I recently picked a Safari in 338. Date of manufacture is 1964, so it’s pre-salt wood but not super-early. It’s kind of a beater, and it’s been glass-bedded from the tang to the barrel recoil lug, so it’s not original in any respect. I know my way around the 98 Mauser and the Model 70, but not the Browning Safari. My questions concern a number of features that don’t seem to be standard, including the fact that it doesn’t seem to ever have had iron sights mounted on it--there is no rear sight and no screw holes where a rear sight would have been. There’s also no front sight—the blue at the muzzle seems original, so it doesn’t look like Bubba pried the factory front sight off of it and touched it up with cold blue. I'm pretty sure that the barrel is 24". Is it possible that this rifle once had a 26" barrel and someone shortened it? I ask that because it weighs just under 9 pounds with a one-piece steel Redfield base, steel rings, and a fixed 4x Leupold, which strikes me as a little bit light. It also has a checkered grip cap, which I haven’t seen on pictures of any other Safari. You can't see it very well in these pics, but the screw head is engraved in much the same manner as the crossbolts and it looks like someone may have tried to line up the slot with the barrel. My final question concerns the forward recoil-lug screw. How tight should this thing be? On a Model 70, conventional wisdom says to take it out and leave it out, but I'm not sure that's wise on a rifle that kicks as hard as this one does. Thoughts? Thanks, Okie John
John, I have a 338 safari also. 62 rifle with same forend checkering pattern as yours. The front screw, I leave mine in tightened to about 25 inch pounds. Shoots nice groups and since its a hunting rifle I don't worry about trying to tweak another .5" out of it. You can, however, experiment. I know my way around the 98 Mauser and the Model 70, but not the Browning Safari. My questions concern a number of features that don’t seem to be standard, including the fact that it doesn’t seem to ever have had iron sights mounted on it--there is no rear sight and no screw holes where a rear sight would have been. There’s also no front sight—the blue at the muzzle seems original, so it doesn’t look like Bubba pried the factory front sight off of it and touched it up with cold blue. I'm pretty sure that the barrel is 24". Is it possible that this rifle once had a 26" barrel and someone shortened it? I ask that because it weighs just under 9 pounds with a one-piece steel Redfield base, steel rings, and a fixed 4x Leupold, which strikes me as a little bit light. It also has a checkered grip cap, which I haven’t seen on pictures of any other Safari. You can't see it very well in these pics, but the screw head is engraved in much the same manner as the crossbolts and it looks like someone may have tried to line up the slot with the barrel. My final question concerns the forward recoil-lug screw. How tight should this thing be? On a Model 70, conventional wisdom says to take it out and leave it out, but I'm not sure that's wise on a rifle that kicks as hard as this one does. Thoughts? Thanks, Okie John[/QUOTE]
