Browning Nomad Needs Good Home

[stevelyn]

At a secret undisclosed location somewhere in SE Alaska where I'm TDY at the moment, I found a Browning Nomad .22 that wants to follow me home. The bluing is 95% or better with only a little holster wear on either side of the barrel near the muzzle. A bore light didn't reveal any barrel problems. It dosen't appear to have been shot or carried much. The slide rails appear to have little wear. It has an adjustable rear sight, and a target front. It has black plastic grips with sharp, fine checkering and the old "Browning" logo imprinted on them, frame mounted safety and recessed heel magazine release. Other than being in need of a good cleaning (looks like it lived in a closet or in a drawer) it seems to be in very good shape. Adoption fee is $185.00.
Oh yeah..............Did I mention it was made in Belgium?

Questions:

1) Can anyone tell me a little about this pistol? Good? Bad? Ugly? Indifferent?

2) Is the asking price fair?

3) It only has one 10 round magazine. Are a couple of spare mags going to be scarce as unicorns?

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Mods, I realize this belongs in General Handguns. I only placed it here for maximum exposure. Please feel free to move at your discretion

 

[marsh]

Browning Nomad

The Browning Nomad is a very nice utilitarian pistol and the price seems quite reasonable. My wife has one and loves it.

One minus is the lack of a magazine holdopen device. The trigger is not too bad but kinda mushy. Quite accurate.

Magazines a actually scarcer than hen's teeth. I have only found one for sale and it went for one hundred bucks. If you buy it, take good care of the magazine.

HTH

marsh

 

[Standing Wolf]

1) Can anyone tell me a little about this pistol? Good? Bad? Ugly? Indifferent?
2) Is the asking price fair?
3) It only has one 10 round magazine. Are a couple of spare mags going to be scarce as unicorns?

The Nomad was a fine, fine, fine pistol. It was made in Belgium on the same frame as the fabled Medalist and original Challenger. Any pistol is always an unknown quantity, to be sure, but Nomads were very well regarded in their heyday, and are still used as the bases of custom match pistols once in awhile.

The asking price is definitely fair. I'd buy it at that price just for parts, although I'm sure I'd shoot it, too. I'd guess you could scope it and take it to bullseye matches, assuming it has a good trigger.

I paid just under $80 each for a pair of magazines in good condition for my Medalist about a year ago. You'll want to look on E-Bay and the firearms auction sites, and be patient.

If you pick up the Nomad, you can find replacement wooden stocks for it at: http://www.midwestgunworks.com/page/mgwi/PROD/A-02-G-24/PO51850

They're hideously ugly, but cheap, so you won't feel concerned about powering up your Dremel tool to improve their fit.

 

[Randy in Arizona]

Go for it!

I own a couple, also a couple of Challengers and a Medalist.

I saw a nice Challenger at a show last Sunday for $500. I think $185 for a Nomad in good shootable shape is a great price!

Buy It!!!!

 

[Harry Paget Flashman]

I had a Nomad back in 1973 but sold it to buy another gun. It was a fun shooter and I wish I'd have kept it. The only caution about shooting one...at least the one I had, was that the slide was sharp and would slice your thumb knuckle open if you gripped it too high(a self-correcting problem). Also it would fire repeated "auto" bursts if you left any tension on the trigger during recoil.

Buy it.

 

[Randy in Arizona]

I have never had any of mine double on me, but I have gotten cut once using a two handed grip.

I too am looking for a source for good magazines. I got a pair of SK, S&K or something like that back in the early 90's that work fine but don't remember where they came from. :banghead:

 

[Standing Wolf]

I got a pair of SK, S&K or something like that back in the early 90's that work fine but don't remember where they came from.

If they were Triple K magazines, you had some truly serious luck on your side: Triple K magazines are usually a complete waste of money.

 

[Randy in Arizona]

I really don't remember. They came in individual ziploc type plastic bags with adhesive labels on the bags, but no markings on the magazines. They are not as well made as the OEM magazines but they function flawlessly.

I shoulda bought more as soon as I found out they worked well, but I didn't.

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: