Talk me out of a Buckmark

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nico

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I fired a friend's 22/45 Mark III last week and it made me want a .22 autopistol. From what I've seen (mainly the price and trigger), I think I'd rather have a Buckmark than the Mark III. Does anybody have any reasons why I shouldn't pick one up? What's the functional (other than barrel shape) difference between the Buckmark Standard and Camper? About how much should I expect to pay for one (I figure around $250 for the Camper based on MSRP)?


Is there some glaring reason to buy the Mark III instead? I'm not going to modify the gun, and by the time I'd consider modifications, I'd be able to buy a Mark III anyway.
 
no reason to buy a MKIII, but every reason to buy a MKII. With the money you'll save, you can afford parts to make the trigger great, and lots of ammo :D
 
I've seen their website and have pretty much decided I want either the Camper or Standard. The thing is, I don't understand why the Camper has an MSRP that's $32 less than the Standard? Is there some advantage to the flat sided barrel that I'm missing?

About the Mark II; if I bought one, it'd most likely be the 22/45, but I didn't like how narrow the grip on my friend's gun was and I'm not a fan of the Ruger billboard on such a small gun (it's less noticeable on my rifle). Everything I've read about the Buckmark says it has better ergonomics, although I want to handle both before I buy.
 
The slab-side barrel requires extra machining and finish work, hence the higher price. It will be less front-heavy than the Camper, if that matters to you. The Standard is prettier, too. :)

There may be reasons to choose this or that .22 auto-pistol over a Buckmark, but there aren't any reasons not get a Buckmark.
 
If you happen to have a 1911,
Click to expand...
if only. . . :( I don't have the cash to feed a 1911 right now, but I've decided I'm going to buy myself a good one (TRP or better) when I get done with school (in 4 long years. . .).
 
Having seen the thread topic, my question is "Why?" I have a 22/45 (Mk. II generation), and it is a good plinker/target pistol, but I have no reason to suspect the Browning is not an excellent gun in its own right.

If you like it, and you want one, and you can afford it, then by all means, buy one. No need to justify things to us; we're all in favor of buying more guns. :D
 
The only difference I can tell is that the Standard has the little wings on the back of the slide that make it easier to cock. Not essential, but I kinda wish my Camper had them.
 
I have a Buckmark and think's one of the best semi-auto .22's out there. You won't hear me talk you out it. I like the feel, the action is smooth and it's accurate. I've taken a lot of squirrels, a few rabbits and a lot of tin cans with this thing. Fun gun! ;)


051334m.jpg
 
By all means try both, but you will love the BM Standard.
Great "feel"
Great trigger
Great accuracy
Great reliability (just be sure to use a tiny drop of Loctite on the top screws)
 
I have a Buckmark Classic Plus and it's a remarkable beautiful and sweet shooting .22. Accurate, reliable, gorgeous to look at, and feels superb in the hand... the grips on the Classic Plus are really fine indeed! Looks like they're calling it the "FLD Plus with Rosewood grips" now...

http://www.browning.com/products/catalog/firearms/detail.asp?value=006B&cat_id=051&type_id=398

I looked closely at the Ruger MkII's when I bought the Buckmark and while the Rugers are certainly good pistols, I found the Buckmark to feel a lot better in my hand and preferred the looks as well. Either will do the job well, though.
 
Being a diehard Ruger fan, I must admit, the Brownings are much more pleasing to the eye (save the MKIII Hunter of course...)
 
I now have a Ruger MKIII bull barrel (only because that's the only one that is "compliant" in MA) and love it. It's very accurate and has never malfunctioned in any way. I have only 1000 or so rounds through it at this point, but I'm very happy with the way it functions. I would have preferred the 45 grip angle, but it's not available here yet.

When I was younger, my father bought two Buckmarks. We had nothing but feeding and jamming problems with them. They both got traded off after a few months.

Recently, I bought a NIB Buckmark from an elderly man in town. I had the same issues with that one that we had with the two my father owned. I tried new magazines, but it still didn't work.

All three of these were older Buckmarks, so they may have improved their reliability. I must admit that I do prefer the looks and feel of the Buckmark over the Ruger. I called Browning about the feeding problems, and they told me that Buckmarks are only reliable with copper coated bullets, which is what I was shooting. They said I could send the pistol back to them and they could check it out for me. I actually ended up trading it off and got the Ruger instead.

