward crossbolt, and a right side tang style safety that has 3 positions. It also has an older Pachmyer White line pad, dark brown. It has a 5 digit serial number, and has been bedded with a hard epoxy. The floorplate seems to be an alloy and has some gold colored design engraved. The bluing is rich and the stock is very pretty. It has large adjustable sites. I have read about saltwood and I cannot see any signs of this but I am no expert. Can anyone shed a little light on this rifle any info will be helpful

what is the prefix on serial #(example L43567) I can look it up, thx, js

L7687 These are the only numbers

You should have a standard (safari grade) rifle. It' appears that production ceased in 1976 in Belquim for the brownings. The last listing was L75xxx for the 1975 run of rifles. Yours was probably one of the last made and thus carries L76xx for 1976 production. Pull the bbl/action out of the stock and look for any signs of corosion where the mtl meets the wood. That will tell you if your stock was dried in salt or not. These were great guns. Hope this helps. JS

Thanks for the info , I did not see the L listing in the browning archive, possibily overlooked it. I have removed the stock and looks good no corosion or rust. The action is fully bedded the entire length, in a dark brown hard epoxy. I have shot it at 100 yards and got very nice groups the trigger is great. Thanks again

Most of these shot under an inch at 100yds out of the box back in the day. Also made in the (medelion grade) better wood, some engraving,skip line checkering. and (olympus grade) best wood, engraving, animal inlays, really nice checkering. I'm still kicking myself for not buying that olympus grade .375 on the rack in 1975, but had to feed the kids. enjoy. JS