I had so much fun with the weatherby poll,I figured i would do another -so heres the Browning BAR Auto poll.I think the BAR Brownings are a ton of fun to shoot and are nice accurate autos for big game hunting.I never shot one that was inaccurate and never had one Jam.What do you think of the BAR AUTO?Did you ever have BAR FEVER?

Question:
I had so much fun with the weatherby poll,I figured i would do another -so heres the Browning BAR Auto poll.I think the BAR Brownings are a ton of fun to shoot and are nice accurate autos for big game hunting.I never shot one that was inaccurate and never had one Jam.What do you think of the BAR AUTO?Did you ever have BAR FEVER?

Choices:
Past BAR Owner
Present BAR Owner
Future BAR Owner
Never Wanted a BAR

 

I bought a bar mark II im 7mmremmag thinking that it would be a great gun for pushing bush for whitetails.Accuracy was quite good for a semi auto and it cycled flawlessly until I was hunting in cold wet weather one november.I fired and killed the animal but the gun jammed.I realized that although the jam was not a problemin this situation,it could have been.As well a friend had been after me to sell him this rifle so I gave him a good price and he took the rifle.The rifle worked flawlessy for him until a late season moose hunt where it jammed for him under similar circumstances to when it jammed for me.Overall,I thought that it was a good semi auto,but I prefer the reliability of a bolt action.

I had the BAR Safari in .338 winchester magnum i used it for two years in all kinds of weather and it never jammed it started out with a very accurate 24" (1 1/2"at 240 yds) then i had cut to 18, its still very accurate i sold it out of fear of jamming my nephew now owns it and its the perfect size for his atv. Recoil with this rifle is just a little above the 30/06

i've had 2 and i love the things. shoot far better than one would expect (not being a bolt rifle, one piece stock, blahblah). never used outside a rifle range but that wasn't because i wouldn't do so. just never happened. but if i had another it'd have to be all belgian. i'm sure the others are fine and i don't mind where brownings are made except if it were originally a belgian mfg, others just don't seem "right".

I had a BAR Lightweight Stalker in .308 and it was a beautiful gun. Sold it to my cousin who was bananas for that gun and I replaced it with a Remington 7600 synthetic carbine in 30-06. I never had any problems with it and neither has my cousin, although I did find it a little heavy in comparison to my new carbine.

If you want an Auto-loader for hunting big game, then the BAR is an excellent choice. The BAR is reliable, accurate and fun to shoot. At present I have a BAR in 300WSM and it is a real shooter. I have never had any trouble with any of the BAR's I have owned. I can't say that about the Remington 740 or 742s I have had the displeasure to own. Around here we call the Remington the "Jam-o-Matic". And the name seems to fit very well.

I would really like to take one of the Browning "ShortTrac" for a test drive. Much lighter than the Safari.

Owned one and will not own another one. VERY finnicky when it came to accuracy. I found myself constantly having to fidget with the front screw, but once I got it to shoot it was an MOA gun. But it always had the nasty habit of throwing the first bullet high. It was a nice rifle and I wanted it it shoot...jorge

It's not that I don't think they're a fine gun....it's not that I don't want one.....it's not that they're ugly, because they aren't.....It's not that they're expensive.....it's just that I'm so completely happy with the bolt action rifles that I can find no real need for them.

Being born and raised around lever action rifles such as the savage 99, the model 92 and model 94 winchesters and my first rifle was a Marlin 39-A and my first centerfire was a Remington 760, I just thought a bolt action rifle was slow and wierd.

Then I bought a gopher special .270 (M-70) because I wanted to shoot crows at 250 yards and the damn thing did it again and again. None of the other rifles I had would do that.

I learned a long time ago that it's best to take the first shot wisely than have the ability to have fast followup shots. That hasn't changed today.

I have a freind with a Belgian made 06. Has owned it for years. The gun shoots well enough but jams every year on his moose hunt. He brings it home and drops it off at the smiths. Has it gone through and cleaned. He doesn't shoot much throughout the year so it works fine at the range for a couple of dozen rounds. Take it up north in and out of boats and ATVs and he gets 1 or 2 shots off then its back to a club/spear. I keep telling him to sell it and get a bolt 338 but what can you do.

