BROWNING O/U SHOTGUNS – THEN AND NOW
Browning O/U shotguns – born and bred legends.
In the world of firearms design and development, John Moses Browning (1855-1926) must rightly be regarded as one of the most innovative and progressive thinkers. Most of his designs, intended either for peaceful or more warlike purposes, are still with us, and some, like the 1911 Colt .45 ACP pistol, has achieved legendary status. His last design, for an over/under shotgun, is partly the focus of this article.
GENESIS OF THE B25 SUPERPOSED
The prototype of what would become the B25 Superposed Over/Under shotgun was completed in 1923. At the time, there was concern from conservationists in the US that semiautomatic shotguns made it too easy for hunters to overshoot their bags of gamebirds and the idea of an affordable twin-barrel gun was supported in an attempt to win over both conservationists as well as serious competition shooters as the way of the future.
Browning initially offered his design to numerous American manufacturers (including Winchester), but they all refused the radical new design, something they must have cried over in later years, as things turned out. As Fabrique Nationale, located in the Belgian city of Herstal, was already engaged in producing some of Browning’s earlier designs, notably the Auto-5 repeating shotgun, it was perhaps inevitable that he would approach them as well with a view to producing the new gun. The resourceful Belgians, after some deliberation, eventually turned Browning down as well. As a last resort, Browning sent his son, Val (who would later perfect the gun’s selective singletrigger system), to Sühl in Germany. A German manufacturer agreed to Browning’s terms, but at the same time the
FN management seems to have had a change of heart and agreed to match the German offer for production of the B25.
DEATH OF JOHN M BROWNING
Before the B25 was quite ready for production, though, disaster struck. On 26 November 1926, John M Browning collapsed in the FN factory and died shortly afterwards. The world had lost one of its greatest firearms designers, and to make things worse, the B25 was not quite ready for production yet. Val Browning stepped into the massive void left by the passing of his father and, working with FN engineers, ironed out the design’s teething troubles and by 1930 the B25 Superposed was ready to be introduced.
A VARIETY OF CONFIGURATIONS AND GAUGES
Over time, the B25 Superposed would be offered in many different configurations and grades. The entry-level model, known
as the Slandard model in the US and the Al grade in Europe, had a blued receiver with a minimum engraving . From the A1 upwards, though, the sky was the limit and the FN engravers excelled at creating masterpieces in various factory-standard grades as well as individual guns engraved to a customer’s taste. The highest grade B25 on offer in the American market was the Midas grade whilst the Europeans had to be content with the side-plated F1, engraved in a beautiful blend of foliate scrolls and flushing pheasants. Engraved B25s are today highly prized collector’s items and they sell for a premium on the second-hand market.
The B25 was available in Hunting, Skeet, Trap, Superlight, Lightning, and various other configurations, as well as in 12-, 20-, 28-bore and .410. If we discount a few 20-bores refitted in modern times with 16bore barrels, the only B25 16bore in existence is a single prototype built by Val Browning that is now in the Browning Museum in the US. Stocks for the American market tended to have pistol-grip stocks (earlier ones had graceful rounded knob grips; later ones had flatbottomed grips) whilst guns destined for Europe often had what is known as a roach-belly stock, which has always looked less than elegant to me. Guns destined for Britain were often shipped with straight-grip stocks. These configurations could be ordered according to the customer’s preference, however, so there are wide variances to be found in used guns.
The B25 is, from a shooting perspective, virtually indestructible. While the design has its »
» vices, there are skilled gunsmiths who are very adept at expertly rejointing B25 actions and relaying ribs, should such a calamity occur. The inertia-shift selective single-trigger found on most B25s is a reliable design and rarely gives trouble, but a mechanical single trigger was an option as well, as was double triggers. Spare parts are available from FN themselves (at a considerable premium, depending on which part is needed) as well as from other major retailers such as Brownell’s.
PROS AND CONS OF THE B25
Although the B25 is somewhat of a legend, it has its detractors as well. The fore-end cannot be detached from the barrels as with most other designs, and this can make cleaning the gun a pain. True, but removing the fore-end can be done with a bit of practice, and legend has it that Browning designed things this way because he misplaced a fore-end once and didn’t want to repeat the exercise.
Others claim that the fulllength hinge pin under the barrels makes the action unnecessarily deep, but this is not so. As the American shotgun critic Bruce Buck pointed out in an edition of Shooting Sportsman some time ago, the B25 action is but a fifth of an inch deeper than a Beretta 682 action and just as wide, so this argument would appear to rest on non-existent support.
Steel shot is strictly verboten in the B25, and a vintage Browning with multi-chokes has almost certainly undergone an after-market enhancement. Most B25s did not have chrome-lined barrels, so rust can be a problem if the gun is not properly kept clean. All this is true, but despite these negative points the B25 is as much in demand today as at any time during the production period from 1930 to 1977, during which almost 400 000 guns were produced. Why is this so?
For starters, the B25 was a very well-balanced gun, and it was also made to weigh in at a weight that was appropriate for the model. On lightweight models the barrels were made thinner to reduce weight and the guns were scaled to retain balance. The same was true for those made for heavy loads: heavier barrels were fitted, and weight added where it was needed. This combined to make the B25 a very good handling gun, and good handling combined with decent weight has always been a winning combination for every shotgunner. Lastly, FN build quality was excellent throughout the B25’s production run, and I know very few people who does not appreciate quality in a gun.
