Superposed 28 and 410

[CraigThompson]

The 28 gauge just showed up today !

Took one picture and will get more later . Gun looks very nice and after taking the stock off I am about 99.9% sure it doesn't have salt wood in the stock . Hopefully I'll be able to test the stock and forend wood tommorrow when my pharmacist buddy brings his solution !

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f316/6pt-sika/Browning%20Superposed%2028%20and%20410/IMG_7990_zpsubkriahf.jpg (http://s50.photobucket.com/user/6pt-sika/media/Browning%20Superposed%2028%20and%20410/IMG_7990_zpsubkriahf.jpg.html)

[James L. Martin]

I think they are the best deal out there for a o/u, you can get a 12 or 20 for less than a new Browning from Japan. If you want a o/u for hunting a 20ga lightning is hard to beat.

[Mills Morrison]

I have a Superposed 3 barrel set (20, 28 & 410) and love it. It is one of my favorite non-sxs guns. Am planning to shoot doves with it this season

[CraigThompson]

I think they are the best deal out there for a o/u, you can get a 12 or 20 for less than a new Browning from Japan. If you want a o/u for hunting a 20ga lightning is hard to beat.

I've already got a pair of Superposed 12's and a pair of 20 gauge as well . All for less then a comprable Citori .

The 28 and 410 however were a different story price wise !

[CraigThompson]

I have a Superposed 3 barrel set (20, 28 & 410) and love it. It is one of my favorite non-sxs guns. Am planning to shoot doves with it this season

In the past I've kept my eyes open for the Superposed 4 barrel and 3 barrel sets . While the 4 barrel would be great if I were competing again and didn't want to go the tube route . For just plain fun to shoot the 3 barrel set is far better as it's built on the smaller less bulky 20 gauge frame .

[Mills Morrison]

Yeah, I think it would be better to buy a separate 12 gauge and keep my 3 barrel set on the small frame. We actually have plenty of over and unders and are looking to thin the herd a little.

[CraigThompson]

I wanna at some point get a decent Superposed trap gun with 32" pipes and maybe an early early 12 field gun with double triggers . But those two and perhaps a couple Remington 32's and I'll have all the O/U's I need or want as well . Now with that being said a nice Boss , Woodward or Purdey O/U wouldn't be turned down .

[Jerry Parise]

Is it just me or does that forearm appear to be the style used on the mid 80s vintage citoris?

[CraigThompson]

Is it just me or does that forearm appear to be the style used on the mid 80s vintage citoris?

It's not to far from the Citori of that period as I had several back then .

[CraigThompson]

Well I tested the 28 gauge with the solution for salt and both the stock and forend are NOT salt wood !

[CraigThompson]

Now when the 410 arrives monday if it's salt free as well there just may be a God :rotf:

[John Dallas]

When were the guns made? Are they from the Salt era?

[Bill Kekatos]

Excuse my ignorance. What is salt wood?
BillK

[John Dallas]

In the late '60's ( most folks say 1968), Browning was having a hard time finding sufficient cured, dried wood for stocks.. They tried a process that soaked blanks in a salt solution which was designed to draw water out of the blanks. After a few years the residual salts in the stocks began to rust the metal in the guns. Most folks think the period was from 1968 to 1971. If you Google "Browning Salt Wood" there is lots of info.

[Ed Blake]

Just unscrew the buttpad. If the screws are rusty it's a salt wood gun. Nice gun.

[CraigThompson]

Just unscrew the buttpad. If the screws are rusty it's a salt wood gun. Nice gun.

Nope , usually the screws are stainless and won't show it ! Well provided the gun has a recoil pad as do the two I bought .

However the screw inside the stock into the tang is a good one for that .

My retired pharmacist friend however has a solution that when put on a small spot of wood without finish it will turn milky in about 10-20 seconds if there's salt present in the wood .

Both this 28 and the 410 I have coming today (Monday the31st) are serial numbered for 1970 . As is my 12 gauge Mag Superposed well 1969 actually . Anyway any time I get or am thinking of getting a Browning be it shotgun rifle or handgun I get this guy to check them out . He was into Brownings in a big way so I trust his judgement .

