Belgian Browning Experts?

ThurnYTaxis

ThurnYTaxis

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I am inheriting my grandfather's 20 gauge Browning over-under shotgun. I shot a fair number of clay pigeons with it when I was young and was always enamored of its beauty and ease of pointing, but I hadn't given it much thought since. Now, many years later, I started looking around online and I believe more people than me think it is a pretty amazing firearm. I would like to try and find out, if I can, what year it was made and it's "grade". As I understand it, "Lightning" is Grade I (this is not a lightning), but the over/under were made in several other grades. I'm less interested in it's value but more in details about its manufacture and lineage.

From what I have googled so far, I believe it is the "Super lite"
  • 20 Gauge, over/under
  • Chokes are Mod top and improved cylinder bottom
  • Barrel is marked special steel - 20 gauge - 2 3/4" shells / Made in Belgium
  • 26.5" barrel, white bead sight tip and mid
  • rubber recoil pad (original I believe)
  • Non-salt wood era, best I can guess. No sign of any rusting against the wood
  • Rounded pistol grip stock
  • Single trigger (no ability to select barrel)
  • Ejectors
  • Serial numbers all match, 4 digits only: 7763
  • No scale available, I can't weight it (the seem to have varied a bit)

Apologies in advance for the poor, cellphone pics. It is all I have at the moment. The shotgun really is fantastic. Thanks in advance for any help,

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fhfwnha12g8yxk0/IMG_20131223_203343.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8i8mwljc6t0kl6v/_20131223_205905.JPG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dbsyaca9g0hzmtl/IMG_20131223_203313.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/roey2clkta78lbn/IMG_20131223_203410.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rz6gp1jn11kmpef/IMG_20131223_203208.jpg
 
If you check the Browning website, you'll see that the 20 gauge guns had their own separate serial number run, starting with #100 in 1949. The number of your gun places it in the middle of 1954. Gorgeous gun, but I don't believe the pad is original. The Super-Light guns had straight, English style grips... I think yours is a standard Grade I. The barrel selector works by pushing the safety to one side or the other. If you push the safety up, and to the right, it should expose a letter 'U', meaning the lower barrel will fire first.

Edit... did a bit of research and your gun may be a Lightning... a visit with a scale may help determine which. The catalogue lists the lightning with a weigh of 6 lbs in 20 gauge with 26 1/2" barrels, the standard Grade I at 6 lbs, 8 oz.

Edit again... just to clarify, the Standard, Lightning, Superlight and others were variations of the model, and could be had in several different grades, I.e. the Lightning was available as a Grade I, Pigeon, Diana, or Midas grade.
 
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1954 RKLT grade 1. Your pic of bottom of receiver too unfocused to see detail but if it is a Lightning it will be so marked on receiver bottom. Non-original buttpad, s/b buttplate on original owner's wood lottery win or buttstock has been replaced, check under triggerguard for serial # matching receiver.
 
Thanks all for the comments, they are very helpful. planemaker: there is no lightning written on the receiver, just "Browning (r)" and the little portrait. I popped off the trigger guard and the serial matches with the rest of the gun. The buttpad is definitely a replacement, when I look closer I can see a worn "Old English" logo on it. And thanks for the tip on the barrel selector, either I never knew you could choose or I had forgotten. :D

struff55: A little googling, and I think the steel trigger is original on this year. e.g. this thread. The bluing seems extremely good to my eye (but what do I know?), I don't know how I could tell if it had been done or not.

I'm not really intent on collecting guns for the safe, but I think this one is too nice to let go (plus the family history connection). However, I don't really see what use it would be for hunting to me; steel is right out. Would bismuth be okay in the barrels?
 
Bismuth shot would be fine, and you're right to avoid steel. Kent cartridge also loads a tungsten-matrix in 20 gauge that would work, but it's expensive as hell.

From what I can see in the photos, the blueing is original, and some of the older Browning did have blued triggers instead of the gold plated triggers we're used to seeing. The wood on that gun is just fantastic. That would be an awesome little upland gun.
 
ThurnYTaxis said:
Thanks all for the comments, they are very helpful. planemaker: there is no lightning written on the receiver, just "Browning (r)" and the little portrait. I popped off the trigger guard and the serial matches with the rest of the gun. The buttpad is definitely a replacement, when I look closer I can see a worn "Old English" logo on it. And thanks for the tip on the barrel selector, either I never knew you could choose or I had forgotten. :D

struff55: A little googling, and I think the steel trigger is original on this year. e.g. this thread. The bluing seems extremely good to my eye (but what do I know?), I don't know how I could tell if it had been done or not.

I'm not really intent on collecting guns for the safe, but I think this one is too nice to let go (plus the family history connection). However, I don't really see what use it would be for hunting to me; steel is right out. Would bismuth be okay in the barrels?
Click to expand...

Lightning or not they are a sweet upland gun. Next year get thee to the grouse woods lol. "Old English" is a Pachmyer recoil pad, my favorite if I put a recoil pad on. Fantastic figure on that butt, factory wood like that is not usually seen til the higher grades !

NO, I repeat, NO !! Steel thru Belgian barrels, lead or tungsten matrix even though someone will surly tell you you can run steel.
 
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