I have three guys in my club that have never had jam problems with there remingtons and by the way remington juct replaced there walnut 7400 with a new model 750 woodsmaster and it looks like a fine rifle and it also comes in 35 whelen.

I've got two at present, a Gr. VI in .270 and a Gr. III in '06. The '06 is the more accurate of the two, although neither is a tack driver they are both good enough for hunting. The .270 shoots most 130 gr. loads around 1.5" at 100 yards. Tthe '06 hates anything but 180 grain loads but is pretty consistant around 1.25" with this weight, it particularly likes the Hornady 180 gr. SST load. The lighter weight loads run 2-4".

I like them, they are particularly good when you find yourself with a group of hogs. I'm sure a lot of people can work their bolt as fast as the BAR cycles, but I'm not one of them. I can get 3-4 aimed shots with the BAR compared to 2 with my bolt actions.

I presently have an older Belgium BAR in 7mm Mag. I have only shot it at the range and has not skipped a beat. 2 years ago I had an incident where the sear wouldn't engage and hold the hammer back. Found a "speck" of dirt on the notch. I never realized how small the notch is on that rifle. I would hate for that to have happened on a hunt. Hasn't skipped a beat since but I learned not to oil the trigger assembly.

I won a Engraved one in an raffle once that was chambered in .243. It sits in the gun safe, but its fun to pull out every now and then and look it over.

I've owned one and loaded for two others. One had a bOSS and the other two didn't.

The BOSS equiped BAR (300 WM) was by far the most accurate of the three. One of the others was so so accurate and one was terribly inaccurate. As far as function, they are very dependable.

Reloader

I have owned 4 of them and one was an all Belgium made 30-06. All have been better then accurate and the current 7mm Rem mag with a Boss shoots better then most if not all my bolt guns using 139 grain Hornady Factory loads. It is deadly..I know a few people that own them as well and I have yet to hear about one jamming or malfunctioning. WOrst thing I can say about one I owned was it had a horrible trigger and Browning would do nothing about it.

Don't mean to disparage the BAR in particular, but an autoloading hunting rifle never turned my crank.

I currently have a BAR LW Stalker, in .308 Win.
I sold a Remington 7400, in .270 Win, to pay
for part of this BAR. This BAR is sub-MOA, with
my 130 gr. Barnes XBT loads, and is MOA, with
150 gr. Horandy SP's, in a hand load that is to
duplicate Winchester Power Point ammo. I
am currently developing 130 gr, and 150 gr.
Barnes TSX loads for it, and they also look like
when I get them completely dialed in, to be
sub-MOA. This rifle has never jammed, but
I keep it clean, and lubed, for extreme cold
weather, since this is when this rifle goes afield.
I have mine set up as a 250 yard brush country
deer rifle, and in that role, it is excellent.

I have a bunch of bolt action rifles, one bolt
action pistol, and one Remington 760 pump
action rifle, and when whitetail season comes
around, unless I am posted over a wide open
space, the BAR gets the node. I have swung
a bunch of rifles, and slug slinging shotguns,
in heavy cover, for whitetails, and this BAR
is by far my favorite, in that situation.

Squeeze

5 BARs in the safe now. Two from the factory lightweights duracoat camo .270 and .30-06, the .270 is my favorite, lite weight and accurate. Three Safari Mark IIs, .243, .270, and .30-06. Great functioning rifles with great accuracy.

quote:

Originally posted by SempreElk:
I know a few people that own them as well and I have yet to hear about one jamming or malfunctioning.

I know of three people that own them and have seen all three jam. All are .300 win mags. I think those have a little more problems feeding than the smaller calibers, don't know why. Could have been poor maintence(probably). I thought about getting one, but just couldn't justify it. If I bought it it would be "cause I wanted it".

I have never owned one. I have seen them but paid no attention to it when it was fired. I never felt that I needed one.

Blackbearhunter,

I like you hunt the Ocmullgee swamps and thick stuff for deer. I appreciate a quick handling, balanced rifle that is accurate. I have owned two BARs one a 30-06 did jam. I sold it and got a 308 carbine. It is the best autoloading rifle I have ever owned. It has NEVER jammed. And is a true MOA rifle with 165 grain Federal Premium Sierras. The only gripe I have with it is it does have a sloppy trigger with lots of slack / creep. But once you learn how to squeeze it, you will not be sorry. If you are looking for an autoloader, you can do no better in a HUNTING rifle than a BAR.