Like I mentioned, these were all older Buckmarks. If they have improved their reliabity (which it sounds like they have from the previous posts), just pick the one which feels better to you. Accuracy with the Brownings I've had, especially the last one, was just as good as my Ruger MKIII.
 
I love my Buckmark Camper but I can't keep the rear of the slide from cracking. I'm not sure if I want to send it back again or just keep shooting it that way. Other than that it is a nice gun.
 
I think Logistar meant he can't keep the rear sight mount base from cracking and not the slide.

I have a Buckmark Camper mfg in 2000 so things may have changed but I don't think so. The rear sight mount base is the long piece that runs from the chamber end of the barrel to a post at the rear of the pistol. It provides the base for the rear sight and contains the slide. It is held in place by two conical head machine screws. a short one in the front and a long one in the rear. In my Camper, the sight base is made of plastic, on other Buckmarks it is made of alloy. The short front screw can not be overtightened because the depth of the hole is limited, however the rear screw can be overtightened and the shape of the screw head makes cracking the sight base very easy, even if you're being careful. Getting a replacement from Browning was a hassle time-wise. So I went ahead and ordered a sight base to have on hand if it cracked again. Surprise numbr one - the sight base I got was made of alloy. Surprise number two - the rear sights from the original Camper sight base didn't fit. Sights that fit the alloy base were another $50 last time I looked. I have not yet ordered the sites for the alloy base because you can still safely use the gun even with the sight base cracked - the crack comes from overtightening the rear screw and not any real stress of firing the pistol. When I install the sight base after cleaning, I use locktite on the screws because they do tend to loosen up during shooting. I tighten the rear screw until the crack starts to widen and then back off a bit. If you like to put a red dot scope on your pistols - Tactical Solutions makes an excellent replacement sight base for the Buckmark.

I would add that the problems with the sight base are annoying and if I'd known about this difference I probably would've gone ahead and gotten a Standard if the Standard had the alloy sight base. Oh well, aside from this, I really like my Buckmark and have no real regrets. It is an excellent shooter.
 
I had a Buckmark when I was a teen. Great pistol for plinking. And now there are more versions that are tack drivers if you get into any sort of Bullseye competition.

But, I have two Mark II's now. One is a standard model. The other a Stainless Bull Barrel Target model with the Hogue finger groove grips. http://www.ruger.com/Firearms/FAProdView?model=186&return=Y
And a little polish on the sear and hammer and trigger.. And a Trapper spring kit.

Now it's a very nice open sighted Bullseye pistol

Blemished Volquartsen Trigger -$6
Trapper spring kit -$12
Hogue finger groove target grips -20
Being able to shoot a 93 in slow fire at 25 yards -Priceless. (Sure wish I could do it more often. The pistol is very capable.

Now, out of the box, the Buckmark might have a better trigger than the Ruger. but there aren't any parts available for the Buckmark. After market target grips? Nope. Trigger spring kits? Nope. And if you put a rail on top for a Red Dot or scope, keep your allen wrench handy to keep tightening the screws to the frame. I think for the money a used MarkII is the most cost effective rimfire pistol with options down the road. The Mark III has some nice features, and the 22/45 is also nice.

-Steve
 
When I install the sight base after cleaning, I use locktite on the screws because they do tend to loosen up during shooting.
Click to expand...

This is the problem I'm having with my Buck Mark. And I don't want to have to use some thread-locking compound every time I put the gun back together.

It ran fine for years without any problem, until the screws started coming loose during shooting.

When I used to shoot 100 or so rounds a session, this was never an issue. But when I started shooting 250 - 300+ rounds a session, the screws would start to come loose. This would cause my groups to open up. I'm not sure what those lock-washers are doing.

It made me realize that the Buck Mark has one fundamental design flaw: the front sight and rear sight are not on the same assembly.

It could be possible to change your point-of-aim every time you re-assemble the pistol, depending on how tight and how well the rear-sight/sight-base assembly fits back together. Most other pistols have the front and rear sights on the same assembly (the slide), so this is not an issue.
 
For all you Buckmark owners out there, I have serious question:

Is it safe (non injurious to the pistol) to dry fire the Buckmark?

I know that the Rugers (Marks I, II, and III) are all completely tolerant of dry firing, as the firing pin never reaches the breech face on the barrel. I was just wondering if this is the case on the Browning.
 
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