I've been thinking about getting one of these. Anybody have one? Does it feed well? Is it accurate? Suitable for dangerous game? No, but seriously, does anybody have any comments on these?

Thanks,

Steve

I've had mine for 13 years and I still love it. Accuracy is good and no feeding problems.

I take it your talking about the older Browning with the magazine in the buttstock. My dad shoots one and its accuracy is good enough for him to pick squirrels at pretty long range. His has the barrel mount and I would reccomend that you don't even TRY to mount a scope on the receiver grooves as the barrel latching system is just not ridged enough for it to hold zero. Make sure your rifle has two screw holes factory tapped in in the barrel just in front of the reciever. The base screws in there and extends over the receiver. A good system. My dad's works great....after all John Browning designed it! FNMauser

I've shot one for over 20 years and it was always accurate enough for squirrel hunting. I had a Burris cantilever scope base on it when it was scoped. Mine does not have grroves in the reciever. It will not be the most accurtae rifle out there, but mine shot CCI Stingers under 1" for 5 shots at 50m every group. That .22 literally has tens of thousands of rounds through it now. I tried to get a good guesstimate a few years ago but forgot hwat I came up with. I think it was between 25 & 30K rounds. I used to shoot it A LOT when I was a kid

I have one of the '50 vintage Belgian made units...off a rest, 50 yards w/ Win Power Points and iron sights...a full magazine in about 1", maybe a hair more but not much. Never had glass on it. Rumor has it that the secret to success with them is to have a very tight lockup when it is assembled. Mine is very tight. Never had a jam or misfire with it, wonderful rifle.

Had several over the years. I always considered them the best of the auto's. Finally landed on a pretty grade 3 from late 60's. All I ever had shot well, perhaps not up to target standards, but plenty good enuf for game. Besides that its the prettiest one out there.

Ditto what everyone else said. My father bought the one I now have in Belgium in '54 or '55 and I couldn't begin to count the rounds through it between my brother and myself. Also, the notches in the rear sight thumb wheel are dead-on for 25, 50 & 75 with standard velocity ammo. I really never playe with setting #4 but it probably works as well. Over the years I have taken it down for cleaning 10 or 12 times. Since the make-up is infinitely adjustable you just can't wear it out short of a case of the raging dumbass.

Mine is still going strong after 15-20 thousand rounds. Other than the occasional misfire (ammo) or failure to feed (dirty rifle) there has never been a stoppage or mechanical problem that I can remember. Good accuracy to boot.

I had one. It functioned flawlessly, and I used it for .22 cal. metallic silhouette shooting, after I scoped it. You have to mount the scope base on the BARREL because the takedown feature allows the barrel to "flop around" enough that if you use the receiver for scope mounting, the group opens up some. That's the only fault I can see with these nifty little guns!

BE sure the headspce is adjusted tight and use the barrel scope mount. A friend of mine calls the Browning "A gentleman's walking stick". (Ala Thos. Jefferson)

I have both a Belgian Browning and a Remington Model 24, which is built on the identical patent.

The barrel nut/bushing system is adjustable and should be tuned to the tightest lockup that allows the take-down feature to still work reasonably. By the way, if I recall correctly, it doesn't really adjust the headspace, since the bolt sits in contact with the barrel face when closed anyway (it would take a gross maladjustment of the barrel nut to open up the headspace).

In theory, a tightly adjusted barrel lock-up would allow a receiver-mounted scope to work okay, but it is clear that the barrel-mounted scope is more likely to stay in proper alignment with the bore. However, I consider this little .22 auto to be much better suited to iron sights, which is the way I use mine.

There are more accurate .22 autos available, but the Browning will shoot fully as well as you can see and hold with irons, and is a truly classy little rifle for offhand shooting.

I have a little FN 22 Auto (European) that has irons( Redfield) on it. It shoots very well. The other one is a Japanese production and it is scoped. I also have a Norinco copy that is very accurate but has a nebulous trigger to say the least. As I remember I paid $89 for the Norinco NIB in 1990.

I've got a 1960's Belgian Browning. It's very accurate and quite reliable. You gotta have the barrel scope mount, and you need to keep the takedown adjustment snugged up. Other than that, it's a very low maintenance, high reliability rifle.

For some insane reason, lately I've had a hankerin' for one of the Auto-22's in .22 Short. They made another run of them a couple years back. Can't think of a logical reason for wanting one but I want one just the same, reason enough I guess. If I do nab one, I'll have to locate one of the old Redfield 3/4" 4x scopes for it. Anything else would be too large for my taste.

I had one for a few years and the comments about the locking nut being tight is spot on. If just feels good to walk in the woods with this gun in your hands. Mine functioned flawlessly but accuracy was wanting. It was eventually traded away for some other shooter.