Some of you know me for my main obsession, but I do dabble with somewhat more recent guns, and I recently praised the Browning Superposed, particularly the beautifully-built early twin-trigger model. And for good measure, I also quite like the Auto-5, having a 16 with the original 2 5/8 chambering. But in terms of balance between the hands, (almost) nothing beats a fine British side-by-side. The Browning Double Automatic has the curious quality of combining or improving on all of the above traits: beautiful Old-World build quality, super-fast cycling, super-fast loading, and the balance and handling qualities of a side-by-side.
As a commercial product, it was a flop – described as an answer to a question nobody asked. Relatively few were made in the years 1952-1972, and the use of coloured alloy receivers in some models was far ahead of popular demand (I have a 1956-dated blued steel receiver version and can only speak for that one, not having tried any other). However, not being a commercial success does not mean a bad design, the quality was expensive to produce (they were built at the Fabrique Nationale d'Armes de Guerre factory in Herstal, Belgium), and unless you tried one, it was hard to see where it fit in the shooting world – why have an auto-loader that is limited to two shots, when your own product line (and everyone else’s) has an auto-loader with a larger capacity?
The cleverness is the work of Val Browning, John Browning’s son (and the person who completed the Superposed, invented the Superposed single-trigger and the Auto-5’s quick-loading feature, and many other patents). The action is a very short recoil action (about 1/2 inch of barrel movement), so it doesn’t feel like an Auto-5. There is no magazine tube to throw off the balance, no magazine cap, no removable fore-end. There are no buttons or knobs; you push a cartridge into the side loading bay and it automatically feeds into the chamber, the second cartridge is slipped underneath. The safety is on the outside of the rear part of the trigger guard, so it works equally well for left- or right-handers. The cycling is so quick it is like shooting a double. And perhaps most important, the short receiver and lack of a magazine puts the balance between the hands like a double gun, and the single barrel makes for a lighter-carrying gun – a 12 that feels like a 16 or a 20. Reloading is quicker than with a double, as you don't 'open' the gun.
It was marketed by Browning as a no-maintenance gun, needing at most only an occasional drop of oil on the breech block groove. It can handle any load without adjustment, light or magnum, though limited to 2 3/4 inch shells only. A spring-clip lets the rear of the fore-end pivot slightly, and the barrel simply slips out for cleaning, the easiest barrel-removal system I know of.
About 67,000 Double Automatics were made for the European and North American market, most with the alloy receivers (the ‘Twelvette’ and ‘Twentyweight’ models) for weight reduction. Possibly no more than 2,000 of the standard steel-receiver models were made. If you get a chance to try one, I suggest that you do, you might be as pleasantly surprised as I was. If you already have one, chime in! This is a gun that merits a wider appreciation.
As a commercial product, it was a flop – described as an answer to a question nobody asked. Relatively few were made in the years 1952-1972, and the use of coloured alloy receivers in some models was far ahead of popular demand (I have a 1956-dated blued steel receiver version and can only speak for that one, not having tried any other). However, not being a commercial success does not mean a bad design, the quality was expensive to produce (they were built at the Fabrique Nationale d'Armes de Guerre factory in Herstal, Belgium), and unless you tried one, it was hard to see where it fit in the shooting world – why have an auto-loader that is limited to two shots, when your own product line (and everyone else’s) has an auto-loader with a larger capacity?
The cleverness is the work of Val Browning, John Browning’s son (and the person who completed the Superposed, invented the Superposed single-trigger and the Auto-5’s quick-loading feature, and many other patents). The action is a very short recoil action (about 1/2 inch of barrel movement), so it doesn’t feel like an Auto-5. There is no magazine tube to throw off the balance, no magazine cap, no removable fore-end. There are no buttons or knobs; you push a cartridge into the side loading bay and it automatically feeds into the chamber, the second cartridge is slipped underneath. The safety is on the outside of the rear part of the trigger guard, so it works equally well for left- or right-handers. The cycling is so quick it is like shooting a double. And perhaps most important, the short receiver and lack of a magazine puts the balance between the hands like a double gun, and the single barrel makes for a lighter-carrying gun – a 12 that feels like a 16 or a 20. Reloading is quicker than with a double, as you don't 'open' the gun.
It was marketed by Browning as a no-maintenance gun, needing at most only an occasional drop of oil on the breech block groove. It can handle any load without adjustment, light or magnum, though limited to 2 3/4 inch shells only. A spring-clip lets the rear of the fore-end pivot slightly, and the barrel simply slips out for cleaning, the easiest barrel-removal system I know of.
About 67,000 Double Automatics were made for the European and North American market, most with the alloy receivers (the ‘Twelvette’ and ‘Twentyweight’ models) for weight reduction. Possibly no more than 2,000 of the standard steel-receiver models were made. If you get a chance to try one, I suggest that you do, you might be as pleasantly surprised as I was. If you already have one, chime in! This is a gun that merits a wider appreciation.
