Anyone else notice this floating around out there? A BAR Lighweight Stalker 308 in a carbine length?

http://www.gunsamerica.com/96160464..._WIN_CARBINE_FLUTED_BARREL_NEW_IN_BO.htm

It's about time that they made a shorter little semi-auto. Too bad they only made a limited run of it, non-catalog item it looks like. Great option for those looking at the Rem 750 Carbines.....

Anyone have one of these?

I had one 12-13 yrs ago in 30-06 that was in wood with parkerized metal and had a muzzle break on it. It wasn't a light weight though.

I liked the rifle but the bang tore my azz up. I sold it. Had a VXIII 1.5x6 on it.

Wish I had it back, I'd rebarrel it.

$1K!

Sheez.

I've seen them around for $800-900.

I called Browning about this gun, they said it was a one-time run in 2009, only 150 made.

I couldn't let this go- who knows, maybe a collector one day, maybe a sweet little gun to carry in the thick woods. Either way, one is coming my way....

What all cals did they do it in? I wish they could find a way to turn that BAR into a 7 lb gun (naked). 4 me, they're just too heavy.

Dober

308 Carbine only I guess. And it IS right at 7 lbs! Fluted barrel and synth stock shaves some weight. A tad lighter and a smidge shorter than the Rem 750 308 Carbine from specs.

"Receiver - Aircraft-grade alloy"

That turned me off to ANY of the lightweight BAR's.

You'd be surprised how well they shoot...

The BLR's have had that for quite a while now- people seem to love their BLR's. I'll own a BLR 358 sometime down the road too.

What don't you like about that? Worried about scope mounting?

I have heard of people cranking down the mount screws into the aluminum receivers and stripping out the threads.

But I think if you're careful and do things to proper torque you should be fine. I guess we'll find out.

It is most likely a fantastic deer rifle!
I've thought often of how a carbine type BAR would be great.

I've owned more than a few BAR's. Magnums, and both long and short action chamberings too.
I just personally think steel is the very best receiver for durability and longevity.
I don't worry only over scope base mounting screws but also the barrel/receiver union.

I know the AR-15 and M16/M4 platforms have worked well for years with steel carriers inside alloy receivers. And the .308 platforms by Armalite, DPMS and others are working well too.

The only BLR I've owned was an older model, and it was a steel receiver. Was a fine little rifle in .308.

I'd love to see one of these BAR rifles firing on a slow motion camera. The flex is probably quite significant.

Possibly, but don't you think Browning took that into consideration when designing the rifle? How many thousands of the aluminum receiver BLR's and BAR's have been in use over the years without problems? I would think that if it was a problem, you would've heard people screaming about it by now.

And mostly I seem to hear about the Brownings is..... 'how well they shoot'....

Never owned one before this. When I was a kid Dad had a Grade II Belgium that jammed a lot- sold that. I own lots of rifles, but this will be my first Browning.

I don't care too much what the engineers at FN believe or have faith in. That's their job to worry over, not mine.
And I'm sure they are quite qualified.
I trust their years of experience.

But, much has changed in the big gun business of late. Cutting expenses, dropping quality and growing profit margins are the norm. Engineering is not running the show anymore. Their imput is getting smaller.

For me, I simply like steel in my high power centerfire rifles. Lots of it.
YMMV.

Please enjoy the rifle. It appears to be a good candidate for thick brush, long walks and fast shooting in whitetail country!
I'm sure it will hold value well too, as it is a quite limited production item.
Let us know your results.

I hear ya.... I thought it would be an interesting departure from the norm. I also have a Remington semi-auto carbine that I'm having bored up to 358, 'just because'.

Life is too short for uninteresting rifles.

Ain't that the truth!

Enjoy it! Let us know how it performs!

The AR type rifles all use aluminum receivers, there are a few of them in 308, 7-08, 260 etc centerfire... no problems I can recall..

It looks like a BAR Crapshoot to me!

do they chrome the chambers in these guns?

One of my favorite guns I own:



I have another in .300 WM that I've hunted with quite a bit and it (wearing a 4-16x44 scope) is pretty hefty. But this little .243 is a pleasure to pack and shoot. It's also one of the most accurate guns I have. It will be my first choice for the forseeable future.

Sure you want to go speaking for ALL of those rifles?
I know I would not.

no receiver failures that I have ever heard of, have you specific information to the contrary? and again what you speak of is of no great concern unless you have some pedigree I am unaware of, if so enlighten me.

Chill.

Right now, the onus is not on me to present the potential of or documented problems of alloy receivers.
I've made no comment supporting their perfection or documented lack of failures.

Simply because one has not "heard" of a failure means little about their existance or not.

I HAVE firsthand evidence of two failures of alloy .308 receivers in AR platforms.
Bad enough the receivers were scrapped.
Each were of different manufacturers.

I'm not making any snap judgement against the lightweight Browning rifle.
I do hope they give good service to their owners.

