I recently picked up a 1989 Browning Buckmark ‘Standard’ from a friend. The first Buckmark I shot was one of these early guns and it really sold me on them.
I'd looked at the current rubber-grip, finger-groove/fiber optic Buckmarks with money in my pocket and no urge to buy one; so when this one came available, I jumped on it. Its trigger is a crisp, clean 2 3/4 pounds. Perfect, with a tiny bit of over-travel. The only thing I've added to this pistol is a strip of rubber Talon grip material to the front and rear grip straps. This is going to be my ‘Offhand Tune-up Pistol' so it will be shot a lot one-handed. Browning also made a trigger with an overtravel stop, intended for the Buckmark Silhouette and one or two other dedicated target variants. I'll either find one or add a stop screw to this one. I just needed to determine if the pistol is accurate enough to warrant it.
When the weather broke, I finally got a chance to really zero it. I took along a folding table and an old backpack I keep loaded with first aid & range gear. That bag was used for a rest. I had a part box of Federal Automatch and I used that for rough zeroing at 25 yards.
Once that was accomplished I switched to Federal '550 Pack' 36 grain copper plated hollow point. I got acquainted with his load in the mid 80s. Back then it was sold in a red 50 round boxes. From my Ruger MKI 6 7/8” Target Model, it was about as accurate as Winchester T22- and killed squirrels much better.
I shoot better on 3D targets than paper, so I turned the Buckmark on my Do-All Spinner target from 25 yards. The first five rounds of Federal HP hit near center of the 2 7/8" top plate. I moved the rest back to 50 yards and fired 15 total at the 4 1/2" bottom plate. It wiggled with every shot and even recorded a respectable cluster, once I perfected my sight picture.
I am real pleased with the way this old pistol shoots.
I'd looked at the current rubber-grip, finger-groove/fiber optic Buckmarks with money in my pocket and no urge to buy one; so when this one came available, I jumped on it. Its trigger is a crisp, clean 2 3/4 pounds. Perfect, with a tiny bit of over-travel. The only thing I've added to this pistol is a strip of rubber Talon grip material to the front and rear grip straps. This is going to be my ‘Offhand Tune-up Pistol' so it will be shot a lot one-handed. Browning also made a trigger with an overtravel stop, intended for the Buckmark Silhouette and one or two other dedicated target variants. I'll either find one or add a stop screw to this one. I just needed to determine if the pistol is accurate enough to warrant it.
When the weather broke, I finally got a chance to really zero it. I took along a folding table and an old backpack I keep loaded with first aid & range gear. That bag was used for a rest. I had a part box of Federal Automatch and I used that for rough zeroing at 25 yards.
Once that was accomplished I switched to Federal '550 Pack' 36 grain copper plated hollow point. I got acquainted with his load in the mid 80s. Back then it was sold in a red 50 round boxes. From my Ruger MKI 6 7/8” Target Model, it was about as accurate as Winchester T22- and killed squirrels much better.
I shoot better on 3D targets than paper, so I turned the Buckmark on my Do-All Spinner target from 25 yards. The first five rounds of Federal HP hit near center of the 2 7/8" top plate. I moved the rest back to 50 yards and fired 15 total at the 4 1/2" bottom plate. It wiggled with every shot and even recorded a respectable cluster, once I perfected my sight picture.
I am real pleased with the way this old pistol shoots.
