Browning Superposed question...

Rick Pierce

Rick Pierce

Well-known member
Alright guys, I need some help.

My father has a 1972-74, Belgian-made Superposed. It is a field-grade gun, 30 or 32" barrels, 3" mag, choked mod/full. Not a salt gun.

He would like to shoot a few ducks with it, and knows that he can't shoot steel in the current choke configuration without bulging the barrels. He will buy some Bismuth or Tung-Matrix in the short term, but he was wondering if there was a way to get an extra set of barrels that have choke tubes.

Otherwise, his options are to have the chokes opened, or have the existing barrels threaded for tubes. He has given me "Fielder's Choice", because he knows that tubes will halt any value appreciation in the gun, whatever that may be in the next X years, and that the gun will be mine eventually.

What would you do? Help?
 
For the price of fitting new barrels he could probably buy a new Citori. That way you get two guns later on!
 
Rick

I suspect that all of the options you listed are far more expensive than the cost of the non-steel shot options out there, not to mention lowering the value of the gun. If the gun were to one day be mine I'd pay the difference in shells out of my own pocket to keep the gun factory.
 
I saw an SBE for sale in the classifieds here for like $850 a while back. You could buy it for him, kiss him on the lips and say, "I love ya man, lets go HUNTIN'!"

A field grade 1970's Superposed is a pretty cool gun to just take out of the case and shoot a round of clays with. In the far far FAR distant future, you might just pull it out and enjoy the memories of the man who gave it to you and the day you decided not to modify it in any way.
 
first the "buy designer loads and shoot as is".....Bismuth is a thing of the past...the owner of the company that made it died and no one has picked that product up.....if anyone does expect to see the price go up to about what we pay for a gallon of gasoline today.....you got the money to piss away a gallon of gas every time you pull the trigger?....figure the soft Tungsten alloys to do the same, partly because of the reduction in competition from Bismuth and partly because of the horrendous, (THOSE DAMNED CHINESE again), price increases.....

second, the gun....its a nice one....I love mine...that said its not BoWhoop and its never going to be....it was your Dad's...it should be shot and not stuffed in a closet becasue your worried about the "maybe" negative impact on it from putting chokes in it so you can afford to use it......hell, its not even choked right for lead anymore given the changes in lead shell design......

screw the "potential decrease in value due to "choke tube installation" and put chokes in it so that you can shoot it without breaking the bank....enjoy it for what it is, A GUN, and not an investment....(any good investment that doesn't double every ten years is not a good investment and guns of this type haven't done that in a long long time so if its "investment" potential you're banking on then sell the thing now and buy Wal-Mart or heavy metal mining stocks cause the real money just ain't in "field grade" guns from our generation......

Worth every penny you paid for it.....the advise I mean.....

Steve
 
Sutton is making sense to me.AGaaaaaaah!I never did understand this "as original" mentality.Send it off to Briley and have long chokes installed in SK,IC,Mod,IM and enjoy shooting all clay sports and all hunting.Pass it on to your son when you can't swing it anymore.
 
time to strike while the iron is hot....

Just checked Auction Arms and another site....found two guns comparable to your....both going for under $1,500.00...in my hands by first of the week....one from the 50's the other almost the same age as yours.....

So clearly the gun isn't something thats going to let you retire when you decide you taken all the crap that the Chinese Premiere and new owner of WalMart is dishing out......

That leaves the "personal value" of the gun...the fact that it was your Dad's...My Superposed belonged to Mike and was given to me by his wife after he died....he hunted with that gun for the entire time that I knew him....I could sell it tomorrow for about what those two guns I spoke about above are going for....or I could keep it for another ten years and if it was a GREAT INVESTMENT it would be worth $3,000.00 or so, albeit unlikely.....

That said if you offered me $10K for it today I'd say "thanks but no"....partly because I don't need the money but most importantly because it was Mike's, and I can't pick it up, shoot it, or even think about it without an entire flood of memories coming to mind.....so WHO CARES if it might double in value over the next 10 years? Won't it be worth far more than that in years to come to sit in the blind with it and remember that in the last years that you hunted with your Dad, the years that you spent after you rekindled his desire to duck hunt, the years that you watch him shoot birds over your hand carved rig, that you are holding, and shooting, that same gun???

Again I say.....screw the "future value of the gun" and the effects of choke installation on it....put the chokes in it so that its the gun of choice for both of you to shoot instead of the one that makes you cringe every time you send $3.00 downrange, and enjoy it for the personal heirloom that it is now and not the financial windfall that you think it might be in the future....

I'm done now....

