Dallas Jack
New member
Just bought a Browning Buckmark. Is there anything not in the manual that one should know about?
Dallas Jack
Dallas Jack
Browning Buckmark
- Thread starter Dallas Jack
- Start date
Mine shoots the Blazer bulk, Federal Champion, CCI green tag, and Winchester HV the best. Didn't like the Remington bulk at all. Just use good quality ammo and all should be fine.
The addition of a red dot sight will shrink groups by 50 to 75%.
There are some posts on another site about dis-assembly and cleaning, as well as subtle refinements you can do at home.
The addition of a red dot sight will shrink groups by 50 to 75%.
There are some posts on another site about dis-assembly and cleaning, as well as subtle refinements you can do at home.
I also bought one last week. I read and read on the internet about this pistol,and the troubles giving it a thorough cleaning.I decided to order extra extractor springs and some other parts to anticipate any problems. I will break it down tomorrow and clean off the factory oil and prepare it for its first range session. Not wanting to hijack this thread,but any tips you guys have to offer would be great.......
OldShooter
New member
Buckmark
I've had a Buckmark Camper for almost 5 years and have put many thousands of rounds through it. The only bad ammo I have found is Remington bulk and that was many rounds that just wouldn't fire. If it did fire, the gun functioned fine. I have had excellent results with Federal bulk.
I have not had any trouble attributable to the gun itself. I do clean it every 3 or 4 hundred rounds.
I've had a Buckmark Camper for almost 5 years and have put many thousands of rounds through it. The only bad ammo I have found is Remington bulk and that was many rounds that just wouldn't fire. If it did fire, the gun functioned fine. I have had excellent results with Federal bulk.
I have not had any trouble attributable to the gun itself. I do clean it every 3 or 4 hundred rounds.
UtahHunting
New member
I own a Buckmark (well my wife does), a Ruger MK I, and a High Standard. I have owned a Walther P22 and a Ruger MK III 22/45 in the past. The Buckmark is one of if not the best out of this entire group. I did "break it in" with CCI mini-mags. I have no idea if that was necessary or not, but my Buckmark feeds any ammo I put in it. I have not tried Remington however as I am not a fan of their .22 ammo. But I have fed it Winchester, Federal Bulk, CCI, Blazer bulk, and tons of other crap out there. I recommend lock tight on the threads and do not over tighten the screws on top.
Keep it clean and lubed and you should have many years of good shooting with your Buckmark. Bother of mine prefer the CCI Standard Velocity fodder and shoot good groups with it. They also consume Remington Subsonics with gusto. If yours is a Camper model keep an eye out for cracks on the rear sight assembly. Avoid over tightening and you should be fine. My Contour Lite is the ideal pistol for a pistol scope and longer range shooting. Enjoy. Below is a photo of my Camper with a scope mounted. Makes for a fun little plinker.
Good Choice! hard to go wrong with a browning
So far mine has worked well with everything except Rem Bulk. I usually use Fed American Eagle HV bulk stuff - its cheap and runs about 100 % in mine. Only "problem" i have notice is the roll pin moving in the rear sight - just spread the ends a bit with a punch or nail and it hasn't moved in the last 2k rounds.
So far mine has worked well with everything except Rem Bulk. I usually use Fed American Eagle HV bulk stuff - its cheap and runs about 100 % in mine. Only "problem" i have notice is the roll pin moving in the rear sight - just spread the ends a bit with a punch or nail and it hasn't moved in the last 2k rounds.
berettaprofessor
New member
The only thing not in the manual is how it'll become the first gun you pick up whether target or plinking. And how easy a red-dot mounts on the thing!
Dallas Jack
New member
Sounds like the Buckmark is a good gun. This is the first Browning gun I have ever owned and I have to admit I expected some problems from a gun at this price point. ($279)
Thanks for the info. I think I may have time to shoot it tomorrow.
Dallas Jack
Thanks for the info. I think I may have time to shoot it tomorrow.
Dallas Jack
I used to have a Ruger 22/45 but after the first time I shot a Buckmark I knew the Ruger was on borrowed time. Don't get me wrong, the Ruger is a fine pistol but I never liked the trigger or a few of the mechanisms of the pistol (especially the slide stop).
