Last year I bought another one of the Bl-22s and have gained some new appreciation for them. I had two of them in the past, liked them then but thought it was a bit too light to hold steady.
As I've got older, I've come to prefer it over my heavier Winchester 9422 and my even heavier Marlin Mountie.
The little Browning has some cool features not found on other .22 lever carbines.
1) Controlled round feed, cartridge is held against the bolt face as soon as it's picked up by the magazine, and bolt locks to receiver, not just held forward by the lever. ( The 9422 has this as well).
2) The inner magazine tube will snap in at any position, it doesn't have to have a nub lined up with a notch in the outer tube.
3) Trigger disconnects and travels down with the lever (like a BLR centerfire), no way to ever get your trigger finger pinched against the bottom of the trigger when closing the action.
4) Short travel 33 degree lever. Unless you have really small hands, you can leave your thumb around the grip and just flick the lever open and closed with your fingertips.
Really fast and minimal disturbance of aim.
I dislike scopes on levers, but especially on one that has such a small receiver as the BL-22. My eyes are getting worse up close, but I found that I could replace the large aperture with a smaller one and the front sight appears sharp again.
I have a Skinner peep on my BL (along with a taller .570" high front sight) and the Skinner's lines go well with any lever.
Two things that detractors of the BL will mention are less than optimal triggers and lack of ease of takedown.
The disconnecting trigger makes it hard to improve the pull much, but none of the 3 I've owned were bad at all. The triggers are typically 5 to 6 pounds but smooth and crisp.
These are plinkers and small game carbines, not target guns.
Pull weight will drop with use as well.
When you pull the buttstock and action out of the receiver shell, there will be the ejector and it's spring that will fall out.
Getting the action back in will usually take a few tries, as if you don't have the bolt going in correctly the ejector will jump off it's spring.
There is a groove in the side of the bolt for the ejector, get the ejector in that groove as you insert the back of the carbine and it will retain the ejector perfectly, keeping the ejector on the spring.
I took mine apart yesterday for a good cleaning, and to replace the front barrel band, and it wasn't near as hard as some make it out to be. Yes, I cussed a few times until I figured out the bolt has to be lined up right when inserting.
The Browning cycles great with .22 shorts (as does the Marlin) but the Winchester 9422 will only feed long rifles.
This Browning, and my Browning SA-22 will go to my grandson one day, small light rifles like these are great for kids.
The Browning is a bit bigger than my tiny refurbished 1906 Winchester pump, but way petite compared to the Nylon 66:
In accuracy this BL is about equal to the 9422, a bit less than the Marlin, but the light weight might be part of that.
I know which one I'd rather carry all day and it's not the Marlin.
With my peep sight equipped BL-22, it will group 5/8" at 25 yards with common hunting ammo, like CCI Mini-Mags, Rem Goldens and RWS HVHP.
I briefly tried one of my Fastfire red dots on the BL using one of those slick low UTG picatinny to dovetail adapters, but stuck with the Skinner peep sight.
The BL-22 will run over 5 bills new, but nice used ones can be had for $325-$375 or so. This Grade II was $325, hardly fired and was made in 1984.
A friend has a couple Henry .22s that I've got to shoot quite a bit, and while smooth and accurate, I'd rather have a used BL-22 than a new Henry, costs being about the same.
Anyone else here have the BL-22 and what is your opinion of them ?
As I've got older, I've come to prefer it over my heavier Winchester 9422 and my even heavier Marlin Mountie.
The little Browning has some cool features not found on other .22 lever carbines.
1) Controlled round feed, cartridge is held against the bolt face as soon as it's picked up by the magazine, and bolt locks to receiver, not just held forward by the lever. ( The 9422 has this as well).
2) The inner magazine tube will snap in at any position, it doesn't have to have a nub lined up with a notch in the outer tube.
3) Trigger disconnects and travels down with the lever (like a BLR centerfire), no way to ever get your trigger finger pinched against the bottom of the trigger when closing the action.
4) Short travel 33 degree lever. Unless you have really small hands, you can leave your thumb around the grip and just flick the lever open and closed with your fingertips.
Really fast and minimal disturbance of aim.
I dislike scopes on levers, but especially on one that has such a small receiver as the BL-22. My eyes are getting worse up close, but I found that I could replace the large aperture with a smaller one and the front sight appears sharp again.
I have a Skinner peep on my BL (along with a taller .570" high front sight) and the Skinner's lines go well with any lever.
Two things that detractors of the BL will mention are less than optimal triggers and lack of ease of takedown.
The disconnecting trigger makes it hard to improve the pull much, but none of the 3 I've owned were bad at all. The triggers are typically 5 to 6 pounds but smooth and crisp.
These are plinkers and small game carbines, not target guns.
Pull weight will drop with use as well.
When you pull the buttstock and action out of the receiver shell, there will be the ejector and it's spring that will fall out.
Getting the action back in will usually take a few tries, as if you don't have the bolt going in correctly the ejector will jump off it's spring.
There is a groove in the side of the bolt for the ejector, get the ejector in that groove as you insert the back of the carbine and it will retain the ejector perfectly, keeping the ejector on the spring.
I took mine apart yesterday for a good cleaning, and to replace the front barrel band, and it wasn't near as hard as some make it out to be. Yes, I cussed a few times until I figured out the bolt has to be lined up right when inserting.
The Browning cycles great with .22 shorts (as does the Marlin) but the Winchester 9422 will only feed long rifles.
This Browning, and my Browning SA-22 will go to my grandson one day, small light rifles like these are great for kids.
The Browning is a bit bigger than my tiny refurbished 1906 Winchester pump, but way petite compared to the Nylon 66:
In accuracy this BL is about equal to the 9422, a bit less than the Marlin, but the light weight might be part of that.
I know which one I'd rather carry all day and it's not the Marlin.
With my peep sight equipped BL-22, it will group 5/8" at 25 yards with common hunting ammo, like CCI Mini-Mags, Rem Goldens and RWS HVHP.
I briefly tried one of my Fastfire red dots on the BL using one of those slick low UTG picatinny to dovetail adapters, but stuck with the Skinner peep sight.
The BL-22 will run over 5 bills new, but nice used ones can be had for $325-$375 or so. This Grade II was $325, hardly fired and was made in 1984.
A friend has a couple Henry .22s that I've got to shoot quite a bit, and while smooth and accurate, I'd rather have a used BL-22 than a new Henry, costs being about the same.
Anyone else here have the BL-22 and what is your opinion of them ?
