Browning M71 in .348...a painful gun to shoot

[omgb]

A couple of months ago I came across a minty Browning M71 in a local gun shop. $500 put it my hands. Next I scrounged around and came up with 250 pieces of brass, 100 of which were virgin WW. I bought some 200 grain flex tips from Hornady and loaded them with 54.5 grains of Win 760. This is a starting load. Well, all I can say is Wow! That gun barks loud! Cases are showing no signs of pressure but the lever drops about .25 inches when the gun if fired. It does not move the bolt nor the two lugs that lock the bolt, it just drops the lever a tad. The hit to my gripping hand though is pretty painful. I'm thinking this will be a cast bullet gun for me using either 5745 or maybe even Blackhorn 209. I did buy an Accurate 220 grain bullet mold from Tom so I'll have to try it out.

[Beagle333]

I bought some 200 grain flex tips from Hornady and loaded them with 545 grains of Win 760.

Now that's gotta make a boom. :shock::popcorn:


(I did look it up though and see that 56.0 was the book starting load in my references, so I do know what you meant.)

[BK7saum]

Thats what caught my eye also. 545 grains is 2 and a half times a 50BMG load. Big boom. Lol

[smkummer]

Yep, if not hunting polar bear, brown bear or Moose a cast bullet does everything and is a pleasure to shoot. I used to load for a friend's 71 Win. And either downloaded the 200 grain jacketed until I finally found Lyman's GC bullet.

[Reverend Al]

You must have a 30 foot drop tube to get 545 grains of powder into that size of case!

:kidding:

[omgb]

Alright guys, which of you did not know I meant 54.5 grains? A guy can't get cut any slack at all these days.

[missionary5155]

Greetings
Get cut... Yes. Slack... well that is for them others out there some where.
Several items maybe I can help you with. We have a 50 Alaskan in an 86 Win (jap). With any cast over 300 grains it could get right painful fast on my 150 pound frame. So it has been "adjusted" to be user friendly even with 525 grainers over 53 grains of 4198. About 1800 fps.

That lever. Wrap it in leather if there is sufficient room. Just getting the steel off the hand makes a big felt difference. If the lever has a plunger type "lock" check the spring. May be collapsed some. I just do not remember how the 71 lever locks in.

Butt plate. Add a padded leather cover. Our's had a curved steel bone crusher. Bought a padded "curved cover". Removed the steel and on went the cover. Cover is flat on the outside and curved on the inside to match / fill the curve in the shoulder area. Now it is as hurt less as a 86 in 45-70 with a shotgun style stock with 300 grainers. Not sure which you have but the leather covers do help.

We have an 1886 in 33 Win. We routinely shoot 250 grainers GC. No issues to us with a leather cuff on. We do not shoot off a bench either. Cross sticks will give your body the chance to recoil with the rifle.
Mike in Peru

[35remington]

The lever opens due to recoil and rifle movement. It does not mean anything in regard to the loading.

[OverMax]

Considering the loading of win 760 can be measured up to 62 grains with a 200 gr jacketed bullet seated. 54.7 grs is a lower middle range loading. Yep! I'm surprised to read your 348 cartridge can hustle a 200 gr out past its muzzle near 2600 fps. That's a polar bear harvester you got there OMGB.

[tim338]

My Dad has one and yes its a handful. I was surprised too.

[pietro]

The lever opens due to recoil and rifle movement. It does not mean anything in regard to the loading.


+1

The heavy recoil is most likely causing your hand to contact the lever loop in a way that makes it drop that little bit.

If the rubber bumper doesn't work to reduce felt recoil enough to suit you, drill a 1/2" diameter hole a few inches deep into the thick part of the buttstock, under the BP/recoil pad - then insert some lead in there.


.

[corbinace]

Off topic a tiny bit but...Do mercury recoil reducers work?

[Bird]

omgb,
The m71 has a too short length of pull. Add length to the buttstock and your recoil problems will go away. The performance of your loads are similar to a 30-06 at shorter ranges. It will still pack a punch if you are shooting from a bench. While sorting out accuracy loads, I shot 75 in one afternoon. Never again. 760 was not accurate for me, and did much better with imr4064 and imr4895 at around 2400 fps.