I have this exact gun in 30-06; mine is a grade II with gold trigger; made in belgium in 1971; It's not a light weight;
It shoots lights out; I reload my own rounds for it; I load up
39 gr. of IMR4064, with a hornady 150 gr. BTSP; It's right at 2800 fps, and as well as being VERY accurate, I shoot 40-60 rnds at the range every time; shoots very smooth; No ill effects; It is easier to shoot than my 3" mag. shotgun;

did you guys get mixed up here? I thought we were talking about BAR; I saw some post's about a BLR, which is not the same gun; A BLR is a LEVER ACTION GUN; BAR- BROWNING AUOTMATIC RIFLE' BLR - BROWNING LEVER ACTION RIFLE

Both the BAR and BLR use an aluminum alloy receiver.

My 1971 Browning 30-06 BAR (auto) has the same bolt and action as the
WWII version of the infamous G.I. BAR, only in a sporting gun;
EXACTLY THE SAME ACTION;
Shoots the exact same round;

You could take ANY 30-06 BOLT action rifle, and shoot it, and it will kick the [bleep] out of you (just like my 7mmrem weatherby);
But you put that 30-06 round in an autoloader, and its a different story; The recoil is taken up, and dissipated by the gas action used to re-chamber another round;

MY muzzleloader in 50 cal, shooting a 250 gr. barnes 45 cal. sabot with 110 gr. of 777 kicks harder than my bar 30-06;

My gun has a steel receiver; A bit heavier, which will eat some of the recoil;
bottom line is, that if you are scared of the gun, you shouldn't be shooting it;

I have a savage lever in 308 that will kick like a mule; also have a win 30-30 that kicks like heck; I would much rather shoot my 30-06 BAR, if i'm going to shoot 40-60 rounds;

Any auto rifle chambered for 308, or 30-06 or greater should have a steel receiver;
Remember that Browning went to Japan; Quality is being sacrificed
for the bottom line;
I just sold a 1969 belgium browning auto-5 shotgun for $1,200;
I will never sell my belgium browning BAR 30-06;
They just don't make them like they used to;

I had a gunsmith cut the barrel off of my Lightweight Stalker several years ago. We cut it down to 16 1/4 inches. I absolutely love it. It is my favorite gun. I have not found any negative side effects with the shorter barrel. My gunsmith did not want to cut it that short at first, so he cut it down to 18. I had to jump up and down to make him do what I wanted. After he cut it again, he actually told me that I was right and that the 16 1/2 looked better and also balanced better. I tried to tell him that I knew what I was talking about. I wish that they made one in .223. That would be the perfect walking varmit gun. In my opinion.

jtate,

What caliber is your BAR in?

I saw a 30-06 cut off to 16.5 inches once in the older steel receiver version. A 308 or 708 cut off to 17 inches would be cool. If you dinged the crown it would leave you some room to work on it.

EXACTLY THE SAME ACTION... I don't think that is accurate. I sometimes hear that from guys that own Ruger Mini-14's that think they have the same action as the military M14 rifles. Just isn't so with the Mini 14 and I'm pretty certain the commercial Browning BAR action isn't the same thing as the BAR of the military.

Mine is a 270. I looked for several months trying to find one in 308, but they are awfully hard to find. I had the gun in the safe with a piece of tape marking where the barrel would be cut for at least three months while I was building up the courage to "ruin" a perfectly good gun. I finally cut it and have never regretted it one bit.

Well I got my BAR Stalker Carbine 308. I topped it off with a Leup VX-3 1.5-5x Heavy Duplex (my favorite scope for years now).

Gave it a thorough cleaning, got the base and rings mounted this week. Went out today to get things in the ballpark and on the target. Shoot, clean, and repeat for the first three shots while getting centered on the paper at 25yds.

Once happy with where I was for scope adjustment at 25yds, I move back to 100yds for my first 'group' out of the new gun:



This was with plain old factory Remington 150gr Core-lokt ammo! Needless to say I was quite impressed. Best group I've ever shot out of ANY semi-auto rifle outside of a rimfire. I cleaned the gun again after that group and shot one more which was slightly bigger, but similar.

I was always wishing Browning had put out a carbine version of a deer rifle, so when I stumbled across this limited run of 150 guns of this 308 with an 18" barrel, I couldn't pass it up. And if it can put out groups under 1" like this..... Say what you like about these newer BAR's, but for now I'm a very happy customer.

Sweet rifle for the thick stuff.

And like most BARs, it's a shooter.

Enjoy it!

Blackfrog,

Did you weigh it before mounting the scope? I was wondering if it has a little heavier barrel than the 20" model or if they just fluted and shortened the 20".

Dang you BlackFrog!!!

I have wanted a light, short BAR for a while myself.

I had a couple ShortTrac models in 308, and although the stock fit me well I never could like the look of them.

And, the 22" barrel was more than I wanted for the deep woods.

So when I saw that they only made 150 of them, I hunted one down and bought it.

Another unexpected purchase.

I did not weigh the gun before putting on the mounts/rings.

I'm thinking they fluted and shortened the 20" version, probably use the same contour so forend parts all fit the same...

I like the gun, shoots great! My only gripe is the trigger seems kinda mushy though. Other than that, thumbs up so far!