Quick score: A+
Fit and Finish: It's a Browning, and it has the finish you'd expect from a Browning, the bluing is deep and flawless and the wood was highly grained, matching,and polished to a mirrored finished. There is no awkward noises to this rifle, the fit is great, although I do wish the factory would have put on sling swivels.
Ease of use: This rifle is not a traditional lever action, so when you actuate the lever it kind of trips you out at first. There is a decent amount of tension at the start and once it kicks the cartridge out it comes flying back at you at about twice the speed and 1/4 of the pressure. This is due of course to the fact that you're not cycling a round from the tube like a traditional lever action. When you spit that round out the rack and pinion lever has about zero tension and that puppy flies back. Once you're used to it, you hardly notice it.
The magazine fits great, I've never had a feed issue and there isn't much play at all. The trigger actually stays with the lever when you cock it, once again it takes a bit of getting used to since we're all used to traditional levers. The trigger pull is even and moderate, not worthy of praise nore reprimand. The Safety is great, it has the traditional 1 click off the hammer and then you can tilt the hinged thumbtab up to lock it under the hammer, very nice, I love it, and it's really quick to undo.
Accuracy: It's a 1 MOA rifle for me shooting Winchester Supreme Ballistic Silvertips in 180 grain and topped with a Leupold VXI 3-9 x40. It's great off hand shooter, the gun is light as all get out, and the recoil is nothing to worry about ( I can see the perfect round for this gun as a 7mm-08) even in 300WSM. I let my buddies shoot at some 5 inch balloons I had set up at 200 yards and they were cracking them offhand as well but a few did say it kicked like a mule. I don't think it kicks that bad myself though, certainly not anywhere near a 300 Wthby.
In the field: Now this is what this gun was bought for and meant for. It is great, it exceeded my expectations since I bought it as a stalk gun/bear gun. It's light and has that "flickability" you expect from a traditional 30-30 type of lever action. And what I mean by flickability is going through brush, up a slippery hill, over or through a fence. I don't even put a sling on it, although I keep a homemade one in my pocket in case I have to drag a deer out, it's a little parachute cord sling I made for it.
The follow up shots are too easy, and quite frankly have made me shoot a few extra bullets that were unneeded just because I could and was caught up in the moment (I'm working on that though, lol). If you miss your old 30-30 that you cut your teeth in, or do a lot of stalking, you would like this rifle.
Negative criticism: For whatever reason, the cheaper SuperX 180 grain brass rounds are hard to eject. I never have this problem with the silvertips, but the brass ones sure want to stick to the chamber. I certainly wouldn't use them in the field because of that reason, but I've never been a fan of Winchesters cheaper SuperX ammo in any of my rifles, so I don't worry about it and haven't researched why that is.
CONCLUSION: If you miss your old Lever action but don't want to go back to the 30-30 days or the old straight cartridges like a 45-70, 450, or a 444 then this is the gun for you. I don't know if I would want it in a long action though, but with the short action you can cock it without having to move your face off the stock.
Browning BLR (lever action), 300 WSM