Steve
 
now i may be new to the double gun field of folks that know there sh**. with that said i agree with everything sutton said. i also think that if your going to end up with the gun and most likely pass it on then you really shouldnt worry about resale value because it shouldnt get sold. now from what i have seen on the auction sites any field grade gun is not going to bring anything anywheres near that of graded guns whether they be sxs or o/u. the field grades that are untouched only bring about 300 bucks on ave more then modified guns.

i say put tubes in it and shoot it. with a gun thats only 30 some years old i would think it could with stand a higher pressure shell then say something about 100 years old.

or buy a new 3.5 citori in matte finish with 30" barrels

eddie
 
I just did the numbers and have to change my position. Assuming I read the Briley site correctly you could have choke tubes installed for about $600. Tungsten matrix (kent impact) is a whopping $950 for 250 rounds at Cabelas. Shoot a case of ammo through the gun and you have spent more in shells than the barell work. I initially underestimated the price of matrix shot and overestimated the gunsmithing. Your mileage may vary.
 
I couldn't stand the added pressure of spending $3-4 every time I pull the trigger. I don't quite understand how they can sell the stuff.
 
Just checked Briley site and they install thin walled flush mounted,chokes with five chokes for $399.Your not changing the gun,just making it much more versitile.You have to get right next to the bussiness end of the gun to even tell there are chokes in there.I have them in my O/U and 5 SxSs.You'll may be thinking of the extended chokes that are so popular in sporting clays(change them by hand).I wouldn't put them on the superposed you have.
 
Rick, with all the discussion of installing choke tubes I would look MUCH closer into this. I don't know about the O/U, but what I understand about my Auto 5, is beligum steel is very soft, so your not just worring about the choke, when it comes to steel shot. From what I understand on my gun is any "hot" load could do some damage. In addition, as I am sure you know, on any SxS and O/U you also have to consider how the barrels are attached to each other to be steel shot safe.

I have no idea on these brownings as the only real guns are SxS's. jk :-)
 
Hi Rick,

I might would occasionally shoot some trap loads through the Superposed but would otherwise leave it alone. If someone is hot to h2O fowl hunt with an O/U there are a lot of good ones out there that steel shot won't hurt. Any of the BC Miroku guns, The ruger 12 ga and various and sundry others would be just fine. Just leave the Superposed the heck alone.

Just my$.02 worth,
Harry
 
Maybe the Browning barrels are softer than the Zoli SBS I have (purchased in 1966). It's 28" full and modified. I have shot 3" steel duck and goose loads in it for over 15 years with no distortion to the barrels? I realize I'm not real knowledgeable about this, but I haven't had a problem. I did retire the Zoli this year in favor of my Christmas gift of the Benelli SBE my wife bought me.
 
Call up Briley and ask them if they feel a late model superposed can handle steel with their chokes if they install them and give the soldered ribs an inspection. The folks at Briley have been getting very good reviews among folks who are having fine doubles worked on. Not just tubes or chokes, but repairs of wood stock and metal work. They know a lot about guns.
I am afraid this question is going to come up more and more. We have lived thru the halcion days of the shotgun rebirth. I fear the price and environmental concerns of lead are going to force us to make some decisions about our target shooting as well as duck hunting. Also the market has not developed enough to lower the price on soft lead substitutes. Soooooo...guys like you and me who have a nice gun designed to shoot lead are going to have to make a crystal ball decision as to what the right choice will be. At 65 dollars a bag we will see the trap shooters have to think about the change to steel if it keeps going up for lead. I am using a different gun for now but sure would like to have a good soft shot for a couple of hunts once in a while.
My vote is to stand pat and see what the next couple of years bring, but I could fall into the thin wall choke camp if a shop in texas said steel was OK for that gun.
Good luck.
 
you retired a zoli SxS and I added one. :-) I picked it up for a duck gun to shoot steel out of and had a great season with it. Doesn't have the nostalgia of my Smith or parkers, but least its still a SxS.

There is a huge difference in barrel steel and manfacturing process. Italians know how to do it right and have do so for years.
 
First off I would never take a gun with collector value in my boat. It could follow my 35 into the bottom. Second , no one has even mentioned opening up the chokes to handle (pattern) steel. No real visable change and if you like you could shoot waterfowl with it. I do agree with whoever said "Shoot it" and the fact is that it probably wouldn't pattern correctly with todays lead loads. Shoot some paper and find out before spending any m oney or making an irreversisble decision
 
I have had this same problem in the past adn my idea of fixin' the problem is really pretty simple. I just had the chokes opened up tp IC & Mod. And with todays ammo the new chokes pattern come very close to being Mod & Full.

The gun is most likely going to stay in the family and even if it does get sold some day....the buyer will never notice the differnece anyway.

Check around and I think you will find a gunsmith that will ream the chokes out to IC & Mod for about $100 per tube.

Or for about $125 you could buy the honing rod & bore gauge from Midway USA and do it your self, then sell the tools to me for $90 and be into the job for $35. Let me know and I'll send you a check.

Dave
 


Check around and I think you will find a gunsmith that will ream the chokes out to IC & Mod for about $100 per tube.

Or for about $125 you could buy the honing rod & bore gauge from Midway USA and do it your self, then sell the tools to me for $90 and be into the job for $35. Let me know and I'll send you a check.

Dave [/QUOTE]

Dave,your a great American.After your done with the hones send them to me to test on my hammer gun.I'll bring them back,I promise.
Joe O
 
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