[Multigunner]

Those deeply curved butt plates were not meant for the conventional shouldering were are used to. These are a holdover from the Kentucky Rifle days, and even when these rifles were manufactured it was already known that the less curved "Musket Breech" and "Carbine Breech" were much better suited to the hold necessary for rifles that recoiled more sharply than the mild Kentucky rifle type loads.

[omgb]

True but the M71 has a shotgun style butt.

[Edward]

Off topic a tiny bit but...Do mercury recoil reducers work?

They do work ,I have installed several but still use a Limbsaver for a helper

[Scharfschuetze]

I agree, a Model 71 will loosen the fillings in your teeth.

[rintinglen]

You can get your teeth rattled with a full load, but take a 358-429, size it .351, load it on top of 13.0 grains of red dot and it is a ***** cat. You will have to raise the sights a lot, but it is very accurate.197895197896
Loaded down to 35 Rem levels, you have ample power for Deer or Black bear, 28 grains of 4759 or 35 grains of 5744 under a 200 grain RCBS boolit works well.

[smokeywolf]

4895 is my go-to powder for 348 Winchester. Don't have my ledger handy so can't list my loads at the moment. Recoil was quite tolerable.

[gnoahhh]

I too used to have my teeth rattled by a Browning M71. A buddy called it, "a mule killer at both ends." Reduced loads tamed it, and proved more than sufficient for local deer. A Williams receiver sight went a long way toward making it user-friendly too.

I kept a couple boxes of full strength ammo on hand in case of the odd grizzly or T-Rex sighting, but neither ever materialized here in Maryland so I sold them (and the rifle).

[quilbilly]

Congratulations on getting a beautiful rifle at such a great price!! Years ago I had an original M71 and it also put the hurt on with hot loads. I backed off on the loads a bit and took it elk hunting. The elk did somersaults after being hit with that lighter load. When I switched to muzzleloading hunting, I duplicated the "lighter" 348 loads with sabots in my 50 caliber and 250 gr boolits. The elk still did somersaults after being hit. The bottom line is that if your hunting ranges are under 150 yards, you don't need to beat yourself up with recoil to get the job done. A 200 gr jacketed 348 bullet will work just fine on elk at an MV of 1850-1900 fps. If you are just hunting deer, you could drop the MV down to 1500 fps and the rifle would even be fun to shoot all day with cast boolits as well as easy on that hard-to-find brass.

[indian joe]

A couple of months ago I came across a minty Browning M71 in a local gun shop. $500 put it my hands. Next I scrounged around and came up with 250 pieces of brass, 100 of which were virgin WW. I bought some 200 grain flex tips from Hornady and loaded them with 54.5 grains of Win 760. This is a starting load. Well, all I can say is Wow! That gun barks loud! Cases are showing no signs of pressure but the lever drops about .25 inches when the gun if fired. It does not move the bolt nor the two lugs that lock the bolt, it just drops the lever a tad. The hit to my gripping hand though is pretty painful. I'm thinking this will be a cast bullet gun for me using either 5745 or maybe even Blackhorn 209. I did buy an Accurate 220 grain bullet mold from Tom so I'll have to try it out.

