Browning Buckmark Carbine

rballi

I was thinking about getting a Browning Buckmark carbine. I took a look at two different models, the bull barrel with no sights, and the tapered barrel with sights and slotted rail. I kinda like the look and feel of the bull, but it forces you to have optics. The taper barrel has nice bright sights and the sight rail as well. How is the accuracy, functionality, and reliability of this gun?

Please post your experiences good & bad for the Buckmark Carbine.

Roy

thunderbolt

I haven't shot one, but it looks like another sales gimmick to me.
Pistol/carbine combinations usually are not all that accurate or pleasant to shoot. My advice would be to get a good .22 rifle instead.

rballi

Thanks for the comments Thunderbolt, but I already have a few 'good' 22 rifles. I have a plain jane 10/22, 10/22 with carbon fiber barrel & synthetic stock, a Win 320, CZ 452, Mauser 340?, Win 9422, Savage 24 O/U 22/410, maybe more. I was looking at the Buckmark Carbine to be different and was looking for opinions of people who have one or have shot one.

Thanks anyway,

Roy



Edited by - rballi on 04/26/2002 16:21:31

rballi

A couple of other questions. Other than stability, does the bull barrel shoot better than the sporter taper barrel? Will this gun cycle standard velocity ammo reliably? Will it handle hyper velocity?

TIA

flinch

All I can tell you is my Buckmark Camper with bull barrel is a dead-on little .22. accurate and totally reliable too. A pain in the butt to field strip-need a screw driver and an allen wrench and can easily loose two black washers and a small square buffer if you are not verrry careful.

thunderbolt

Sorry, I did not mean to insult your taste in firearms. I like the Buckmark pistols. The Buckmark carbine, on the other hand, is just
bad design. The awkward attachment of the stock to the pistol grip prevents comfortable aiming with either iron sights or a scope. The buttstock is one of the ugliest thumbhole stocks going and looks fragile as compared to traditional designs. Over the years, manufacturers have come up with some real turkeys just to have something new in the lineup to draw attention. I may be wrong, but this just doesn't look like a winner to me. Time will tell. But by all means, if you want one, buy it. It may be a rare collector's item someday.

rballi

I got it! I wouldn't dish out the money to get one, so I ended up doing a trade deal. I had what the store owner wanted and I walked out with a Buckmark Carbine Bull Barrel, rings, scope, and an extra mag. It was a windy day but after three dial in adjustments, 1" groups were easy in the wind out to 50yds. The gun was easy to hold, point, and shoot. It was more comfortable than I thought. Decent trigger, but the last shot feels kinda funny when the bolt locks open; I'll get used to it.

leeblackman

On the bull barrel, you don't have to get optics, you could have match sights installed on it. Would probably be about the same price as expensive optics considering you'd have to send it off to a gunsmith.

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