doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Thoughts on Browning Superposed

Fellow Double Gun Enthusiasts: I thought I would create this thread to see what you guys think about these guns. I know they aren't S x S shotguns and I really love S x S shotguns too. But, I have to tell you, I love Browning Superposed too. I think for the money you would be hard put to find a better shotgun. The barrels are made of demibloc or chopperlump construction, they are durable and they are cheap. I find the 20 bore with 28 inch barrels to be especially nice. Weighing around 6 lb 2-4 oz, they are pretty light and pretty well balanced. I am very fond of the ones I own and shoot them well. Many people say they 'kick like mules' but I haven't found this to be the case, at least with the ones that fit me. I think they are a great bang for the buck even though the receivers are a little deep (because of a hook like a s x s) rather than trunions. What do you guys think?

Had one of the first Superlights with the solid rib and really liked it. Paid $475 for it and when I needed some cash sold it for $800.Would like to have one in 20 guage.

YUP!!

Not a sxs so I do not compare them to SXS.

I like them for what they are, a tank of an over under
it takes a licking and keeps on ticking
Mike

Buzz:
I am also a fan of the Browning Superposed of Belgium. I have owned about eight, and still own two. They are rock solid, great shooting guns that return incredible service for the investment. They are also attractive to my eye.

For what it's worth, Jackie Stewart shot one for most of his international trap career. Prior to Formula 1.

The Superposed requires no apology. And neither does anyone who shoots one.

Probably as good a bang for buck as can be found. At a slightly lower original quality grade, the W&S 700 is similar to SXS guns.

browning superposed...the first mass produced and still the finest over and under shotgun ever made. no offense to you beretta guys...

I regret parting with my 20 ga. Superposed Gr.1 from the mid 60's although I don't recall it weighing in that close to 6 lbs. Was it the Lightening model that was close to the 6.25 lb?

I sold mine to finance yet another SxS as confidence grew in the field from anything from dove to grouse. Just gravitated to a preference for a SxS but recently found a nice and light Miroku 12 ga. O/U that is drawing me back to shooting stacked barrels.

-jmc

Guys: I should have qualified my statement regarding weight on these guns. The 'Lightning' 20 bore with 28 inch barrels weighs about 6lb 2-4 oz. The standard weight is a bit heavier. A Superlight 20 b weighs less at about 6 lb but has 26 1/2 inch barrels. They are very nice guns too. Unfortunately the 28 b and .410 are heavier in that they assum 'standard' weight frames. The 12 bores are heavy and 'thick' in the receivers IMHO. Overalll, Browning Superposed are very fine guns, well made and strong as can be (you can shoot hi-powers wo problems).

I believe Chris Batha and Charles from BSA (two pretty good shots if you ask me) once said if they could have one gun to shoot clays and high pheasants "what would it be?"

To many people's amazement 12 bore 30" Superposed

Had four; still have three including a 37 with twin-single triggers, Diana 12 field, knockabout Lightning with Briley thin-walls. Sold my 30s $&$.

jack

I like mine. The only O/U I have ever owned.

I have owned and sold 2 superposeds. Both guns were 12 gauge RKLT guns. The build quality on both was excellent and I liked shooting them, but one was not quite what I wanted in an upland game gun (too heavy) and the second was duplicative of what I already had in the safe and used to fund some other gun I had to have at the time.

I knew I'd get another superposed one day and just purchased a minty 50's-era 20 gauge gun with 28" barrels form a member of this board. The scaled frame looks great and "proportional" to the gun. The gun swings nicely and at 6lbs 5 oz should be nice to carry int he field. The quality is everything I remember it to be. I am very pleased with it.

Ken

Browning Superposed guns were and are "good guns for the money" and their pointing characteristic tend to be more "forgiving" than those of "low receiver" O/Us.

There are problems, however. These guns tend to wear and shoot loose comparatively quickly and they tend to be heavy, due in large part to the fact that their robustness is based less on their design than on the mass and the quality of their raw materials. Don Zutz's excellent analyses deal with these flaws.

Superposed guns also have deserved reputations as being "kickers". Part of this problem may have been due to the guns' "high" receiver and another part very likely has to do with the guns' relatively tight bores and short, steep forcing cones. I have seen trapshooters come off the line with bruised shoulders and bleeding faces after shooting these guns. (Of course, it may not have helped that these same shooters very often "hotrodded" their loads!")

