Author Topic: used BLR?? (Read 921 times)

stv · « **on:** December 28, 2003, 06:49:02 AM »

I have an opportunity to purchase a used BLR. It happens to be a long action 270 Win and appears to be of recent manufacture and in good shape. If I were to purchase new at full retail, I would have a lot of difficulty choosing between 308, 7 mm 08 or 270. My questions are what are the things you should look at. I have heard about the timing of the gear actuating mechansim can be a problem. Is there anything else. Are they normally found to be reasonably accurate, any special problems with keeping the action clean, or any hidden issues that I should think about?

Iowegan · « **Reply #1 on:** December 28, 2003, 07:33:21 AM »

The BLR's are an accurate gun with nice wood and deep bluing. You hit on their problem, lock-up timing. There will come a time when you will want to take the gun apart for cleaning and that's where the fun begins. There is a gear track on the lever and an idler gear that have to be syncronized with the geared bolt. It'll drive you crazy until you figure out how to get everything back in sync. A very poor design from a user's point. The gun is very strong and cycles smoother than most lever guns.

Blackhawk44 · « **Reply #2 on:** December 29, 2003, 12:17:34 PM »

You may want to handle the piece some before commitment. The long action and the short action are quite different in balance, handling and weight. Owning three short actions, I find the long action to be very heavy, the action much more difficult to cycle from the shoulder, and rather ungainly overall. The short ones are much handier and more nimble. While not having enough personal experience, others tell me the long actions don't seem to produce the accuracy of the short ones. I don't know to what degree. I am able to easily get 3/4" to 1 1/4" three shot bench groups from the short ones.

stv · « **Reply #3 on:** December 30, 2003, 06:33:52 AM »

Blackhawk, I thought it over and have decided that a short action model would be better. A friend has a 7mm Mag and it is a real challange to walk around with it. He uses it from a stand so no problem for him. I want it for walking around for still hunting and drives. Now the challange will be choosing 7mm08 vs 308. I have to believe the 243 is too light for what I want but the 358 would be a real beater in terms of recoil. Regards.

Winter Hawk · « **Reply #4 on:** December 30, 2003, 06:52:59 AM »

I would go with the 7mm08. Low recoil but still plenty of punch to collect anything up to and including moose. Though the .308 is pretty tame on recoil also and heavier bullets are available.

The .243 was very popular in Alaska in the '70s and brought down many a moose with proper shot placement. I see many people down here in Southeast carrying it also for deer and black bear.

-Kees-

Blackhawk44 · « **Reply #5 on:** December 30, 2003, 09:25:25 AM »

If you can find a 358, get it. Hard to find and very useful. No likey 243. Have spent too much time chasing deer others hit with 243's. Bullet performance is too inconsistant. Same bullet will work fine one shot then pencil through the next, etc. Even 25 caliber bullets perform much more consistantly. 7-08 seems to be a little hard to find, almost as much as a 284 (there's your 270 in a short action). Can't go wrong with a 308. Even if I showed you the three shot groups from mine, you would still call me a liar. Even if you stay with the same weight bullet, you could go from varmints (Ballistic Tips) to deer (Speers, Sierras, Hornadys) to elk (X-bullets or Failsafes).

EDG · « **Reply #6 on:** December 31, 2003, 06:12:21 AM »

The long BLRs, especially the first models with steel receivers are boat anchors and I like heavy rifles. I do like the short BLR with the steel receiver. If you like reloading - a .358 is excellent. If you are not inclined to reload pick the .308. The 7MM-08 is OK too but the components and ammo for the .308 are everywhere.
Ed