So I have a buddy who is bring over a .338 Browning Belgium Safari. Story is his basement had moisture issues and he thinks the gun is gone due to corrosion. Also said the receiver may be salvageable. If the receiver is ok, I'm thinking about cerakote and a re-barrel. Question is what calibers will this receiver work with? Older literature suggest this gun was offered up to .458 win. Not sure if Browning used one receiver for all caliber offerings back then. Anybody with a good idea for a rebarrel project?

Any belted, short magnum will work such as .300 Win. Mag., .338 Win. Mag., 358 Norma, .375 Chatfield-Taylor, .411 KDF, .416 Taylor, .425 Express, .458 Win. Mag., etc.
Good Luck!

If the corrision isn't extremely bad have you considered a rebore? I've never had a rifle rebored but there has been quite a bit of positive feedback on AR about JES reboring. You could probably due a rebore and cerakote for less than the cost of a new barrel.

http://www.35caliber.com/2.html

Anything can be done if you got the bucks, Ive welded pits up with bailing wire polished and blued a Holland and Holland 375 that spent its life in the bottom of a boat, being used to shoot Crocadiles and it was rusted big time..found a piece of wood that looked like the original and completely restored it to original over a 18 month period, recut the lettering and rust blue by Doug and when finished traded it for a double rifle with full history of the rifle and the fix, it moved around some Im told and the last time I saw that rifle was in a for sale add for a big time big bore dealer for $5500.00 calling it an original..

Bob Richards at Westley Richards called me sold that gun to me for $600 saying he thought I might be the one to bring it back to life..guess I did, but as usual someone else got the big bucks... restorations are a feel good project.

that Browning Safari is a good Mauser Action and can be restored.

Did you have to do anything to the inside of the barrel on that 375? An interesting story. Thanks for sharing that.

Turns out its a browning Belgium in push feed. Crap!

Was this a Browning Safari push feed or some other model Browning rifle? I'm just trying to gain some knowledge since I've never run across a push feed Safari.

I guess technically its a Browning High-Power Belgium. Made in Belgium is stamped on the barrel and its referred to as a "short extractor" version. An FN action that was made for Browning in the late 60's. Rifle Sporting Arms Journal had a great write up I found online regarding the change from CRF to Push feed in these actions. Fall of 2011 edition. Pretty much struck out completely on this firearm as the pitting was evident on the action once I pulled if from the stock. Must have been a salt stock.

Most Browning Safaris I have seen are on FN/Mark X/Charles Daly, Remington 798/Zastava pattern Mauser actions. I have seen push feed ones but don't know who made the action.

Thanks for the additional info. The easy way to tell a salt wood gun is to just remove the two screws that hold the butt plate in place. They'll be rusty on a salt wood gun. Of course I wouldn't buy any Browning rifle of that era without first removing the action/barrel from the stock and checking for rust.