New Buckmark, or the sheer fun of shooting. 22!!

[JimLob65]

Took my two sons, ages 19 & 26, to a family members cabin out in the woods last weekend and packed a bunch of pistols, including several rather expensive SIGs and high end Beretta 92s in 9mm, my P220 in 10mm, and two Ruger Chargers and two Buckmarks. The. 22s were almost an afterthought.

What do you think they shot the most of?? The. 22s of course! Ran me out of ammo twice! Great excuse to buy another Buckmark though, right?!



Picked up this Buckmark Plus Lite Competition, much different than my other ones, shorter aluminum sleeved barrel and weighing 10 ounces less. It was supposed to come with an extra magazine but didn't. Hopefully Brownings CS will come through for me. The extra mag and a $25 rebate made it a much more attractive pistol to buy. I wasn't sold on the red frame at first, preferring the blue a bit more. However it has grown on me, and the blue wasn't locally available anyhow.

[Whirlwind06]

I have a S&W 22A-1 it's a okay shooter. Have been looking at the new Victory looks like a good gun for the price.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[OlongJohnson]

The problem with Buck Marks is what you're just starting to experience. They multiply. Leave it alone in the safe with the others, and before you know it, you're adding another. And another. However, they do benefit greatly from some cleanup of internal burrs and other issues.

As always, I am not a licensed gunsmith, nor a gunsmith instructor. I do have a couple decades of experience making things with metal and making machines work better. Below is a mostly-complete list of things I have found beneficial when getting a new-to-me Buck Mark up and running. If you have any doubt whatsoever about your ability to successfully and safely complete any task mentioned, seek qualified help. The list of tasks below is not, nor is it intended to be, a "How To" lesson. Anything you do to any mechanical device is strictly at your own risk and you are fully liable for any consequences.

• The safety lever where it rubs against the inside of the frame is likely to have the stamping burr left on the part in a way that scrapes hell out of the inside of the frame, with the associated heavy resistance to movement. But all the sheet metal action parts can be cleaned up.
• Polishing the ramp of the mag catch and the corner of the magazines that slide up the ramp to push it out of the way makes insertion much, much easier and smoother. No more having to "slam" them in.
• Shim the trigger to minimize side play, and it feels a lot better.
• Set firing pin length so it doesn't hit the breech face when dry fired. Repair any damage that is present with the Menck swaging tool, if you can find one. A good gunsmith should have one if you can't.
• Check the seating surfaces of the barrel on the frame for machining burrs; clean them up if any are found. Solvent clean and replace the copper anti-seize on the barrel screw with zinc dust petrolatum to ensure bimetallic corrosion doesn't affect the 7075 frame/stainless screw couple.
• Check the hammer and sear for any burrs or damage causing a hitch in the release. Sometimes they get dropped before assembly and still put together even with such damage.
• Clean up roughness and burrs from the sliding surfaces inside the slide so they don't wear the frame.
• If your top strap/rear sight base is the metal version, smooth the casting roughness from the underside so it doesn't act like an emery board and grind away at the top of the plastic firing pin housing.
• Check the crown, I've seen some bad ones. Brownell's and PTG sell appropriate crowning tools if you want to take on corrections yourself.

There are lots of people in the RFC community who say things like, "Just put a couple bricks of HV ammo through it and it'll smooth out." To me, that's not clear thinking. Why would you use gun parts that are in totally unknown condition to attempt to smooth out other gun parts that are in totally unknown condition and think you'll arrive where you want to be? What basis do you have for thinking you're not going to create excess, totally unnecessary wear on some of the parts before the other part gets worn smooth? Put some focus and intelligent control on it, and put all the parts into the right condition out of the box, using tools designed for such tasks. You can make one of these things brand new operate more smoothly and nicer, as well as having reduced wear and longer service life potential, than a "shoot it and it'll smooth out" gun will ever be. Again, if you have any doubt whatsoever about your ability to successfully and safely complete any task mentioned, seek qualified help.

Tools I use: A set of fine (India) and extra-fine (Arkansas) stones (Norton brand is good), some baby oil and a 10x loupe (helpful for inspecting hammer/sear edges and the crown). NO DREMEL or other rotary tool has any utility here. Also, you'll need good eyes generally. Wear your close-up glasses if that applies to you.

Notice nothing above advocates altering sear or hammer engagement surfaces beyond repair of prior damage, changing or modifying any springs, or installing any sear springs backward. The latter, in particular, I would caution against.

And have fun!

[BillSWPA]

Took my two sons, ages 19 & 26, to a family members cabin out in the woods last weekend and packed a bunch of pistols, including several rather expensive SIGs and high end Beretta 92s in 9mm, my P220 in 10mm, and two Ruger Chargers and two Buckmarks. The. 22s were almost an afterthought.

What do you think they shot the most of?? The. 22s of course! Ran me out of ammo twice! Great excuse to buy another Buckmark though, right?!



Picked up this Buckmark Plus Lite Competition, much different than my other ones, shorter aluminum sleeved barrel and weighing 10 ounces less. It was supposed to come with an extra magazine but didn't. Hopefully Brownings CS will come through for me. The extra mag and a $25 rebate made it a much more attractive pistol to buy. I wasn't sold on the red frame at first, preferring the blue a bit more. However it has grown on me, and the blue wasn't locally available anyhow.

How does the size of the grip on the Plus Lite Competition compare to the standard model?

My 12 year old daughter loves shooting my standard model, but the trigger reach is a bit long for her hand.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JimLob65]

[QUOTE=BillSWPA;917713]How does the size of the grip on the Plus Lite Competition compare to the standard model?

My 12 year old daughter loves shooting my standard model, but the trigger reach is a bit long for her hand.

I don't own a 'standard' Buckmark so I can't answer your question directly. My other two Buckmarks are a Hunter, with a fairly fat wooden grip, and a URX Bullseye with a fairly sizeable rubber grip. This grip is pretty thin in comparison.

[41magfan]

I Have been looking at the new Victory looks like a good gun for the price.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

I think they're good guns for the money and they shoot as well as any field grade .22 auto I've ever owned. I've got less than $400 total in the gun & RD sight and I've done nothing to it but shoot it. Plinking steel plates at 100 yards (with any .22 handgun) is good therapy.

[OlongJohnson]

How does the size of the grip on the Plus Lite Competition compare to the standard model?

My 12 year old daughter loves shooting my standard model, but the trigger reach is a bit long for her hand.

I don't own a 'standard' Buckmark so I can't answer your question directly. My other two Buckmarks are a Hunter, with a fairly fat wooden grip, and a URX Bullseye with a fairly sizeable rubber grip. This grip is pretty thin in comparison.

The URX frame is smaller with a shorter reach to the trigger. It's the same size as the "Challenge" frames, so the panels from the Rosewood model from 2018 are interchangeable. Or just get a Rosewood Challenge. It's pretty. Girls young and old like it and find it less intimidating, even attractive, because of the prettiness. And the old-school "pencil" barrel is cool. Similar light weight to the aluminum.

https://www.browning.com/products/fi...-rosewood.html

The older, fully-checkered light-toned wood panels on the early Challenge models are actually pretty thick; I'll probably replace them with a URX grip when I get around to it. The URX grip is remarkable for the range of hands it fits comfortably and is available from a variety of sellers for ~$35. Perhaps because of how good it is, or because of the dearth of good aftermarket grips for the URX frame, there doesn't seem to be much of a discount for used ones.

Also, Academy has house-spec versions of the BM in black and stainless that are URX frames. The black one goes on sale for $299 on occasion; during last year's rebate, a buddy of mine picked one up very affordably.

As frequently mentioned, I have big hands. My "new fave" Buck Mark grips are Hogue checkered G10 (same as Tactical Solutions for less money, as far as I can tell) after I wet-sand in a thumb relief for the safety and taper the forward part of the left side panel so my thumbs-forward grip will work there. But they fit the full-size/standard frame. The rubber molded panels shown on the red gun in this thread (the standard frame size - the Hunter grips would swap on perfectly) are actually quite decent, and about as slim as any grips for the full-size frame.

[BillSWPA]

Thanks for the information. I am going to have to take a look at the current offerings. If I can find one with a smaller grip frame, preferably no finger grooves, light weight, and fiber optic front sight, that would be perfect for her.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[okie john]

My father recently gave me the Clark Custom Ruger Mk II pistol that he had built back in the early 80's when we were both shooting bullseye. It's going to start taking grouse and other small game this fall.

22 pistols rock.


Okie John

[Grouse870]

I absolutely love .22s and have spent a crazy amount on a few. I’m partial to rugers but that buck mark looks very nice. Always more room in the safe for another .22