I have its predecessor, the Browning Challenger III. A great pistol. It appears to me that the Buck Mark is the best of the .22 LR plinkers.

It’s a good choice. Is scratched my itch for one last year. Put a Tac-Sol threaded barrel and top rail on which I mounted a Fastfire 3 red dot. Also disabled the magazine safety which helps the trigger a little. My girls usually hog it at the range.

quote:

Originally posted by Dtech:
Congrats grumpy1! Don't forget to file for your rebate by 10/15/2019 through the Browning website.

The Browning Buck Marks are just plain fun, exceptionally accurate, and incredibly reliable in my experience. Not saying that the rebate inspired me to get another one, BUUUUUT, the rebate inspired me to get another one.

I don't have a picture of mine yet as I just picked it up recently but here is Browning's picture of the limited production model I bought. Say hello to my Star Wars "blaster".

Mine started out as a Camper model, but changed the barrel to a TacSol, black, fluted, with a comp, and added a dot sight. With Mini-mags it will hold 1/2" groups at 50 yards. People complain that the Rugers are a P.I.T.A. to take apart, but, I think a Ruger is actually easier than a Browning, and when you take a Ruger apart, you don't have to verify that it's still zeroed.

quote:

Originally posted by Plasteek:
I have its predecessor, the Browning Challenger III. A great pistol. It appears to me that the Buck Mark is the best of the .22 LR plinkers.

Yes it is. A great pistol right out of the box. I have a number of 22 pistols and at this price point a Buckmark just can't be beat.

For such a simplistic design, the cost seems prohibitive. But, once you try one, you don't care. It's better than the sum of its parts.

Own Rugers and old Colts, and they are phenomenal (still need a S&W 41), but my Buckmark has seen more rounds than all of them combined. The balance and trigger are inspired.

Finally got to the range with my new Buckmark pistol. Gosh I really like it and it is a ton of fun to shoot. Wife handled it ans wants to try it too. I am going to get the fiber optic sight for it though. Hard to see how the sights are lined up on a mostly black target LOL.

Today shot 80 CCI Mini Mag 49gr, 50 CCI SV, 30 Federal 525 bulk pack 36gr, and 26 Remington Golden bulk pack 36gr. Only had one problem with a CCI SV get jammed with the nose up in at the end of the barrel.

Two targets at 7 yards and the last one at 15 yards. I think I will do better with a FO front sight or targets more suited to the factory black sights.

Glad to hear you enjoyed it! I bet your wife will too! The fiber optic front sight makes a world of difference, especially on dark targets. For self defense, competition, or even just recreation, I could never go back to just a plain black sight with black outline rear. And if not a fiber optic based sight, I at least prefer to have something like the Ameriglo front sights that have luminescent light activated paint surrounding the night sight vial. But I digress.


I really like the combination of a fiber optic front and black rear on the Buck Marks as it works really well for me and all those that have shot my Buck Marks. I know some people like to say fiber optic sights can break more easily than some of the others but even if that were to happen and you lose the fiber completely out of the sight base, you would still have the black portion of the sight as a backup, just without the bright color, as the sight picture and alignment would stay essentially the same thanks to the outline of the fiber holding front sight.

Oh, and give some Federal Automatch a try. Works great and very accurate in mine.

Great pistol. I fired 5,000+ rounds before I discovered that you had to clean the gun once in a while.

It was my first. 5.5" barrel. The Buckmark Standard. Just like yours but steel, slabside, and pre-light-gathering-fiber-optic front sight.

quote:

Originally posted by Dtech:
Glad to hear you enjoyed it! I bet your wife will too! The fiber optic front sight makes a world of difference, especially on dark targets. For self defense, competition, or even just recreation, I could never go back to just a plain black sight with black outline rear. And if not a fiber optic based sight, I at least prefer to have something like the Ameriglo front sights that have luminescent light activated paint surrounding the night sight vial. But I digress.


I really like the combination of a fiber optic front and black rear on the Buck Marks as it works really well for me and all those that have shot my Buck Marks. I know some people like to say fiber optic sights can break more easily than some of the others but even if that were to happen and you lose the fiber completely out of the sight base, you would still have the black portion of the sight as a backup, just without the bright color, as the sight picture and alignment would stay essentially the same thanks to the outline of the fiber holding front sight.

Oh, and give some Federal Automatch a try. Works great and very accurate in mine.

Thanks for the tip on Automatch ammo and your experiences with FO front sight. I just ordered one off Ebay for $28.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Brown...7:g:kX0AAOSwuNFbfEro

quote:

Originally posted by Woodman:
Great pistol. I fired 5,000+ rounds before I discovered that you had to clean the gun once in a while.

It was my first. 5.5" barrel. The Buckmark Standard. Just like yours but steel, slabside, and pre-light-gathering-fiber-optic front sight.

