Cool new find- Old Browning .22 takedown rifle

Brawny

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Sep 21, 2011
214
0
Nevada
I was helping clean out my Grandpa's garage today (for the first time in 20 years
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), and we uncovered a safe way in the back that he had completely forgotten about. I drilled out the lock, and we opened it to find an old crossbow and a couple even older guns. One was a pre '64 model 70 in 30-06, but the other was a .22lr takedown rifle marked "fabrique nationale d'armes de guerre herstal belgique" with "Browning's patent depose" underneath that. After a bit of research I thought it was just a regular Browning SA-22, until I read that FN produced them from 1914-1955. I also found that only the earlier ones fed from the top of the stock instead of the side. If anyone knows more about this cool little gun please share.

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Feed hole on top of stock:
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Re: Cool new find- Old Browning .22 takedown rifle

You've got a real beauty there. Clean it sparingly, cherish it and shoot the hell out of it ! One of John Browning's most elegant designs !
 
Re: Cool new find- Old Browning .22 takedown rifle

I'm not sure, just found it yesterday and haven't taken it to the range yet. I'm thinking of picking up a 500 box and taking my brother plinking this weekend. I will report my finding then
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. I really can't wait to see how she does.
 
Re: Cool new find- Old Browning .22 takedown rifle

Well I took it out shooting today, and it shot much better than I was expecting. I don't have the magazine tube, so I had to go single shot, but it wasn't bad. It was keeping up with my 10/22 accuracy wise, but I was only shooting clays out to 100 yards. Next time I'll really try to push it, but the heat today (and the fact I forgot the beer) made me call it quits a bit earlier than I had hoped. The gun is so light it almost feels like a red ryder lol. All in all, this is a great little .22 to add to my collection, and something I can look forward to passing on to my kids in the future.

P.S. If anyone by chance knows where I can pick up a magazine tube for this PLEASE let me know!
 
Re: Cool new find- Old Browning .22 takedown rifle

Good shooting on your new find. Have you checked with Numrich Arms for the feed tube? Another thing to try is a search on Yahoo or Google. It may kick out 5 or 10 pages of wrong stuff. But I have gotten lucky doing that before.

Good luck.
 
Re: Cool new find- Old Browning .22 takedown rifle

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Victor N TN</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Good shooting on your new find. Have you checked with Numrich Arms for the feed tube? Another thing to try is a search on Yahoo or Google. It may kick out 5 or 10 pages of wrong stuff. But I have gotten lucky doing that before.

Good luck.</div></div>
Thank you for the suggestion, I checked Numrich and it was out of stock, but I sent them an email to see if they will be getting any more. Let's hope!
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: rockdog</div><div class="ubbcode-body">About the feed tube ,try Browning .
It is a great rifle .
Also forgot to say ,visit rimfirecentral.com ,they have a browning thread . You will find more info than you can use !</div></div>
Yeah I've spent hours browsing RC, lots of cool info on that site. I'll find that mag tube somewhere eventually, and then that gun will be a blast!