I have a close friend that acquired a browning safari action. It has aluminum bottom metal and a Winchester type trigger group. The front receiver ring is very small ring and is short. The bolt release is odd in that it almost looks like an enfield,. It only has 4 total threads inside the receiver ring and there appears to be about one sixteenth of an inch of metal left for support. How safe can that action be with such little metal left in the front receiver ring. I think these actions were chambered for 243, 3006, and 270. does anyone have knowledge about this action?

BTT surely someone has seen or dealt with one before.

Have you checked all over the action for markings, I have seen a sako with a safty like that (sort of) but it was not a browning safari.
The only browning safari rifles I am aware of are sako or FN, but there might have been some others...tj3006

quote:

The only browning safari rifles I am aware of are sako or FN, but there might have been some others...tj3006

I agree TJ, that's the only way I have seen Browning "Safaris"too. - And to make it even more confusing, apparently not only were some Brownings built on both FN and/or Sako actions but, in some of the Sakos sold in the U.S. around 1960-'62, the actions were actually built in Liege by FN not in Finland by Sako.

Those Sakos were still being advertised in the American Rifleman as late as 1962 as "Sako (FN action) rifles"

I don't remember where this was posted, but it is correct:

"They started making them in 1959,and production ended in 1975. From 1959 until 1961,all guns were made on FN standard length Model 98 Commerical actions-this included short action calibers like the 243 and 308. From 1962 until some time in 1964,short action calibers were made on Model 98 "Small Ring" actions. Begining in 1964,the Small Ring Mauser was dropped,and replaced with Sako actions. They used the tiny L461 action for the 222 and 222 Magnum,and the medium L579 action for the 22/250,243,308,284 and 257 Roberts. From 1964 until late 1967,Sako supplied only the actions,which FN then barreled and stocked. If you have a Sako actioned Browning from this ara,it will be marked "Made in Belgium". From late 1967 until production ended in 1975,Sako supplied barreled actions. If you have a gun from this ara,it will be marked "Made in Finnland". In late 1967,they changed the Mauser action also. They went from the controled round feed (CRF) 98 to a push feed model of the 98 (the CRFs are commonly called "long extractors",push feeds "short extractor"). It should be noted that both the 270 and 30'06 retained the long extractor action,while all others changed to the short extractor. The fact that the 270 and 30'06 were their biggest sellers might be why they did that.
A word on grades. There were three grades-the Safari,the Medallion,and the Olympian. The Safari had scroll engraving on the floorplate,and nice cut checkering at about 22 LPI. The Medallion had scroll engraving on the action,a ram's head engraved on the floorplate,and skip-line checkering. The Olympian had game scenes engraved on the front action rings and floorplate-the whole action is also greyed. The game scenes depicted what game the caliber of the rifle was suitable for-my Olympian 243 has a mule deer and an antelope on the action ring,while the floorplate has a mountain lion and the trigger guard a mountain goat. My Olympian 270 has an elk and antelope on the reciver ring,and an 8 point whitetail on the floorplate (I can't remember what's on the trigger guard). A friend of mine has an Olympian 458 with a large bull elephant on the floorplate. VERY neat!! The Medallions and Olympians also had gold triggers. A word on barrel contours-calibers on the Sako actions came with either a 22 inch "pencil" barrel or a 24 inch medium heavy barrel. Mauser action calibers came standard with a 24 inch medium heavy barrel,exsept for the 270,30'06 and 264,which had 22 inch barrels of fairly light contour. It should be noted that 264s from 1959 had 24 inch barrels. All barrels had a two-step contour. A hooded front sight and adjustable rear came standard on 270,30'06,264,375 and 458. Any other
caliber had to be ordered with them,which was quite common as it cost very little extra to do so. Calibers standardly made were 222,222 Magnum,22/250,243,264 Winchester Magnum,270 Winchester,7mm Remington Magnum,308 Winchester,30'06,300
Winchester Magnum,338 Winchester Magnum,375 H&H and 458 Winchester Magnum. Rare calibers include 257 Roberts,284 Winchester,300 H&H,308 Norma and many others of which only a few were made,such as the 220 Swift (only 2 made) and 250/3000. There were also a ton made for the European market in such calibers as 7x57,6.5x55,6.5x54,9.3x64 and 404 Jefferys,amoung others. These are extremely rare in the USA,and one in mint condition in a Safari Grade would
be worth over $3,000. In a Medallion or Olympian grade they'd be "name your own price"....."

MKane160