7MM-08 Browning BLR

[Bowfin]

Have a chance to buy a used Browning BLR 7mm-08 in excellent condition. Anyone have any experience with these Browning lever actions? Will the 20 inch barrel compromise the great ballistics I see the bolt 7mm-08's have? Any info/feedback appreciated.

[paul pachowicz]

Not being a lever action fan this is a hard call. I love the caliber. I'll guess that you are not going to get the full potential accuracy this caliber can produce in a lever action.

[Heartman]

Have this rifle in 257 Roberts. Great little carbine - would believe the 7mm08 version to be just as good. Easy to shoot, very accurate, and light weight make it a keeper. Only knock I've heard is that some guys get the trigger worked on, but I never have and all is well. Killed a fair number of deer with mine.

If you can get one in the $400-$600 range, take a close look - tough to beat the quality.

You might just be pleasantly surprised at the accuracy of the 7mm-08 in the BLR.

[trolloni]

Being were just throwing opinions out about it, mine would be after owning a few browning rifles, i wouldnt worry about how accurate it is .

[TUMBLEWEED]

Have one in 308 myself, and as someone else said

it's a carbine. A fast handling, fast follow-up

shooting firearm. Mine wears five star 2-7 Redfield

wide-angle optics. Being clip fed you can shoot the

flatter shooting noslers and partition bullets.

I wouldn't hesitate to cock the hammer back on anything

out to two hundred fifty yards.(3 to 4 inch groups off hand)

If you want more rifle for those shots past that, you might

hold out for a bolt action with the longer barrel, and bigger

optics. For most shots in this state, it is more than

adequate.

[luckydave]

I had a .308 BLR and it was a great deer rifle. I wouldn't hesitate to get another one. For long range with a 7mm-08 a longer barrel would provide better ballistics. For normal MN hunting it should work great in the BLR.

[TUMBLEWEED]

A little more info on barrel length. Standard barrel length

for the most part is 22-24 inches for non magnum rifles.

The chart below represents velocity loss per inch from

the standard, on cartridge muzzle velocity.

MV 2000-2500 10 FPS

MV 2500-3000 20 FPS

MV 3000-3500 30 FPS

MV 3500-4000 40 FPS

7MM-08 is about 2600 FPS at the muzzle, so the "loss"

of velocity is around 40-50 FPS. Which no deer,elk,or

Bear will ever really care about!!!

As I understand it, the 7MM -08 was designed to be

able to use the better coefficeint 7MM bullets that

have a slight edge in the ballitics department.

[paul pachowicz]

charts will give you an estimate on velocity. The only way you will know is by using a crony. The 120, 130 & 140 loads I've cronied out my 7mm-08 are 2931, 2796 & 2802 and that's using the lower end of powder weights which produced the best patterns.