I went to a gun show this morning and one of the guys had a L69 Belgium Browning in .458 Winchester Magnum. The gun had a few marks on the stock but otherwise was in decent condition. I know that the 1971 bolt action (short extractor) is not considered as collectible as the pre 1968 bolt actions (Long Extractor). I also know that the 1968-1975 are the short extractor.

I am trying to get this gun for $650-750, the guy was wanting $950. Do you think this is worth pursuing

After doing a quick search here on the forums I found that ya'll are saying that the Sako pushfeeds are fairly decent? But a lot of people are worried about "salt wood" ?

I did a search on Yahoo! answers about Browning Saltwood and it brought up a bunch of stuff about how worried everone is about their guns being rusted and pitted from this wood. I guess I am anxious to see what wood is on the gun or if there is rust in places that it shouldnt be

Blue book will give you the salt wood years. I don't have one handy unfortunately.

Bugle:

Yes, there are salt wood Brownings around, but many of the Safaris in the salt wood years were restocked from the factory (sometimes with pretty amazing wood) and are fine. Take the gun apart and look at the metal under the woodline. It's pretty easy to see one that has salt wood. I've got a .458 Belgian with the Sako action which is absolutely beautiful and shoots 1 inch groups all day long. Amazing. The purists will poo-poo the pushfeed action, but I don't worry about it. The Belgian Brownings, those withOUT salt wood, were/are great guns.

MKane160

Mkane- Thanks for the help.

Ended up getting the gun this morning! After inspecting the rifle well I came to the conclusion that there is no saltwood on the rifle.

Now its time to clean the rifle well while watching Peter Capstick hunt Jumbos

They're still nice rifles. Just go out and enjoy it.

You done good

NICE, Justin!! You did very well, indeed! The stock looks like a nice piece of wood from the pictures! Congratulations, my friend!! When will you take it to the range?? The hogs are going to hate you now!

LoL! I am very excited about the gun, hopefully this upcoming week I will go out and shoot it. I think I will pickup a box of the Hornady 500 FMJ's to do some plinking with, as they are over $40 cheaper then the Trophy Bondeds I have in the picture

I think this upcoming weekend I may get to try it out on a hog, or a few if they line up


The gun weighs in at 8.5lbs

Justin, just sent you a PM........

You can get Hornady win mag ammo for about 65 bucks a box.......