A subject near and dear to my heart. My comments are based on my ownership of a number of used Grade 1 models.
As a retired "working man', I have found this model very attractive and within financial reach. I tart up nearly all of my shotguns with a recoil pad for increased LOP, and the BIG Bradley white front sight, often with Lyman white mid bead. It works for me.
I hungered for a Superposed as a young married man in the 1960s, and a number eventually came my way. Actually using these Supers gave me the same rush and inner warmth as riding my 1955 Matchless 500 single. It was a heart and headbone thing. The Super and Matchless were machine made industrial products, both being somewhat dated designs with a heavy dollop of period craftmanship.
Too bad Neds Schwin'g Superposed book is a bit shallow technically, focusing rather on engraving, flashy versions, and charts. Painfully obvious that some of Schwing's pictured higher grades examples have grotesque charicatures of birds and animals, not quite "flying turnips' but close. Page 94 shows an interesting picture of the 1948 Christmas dinner at the Browning St.Louis plant - with the diners sitting on bundled up cardboard gun shipping boxes.
My South Carolina mentor observed that the Superposed soon faded from the hands of serious southeastern US skeet competitors because it was too light, and because the forearm was too difficult to remove to clean and dry after the frequent afternoon downpours.
My double dated 1948/1949 12GA, 30" Super, with the stamped "CANADA" mark under the lower chamber, and my 1951 Trap, are my favourites. The 1948/49 Super was seriously overchoked, until I molested/opened both chokes (from the muzzle end) to Imp Cyl and Full, and is now simply a RADAR Gun in my hands.
These Grade 1 Superposeds are a lot of value for the money, and very useful when the barrels are modified (opened up) for modern one-piece wad ammunition.
All comments/opinions apply to my Grade 1 guns and are offered FWIW.

They are very well made and a good value. I'm not a big 12g Super follower as they seem pretty heavy for a game gun on average, but I did like the 20g 2 bbl set I had.

Love them. Have owned one I bought new for over 50 years. I particularly like the pre-war guns with 2 triggers. I currently have 4 of the 5 different triggers that have been produced (lack only the non-selective single trigger model).
The receiver is a little bulkier than later designs, but is much easier to reload because it opens to a wider degree than most modern designs. A lightning in 12 ga will weight about 7 1/4 lbs, which I think is ok. A pre war gun in the same configuration seems to be about 1/4 lb less.

I do not think they tend to wear more quickly than other designs, but I am not a serious target shooter. They are not expensive to correct if they wear excessively. They are not in the current pattern of serious skeet or trap guns, but make a very nice gun for casual sporting clays.

I think prices are up a little in the last couple of years, but you can still find a very nice lightning 12 from the 50's for around $1200, maybe less. A 20 will be twice that price.

A Browning Superposed was Ernest Hemingway's "go to gun" when he was here in Idaho in the late 1930s and through the 1940s. Many photographs of him with the gun.I have owned and shot them for over 50 years and have a unique fondness for them.

"they are durable and they are cheap"

The 12 gauge Field may be cheap but purchase a Midas Grade or any 20 and the price is comparable to any fine gun. Not many people have seen the Exhibition Superposed of the 1960's and 1970's. As fine a double ever made anywhere and anytime.
The 20 gauge Superlights actually started at 5# 10oz in the 26&1/2"(65cm) (there were a few 28" made) but when Browning began making them again in 1980's the weight had gone to around 6#'s. 12 gauge Superlights were 6# 8oz and probably the best of all of them for upland work. You jsu can't find all steel o/u's in that weight range today. To get that light the manufacturers have resorted to aluminum alloys. I retain one 20 Superlight because it is so light, a 12 Magnum and a Lightening Trap. All the rest are gone. The 12 Magnum 30" F/F with Kent TM #1 is deadly on pass shooting geese but try to find Kent TM.-Dick

Dick: I agree with you the graded Superposed guns are expensive guns obviously because of collector interest. I still believe Grade I superposed are a bargain and can be had for 3/8 ths the price of a similar graded and coveted Winchester Model 21. And I think a super is just about as good of a gun. I think a real weakness in the super is the safety/selector switch. I have had the damn thing get caught in the middle when the birds go out and am standing with a dead gun. This IMO is a flaw in the gun and I have had the gun I hunt with 'locked' to fire bottom barrel first. Also collectors are more interested in round knob, long tang guns. I think this is a mistake preferring the newer flat knob, long tangs with the flat ribs and heavier duty solder and superior mechanical trigger.

