Magnificent Browning 22

S

stagpanther

New member
I was out shooting at a dump today and a local pulls up with a trashcan load of lobster shells to dump--he notices my rifle and we get to talking guns and he tells me "I'm in a big hurry, but let me show you what I just found--some old guy wanted to sell his guns and he had this" and proceeded to pull out a beautiful 1969 vintage Browning Challenger in 22lr (complete with original case) which I assume was made by FN. I honestly couldn't tell that it wasn't a brand-new gun--it was in immaculate condition. He let me examine it and even shoot a few rounds through it--I never knew such a well-made pistol ever even existed! The slide racked as smooth as butter with barely any resistance--and the trigger pull felt to me somewhere between 1 and 2 lbs. It just so happens I spent yesterday shooting 22lr rifles and my field bag had tons of boxes of 22lr ammo--including a few types of pistol match ammo. I begged him to stay and offered him free use of my ammo and targets--but he said he had to go. After shooting this I was left with the feeling the modern 22 pistols I have are travesties. Oh well.

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Challengers are very nice pistols. I get Challengers & Nomads quite often and all the 4” models. I swear they must have made only one in 6”. Have 4” Nomad as we speak, practically same gun as Challenger. Last year got a Medalist and that is also top shelf.
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I'll be keeping my eyes open for one of these--I'm not really a handgun guy (though I have a fair amount of them) so don't know much about them.
 
. I swear they must have made only one in 6”.
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They made at least 2, as I have a 6" Challenger, inherited from my Dad. He bought it in the early 70s, one of the later guns with the plastic grips.

The Nomad, Challenger and Medalist were all essentially different grades of the same gun, differing some details such as sights, grips, and finish, along with, of course, price.
 
The Nomad and Medalist are same series. Challenger & Challenger II are later models.
Magazines same for Nomad & Medalist. There is suppose to be early Challenger that uses same but I never ran across one. Original Browning mags, stamped on floor plate bring bucks. I’ve got several but also have 3k mags than are less than half and they are new.
So Medalist highest on Nomad scale. I really don’t know reasoning for Challenger and it’s
replacement with II series. The Nomad series , Hi-Stanard and Colt Woodsman are about the same quality back in the day. Browning went to Buckmark which isnt near the gun of these older models. In other words the Challengers and earlier models are legacy quality firearms.
 
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