What Rimfire Semi?

[JDBraddy]

Over the years I've owned a Ruger, a High Standard, a Buckmark, a Colt Woodsman, a Hammarlii, and a S&W-41. Of these, my reccomendation is the S&W-41, of all these, It's the one I've loved the best, kept the longest, and shot the most.

Edited December 24, 2008 by JDBraddy

[JeffWard]

+1 on the Buckmark. I bought a TAC SOL flutted aluminum barrel with a removable comp. Guns shoots really well . Has a rail for any red dot. I did have to order a higher FO from TAC Sol for the iron sights to work with the new barrel.

Something like this???

This is my Buckmark URX with a Tac Sol barrel, trigger reduction, and a cheapo Simmons Red-Dot on top...

Shoots pinky-nail groups at 15M...

Now, I just need to get out and shoot some steel with this little laser-gun.

JeffWard

[The Antichrome]

I have a buckmark and I keep getting light strikes, and wont ignite the round, it happens pretty frequently. Has anyone had this problem and knows an easy fix before I have to call Browining?

If the breachface is kept clean, then its prob the ammo.

Just a little gunk and grime will hold the round off too far to ignite.

I'm not a gunsmith, this is just my own experience, YMMV;-)

I shot a Steel Challenge match with a Buckmark this weekend in nut shrinking cold weather.

What started out as nice clean light oil on the slide, became axle grease thick muck (the breechface is a

magnet for this stuff)

This gave me the first FTF's I've ever had with this gun (exception; cheap bulk ammo)

I cleaned the breechface, viola, ran perfect for the rest of the day.

[Remy]

I’ve got a hand-me-down Buckmark that must be 15 years old. It was my brothers before it was stolen, recovered and returned by police then given to me with a missing extractor and deformed grips. A local gunsmith ordered a new extractor for me and I managed to find new grips and a scope rail (I believe it is a B-Square rail) on the internet. This was about 1995 and the internet wasn’t what it is today. The BSA red dot sight was probably $45. I would love to have one of those “Tactical Solution” Buckmarks, but mine just works great. It never misfires, and I understand this is rare for a rimfire. I shoot it the all the time using the Remington green box of 500 or 550. When and if I ever clean it I usually give it a quick once over and don’t even break it down. My only complaint is the small capacity the 10 round mags provide, and I can’t find a holster solution.

[G-ManBart]

Over the years I've owned a Ruger, a High Standard, a Buckmark, a Colt Woodsman, a Hammarlii, and a S&W-41. Of these, my reccomendation is the S&W-41, of all these, It's the one I've loved the best, kept the longest, and shot the most.

Nice mini-blaster! Here's my old guy....4-digit serial number produced in 1958. Note the old style frame without the relief cuts behind the trigger and the serial number on the left side....similar to yours. Since all the early guns like ours came with 7 3/8" barrel with the compensator and false muzzle I'm curious about the barrel on yours. Is that a later barrel or did you have it modified to remove the comp/false muzzle extension?

Edited December 26, 2008 by G-ManBart

[JDBraddy]

Over the years I've owned a Ruger, a High Standard, a Buckmark, a Colt Woodsman, a Hammarlii, and a S&W-41. Of these, my reccomendation is the S&W-41, of all these, It's the one I've loved the best, kept the longest, and shot the most.

Nice mini-blaster! Here's my old guy....4-digit serial number produced in 1958. Note the old style frame without the relief cuts behind the trigger and the serial number on the left side....similar to yours. Since all the early guns like ours came with 7 3/8" barrel with the compensator and false muzzle I'm curious about the barrel on yours. Is that a later barrel or did you have it modified to remove the comp/false muzzle extension?

Mine is a later model, actually a model 46 bought in the 1970's, they where essentially a budget model, the same gun as the 41, except they didn't have the mirror polished bluing and high grade wood.

JDBraddy

[G-ManBart]

Over the years I've owned a Ruger, a High Standard, a Buckmark, a Colt Woodsman, a Hammarlii, and a S&W-41. Of these, my reccomendation is the S&W-41, of all these, It's the one I've loved the best, kept the longest, and shot the most.

