I have a BLR ‘81 in .358win.
It’s an early version with steel receiver. I’m fond of it but the trigger is atrocious! And due to action design, not easily corrected.
The ergonomics of the rifle as I acquired it were “bothersome” if handling it in a deer stand.
I removed the hard rubber 1-1/4” “block” of a recoil pad and fitted a Boyd’s 1/2” rubber recoil pad. Reduced the length of pull 3/4” and reduced weight by 1/2 pound.
The Leupold 2-7x compact was mounted in high rings because the front objective bell was over the rear sight. I swapped the scope with a regular Leupold 2-7x Vari-X II which allowed me to use standard rings.
The rifle handles MUCH better and doesn’t recoil as bad as some claim.
Accuracy wasn’t very good originally. Factory Winchester 200gr Silver Tips shot 3” at 100yds. Trying different bullets and powders didn’t help much.
I finally ran across a Ken Waters article and a similar article in Reloader Magazine. H4895 was the ticket. Also, I seated out a Hornady 200gr Spitzer as long as the magazine allows and still feeds. 48.0gr of H4895 was the final powder charge and gets 2,500fps from the 20” barrel. Accuracy has improved, the more I shoot it. It probably has 250rds since new so likely, the barrel just required “shooting in”.
I acquired it from the widow of my best friend. He really liked it. But, he wasn’t able to shoot it much, but hunted with it. Killed a few deer and pigs hunting in west central Alabama.
It’s really too pretty to take in the woods.
But that horrible trigger puts me off. My Marlin M336C .35 Remington has a superlative trigger and is even more accurate. With my handloads, it’s only 250fps behind the .358. With my 220gr cast bullets, it kills just as good. I’m not afraid to get it scratched as it was “distressed” when I got it.