The Browning BAR Mk 3
Thanks to the courtesy of Adrien Koutny of Browning of Herstal, of the BWMI distributor in Italy of the brand, of the Bonardo armory in Bra (CN) and of Giorgio Rosso together with Kevin of the Carrù polygon we were able to carry out two test sessions with a BAR Mk 3 which we specifically requested chambered for the .308 Win. The choice goes a little against the current trend of specific sales focused on the evergreen .30-06 Sprg. which has been joined for some time by the never forgotten 9,3 × 62, made in the early 900s by the Berlin technician Otto Bock. In our subdued opinion it is necessary to distinguish the prey of choice and, here, they are certainly the wild boars: if the current size of the wild do not figure among the giants of the species and if the ability to place the shot appropriately is a card that one has in hand, thinking about the balance of the cartridge that the Winchester derived from the military one of the early 50s would not be bad.
Browning BAR Mk 3 - Performance on the shooting range
The performances are slightly lower than those of the .30-06 Sprg. and the ability to handle slightly lighter bullets should not always be seen as a decrease in vulnerable power: adaptability to sfascare, wild boar neologism that all fans well understand, of which the heaviest ball is credited to a greater extent. We know well that if you are convinced that you need a solution rather than another, you will hardly move: on this occasion, it is enough for us to ask for a thought for a comparison. In the corollary of the cartridge a little more gentle, so to speak, the structure of the speargun coexists: the BAR offers two sizes of the castle and here we find the smaller one with an undeniable advantage in weight and size, so that the handling and portability , so much requested in this specific hunt, they have an advantage.
Browning BAR Mk 3 - A short review
Let's look at the shotgun starting right from the closed frame, obtained by a cutter from an extruded ergal with the ejection window on the right, the large lower slot for the insertion of the trigger pack, fixed by two elastic pins, and the 2 magazine. cartridges, but there are different capacities, the hole in the front ring for joining the 51 cm long barrel and grooved in the front half. Precisely to this extent and in the lower part, the gas intake block is welded: the thrust on a piston moves a mass of a certain entity connected by means of two rods in sheared sheet metal to the bolt carrier consisting of a cylindrical part in which the equipped head is inserted. of seven fins that rotates with the first mm of travel of the carriage and thanks to the interaction of a peg and an inclined track: it should be noted that the closure takes place directly in the mortises obtained in the breech of the barrel. In the lowered face there are the firing pin hole and the elastic expulsion pawl while in one of the fins the extraction nail recorded by the wire spring is recessed, which has also been used for many other rifles. The direct trigger is factory adjusted to a weight of about 1,1 kg with an optimal performance both in the moving shot and in the targeted shot with absence of scratching, springing, retraction collapse: in short, a result worthy of the fame of the brand. The open sights are present in the form of a short batting rib with the two green points in translucent material placed on the sides of the V notch, while the cylindrical bar sight, in the same material, is red to detach on any background: precise adjustments in both directions are possible. On the sky of the castle is fixed a Picatinny type sled to which it can be connected, it is a novelty of the Browning, a complementary slide that is fixed to the chosen optical instrument: with a very low cost of the two bases it will be possible to have a specific telescope type 1-4 × 24 and an optoelectronic device such as a red point that can be replaced in a moment while maintaining their calibration.
The Meopta 6X42A Riflescope - The Features
For the tests we mounted a telescope that we had available: it is certainly dated, but this one meopta 6 × 42 with 4 reticle still has a significant and substantial optical functionality with high definition and appreciable detachment of the image from the whole, without then missing a correct correspondence of the clicks to the turrets. The synthetic stock in a pleasant olive color shows black panels in soft rubber at the grip points, then at the pistol and on the forend, together with the mobile backplate to adjust the posture of the face in an instant, thanks to a wing nut placed to the right of the stock . The equipment is completed by the plates to vary the fold and deviation as well as the butt plate inflex absorption of energy and the directionality of the recoil movement that detaches the back from the shooter's face for an instant, preventing the vibrations from causing damage. The t-shirts with ball expansion attachment allow you not to have to release the belt buckles at each return and the trigger lock with numerical code are all contained in the practical and sturdy black transport case with the company logo in golden color.
Browning BAR Mk 3 - The polygon test
After a first series at 50 m to check the zeroing, reached among other things already at the second shot after a correct calculation of the register shots, we verified the remarkable accuracy with Fiocchi cartridges, in particular with the 150 gr SPS bullet and with the Barnes, same weight and TTSX ball. A counter-check at 100 m is required and so also in this case we have verified the accuracy and correctness of the shotgun within the MOA, even with an average hot barrel as required by the climate in July. Not content with having always fired three shots by inserting the first cartridge in the chamber and the other two in the magazine, just to check if by chance a BAR gets jammed ... we then went back to 50 m to fire identical salvoes of three shots no more cadenced as for the aimed shooting, but in rapid shooting, simulating that of hunting. The considerations say: total absence of jams, favorable stability with second and third hits in a very short time, a correct grouping of the finished shells on the ground in an area of about thirty cm to the right and behind us. The start of production of this rifle in 1966 and the achievement of approximately 1.300.000 units sold are evident credentials together with a very low selling price.