Friends-

I am way overdue in publically expressing my appreciation to Tip Burns on a project that he did for me. I had Tip and John Valicek rebarrel and restore a Browning Safari in .264 Winchester Magnum. I purshased the rifle off of an auction sight and I thought is had a lot of potential but, it was in pretty sad shape when I purchased it. In addition, it had a 22 inch barrel on it, which was standard fare for Browning Safari's in that day. What were they thinking.

Anyway, it now sports a new 26" Krieger in the Browning "Double Step" pattern. It bares the original stock which has some fantastic fiddleback wood, no thanks to my lousy photography. The bottom metal is the original aluminium but, it sports a new floorplate thanks to our own stonecreek, the .264 Win Mag guru. The trigger guard has been re-annodized.











My apologies for not being a better photographer. I'll post the before pictures in a couple of days.

Thanks,

very nice wood!

quote:

Originally posted by jimatcat:
very nice wood!

And that's an understatement!

I need to go see Tip again soon myself.

Mark, a while back I bought a Browning Safari that had the best wood I'd ever seen on a Safari. It now has the second best wood I've ever seen on a Safari... Mine's not as dark, but lots of fiddleback. It's a .458 WM and shoots way better than it has any right to. I'm a big fan of the old Brownings...

Nice gun, well worth whatever it cost to restore...

MKane160

Mark,

Thanks for posting those pics, I really enjoyed seeing them! Especially since I have one that I am thinking about doing something similar with. Mines a 7mm rem mag, with wood that is probably about as nice as yours that I am thinking about refinishing and re-boring to .338 WM.

Coupla a questions for you, if you don't mind. Who did your re-anodizing of the bottom metal? It looks very nicely done.

Also, any chance you have the front sight bead off your rifle? If so, would you consider selling it? Reason I ask is that the only non-original part on mine is the front sight bead, and I would like to find an original for it someday.

Thanks again, and congrats on the project!

Bob

P.S. Meant to also say that those Buehler's on there are a nice touch too!

All-

Thanks very much for your compliments. Yes, I am a "proud dad".

My apologies, I have looked high and low for the "before" pictures but, I cannot find them anywhere. It looked pretty rough; someone had slathered what was most likely Truoil on the stock in an attempt to re-finish it a al Bubba style. The good news was that most likely saved the wood.

Blackbart, M & R Arms Specialties recoated the triggerguard/magazine box. Ask for Mr. Ron Drake, I think he's the "R" in M&R; a really nice guy, wonderful to deal with. Here's their web-site www.mrarms.com

The floorplate was found on an firearms auction site. Stonecreek directed me to that and I bought it (thanks Steve).

The Buehlers were on it when I bought it and I certainly like the look of them on this rifle.

Tip Burns has/had the old barrel. Please feel free to check with him to see if he still has it; if he does, I am sure that he would be more than happy to work with you on the front site. He's a member of the board and you can find him on the web, as well.

Just to save some time:

Burns Gun Repair

It turned out to be a real beauty, Mark. Have you had a chance to try it at the bench?

Wow! That is a fantastic rifle. I owned one of those old Mauser action Brownings years ago in a .243win. Talk about a classy rifle!

Mark, YOU DID GOOD

Terry

30 cal mf,
that project turned out Super!!!!
thats one beauty 4 sure,that Krieger will drive tacks!
compliments to your smith wonderful work
post some pictures of groups.
regards

Friends-

Ya'll are going to make me blush.

Steve, I haven't had my priorities aligned correctly. I have test loads prepared, I just have not made it to the range. But, I am really looking forward to shooting it.

Terry, your comments are really appreciated based on all of the great photo's of all of your beautiful projects that you have shared with us. Some Mauser purists would probably not agree with me, but, I have always felt that the FN/Brownings were/are some of the best looking actions on the planet. I know, some people don't like the bolt release and others don't like the aluminum bottom metal. Bottom line, I like it.

Tip and John did fantastic jobs!!!!

jjmp, yes, the last Krieger I had was amazingly accurate. I can't wait to give this one a try.

Congratulations! Another fine example of Tip's and John's craftmanship.
I too am proud owner of their art!

Great folks!

TC1,
Are you quite sure that your .243 wasn't a Browning built on the Sako Forrester action, rather than a Mauser? That is what Browning normally used for cartridges of that length, like mine in .22-250. A friend has 2 in .243 and they are both on the Forrester action as well.

ron
the first brownings used a FN -mauser action made in belgium,then years later they used sako actions like you mention, then still later they copied weatherby present action not their vanguard,it was called the BBR. for browning bolt-action rifle, then after almost being sued they droped that after a short 1.5 -2 year run, and made the 1st a-bolt (old ) style the present new style is an improved version of the former.
regards

Friends-

I finally came across some of the "before" pictures. Here they are: