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Old 07-30-2022, 03:34 PM
JDHasty JDHasty is offline
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Default I hold the BRNO Model #1 as the consummate ultimate 22 LR Sporter.

The only fault I can find in it’s execution would be the rather rudimentary trigger, of which there are a couple variations on the same basic theme.

I come to that conclusion having a Model 52 sporting rifle, Kimber, Ruger #11165 and other extremely nice executions of the 22 LR sporting rifle theme in my personal collection and ready access to a variety of others, including most every variation of the Model 52 sporting rifle readily available to me in a friend’s collection.

My personal Model 1 came my way after reading an article by Finn Aagaard in the late 1980s in the American Rifleman. I had the opportunity to purchase it when thousands were imported into the country ~1992. I bought a pair and let a good friend have one of them. Both were un fired, smeared with cosmoline and wrapped in waxed paper that took some elbow grease to remove.

Around the same time I acquired a B Nickel Malburg 4-30 scope on a 1958 Riimaki Sako 222 and a good friend had a pair of vertically split, lever detachable scope rings for a BRNO that he gave me.

All I knew about the scope is that it is stunning to look through and apparently no detail was overlooked in its design and construction. It really didn’t impress me as the right scope for the Sako, and even more so it was in my mind perfect for the BRNO Model 1.

A few years back a friend told me that if I wanted to know how highly B Nickel scopes were regarded, take a look at Barnabey’s Auction site and there they will be mounted to Holland & Holland, Rigby etc and that Bernhardt Nickel had left Zeiss to build scopes that met his standards. They were considered in that era to be on par with Schmidt & Bender as the pinnacle.

But I diverge. Back to the BRNO Model 1. What it exudes is Feng shui, the ancient Chinese art of achieving harmony and balance. Pick that rifle up and it absolutely drips from the pours of it. Nothing is out of place, the barrel length and contour is absolutely 100% right with regard to aesthetics and handling. The European Beach stock has about as much figure in as a popsicle stick, but the proportions give the rifle an “energy” that is seldom matched. Overall the execution of this rifle’s form leave nothing, in my estimation, to be desired. Thus my reluctance to restock it with a fancy grade of walnut. I could order a blank and replicate the original, but why bother. There is way to much to take a break and sit and admire about that rifle as it is for me to ever want for more.

So, I’ve been so wrapped up in the BRNO’s sex appeal, nobody knew I was so easily impressed with form that it would take me this long to get around to how my BRNO Model 1 functions. Even though the trigger was heavy, it broke clean and since I had an “expert” tune the trigger I figured that he had gotten about all that could be got out of it safely. Any more and it would fire when the safety was taken off. Still, this rifle shot Mini Mag HP into 1/2 inch groups at 50 yards off a rest. But that four and a half lb trigger! I paid north of a third as much as the rifle cost me, plus postage to have it tuned and there is no alternative to the factory trigger available.

So, I decides to take a gander myself and I strips the trigger from the receiver and the trigger spring is capable of doing the work of Charles Atlas. I don’t have any lighter springs of the correct diameter to experiment with and am rather stuck until I put the barreled action upside down between the leather jaws of my woodworking vise and try give it a try with only the weight of the trigger itself to hold the sear in engagement. Well, that allows the sear, which is on the cocking piece to override the sear surface on the trigger assembly. That’s no good! So, let’s dial in a bit more sear engagement and see if it will hold. It almost holds, but once in fifty tries it slips past. Let’s try just a bit more sear engagement and give it a try. At 200 cycles it has not slipped engagement one time. I measured the pull and it breaks right at 2-1/8 lbs.

Now to solve my spring problem. I want it to replicate the weight of the trigger held in engagement by gravity. So down the street to my buddy’s and we wound an assortment of music wire springs of various gauges on his lathe using the spring winding jig he hand built many moons ago. I never got beyond the lightest gauge spring, it worked perfectly on my first try.

I am now in possession of functionality that is worthy of the form it resides in. I have set and released the safety that cams the striker back and locks it when set and let’s it go under heavy spring pressure when released. Even though it has a running start it hasn’t overridden the sear in hundreds of cycles and the trigger breaks cleanly at just over two pounds.

Nirvana. I can’t wait to get it to the range next Friday and make certain the scope hasn’t been moved.

Last edited by JDHasty; 08-01-2022 at 03:57 PM.
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  #2  
Old 07-31-2022, 09:50 AM
Gerald D. Gerald D. is offline
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The Model 1's with two stage triggers can be adjusted into a nice clean 2.5 lbs easily enough, all three of mine are two stage.
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  #3  
Old 07-31-2022, 04:19 PM
Dean2 Dean2 is offline
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JD

You are entitled to your opinion, and I have lots of different 22s, including a couple of Model 1s. Brnos are nice guns but a Anschutz model 54 sporter ranks quite a ways above the Brno in my opinion. I have 54s, Fornter sporters in RH and LH and 64 actions in RH and LH, all of them I rank above my Brnos. The Anschutz have FAR better triggers than the Brno, and they can all easily be SAFELY tuned down into the ounces range if you want to.

That said I am glad you are so happy with your worked over Brno, they really are nice guns for the money.

Last edited by Dean2; 07-31-2022 at 04:22 PM.
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  #4  
Old 07-31-2022, 09:38 PM
Bill K Bill K is offline
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Over many years, the Bruno's are not a bad firearm, but the Anschutz is far better, and does not need any work done to it to shoot, where as the Brunos always do.
But we all enjoy and spend out time with what we want and like and it is good that we don't all like the very same thing, or there really would be a shortage and higher price on them.
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  #5  
Old 07-31-2022, 11:42 PM
JDHasty JDHasty is offline
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We have a Savage Anschutz 164M and a Savage Anschutz 54 Sporter and I could live w/o the cheek piece or montecarlo comb. The 164M has been my favorite walking around a dog town rifle for decades, so I definitely have an appreciation for what JGA has put before the public as their vision of the consummate rimfire sporting rifle. I may be wrong, but so far as what I have seen: lose the check piece and montecarlo, and you lose the nice trim schnabel fore end in the deal.

I am the guy who said that I would give up some accuracy before I would spend the same available funds to improve my trigger to what I wanted on my small bore hunting rifle silhouette rifle. You can’t spend the same money twice and and if it were me, so long as the rifle shot well enough, I would solve my trigger issues before considering anything else. Perhaps if you expanded the question to include the scope, scope tracking would be the blue ribbon winner in that race. Without both of those solved, you simply cannot win, place or show at a club like Pee ELL.

Hunting Rifle Silhouette is shot standing and “Trigger pull shall not be less than 2 pounds.” I think that experience shooting SB Hunter Rifle silhouette is why I am less enamored with having the lightest trigger as others I shoot alongside. YMMV. So, as things stand today, I’m going with the Model 1 as the consummate rimfire sporter, even though I place such high value on trigger action. It’s trigger is not the best even now that I have it down to a reasonable weight of pull, but it is far from the worst. It is more than acceptable to me for a field rifle.

Bill,
To be 100% honest, I have not come across a single Model 1 that did not shoot very small (x-ring or close to it from the bench) groups from the get go. Now that I have a close to 2 lb pull trigger on ours, my only hang up on the rifle, it it’s entirety, goes away.

Last edited by JDHasty; 08-01-2022 at 03:35 PM.
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  #6  
Old 08-01-2022, 03:25 PM
moorepower moorepower is offline
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Back in the mid 80's a guy at the range had a Kimber 84 sporter that he let me shoot. That was one sweet sporter! Great trigger, beautiful, and a tack driver! My favorite sporter that I own is a Remington 512P that I got from my grandfather. In 1980 I won the Nebraska state high school silhouette championship with. At the time I set the record for turkeys for HS AA division. Not a great trigger, but the sentimental value will never be replaced!
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  #7  
Old 08-01-2022, 04:11 PM
JDHasty JDHasty is offline
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Remington 512P w/tube magazine? 512P is a good solid rifle.

~ 1986 I bought a Ruger 77/22 that I thought pretty highly of, even though it was not capable of the accuracy of a Remington 582 I also owned. About a year later I met a cat name Bill Harvey in Billings who owned a gun shop down on Montana Avenue. He didn't think much of my 77/22 and is who introduced me to the Model 82 Kimber. I have a Kimber Mini Classic that have I won my share of hardware shooting small bore hunting rifle silhouette against some pretty tough hombre's with. I sold the 77/22 to a friend and have mixed feelings about the Ruger. I sure wouldn't pay what they are trading at these days for one.

Last edited by JDHasty; 08-01-2022 at 04:28 PM.
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  #8  
Old 08-01-2022, 05:01 PM
TinMan TinMan is offline
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Always liked accurate 22lr rifles, whether they were target rifles or sporter types. When shooting hunting rifle silhouette, I started out with Remington 541S, but eventually wound up with a Kimber M82 Classic Stainless. Went to the Kimber because it fit me better.
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  #9  
Old 08-01-2022, 05:48 PM
JDHasty JDHasty is offline
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I shot a Kimber, but I was an outlier. The guys taking home the hardware shot mostly 541S and there were a couple shooting Anschutz and me with a Kimber. The competition was tough and there were guys from Pee Ell who were National Champion contenders who shot the local NRA silhouette matches at Tacoma Sportsman as well. The 541T wouldn't make weight and that frustrated a lot of guys who just couldn't rob the family piggy bank for enough to fund a 541S. IN those days the 541S had been discontinued for a few years and the prices reflected it.

Ron Kesselring helped me to understand reworking the 580 series triggers and that was a game changer. You could pick up a 581 or 582 at a pawn shop for anywhere from $25 to $75 and and have something that would get you in the money. That made the competition a lot tougher, there were now quite a few more contenders they had to deal with. Canjars were available, but they were quite expensive and 541 Triggers were extremely scarce.

There were a couple Tasco scopes that tracked very well and IIRC they were about $85.

It was a heck of a lot of fun. I followed the trap circuit and only shot silhouette on week ends that there wasn't a big money trap shoot in the region.
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  #10  
Old 08-01-2022, 06:57 PM
458win 458win is offline
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Find a Mauser 410b patrone and you will forget about the Brno
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