Browning BAR MK4 Hunter Review: Efficient, Refined, Modern

I’ve had a love affair with the Browning BAR going back some 35 years. I recall the first ad I ever saw for the BAR. If memory serves me, it had a photo of an elk bugling in the mountains and the rifle underneath that photo, beaming in all its glory. I had to have one of these rifles. The only catch; I was overseas at the time. However, I must have let it slip a couple hundred times to my wife how badly I needed this rifle and when I got back home, one was waiting for me.

Not to be confused with the machine gun that shares the same moniker, the M1918 BAR. The sporting model BAR was the brainchild of Bruce Browning, grandson of John Moses Browning. Browning and a team of engineers at Fabrique Nationale in Belgium perfected the rifle as a companion to the highly successful Auto 5 shotgun which shares its humpback design. The original sporting rifle Browning BAR was released in 1967 in both standard and magnum calibers.

The BAR has gone through several models and transformations.  The Mk4 is just the latest chapter in the fabled story of the BAR.

The BAR MK 4 Hunter

The MK4 utilizes many of the same design features as the original BAR. It shares a similar gas system; bolt lock up in the barrel design and hinged floorplate which has also carried over from the first model BARs allowing for easy reloading of four, 30-06 cartridges in the magazine which is also removable from the hinged floorplate.

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The MK4 also has some refinements such as the composite trigger guard and an aluminum receiver. The 22” barrel on the test rifle is fluted but these flutes are very shallow and does little for weight reduction, however fluting also gives the barrel more surface area to cool the barrel quicker. 

The MK4 Hunter has retained the same hole spacing for its scope bases for all the BARs since its introduction. The aluminum receiver has steel inserts for the scope mount screws, and all the metal finishes are matte blued.

Stock and Forearm

I appreciate the oil finished Grade 2 Turkish Walnut stock and forearm, but I could do without the European influence on the stock design. That said, the stock fit me well. For shooters needing a bit of fine tuning with stock fit, the MK4 is delivered with shims which fit between the stock and its aluminum alloy receiver. The Inflex 2 recoil pad soaked up what little felt recoil the MK4 produced. The stock is equipped with a flush swivel cup for a sling swivel. The forearm is equipped with both a sling swivel cup and a sling swivel stud.  

Accuracy

I have shot hundreds of BARs over the past 26 years working as a gunsmith and I was curious to see how this new rendition would perform on the range. Having shot so many BARs, I had a pretty good idea which ammo to use so that the rifle would shoot the best. I chose Winchester 150 grain Power Points, Remington Core-lokt 180 grain and Federal 220 grain round nose in an attempt to cover the widest range of bullet weights available in the 30-06.

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Loading up the magazine with three rounds, I chambered a round, got settled in and sent a round down range. The rifle did not disappoint and like the many other BARs I have fired for accuracy, the group was well under two inches at 100 yards.   

Accuracy from the BAR was solid and in line with what you’d expect from a hunting rifle. The Winchester Power Point 150-grain loads turned in the tightest groups at 1.12 inches, while the Remington 180-grain Core-Lokts followed up with respectable 1.83-inch three-shot groups. I limited testing to three-shot strings, allowing the barrel to cool between groups, as it heated up quickly after just a few rounds.

At 7 pounds, 7 ounces, the MK4 sits in a comfortable middle ground. It’s not overly heavy for a day in the field, though there are certainly lighter bolt-action options out there for hunters prioritizing weight savings.

The classic Browning gold trigger broke at 3.5 pounds. While there was noticeable take-up and a bit of creep, the break itself was still clean enough to be predictable. It wasn’t a match-grade trigger by any means, but it performed well within the expectations of a semi-auto hunting rifle and never felt like a limiting factor in the rifle’s overall performance.

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 The MK4 BAR cycled flawlessly, feeding, extracting, and ejecting spent cases with authority, tossing brass a couple feet from the bench with each shot. One quick piece of advice: don’t be in a hurry to pick up that brass. Freshly fired cases come out scorching hot, and from experience, you’ll drop it a lot faster than you grabbed it.

I still have a soft spot for my original BAR. There’s a level of nostalgia and craftsmanship there that brings me right back to long days carrying it through the woods. That said, the MK4 carries that same legacy forward, and given enough time in the field, I have no doubt it would earn the same place in my lineup as the one that started it all.

Browning MK4 BAR Hunter Specifications

• Caliber: .30-06 Springfield
• Barrel:     22 inches
• OAL:     43.375 inches 
• Weight: 7 lbs. 7 oz (empty)
• Stock:             Turkish Walnut
• Sights:             None
• Action: Semi- Auto
• Finish: Matte black 
• Capacity: 4+1 

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