1964 Browning Take-Down .22LR

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Alright, this is a bit of a long-time coming, but here it is. I mentioned it in my intro thread and someone requested to post up pictures...

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This rifle was my grandfather's or "Pawpaw". He bought it for my dad and taught him to shoot on it. When my dad passed away when I was 5, he carried on the then developing tradition to me. This is the rifle I learned to shoot on. It is also the same rifle I've taught others on to give them their first tastes of shooting a rifle.

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Everyone has that one gun they always have a lot of memories attached to. This one has tons. Ranging from silly ones to more intense ones where he was really trying to train me. They are all good memories -- some of the few times that my grandfather and I really got along. (I never did come out to him, but he damn well knew my opinion on things.)

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As you can probably tell, this rifle doesn't have a scope on it. It is from back in the day when scopes on .22's were practically unheard of as compared to now when a scope is practically the norm. I was trained purely on iron sights and taught that glass was a luxury you didn't need unless the situation absolutely called for it. (A stance I still hold, especially on pistols.) It is, however, grooved to handle the typical .22 scope mounting rings on the receiver.

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Back in the day, as it is now, this rifle came in various grades. The upper most grade is mainly a show piece with really fancy guilding and the such. This is the lowest grade, but it still has the beautiful (if I may say so) wood stock and engraving. When this was made in '64, it was made in Belgium. All of the engraving on the receiver and the checkering was done by a skilled craftsman.

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This was a "lesson rifle" and it taught me quite a few things. It taught me that not all rifles load the same way and introduced me to the concept of the tube magazine. (Even when I was really young, I knew about bolt-action and magazine fed rifles.) This rifle loads from a hole in the stock on the right side. A rod is pulled out from the butt of the stock and bullets are inserted into the hole. The rod is then pressed down and since its tip has a spring, it keeps pressure on the bullets.

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When one shot is fired, the next round is brought into battery. It is a semi-automatic rifle and this was the other lesson you learned very quickly about it...

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The piping hot brass ejected out the bottom! If you had your support arm in the wrong spot, you'd get a nice warning to not do it again. Needless to say, Pawpaw didn't have to remind me more than once to keep my support arm clear n' away from that! "That's what's reading the manual's for," he would say. He told me -- not taught, told -- to always read the manual before you even take one shot. Read it clean through, even the warnings at the front. "Common sense," he'd say, "Ain't that common." And then, as any stereotypical grandfather named "Pawpaw" would do, he'd spit into a cup since he chewed tobacco. ...Redman. Classic and that gold packaged one. :laugh: He'd buy it by the box at Sam's Club.

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Once you finished that duty, he would let you handle it. Unloaded of course. All this was done before you were allowed to take a shot. He taught me to clean it before I even got to feel the recoil or hear that satisfying pop or feel the glee of getting a solid group on paper. Now, mind you, he was old school. No such thing as a Bore Snake! Heck! There wasn't even a rod to clean it with. Just some good ol' fashioned RemOil on a cotton rag tied to a string. Talk about basic, eh? But... it all does pay off at the end.

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It's a sweet little shooter, even today. On another forum, I had asked if I should do any restoration work or add a scope or do this that or the other... Everyone basically screamed, "NO!" I'm glad I listened... 'cause now that I think on it, doing that kind of work on this would wipe away the history it has.

It turned 50 last year. And by God, I'm going to make sure it lasts another 50! :laugh:

TTFN,
Bae
Proud member of the SCCY Brigade.

Re: 1964 Browning Take-Down .22LR

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Thanks guys. :)

I think I might be taking her out to shoot tomorrow. Going to give her a good clean up today again just in case it happens. I cleaned her up a few weeks ago, but it was mostly external. She probably needs a fresh coat of lube. :laugh: If I do go out, I'll post the results here or in another thread. :) (Should be fun... I can't ever recall my partner ever shooting (with) her... I think it's because we've been obsessed with pistols, really, ever since we got together.)
Inquisitor wrote:two things.

1) I want one.

2) blog post :)
:newhere: Blog post as in on a blog or is there a setting for it?
Proud member of the SCCY Brigade.

Re: 1964 Browning Take-Down .22LR

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Baekgu wrote:Thanks guys. :)

I think I might be taking her out to shoot tomorrow. Going to give her a good clean up today again just in case it happens. I cleaned her up a few weeks ago, but it was mostly external. She probably needs a fresh coat of lube. :laugh: If I do go out, I'll post the results here or in another thread. :) (Should be fun... I can't ever recall my partner ever shooting (with) her... I think it's because we've been obsessed with pistols, really, ever since we got together.)
Inquisitor wrote:two things.

1) I want one.

2) blog post :)
:newhere: Blog post as in on a blog or is there a setting for it?
That's smokefan's cue to ask you for reprint permission ;)

Re: 1964 Browning Take-Down .22LR

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Great tale! Yes: blog post. Heritage guns are the best, and this one is in excellent shape. I chuckled at the hot brass thing, having discovered the hot rear barrel band in an 1891 Mosin Nagant design rifle: my left hand held the band, and after ten rounds I changed my hold.

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: 1964 Browning Take-Down .22LR

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Thanks guys. :blush:

That Remington does look nice though! (Had to go find some pictures, haha!)

Found out that I've got a bunch of higher end .22LR ammo (Wolf Target Match) tucked away. About 200 rounds of the stuff. That trip out to give this rifle some daylight/breathing time is looking like it might be a reality.

Thinking of changing up the RemOil tradition though... while it's held its own, I'm leaning heavily toward Balistol for this rifle due to its friendliness toward wood. Opinions?
Proud member of the SCCY Brigade.

Re: 1964 Browning Take-Down .22LR

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I like Weapon Shield, because it seems to play nice with my wood. I've got some grips that I've stripped the finish off of, and just wipe down with the gun oil, and they're very nice. Your mileage will vary, because everyone disagrees on the best thing to clean your gun with.
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.22LR - .380ACP - 9mm - .38Spl/.357Mag - .45ACP - 5.56NATO - .308Win - .45-70Gov - 12Ga
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Re: 1964 Browning Take-Down .22LR

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Inquisitor wrote:
That's smokefan's cue to ask you for reprint permission ;)
Cool! That's pretty neat that people think it's blog worthy/reprint worthy. :blush:
fknauss wrote:I like Weapon Shield, because it seems to play nice with my wood. I've got some grips that I've stripped the finish off of, and just wipe down with the gun oil, and they're very nice. Your mileage will vary, because everyone disagrees on the best thing to clean your gun with.
I'll have to check out Weapon Shield. I've never heard of it before...
KnightsFan wrote:Maybe try Froglube? It won't add much to the wood, but it shouldn't harm it.
I actually use Froglube for my EDC... Something about putting that on this rifle though seems almost like blasphemy. I can't explain it. Maybe it's because I'm so used to smelling oil instead of menthol. :laugh: I did consider it, however... It seems to work pretty darn well with my EDC so far!
Proud member of the SCCY Brigade.

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