Have had three of them, still have 2. One is the Stalker model in .270, one is the new Short Trac in wood - 308 Win.

The .270 shoots Win Supreme 130 grains into around an inch @ 100.

Still working on the right round for the 308, so far the Win Supreme 168 and the Fed Premium Sierra 168's both shoot into about 1.25" @ 100.

I need to see if Malm might be able to do a trigger job on the short trac, lots of travel and heavy pull--but I guess that a factory rig, especially an automatic, that's about what you can expect.

Know several who have/had them, and have never heard of or seen one jam, I have several thousand rounds through the collective 3 I have owned, and never a jam.

Remington now offers the new 750 in 35 Whelan, it would be nice to see a BAR in this caliber. I have heard more negative comments regards the Remingtons as far as jamming, durability. What I wonder is how many rounds it would take to wear out one of the new aluminum frame BAR's. Yes I know the bolt locks into the barrel, but is cycles mighty fast in the receiver! Does anyone hear have more than 1000 rounds through any single 30-06 or .338 Win BAR?

I had the same concern, when the steel receiver
BAR's, in the model I wanted went away, and
were replaced by the LW, with the aluminum
"frame". A weathered old gunsmith, I know,
when asked this question said, "Benelli has
been doing this in their shotguns for a good
while now, and there are no problems in that
firearm". So, I purchased the LW Stalker. I do
keep the slide tracks well lubed with moly grease,
and after maybe 100 rounds through the rifle,
an inspection, under magnification, shows
absolutely no wear. But the moly grease
probably has a lot to do with that. Given
proper care, I am betting my son's new baby
boy, will be looking to hand this rifle down to
his children. That is if it is still legal to have
the darn thing by then.

Squeeze

I have had a BAR 30/06 for years and it has never jammed. It did fail to fire one time while shooting at a deer. I cleared the round and the next cartridge fired killing the buck. The primer of the first cartridge was never hit by the firing pin. The cartridge fired when it was tested again. Never did find out why the rifle screwed up. I still have it, I just don't hunt with it anymore.

I own a BAR Grade II 1969 made in belguim .308 WIN.and it looks,operates and shoots excellent.Never had any jamming problems but i keep the action gas port nice and clean.

Never wanted a BAR.

BUT, if I was going to get one it would definitely be a .338 Win Mag Grade IV or V.

Why? Around here in the Oregon "Coast Range" of mountains where the brush is very thick and the Roosevelt elk very chunky, a semi-auto .338 WM is a very useful rifle. A Grade IV or V because it never hurts to have a rifle you like the appearance of.....

User both past and present, most trouble free rifle I've ever had. My current Bar carbine, wood stock in o6 is the most accurate rifle I've ever used and that coveres 50 yrs of actual shooting and hunting in the woods.(I've shot a lot of rifles)
But presently I'm interested in the NEW Remington 750 woodmaster. I handeled one yesterday and it seems to fit better than my 3 BAR's

Loved my BAR, It was a pre 86 dealer sample Marlin-Rockwell. I had a custom stand up pod for it...

Oh, your talking about the non JMB design sporting rifle... I got one of those too.
Great hunting rifle, I only wish the mag was set up more like other semi's. Dont like the "swing down" for quick reloads

quote:

I know of three people that own them and have seen all three jam. All are .300 win mags. I think those have a little more problems feeding than the smaller calibers, don't know why. Could have been poor maintence(probably). I thought about getting one, but just couldn't justify it. If I bought it it would be "cause I wanted it

I just picked up a 7mmRem mag model in great shape but the owner has never cleaned the gas system in 11 years and it showed . BTW it has a 3 3/4 lb trigger pull per my RCBS gauge.

I bought the first BAR in 30.06 Belgium that came into Ottawa, Canada in the 60s, took out and fired 5 shots at 100 yards gun shot okay, but don't bet against a guy with a bolt gun.First day of hunting season, went to shoot and gun would not fire, firing pin broken, returned to gun shop had to pay $20 more for a 7mm mag,thats all he had, tryed it was okay hunted that fall shot a deer as well my brother shot one with it. sold gun next spring to a friend, he had firing pin break took it back a got it back repaired waited 7 months. I won't sell another gun to a friend again, never looked at another Browning since, Just Rem 700 for me.