R1 Comfortech or Browning BAR

**Deerslayer** · 02-13-2006, 11:00 PM

Well,
What's everyones opinion? Going to purchase new rifle but not sure which to get. Give me the pros and cons. Would especially like to hear from someone who owns both brands. Looking in 300 win mag/short mag area.
I appreciate everyones input!!!

**Deerslayer** · 02-13-2006, 11:02 PM

I forgot to add gun to be used for long range hogs/ whitetail in Louisiana/Mississippi and elk hunts in Colorado/New Mexico etc.

**Ivanab** · 02-14-2006, 08:16 AM

"Well,
What's everyones opinion? Going to purchase new rifle but not sure which to get. Give me the pros and cons. Would especially like to hear from someone who owns both brands. Looking in 300 win mag/short mag area.
I appreciate everyones input!!

I have both and like the R-1 much better. It handles better and is lighter. The 300mag does kick a little but I still love it.

**DreamHuntz** · 02-14-2006, 08:35 PM

I am personally very satisfied with my R-1 in chambered in .308 win. i guess If I had it to do all over again (deciding which rifle to pick) I'd still buy the benelli R-1 over the new Browning BAR. My father has bought and traded several hundred rifles over the last 45 years. He has had a gun cabinet full of Browning BAR's and says he never had one worth keeping around and never found one that performed up to his expectations. Up until I bought my R-1 last July or August he was strictly a bolt action die-hard. We played with my rifle at the range a few times and he eventually purchased a Remington 7400 in .270 caliber at a huge discount from walmart for only $325.00. He is an excellent kitchen table gunsmith and did some trigger work on his Remington. (a big plus in the Remington corner) since the Benelli's main complaint is the stiff trigger. My rifle's trigger tested out at about 7 1/2 pounds of pull when we tested it. I would recommend that you check the Browning trigger and see how many pound pull it is set at from the factory and also does it allow for any adjustment? While my R-1's trigger has a heavier pull than my Dads Remington 7400 my Benelli is much smoother and crisper feeling.Unfortunatly the Benelli does not have any real adjustability because of the chromed mating surface.We both shoot about 1" groups at 100 yards. The Benelli will have a better resale value if you are not satisfied...BAR's are a dime a dozen and you see many used Brownings on gun shop racks and in the news paper.

**Jim630** · 02-15-2006, 11:04 PM

I have both and like the R-1 much better. It handles better and is lighter. The 300mag does kick a little but I still love it.

Ivanab, is your BAR the new style, similar to the R1, or a BAR prior to that?

[ 02-15-2006, 10:04 PM: Message edited by: Jim630 ]

**Kiwi** · 04-17-2007, 08:16 AM

I have a browning bar short track 308 (new model) and a 300 mag R1 with comfortec stock. Both rifles are new 07 models and i am very disapointed with the R1. i read some good write ups on the R1 and was keen to get my hands on one, then the trouble started. First the magazine would only take 2 rounds, but with 3 in the magazine was almost impossible to fit in, so tried locking the bolt back then fitting the mag but then the bolt wouldnt slide forward so out with the pliares and 5 minutes later i got that working. it looked like the mag was not pressed at the factory properly and was jamimg the thrid round. But the mag was still hard to fit with 3 rounds in it and it did say 3 rounds on the mag, anyway i got over that. Now it was time to test this thing out on a trip! But on the return trip i noticed that the butt pad had fallen off while walking through some alpine scrub, so when i got the thing home, i found out that there were no screws that hold the pad to the end of the stock it was just cliped in place and when i found out that the pad alone was worth $300 New Zealend dollars to replace i was starting to lose interest in this rifle. All of the pads in the comfortech stock look to soft and are all just pressed in there not screwed. Then when cleaning the rifle (no shots had been fierd through it just wet new zealand conditions) found that there were sticks and small leves behind the bolt due to the large opening along the side of the riciver brownings also have this problem but there is very little opening on a browning compared to the R1. Then more loading problems when the bolt was pulled back with 3 rounds in the mag the spring in the mag wouldnt lift the back of the 3rd shell up to catch the bolt as it closed. At this point the R1 had fired 18 rounds and only 2 weeks old! At $3300.00 to the brownings $2200.00 N Z prices. I expected better. The short track is a graet bush rifle that handels better then the BAR safaries so am looking at the long track 300 mag now but am not to sure how durable the action will be with the reciver being all alloy?

**Kiwi** · 04-17-2007, 08:18 AM

I have a browning bar short track 308 (new model) and a 300 mag R1 with comfortec stock. Both rifles are new 07 models and i am very disapointed with the R1. i read some good write ups on the R1 and was keen to get my hands on one, then the trouble started. First the magazine would only take 2 rounds, but with 3 in the magazine was almost impossible to fit in, so tried locking the bolt back then fitting the mag but then the bolt wouldnt slide forward so out with the pliares and 5 minutes later i got that working. it looked like the mag was not pressed at the factory properly and was jamimg the thrid round. But the mag was still hard to fit with 3 rounds in it and it did say 3 rounds on the mag, anyway i got over that. Now it was time to test this thing out on a trip! But on the return trip i noticed that the butt pad had fallen off while walking through some alpine scrub, so when i got the thing home, i found out that there were no screws that hold the pad to the end of the stock it was just cliped in place and when i found out that the pad alone was worth $300 New Zealend dollars to replace i was starting to lose interest in this rifle. All of the pads in the comfortech stock look to soft and are all just pressed in there not screwed. Then when cleaning the rifle (no shots had been fierd through it just wet new zealand conditions) found that there were sticks and small leves behind the bolt due to the large opening along the side of the riciver brownings also have this problem but there is very little opening on a browning compared to the R1. Then more loading problems when the bolt was pulled back with 3 rounds in the mag the spring in the mag wouldnt lift the back of the 3rd shell up to catch the bolt as it closed. At this point the R1 had fired 18 rounds and only 2 weeks old! At $3300.00 to the brownings $2200.00 N Z prices. I expected better. The short track is a graet bush rifle that handels better then the BAR safaries so am looking at the long track 300 mag now but am not to sure how durable the action will be with the recever being all alloy?

**TMAC** · 04-18-2007, 01:30 PM

I used to own a Browning BAR in 7mm magnum, used it for WI whitetail hunting. I got rid of it because it was a bit heavy to make drives with or even sit with all day, opted for a Remington BDL in 30.06 and just love it. I never had any accuracy problems or any general mechanical problems with the Browning, it just was a bit too big for my likeing. One other thing is the Browning had the BOSS system, a bunch a boloney if you ask me and I dont like ported barrels too much, easy on the recoil but **** on the ears and in my opinion not worth the extra money.