Anybody else here have a Browning BDM?

[M1A4ME]

I bought one several years ago.  My first 9MM.  Weird and sort of cool.  All kinds of different, some may be unique features not found on other handguns.

Anyway, magazines are pretty rare for them, as you know if you've got one.  I bought 5 or 6 of them 7 or 8 years ago.  Not Browning magazines as they were $75 each then.  I bought magazines made by someone else.  Four of them worked fine and two had feed issues that were corrected with some pliers and tweaks on the lips.

Today, while messing around with the BDM (no one likes to shoot it due to the recoil - my youngest son refers to it as that gun with the uncomfortable "snap back" when you fire it.  The Browning recoil springs are unavailable from the folks I've ordered parts from in the past.  I tried the P07 recoil spring assembly - too short.  I tried the P09 recoil spring assembly, too long.  So I ordered a P09 stainless steel recoil spring guide and 18# spring from CGW and when it comes in I'll shorten the guide and see if the flat spring will work without being shortened - then see if it helps with the "snap back" problem that makes that thing uncomfortable to shoot.  I mean we shoot .45's, .357 SIGs, .40 S&W and none of like that BDM because of the way it recoils.  If it's not the spring, it may just be the design and there's nothing else we can do for that.

I had the 16 round CZ 75 magazine there that came with the CZ85.  The darn thing slides right up into the BDM mag well like it was made for it.  It just won't lock in.  The hole in the magazine for the mag. release is different.  The CZ magazine has a pretty narrow hole for the mag release compared to the BDM magazine but it appears to be in the same spot.  I'll open the hole up a little and try it out.  If it works out I'll be ordering some 16 round CZ 75 magazines for it.

Oh, it hand cycles rounds out of the CZ mags and into the chamber and it locks the slide back when the last one is gone if I set the mag base on my knee (to keep it up/tight in the mag well) while pulling the slide back and releasing it.

After I'm done I'll take a couple pictures of the first magazine to show the new mag. release hole.

[Psyop96]

Wow....blast from the past. Had one when it first came out in the early 90's. Can't remember how it shot. Sold in the same decade as it didn't seem to catch on and felt that the aftermarket support wouldn't be around into the future.

[M1A4ME]

The narrowest double stack 9MM out there.  Steel frame, yet lighter than many aluminum framed 9MM double stack guns.  Sixteen shots - right up to the Assault Weapons Ban and 10 round magazines becoming the max. legal capacity.  That helped kill it.  It lost some of it's advantage when all of them were limited to 10 rounds.

I really want to like it more.  But it just didn't show me the accuracy I get from the P07 and P09.  Reliability was fine with FMJ and 124 grain hollow points but the 147 grain lead bullets that run in every other 9MM I have would fail to feed/chamber about 3 times per magazine.

Anyway, the idea was (possibly) gaining cheap 16 round (or more) magazines by modifying the magazine catch slot in the CZ 75 magazines.  We'll see how it works out.

[Cyanide]

Briefly had this one for a couple of weeks but just recently sold it off. Felt great in hand until actually shooting it, as the huge decocking/safety lever kept digging into the back of my thumb unless I changed my grip drastically. That and, I was shooting much tighter groups with my CZ 100 and P07 DAO than the BDM in SA. Figured I wasn't going to shoot it after all that, and I'm not a fan of keeping stuff locked away never to be used, so bye-bye!

[DarkLord]

For it's day the BDM was a really slick design that was killed by the safety design...someone just didn't have their head on right when doing the safety.  Had it not been for that safety, I think back in the late '80's the BDM would have slayed the competition for LE sales. 

[M1A4ME]

Cyanide, exactly what mine looks like.

The gun still has features most (maybe any) other semi-autos do not have.

The slide is wider just behind the rear sight to make it easier to hold on to when racking the slide to the rear.

The screw in the side of the slide (one mark is P for pistol and the other is R for revolver) switches the gun from (P) double action on the first shot and single action trigger till the magazine is empty and (R) trigger is double action for every shot.

The hammer cannot strike the firing pin unless you pull the trigger (similar to some revolvers).

Slimmest/narrowest grip frame double stack 9MM made.  Forged steel frame but still lighter than many aluminum framed double stack 9MM hand guns.

Anyway, back to the magazine thing.  Some dremel work, some round file (chainsaw file) got it close but it would, with enough effort, pull out without hitting the magazine release.  The front of the BDM magazine is slightly wider/flatter than the CZ magazine and the BDM slide release couldn't get a good grip on it.  I ran a 1/8" punch through the hole on the opposite side of the magazine (left side) and put the tip of the punch on the metal just above the magazine release hole.  Several smacks with a small hammer flattened/moved the metal at that point out enough to allow the top of the mag. release button to get a solid grip on the magazine.  Now, for a range trip.  It cycles fine by hand and operates the slide lock when empty, but it's got to feed when shooting.

Oh, I probably won't do it again.  Lots of work, lots of "fitting" every little bit to make sure I didn't remove too much metal, etc., etc., etc.

Top magazine is the BDM magazine.  Notice the tall (top to bottom) half moon shaped mag. button slot.

Middle magazine is a CZ 75 magazine.  Small slot (top to bottom) that goes further back on the side of the magazine vs. the BDM magazine slot.

Bottom magazine is the 16 round (with 2 round plus bottom) with the narrow slot opened up toward the top and rounded to accommodate the BDM magazine release button.

Fun exercise, probably not going to repeat it unless the thing feeds really well and I find I need more than the 7 or 8 magazines I currently have.

[Cyanide]

Definitely slim, but must admit my CZ 100 is just as slim and small in the grip LOL. A few pictures of the old BDM to reference what we are talking about for everybody:

[MetalGravy]

Saw ones of these in a Forgotten Weapons video a couple of years back, and wanted one partly for the novelty.  Lost interest after owning my SP-01 for  a while and not wanting to get into another platform.  I did not know that they are such uncomfortable shooters.

[M1A4ME]

I don't know if its the light weight, the narrow grip, the angle of the grip (which seems comfortable enough) or something about the recoil spring/guide??  No idea.

I initially tried putting my P07 recoil spring/guide in it.  Too short.  Then I tried the P09 spring/guide in it.  Too long.  It would go in, but the guide stuck out of the end of the slide.  So I bought a stainless guide rod and 18# spring from CGW.  That guide is sloppy in the hole in front of the slide.  The captured spring guide seemed tighter, but that my be a failure (to notice) on my part.  And the BDM guide rod is larger in diameter than the 18# P09 spring.

Back to the safe with the BDM.  I'll give it to my youngest son, some day, as his Beretta also has the decocker stuff on it vs. safeties (though these days he carries a P07 and leaves the Beretta in the safe).

[Cyanide]

My take on the whole uncomfortable shooting is because of the position of the safety/decock lever. More specifically, the rear of it, as you may notice in the overhead shot I posted it is already at a good "dig-in" spot. Perhaps had it been designed just a little differently and it would not have been an issue at all, as the steelframe soaks up recoil very well.

[tekarra]

I had one some years back and sold it because of the mushy trigger pull in R mode.  Now wish I had kept it.