Hi there, New to the forum. I just bought my first BLR '81 Takedown in .358 win. Although it doesn't have the sling mounts installed, a set was provided with it. It seems the rear mount is a fairly straight forward (caution required) install but the forward barrel sling mount seems to have small self tapers supplied where it seems to me to need machine screws. Am I missing something? I can work most stuff out on my own but this one has me a little perplexed. Has anyone installed this system? Does it affect barrel harmonics at all? Thanks in advance!
I have searched the internet and found many a thread regarding installing sling swivel sets such as Uncle Mikes as a lot of the BLR's come without sling swivels. I yet may still go down this road. I haven't found a single thread regarding this suppled set.
Well, I just looked at the Browning website at the straight-grip (called "Lightweight '81") BLRs and sure enough, both the takedown and the regular one say no sling swivel studs. I've only ever been interested in the pistol grip models, so I never noticed. Looks fairly straightforward to install them, though that front barrel band replacement(?) does look different. Be interesting to see pics of that one when you get it put on.
It looks simple but the screws for the barrel mount are self tappers and there isn't anywhere or anything to screw these in to when mounted on the barrel. I am thinking I might need to machine a spacer as the mount has quite a gap between the two halves when situated. I will take a photo later to show what I mean. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Really, those are Browning mounts that came with the gun? If so, I believe they could have done so much better
Indeed. One almost gets the idea that they're not the right size for that rifle. A thought/question/musing: Last time I saw two Lightweightweight '81 rifles side by side, one regular and one takedown, the barrel on the takedown model was just a bit heavier/thicker than the non-takedown model's. I don't know whether that was a chambering difference or a TD vs non-TD difference. I wonder whether that's the issue here...?
I found the issue and why the mount provided won't work on the Takedown. If you go to the website or you look at the photo provided below, you will see the BLR Lightweight (non takedown) has a small cylindrical nub at the front of the fore arm. That's where the sling mount provided would go. Not going to work on my rifle. Time to order a set online.