Nice mini-blaster! Here's my old guy....4-digit serial number produced in 1958. Note the old style frame without the relief cuts behind the trigger and the serial number on the left side....similar to yours. Since all the early guns like ours came with 7 3/8" barrel with the compensator and false muzzle I'm curious about the barrel on yours. Is that a later barrel or did you have it modified to remove the comp/false muzzle extension?

Mine is a later model, actually a model 46 bought in the 1970's, they where essentially a budget model, the same gun as the 41, except they didn't have the mirror polished bluing and high grade wood.

JDBraddy

Very interesting. I'm pretty familiar with the Model 46, but didn't even notice the lack of checkering on the mag release and the square cut where the front of the slide and frame meet. The early ones had plastic grips (went to wood later) and that had me thrown as well, but wood could be ordered for a slight upcharge. I'm not 100% certain, but yours may be older than you think (which is actually a very good thing from a collectibility standpoint).

They stopped production of the 46 in 1968 after approximately 2,500 units with the 7" barrel. They moved the serial number to the right side somewhere around serial number 27,500 and the last frame without the finger cuts was around 15,300. The other interesting thing on your gun is that it appears to have the "square cut" slide where the slide rails meet the slide breach face. They changed that to a radius in 1966. They ran serial numbers for both 41s and 46s (as well as all other autos) at the same time and didn't always use the frames in exact order so it can be hard to follow....there are examples of serial numbers shipped years after they were produced and the only way to know when they were shipped is to letter them through S&W. All that together and you've definitely got a very cool gun! I've got an interesting article that the S&W Collectors Association published back in 1991 if you're interested....scanned into PDF. bartgolfs@yahoo if you want me to send it to you. R,

[Duane Thomas]

I'd be very interested in that article. I actually did an article for Shotgun News awhile back on the M41, and even after interviewing the folks at S&W, I didn't have all the info in your post.

[G-ManBart]

I'd be very interested in that article. I actually did an article for Shotgun News awhile back on the M41, and even after interviewing the folks at S&W, I didn't have all the info in your post.

PM inbound....

[JDBraddy]

Very interesting. I'm pretty familiar with the Model 46, but didn't even notice the lack of checkering on the mag release and the square cut where the front of the slide and frame meet. The early ones had plastic grips (went to wood later) and that had me thrown as well, but wood could be ordered for a slight upcharge. I'm not 100% certain, but yours may be older than you think (which is actually a very good thing from a collectibility standpoint).

They stopped production of the 46 in 1968 after approximately 2,500 units with the 7" barrel. They moved the serial number to the right side somewhere around serial number 27,500 and the last frame without the finger cuts was around 15,300. The other interesting thing on your gun is that it appears to have the "square cut" slide where the slide rails meet the slide breach face. They changed that to a radius in 1966. They ran serial numbers for both 41s and 46s (as well as all other autos) at the same time and didn't always use the frames in exact order so it can be hard to follow....there are examples of serial numbers shipped years after they were produced and the only way to know when they were shipped is to letter them through S&W. All that together and you've definitely got a very cool gun! I've got an interesting article that the S&W Collectors Association published back in 1991 if you're interested....scanned into PDF. bartgolfs@yahoo if you want me to send it to you. R,

Thanks, I've always been more of a shooter than a collector, but I'd be interested in reading what you've got.

[G-ManBart]

Thanks, I've always been more of a shooter than a collector, but I'd be interested in reading what you've got.

Me too...just sorta got into this while doing some research. Shoot me an e-mail or PM with your e-mail address and I'll send you the article...it's pretty interesting. R,

[slidelock1]

I have a buckmark and I keep getting light strikes, and wont ignite the round, it happens pretty frequently. Has anyone had this problem and knows an easy fix before I have to call Browining?

I have a Browning Buckmark and have put thousands of rounds through it. In my experience the Browning is a little fussy on ammunition. It will USUALLY fire 90% +/- of the Federal Wallyworld stuff. It will fire about 85% if the bulk Remington and Winchester. BUT it will fire EVERY TIME the CCI mini mag hp's. These bullets are more expensive, but when reliability is an absolute requirement these are the bullets to go to! FYI, In a test, I have put over 3k rounds through my Buckmark without cleaning and I did not have one misfire using CCI's. However, I usually clean it every 500 - 1000 rounds. Good luck.