Now I own two Buckmark pistols. One set up for "bullseye" shooting and the other a stock "Stainless Camper".
General Advice -
As others have said, the "Sight Base" (aka the top-strap) is plastic. Don't overtighten the screws or it'll crack. If you decide to put a sight rail on it (to mount a red-dot or whatever), get one from Weigland Combat ($30). It's just plainly better than the B-Square mounts.
A drop or two of blue loc-tite in the right places is a good idea, it keeps you from overtightening the sight rail screws.
Disassembly of a Buckmark is kind-of annoying, but the truth is that you should almost never actually need to disassemble it. The trigger mechanism (unlike Ruger) is designed such that the crud from the chamber doesn't drop right down on the trigger mechanism so your trigger won't foul up like a Ruger's will.
Most of the time cleanup will consist of...
1) Use a few q-tips, a small toothbrush, and some solvent, to clean out the chamber area.
2) Blow it out with some compressed air.
3) Run a boresnake through the barrel (I'm not a huge fan of boresnakes but for a .22 pistol I think they are great).
4) Re-Lube the pistol (see the diagram below).
Most of the time you'll just want to re-lube the areas I've marked in blue. Once in a great while if you do disassemble the pistol then it's not a bad idea to hit the areas in orange, but the orange areas rarely need to be re-lubed.
Now I own two Buckmark pistols. One set up for "bullseye" shooting and the other a stock "Stainless Camper".
General Advice -
As others have said, the "Sight Base" (aka the top-strap) is plastic. Don't overtighten the screws or it'll crack. If you decide to put a sight rail on it (to mount a red-dot or whatever), get one from Weigland Combat ($30). It's just plainly better than the B-Square mounts.
A drop or two of blue loc-tite in the right places is a good idea, it keeps you from overtightening the sight rail screws.
Disassembly of a Buckmark is kind-of annoying, but the truth is that you should almost never actually need to disassemble it. The trigger mechanism (unlike Ruger) is designed such that the crud from the chamber doesn't drop right down on the trigger mechanism so your trigger won't foul up like a Ruger's will.
Most of the time cleanup will consist of...
1) Use a few q-tips, a small toothbrush, and some solvent, to clean out the chamber area.
2) Blow it out with some compressed air.
3) Run a boresnake through the barrel (I'm not a huge fan of boresnakes but for a .22 pistol I think they are great).
4) Re-Lube the pistol (see the diagram below).
Most of the time you'll just want to re-lube the areas I've marked in blue. Once in a great while if you do disassemble the pistol then it's not a bad idea to hit the areas in orange, but the orange areas rarely need to be re-lubed.
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When I first got it I was a bit disappointed with the number of stove-pipes and general failures. I didn't give up on it and at around 500 rounds it started running flawlessly. It's been about 2000 rounds now without a failure.
I wish it didn't have screws holding it together. Watch that they don't come loose. It's also a bit of a pain to remove the firing pin assembly when detail cleaning. Also that assembly is made out of plastic another thing that I'm not crazy about.
One more thing... The first time you take the grips off do it slowly so you can see how the pieces fall out. The first time I took them off I was a bit freaked that metal pieces just started falling out everywhere. Not too hard to get it back together if you see where they come from.
I wish it didn't have screws holding it together. Watch that they don't come loose. It's also a bit of a pain to remove the firing pin assembly when detail cleaning. Also that assembly is made out of plastic another thing that I'm not crazy about.
One more thing... The first time you take the grips off do it slowly so you can see how the pieces fall out. The first time I took them off I was a bit freaked that metal pieces just started falling out everywhere. Not too hard to get it back together if you see where they come from.
Google "Heggis trigger spring flip". I did this to my buckmark and what a difference it makes. What used to be a average trigger is now amazing, and it only took 10 minutes and cost me nothing. Some have said that their buckmarks were not reliable after the modification(which is temporary and can easily be undone) but I have no reliability problems with anything I feed it. Try it, I doubt that you will be disappointed.