I've had a gaggle of Broadway Traps 30 & 32's They fit me and I shoot them well. I've had one ejector failure which is pretty amazing considering the rounds I put through them. The chokes tend to be mighty tight for SC's but I love em!!!

The 20 gauge Superposed is in league with small frame Foxes and O frame Parkers, light, well balanced and great handling production guns.

I have had a few, only kept the ones that really floated my boat. I kept a 1932 32" Midas Trap, a Grade 1 prewar 28" skeet with double single triggers, a Grade 1 prewar 30" with double single triggers, a prewar ribless Lightning 26" skeet, a first year 1949 28" solid rib 20 gauge field gun in new condition, a first year 1951 Grade lll 28" field choked 12, and a 1950 vent rib 26 1/2" field choked 20 gauge. I know some of these are oddballs, but that's what I like. About the least expensive of them all is the Midas Trap at $1100.

I still have 3 of them. 2 twentys (RKLT) and a pre war 12. Nice guns.If I had to give up my Foxes, they are what i would keep.

HHHHHMMMMMM Browning Superposed .Or to put it another way .B****y good guns ,do just about any thing exept breed the in captivety .

The European models in graded guns are an excellent value IMHO. ApparentlY, there is not much 'collector' interest in the United States, hence their low price relative to our Grade 2-5 or Pigeon grade through Midas. About a year ago I bought a 20b Superlight in B2G configuration. It cost me about half what a Pigeon grade would have and I think the engraving...and it is hand engraved, is better than a pigeon and not quite as good as a Pointer. A beautiful gun indeed and real value for the $$$.

I still have five of them, all 12's : four Superlights and one 3" Mag. The '67 solid rib gun and the '72 VR each weigh 6lbs 7.2 ounces. The '69 SR gun and the '83 VR one each weigh 6lbs 10 ounces. I absolutely love these as upland guns. Light enough (for me, anyway) for extended carry and heavy enough to swing well. My wife uses the one with the prettiest wood! And she shoots 1 1/8 to 1 1/4 loads while hunting. She is totally unaware of recoil. The 3" mag does not get shot with anything more than 1 5/8 loads and is really impressive on late season roosters from any angle. I have never personally noticed that the Superposed recoil anymore than any other guns of the same weight. Yeah, I think the Superposed is great.

I'm a Browning guy and just got my first Superposed last week!! 1959 Belgian Lightening,12g, 28" bbls, IC/Mod, round butt grip and long trigger guard tang. 98% condition too!! Ya really don't want to know the $$.

Over the years I've owned over a dozen Superposeds. Right now I have only a solid rib, double trigger FN Superlight, a vent rib American market Superlight and two FN Special Trap No. 6 Bunker guns with the mid width rib and Mark 5 triggers.

I was surprised to read the comment that Brownings have the reputation of loosening up quickly. My experience has been exactly the opposite.

I had a standard weight 28" skeet gun that I personally put 103K through at IntSk. I'd bought it used and when I sold it locking was a little loose, but still adequate. I had another FN Superposed bunker gun that I put 80K through and it was tight as a tick when I sold it. My current FN Special Traps are medium mileage now, but the barrels still have to be manually pushed down when the lever is opened. They won't drop of their own weight.

I get to see a lot of guns in my job, but the Superposed has always been something special. And, yes, they are a bargain here in the US used market. A new Grade I from the Browning Custom shop starts around $17,000. That is not a misprint.

Bruce Buck

In 1956, I bought a 3 inch chambered superposed from Stanford Sport shop in Palo Alto , Calif. I worked graveyard at Varian Associates and went to school afternoons. During the duck season, I was on the San Francisco bay every day in a scull boat or in a blind. At the end of the season the Browning, having digested 1 7/8 loads, lots of em was loose and all the Blue was worn off it. Salt water and poor maintenance....Bill Donaho, Stanford Sport shop, woudnt even believe it was the same gun...It went back to Browning and passed out of my life shortly after...Killed a Bunch of ducks tho...Went to a Model 12 waterfowler, 3 inch, solid rib..