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 ?

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U. S. Army Veteran

I don't have one yet, but very nice Write-up and Pictures.
Thank you.

22lr Lever Actions Forever!

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Yes, I have had one for quite a while. I bought it off a friend who would buy a gun, keep it for a week, then sell it. (We need more friends like that.) I like it because it feeds everything. And I do mean everything.
It really shines with standard velocity shorts. I've had people at the range stop what they were doing and watch me clean racks of metal targets with it. It's so quiet and effective. Excellent small game getter.

Three corrections. My 9422 has S-L-LR stamped on the barrel. And it will feed all three. Also the 9422 is a controlled round feed(magazine to chamber). System was borrowed from the Win 61. Three the 9422 has the strongest lock up as a hump in the top of the bolt locks into a mortice in the top of the receiver.
BTW I answered you on the other forums too.

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S&W Accumulator

Thanks, Mike. I did mention above that the 9422 shares the controlled feed and strong lock up with mortise that the BL-22 has.

Correction though on the 9422 being able to feed shorts.
I haven't tried to shoot shorts in my 9422, will have to remedy that.

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U. S. Army Veteran

I did a double-take when I saw the photo with the Nylon 66. It's a MONSTER compared to the other two. Sorta like the gorilla in the room!

I have a 9422 for cowboy silhouette. It wears a Williams peep and a Lyman 17 front sight. I'd like it even better with a tang sight, but I just can't bring myself to drill and tap the tang.

I have a grade II I think. Has the silver receiver and a 24 inch octagon barrel. Great shooter.

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Great write up. I have never seen one for sale in MT though I drooled over pictures of them in Outdoor Life as a young kid.

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Front sight and squeeze

Last year bought a BL22 for the wife. Put a Burris Fastfire on it and is it fun to shoot for our old eyes. Sure wish she would shoot it more often, I guess it would help if I had more 22lr ammo to burn!

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NRA Endowment member

I bought one, beautiful rifle but didn't care for it. Bugged me having the trigger on the lever. It was a little awkward for me to shoot. I gave it to a friends father.

They are nice rifles. If the right deal came along I would add one to my Marlins. I like the older Marlins and have 2 39a's and they are also nice lever action 22's. I don't have a older 22 pump and that is one I would really like but have never pulled the trigger on one.

I've got a BL22, Marlin 39, Winchester 9422 in .22LR, 9422 in .22 mag as well as a couple of Henry's.
BL22 is the handiest and I love mine but I probably carry the little Henry big loop carbine the most since I'm not worried about it getting beat up like the others. I use it on my trapline as well as carry it around on the 4 wheeler pretty much all the time.
Best shooter out of the bunch is my Marlin 39. It too wears a Skinner peep.

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Straight shootin'
SWCA#2439

Weird but my Henry small game carbine is my favorite .22 lever.

I've had one for about ten years, and I love it. Reliable with anything from LR to CB caps, and will shoot 2" at 50 yards. I scoped it when I bought it, and it just didn't feel right. I think a peep on a lever is perfect.

Here it is with a Model 94, and you can see it's comparable.

The interesting thing about these two rifles is that one is a Browning design but doesn't have his name, and the other has his name but wasn't his design.

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Nice trim .22 lever gun indeed. My only real complaint with mine is the stiff trigger pull. They just ooze quality.

Larry

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I like my BL-22. Everyone should have one.

Those are nice lever guns. Thanks for sharing. There's just something about lever action rifles and single action revolvers that you just gotta love.