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Browning SA-22

• moderate
• Shop tier 2
• medium confidence
• Rimfire Rifle
• rimfire
• blowback
• buttstock tube magazine
• bottom eject
• takedown
• john browning

field strip ~3 min · reassembly ~5 min · detail strip ~30 min

Specifications

Model-specific safety

• A .22 LR round can be fired by a blow to the case rim, not just the centre. Keep ammunition out of the work area.
• A .22 LR case in a chamber is small and dull-coloured and is genuinely easy to miss. Use a light and a finger, every time.
• The magazine tube is in the BUTTSTOCK and loads through a port in the right side of the stock. It is not under the barrel.
• This rifle ejects downward through the bottom of the receiver, which makes it ambidextrous but also means spent cases drop toward your support hand.
• The takedown is a rotating barrel-to-receiver joint with an adjustable locking collar. If the rifle rattles when assembled, the collar needs adjusting — do not simply shoot it loose.
• Do not dry fire.

Under spring tension

• Magazine tube spring
• Recoil spring
• Hammer spring

Easily lost parts

Inner magazine tube · Takedown locking collar · Recoil spring

Tools

No tools required for the field strip.

Shop difficulty

Shop tier 2 Tier 2 — moderate among rimfire rifles, for the full job: strip to the parts that get coated and put it back together working. 55 listed parts in a takedown, bottom-ejecting blowback with a fitted interrupted-thread barrel joint and adjusting collar, and several parts Browning says must be fitted by its service department. Owners do not describe it as notably hard, so mid Tier 2.

Parts: 55 numbered parts (Browning 22 Semi-Auto parts list, Grade I standard models, 22 LR only), from Owner's Manual, Browning 22 Semi-Auto 22 Caliber Rifle — Browning, p. 10 archive.org [3].

Bench time: about 45 min to strip, 70 min to rebuild (estimate). Strip of takedown barrel and collar, bolt and recoil spring, trigger guard group, magazine tube in the stock and sights; rebuild longer for the trigger group and barrel-joint adjustment.

Small parts: 8 pins, 11 springs, 2 detents or plungers (counted from the manufacturer's parts list (one per key number unless a quantity is given))

What comes off for coating

• Barrel: takedown (interrupted thread), adjusting collar and lock, front and rear sights — sight pusher
• Receiver: trigger guard / trigger group, bolt, recoil spring and guide, ejector
• Bolt: firing pin and spring, extractor and spring
• Stock / magazine: stock bolt, inner and outer magazine tube

Special tools

• Punch set — Trigger group pins
• Sight pusher or brass drift — Dovetail sights

Known pain points

• Owners recall the SA-22 as not especially hard to work on, but heavy trigger pulls tempt people to file the sear, which ruins it. (reassembly)
  Owners report: Browning SA 22 — Canadian Gun Nutz canadiangunnutz.com [5] — “I don’t remember these being horribly difficult.”

Fit or check on rebuild

• Barrel joint adjusting collar — The collar must be set so the joint does not rattle; a loose joint hurts accuracy and wears the threads.
• Trigger/sear not filed — Heavy pulls tempt filing the sear, which owners warn ruins it.
  Source: Browning SA 22 — Canadian Gun Nutz canadiangunnutz.com [5] — “If I file some off the sear ,then the contact may be less”
• Function check: safety, trigger/sear release, disconnector and feeding with dummy rounds — Standard after any detail strip; a mis-assembled sear or disconnector can double or fail to fire.

This is Pew-Takedown's rating, not the manufacturer's. How tiers are rated. Forum reports are owners' experience, not specifications.

Procedures

Torque specifications

No sourced torque values from the manufacturer are recorded for this firearm. Where a fastener has a specified torque — action screws, scope bases, muzzle devices, barrel nuts — get it from the manufacturer or a gunsmith rather than estimating it.

What the manufacturer does say: The manufacturer's documents give no torque value. They say: "Tighten the screws snugly, but do not overtighten." (Browning SA-22 Rifle Owner's Manual (web)) "Should you overtighten the barrel, (indicated by inability to assemble the barrel to the receiver), reverse the operation by turning the adjustment ring in a clockwise direction." (Browning SA-22 Rifle Owner's Manual (web))

Materials and factory finish

As stated by Browning Arms Company. Prep, masking and cure depend on these; a polymer or aluminium part, a nitrided or anodised finish, and a blued steel part are each a different job. Variants with other finishes may exist — check the maker's page for the exact SKU on the bench.

Parts list

Transcribed from the manufacturer's parts list (Owner's Manual, Browning 22 Semi-Auto 22 Caliber Rifle — Browning, p. 10 archive.org [3]) — "Browning 22 Semi-Auto Parts List", which the list says covers Grade I (standard models) in 22 long rifle only. Other grades and 22 Short are excluded by the printed note. One list, no variant lists.. Key numbers refer to the exploded view in that document.

Function check

• Verify the rifle is unloaded — chamber and magazine — before each step.
• Cycle the bolt by hand and confirm it travels smoothly and returns fully into battery.
• Cock the action, engage the safety, and press the trigger. The hammer must not fall.
• Disengage the safety and press the trigger. The hammer should fall.
• Confirm the magazine seats, locks, and releases cleanly.
• Confirm the takedown joint is snug with no perceptible play.
• Confirm the inner magazine tube latches securely.

Maintenance

Lubrication points

• Bolt body sides where it rides in the receiver
• Recoil spring guide
• Hammer and sear pivots

Cleaning notes

Rimfire fouling is waxy and heavy, and .22 LR produces a lot of unburned powder. Clean the chamber and bolt face regularly and keep lubrication light — oil plus unburned powder makes a paste that stops the rifle. Most rimfire reliability complaints trace to a dirty chamber, a tired magazine, or cheap bulk ammunition rather than to the rifle.

Suggested inspection interval: roughly every 500 rounds. This is a general guideline, not a manufacturer specification.

Wear parts to inspect

Extractor and extractor spring · Recoil spring · Magazine follower and feed lips · Firing pin

Common issues

Also covers

The procedures above are reported to apply to: Browning SA-22 Grade I through VI · Remington Model 24 and 241 (the same John Browning design). Verify against the manual for your specific model.

Similar manual of arms

• Ruger 10/22
• Marlin Model 60

Sourcing