[dragonfly]

When the Medalist/Nomad/Challenger I's became to expensive to make as a production gun in Europe (early 70's), the Challenger II was brought to the US, the design modified a bit, and it was made in the USA.
Probably Utah iirc. The C-II has more components similar to the Med/Nomad/C-I series than the C-III and the Buck Marks. Some of the M/N/C-I parts will swap out with the C-II, which is good, because C-II parts are becoming very hard to find. The barrel is unique only to the C-II, The C-II only came in one barrel length, 6.75 in.s as posted. Mine was manufactured in 1977 (SN 655RR05xxx). I bought it in 2008, I believe. I have no idea how many rounds have gone down the tube on mine, but a couple months ago I found it necessary to replace the slide, disconnector and the sear spring (which had gotten to weak, the sear was not seating except by hand working of the action.). The disconnector I used was a frop in from one for the Medalist. Now it is back to the C-II I love. It is my favorite Browning to shoot, although the Medalist I have is the most outstanding .22 pistol I have, and have ever shot. The Buck Mark is the best lower cost semiautomatic in mho. I have a Ruger standard that is fun to shoot, but I had to do some internal parts and sight swapping to get it to the fun to shoot and accuracy of the BM out of the box. He**, they are all fun to shoot!!

The C-II is just a very underrated pistol, probably because of its short production run and then evolving into the C-III and morphing on into the BM series. Chim, over on Rimfire Central has a great deal of information on all the Brownings, as does Sea Otter and a couple others. Great pistols, rich in history and tradition. You gotta love em. df

As an aside... if you have the money, Fabrique Nationale may still make you a Medalist. The last I heard they were being made in France on a special order only, but even that may no longer be true. Medalists, Nomads and C- I's still are available on the auction sites with good deals occasionally appearing. So are the older High Standards. And both have their roots in the Colt Woodsman of may years ago.