I have one of those (from new in 1998) - I put a rubber pad on it - (everyone told me it was gonna boot - it dont seem so bad!) .. I shoot a 225 grain gascheck over 56 grains of 760 - chrono says 2340fps ........also have some hornady 200grain softpoint over 59 grains of 760 - Hornady book says 2500fps - that projectile has showed too fragile up close (50 yards or so) - I prefer the cast pill. No signs of pressure with these loads but 348 brass is tough and its a strong action. My rifle was pretty on the outside but stiff action - I ended up pulling the bolt and taking to it with a mill and dremel tools - the Browning factory had forgot to relieve the underside of the bolt to clear the hammer nose and the bolt was binding up in its entire travel length. Do you get hit just above the knuckles? I reckon the lever shape is all wrong - it follows the curve of the pistol grip which is quite a steep curve and the bent part of the lever gets me on the bony part of my middle two fingers above/between the knuckles - I would like to straighten the outside of the lever loop - kind of like a big loop marlin - would do if I could do - without messing up the look of this gun - a while after I did the bolt job the rebound firing pin went kaput! common problem apparently - so thats converted to solid striker. I really like this rifle but at the same time its been a dissapointment - I cut my teeth on slick old model 92's and was expecting similar from this action (just bigger) -- brand new and you gotta finish major machining on the bolt !! - 200rounds and it needed a new firing pin !! .... beautiful wood, blueing, - external finish is amazing but then it was a rough, clunky, stiff action....that needed serious gunsmithing to make it function ...?

[indian joe]

Thats what caught my eye also. 545 grains is 2 and a half times a 50BMG load. Big boom. Lol

You guys are not payin attention ! he wrote 54.5 grains of 760 for his load thats a mid range load straight out of the Hornady book

[BK7saum]

You guys are not payin attention ! he wrote 54.5 grains of 760 for his load thats a mid range load straight out of the Hornady book
Oh, we were paying attention. He has since edited his post to put in a decimal to make 545 into 54.5. Don't assume that just because it is correct now that it was correct in his original post.

[indian joe]

we only got bears and moose in the zoo - do camels count? - whatever - I thought the 200 grain Hornady was too fragile - used it on a couple big old boar pigs - one at about thirty yards side on shot right on the solid part of the shoulder - maybe had some mud on him but that bullet blew a chunk about 8 inches across out of him - he went down - but - not enough penetration for my liking - I reckon if it was a bear he woulda ate me unless I got the rest of the magazine into him quick. The 225 grain lead slug would do a big buck roo end for end - mushroom nicely and penetrate - if there was a bear in my garden I would pick the cast slug I think.

[2ndAmendmentNut]

I've got two Browning 1886s, same action as the 71, but chambered in 45-70. When I first got the carbine model I was excited to learn that I could use the "Marlin" section of my load manual for the 45-70. After the very first shot I dropped my loads back down into the "Trapdoor" section of my manual. Both rifles shoot paper patched loads very accurately. RX7 isn't bad on the shoulder even with the traditional curved butt pad.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170620/31412e1659ea2b1d230ef19bb9fa3f19.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170620/2b8fe3892a4465abc45f765a107a2545.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170620/007b9a2729fbf6334f7bb4d5610ed22f.jpg

50yards with the carbine.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170620/ca89e0a81b5d2c8a1d17d9dc43588abf.jpg

100yards with the rifle.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170620/ada2f585b9d1ead8cc822dd13f5f4de4.jpg


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[Blackwater]

Those curved steel rifle or carbine butt plates sure look great, but for a real SHOOTIN' gun, I've always put a good 1" thick recoil pad on my hard kickers. Was "recoil proof" pretty much, until I passed the mid 40's, and haven't gotten any tougher since. For a hunting rifle, I like the Pachmyr "Sporting Clays" Decelerators. They're designed for quick, no-snag mounting to the shoulder, and really tame the recoil a great deal. I know it doesn't look quite "right" on a classy old lever gun, but the repro is not an original, and that would be enough to get me to cut the butt flat and put on a good pad. One can't really concentrate on the hunt if one is afraid of the recoil of his gun, and when I'm hunting, I'm HUNTING, and don't pay any attention to anything else. The gun just comes to my shoulder naturally and quickly.

Just make sure the length of pull is right for you BEFORE cuttign that stock! Those things tend to have some pretty nice walnut, usually!

[smokeywolf]

My shoulder and my retina doesn't tolerate the "warm" loads in the model '86 45-70 anymore. I won't put a recoil pad on it, but still enjoy shooting it and save powder by backing down to the Trapdoor level loads.

I don't get the same jolt from moderate loads in the model 71 that I get from a 45 caliber 405 grn boolit pushed by 50 grains of 3031.