THE END OF THE LINE IN BELGIUM
Rising costs started to cast a shadow over the B25 by the late 1960s and Browning and FN had to devise various plans to reduce costs and keep the design alive. In 1973 Browning contracted with Miroku in Japan to build an over/under gun that was outwardly similar to the B25 but was in fact quite different under the skin. The gun was marketed in the US as the Citori, and it proved to be reliable and well made. The axe fell in 1977, however, and Browning contracted with Miroku to manufacture all their new production Over/Under guns going forward. It was a sad end for the B25, but the bean counters had spoken, and the financial realities had to be faced.
The B25 is a special gun for me. It was the first shotgun I ever fired, way back in 1984, and even though my dad sold that particular gun, an A1 with 28-inch barrels and a roundknob pistol grip, a year later to fund another project, I never forgot about it. Fast forward to 2019 when I found the buyer of the gun, who still owned it after all the years. I contacted him and, sight unseen, made him what I thought was a generous offer, which he was kind enough to accept. Thus, I came to be the owner of my dad’s old 1950-vintage B25 12-bore, 34 years after he sold it. I am happy to report that the gun is still in good condition and it will no doubt provide me with many years of faithful service to come.
Although B25 production for Browning at the FN factory officially came to an end in 1977 (the B25 remained available from FN as a semi-custom option until 1984), it is not the end of the road for the design yet. B25 production continues, but on a small scale and mostly for collectors and die-hard enthusiasts. Whereas a good secondhand A1 12-bore can be found in the US for $1 500 to 2 000, a new one from the FN factory will set you back upwards of $20 000 today. This makes a good secondhand example look like a tremendous bargain, and indeed they are. One enterprising British dealer is even buying up well looked-after A1s in Britain and sending them back to the FN factory to be reworked completely. Enhancements such as new wood, engraving, side-plates, and even additional sets of barrels all keep the gunmakers at the FN factory custom shop busy, and the end result is a superb piece of gunmaking that will satisfy the most discerning customer. It would seem that the B25 really is too good to be allowed to die, but what about Browning’s latest shotguns?
OFF TO THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN
I have already mentioned that the Citori was the first O/U gun produced for Browning in Japan by Miroku. Miroku was already well versed in manufacturing O/U guns by the time Browning contracted them as they had been manufacturing Winchester’s 101 O/U for some time, so the link-up between the two companies was perhaps pre-ordained.
Since I have owned a Miroku-made Browning 525 GTS for some years, a comparison between the older Belgian B25 and the current-production gun is perhaps of interest.
What the Miroku engineers did was to take the already proven B25 action and manufacture their own version of it. In the process, the action was changed in a number of aspects and while some argue that not all of the changes had been for the good, the fact of the matter is that the Citori as well as the
other models that followed it from the factory has not only been best sellers, but also earned a well-deserved reputation for excellence and reliability.
B25 VS 525
The most noticeable difference between the B25 and the Miroku-manufactured O/U guns is that the fore-ends of the Japanese-made guns are detachable. A Deeley-type latch in the bottom of the fore-end has replaced the B25’s intricate sliding latch arrangement. The action is machined from steel and has a silver nitride finish designed to combat corrosion. The receiver has been laser-engraved and shows a pheasant morphing into a clay pigeon on the left side of the action and a duck on the right side. Depending on the individual model, engraving patterns differ and other models even have gold inlays.
Browning’s standard stock dimensions with a 14½” length of pull is pretty universal and along with the adjustable selective single trigger, the gun can be made to fit most people well enough. The conservative chequering pattern is machine-cut at about 16 lines per inch, but it gets the job done that it was designed for. The butt ends in a curved, plastic black butt plate and the wood of the fore-end, unfortunately, has been shaped into a Schnabel fore-end. The gun weighs in at a hefty 7½ pounds with 30” barrels.
THE DIFFERENCE IS FOUND UNDER THE SKIN
The barrels of the Japanesemade gun are where the biggest difference between it and the B25 is to be found. With an internal diameter of .742” with long forcing cones to reduce recoil, the 525’s barrels are backbored, unlike the barrels of the B25 which are tight with short forcing cones. Also, unlike the B25, the 525’s barrels and 3-inch chambers are chrome-plated to reduce the chance of rust or corrosion. The 525 is also safe to use with steel shot. The 525 is factory-fitted with Browning Invector Plus chokes and they work just fine, being easily removable with the choke wrench supplied with every gun. Five different choke tubes are supplied: Cylinder, Improved Cylinder, Modified, Improved Modified and Full.
On a whim, I invested in a set of Teague chokes a few years ago and have been using them ever since. They are slightly heavier than the Browning chokes, but they stick out of the front of the barrels, making identifying which choke is in which barrel easy. There are two white plastic beads on top of the ventilated rib: a single big bead upfront and a smaller bead about halfway between the breach and the front bead. This is something I really like as it helps lining up the gun.
A PERSONALITY OF ITS OWN
Like the B25, the Japanesemade 525 has a personality of its own. I really like the way Browning guns of both eras balance and I tend to shoot them slightly better than other makes of guns as a result. Although the B25 is a legendary gun in its own right, the 525 is not an inferior gun in any way. It may not necessarily be hand-finished but it is a finely made piece of equipment that will crunch clays or bring down gamebirds for many years without trouble.
In my humble opinion Browning’s current line-up of O/U guns in the form of the 525 and 725 models offer excellent value for money. They are safe to use with all modern ammunition, they are well made, handle well, and are reasonably priced when compared to some of their European-made competitors. That is a hard combination to beat!
* Browning shotguns, including the latest 725 model, and other products, are imported into South Africa by Inyathi Sporting Supplies in Pretoria. They can be contacted for trade enquiries and other information on 012-808-9911 or via e-mail at info@inyathi.net.