Browning AB3 User Manual

• The serial number of your firearm can be found on the right side of the receiver, in front of the bolt handle.
• Before shooting your firearm, clean the anti-rust compound from the inside of the barrel, receiver and the action/chamber areas.
  • Various exposed metal parts of your new firearm have been coated at the factory with a rust preventative compound. A fine, light gun oil is ideal for removing this compound and for giving your new firearm its first lubrication.

• The Browning AB3 is a bolt-action rifle that operates by lifting the bolt handle, drawing the bolt rearward and then sliding the bolt forward and rotating the bolt downward until it stops.
  • This process takes a cartridge from the magazine and loads it into the chamber for firing.
• The “safety” is located on the top tang at the rear of the receiver. When the “safety” is drawn to the rear, the firearm is in the on safe position (Figure 2).
  • This indirectly blocks the trigger and locks the bolt in the closed position. In this position an “S” will appear on the tang in front of the “safety.”
  • When the “safety” is pushed forward, the “S” will be covered and a red dot will appear indicating that the rifle is in the “off safe” position and ready to fire (Figure 3).

• Below the bolt shroud and ahead of the “safety” is a serrated cocking indicator. The indicator is painted red.
  • When the rifle is cocked it may be readily felt with the thumb as well as easily seen with a quick glance downward (Figure 4).
  • When the rifle is fired, the cocking indicator retracts into the bolt shroud and cannot be seen or felt.

• The bolt lock override button on the AB3 rifle is located just behind the bolt handle (Figure 5).
  • The bolt lock override button works in conjunction with the top-tang “safety” and allows the bolt to be operated to unload a cartridge from the chamber with the “safety” in the on safe position.
  • To unload the chamber with the “safety” in the on safe position, simply press the bolt lock override button down and rotate the bolt upward, then draw it completely rearward.

• Before inserting the bolt into your rifle, make sure the firing pin is cocked.
  • When the firing pin is cocked, the cocking indicator is visible at the rear of the bolt. If the cocking indicator is not in the cocked position this means that the firing pin is not cocked.
  • To cock the firing pin simply turn the rear section of the bolt clockwise (when viewed from the indicator end) until the firing pin sear engages the notch in the bolt handle (Figure 6).
    • On a new rifle where surfaces are not yet burnished from use, it may be difficult to rotate the bolt sleeve by hand. If so, carefully grasp the firing pin sear in a padded vise and lift the bolt handle.
• The AB3 rifle comes packed in a foam-padded box with the bolt removed from the rifle. To install the bolt into the receiver perform the following procedure:
  • 1. Align the front of the bolt in the rear opening of the receiver
  • 2. Push the bolt completely forward and rotate the handle down to lock it. It is not necessary to depress the bolt stop to insert the bolt, but you may do so to ease the installation (Figure 7).
  • 3. Immediately place the “safety” in the on safe position. The rifle is now completely assembled and may be operated normally.