LOL on the cleaning. Mine was barely dirty after almost 200 rounds. I just used a patch moist with Breakfree CLP and some Qtips to clean the end of barrel/feedramp, and breech face area. I don't plan on taking the top rail off for quite a while yet for a through clean and they don't even mention that in the manual that came with mine. Barrel will be cleaned occasionally from the muzzle as described in the manual.

I shot it until it stopped working. My first firearm, and seriously, no one ever told me you have to clean them. Maybe the extractor claw became so fouled up it was not grabbing? It's been 16 years ...

But in the crystal clear California hill country up above Briceburg, shooting 16" pinecones against yonder gravel road from 400' it was definitely deadly. A 55 gallon drum at the Bass Lake sand pit didn't stand a chance at 100 yards, from the hip. Bang --> Clang.

It cost $279 new from Sportsman's Den in Oakhurst CA 03/2003.

My first pistol ever was a Ruger Standard I bought new in the mid 70s that I still have. I did all the cleaning without breaking it down for years. Then I decided to break it down and holy cow did I have a heck of a time getting it back together and no internet to help. Somehow I managed to get it back together and working and never did that again for several years LOL.

My Ruger standard is a terrific pistol but I like my new Buckmark better mostly because it fits my hand much better and I prefer the grip angle on the Buckmark. Also there are very few options for the original Ruger Standard particularly in grips plus the bolt did not stay open after last shot and magazine was a PIA to remove but it is a terrific shooter too.

Sounds like you have had a great time shooting your Buckmark outdoors over the years. I really miss those days as around here I only have a chance to shoot it at indoor range. When growing up and in my teens I stayed at my Aunt and Uncles house in the boonies and did a whole lot of shooting outdoors including in their back yard. Fence posts are wonderful target holders. Sadly I have not shot my wonderful Remington 541-T rifle in years.

quote:

Originally posted by grumpy1:
... Then I decided to break it down and holy cow did I have a heck of a time getting it back together ...

Yup. The first time I took apart the Buckmark I launched the striker spring into the nether regions of our double-wide. Never to be seen again. Here's the 10-mile range.

LOL.

Great info Gents - I thought I saw in these posts, but could not find it, that the top rail with rear sight is polymer on these? Not a deal breaker but I would rather have a metal rail. A place on GB has the short-barreled stainless versions for $299 + free shipping. The SW22 keeps calling my name, though – although they are $100 more ...

quote:

Originally posted by GeoJelly:
Great info Gents - I thought I saw in these posts, but could not find it, that the top rail with rear sight is polymer on these? Not a deal breaker but I would rather have a metal rail. A place on GB has the short-barreled stainless versions for $299 + free shipping. The SW22 keeps calling my name, though – although they are $100 more ...

The "standard" model with the slab sided barrels all have metal rails. The rail can be bought from Brownells etc and is a direct swap.

quote:

Originally posted by GeoJelly:
Great info Gents - I thought I saw in these posts, but could not find it, that the top rail with rear sight is polymer on these? Not a deal breaker but I would rather have a metal rail. A place on GB has the short-barreled stainless versions for $299 + free shipping. The SW22 keeps calling my name, though – although they are $100 more ...

The Smith & Wesson Victory is also a great .22LR pistol so it would definitely not be a bad choice. The Victory is the one that comes with a plastic sight base and a separate plastic rail to mount an optic though.

Browning just offers a larger variety of models to choose from with different features, but all have a metal sight base of one type or another.

The rear sight base on the standard Buck Mark models and the ones like with the rear sight pictured below are metal, just no rail to mount optics on out of the box (they can be swapped though if needed).



The ones that have have a rail like the ones below are metal as well including the blue one pictured earlier in the thread. The ones with the rail like the first pistol shown below are typically identified with a "Plus" included in the name or description.

Get familiar w/ the recoil buffer pad. If you shoot a lot of HV "Mega Hurricane Thunderbolt Hammer of Thor 'for rifle'" stuff, it will disintegrate and need to be replaced.
The originals were dirt cheap (my first one was 75 cents and I should have bought more) where you can grab a few, but I think there is a newer silicon(?) one that is more durable for around $10.
Someone might correct me.
Other than that, a couple extra mags might do you well.

Wow, my $25 rebate check came in the mail today. That is record time for me for a rebate from anyone ever. Thanks Browning! My fiber optic front sight arrived today also. Instructions say to apply Red Loctite to the threads where the screw for the front sight screw into the barrel. I don't know about that and am going to use Blue Loctite instead.

Thanks Gents! Buckmark it is - I thought the Browning had the polymer frame ... Doh on my part. I see that MGW has quite a few barrels for Buckmarks. It'll be nice to have some options later...