[CraigThompson]

FWIW , I wasn't aware of it until a few months ago , but Ruger used the same process in approx. the same time period . Seems you can find some #1's with the same issue . Ive had a couple dozen of them and to date I've not been aware of any that had the problem . But I will say of the 18 of them I had two years ago I'm down to maybe 7 now .

[Gary Laudermilch]

A guy showed up at one of our 5-stand shoots a while back with a Browning Superposed that certainly had to be a salt era gun. Every place wood touched metal, the stock head, the forearm along the barrels etc., the metal was corroded. Who knows what it looked like inside. While I am not a Superposed fan I did notice this gun was absent the forearm cross bolt and had instead a Citori style forearm latch. Just thought it interesting for I assumed all had the cross bolt.

[CraigThompson]

A guy showed up at one of our 5-stand shoots a while back with a Browning Superposed that certainly had to be a salt era gun. Every place wood touched metal, the stock head, the forearm along the barrels etc., the metal was corroded. Who knows what it looked like inside. While I am not a Superposed fan I did notice this gun was absent the forearm cross bolt and had instead a Citori style forearm latch. Just thought it interesting for I assumed all had the cross bolt.

My 12 gauge , this 28 and the 410 I have coming have the beavertail forend that the Citori's seem to be patterned afte and those three have no crossbolt . My 20 gauge skeet if my memory serves does have the crossbolt as well as my 20 gauge field and 12 gauge magnum . But the latch on all of them are the expected Superposed drop latch and the forend slides forward .

It's incorrect actually to say these guns have a Citori style forend as they were made 5 or so years before the Citori was unvieled in the mid 70's .

[Ed Blake]

My Browning ownership is limited to the Citori, however, my understanding about the salt guns is the higher grade guns are the ones you need to be careful of. Great dove guns. I hope you get to use them soon.

[Dave Noreen]

The target forearm used on the New Model Skeet Guns and the Trap Guns from 1967 onward have a long bolt in from the front of the wood into the forearm iron instead of the cross-bolt. Much like a Parker Bros. beavertail forearm.

[John Dallas]

To my eye, those forearms are as ugly as a mud fence

[CraigThompson]

To my eye, those forearms are as ugly as a mud fence

You know the old saying opinions are like backsides !

[CraigThompson]

Ok the 410 finally arrived via USPS at about 15:30 . Took the recoil pad off and the stock bolt out . No signs of salt wood on ANY of the metal , the gun appears to be unfired .I'm still gonna test the wood tomorrow just to be safe . Also the period correct Browning hard case looks new !



http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f316/6pt-sika/Browning%20Superposed%2028%20and%20410/IMG_8010_zpsfujmbaz6.jpg (http://s50.photobucket.com/user/6pt-sika/media/Browning%20Superposed%2028%20and%20410/IMG_8010_zpsfujmbaz6.jpg.html)



http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f316/6pt-sika/Browning%20Superposed%2028%20and%20410/IMG_8011_zpsebuugo8a.jpg (http://s50.photobucket.com/user/6pt-sika/media/Browning%20Superposed%2028%20and%20410/IMG_8011_zpsebuugo8a.jpg.html)



http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f316/6pt-sika/Browning%20Superposed%2028%20and%20410/IMG_8012_zpsbaxqw9ez.jpg (http://s50.photobucket.com/user/6pt-sika/media/Browning%20Superposed%2028%20and%20410/IMG_8012_zpsbaxqw9ez.jpg.html)



http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f316/6pt-sika/Browning%20Superposed%2028%20and%20410/IMG_8013_zpsfwqgskkx.jpg (http://s50.photobucket.com/user/6pt-sika/media/Browning%20Superposed%2028%20and%20410/IMG_8013_zpsfwqgskkx.jpg.html)

[CraigThompson]

My Browning ownership is limited to the Citori, however, my understanding about the salt guns is the higher grade guns are the ones you need to be careful of. Great dove guns. I hope you get to use them soon.

Central VA is not looking promising for good available dove fields . But as you well know a lot could change between now and Saturday !

[Mills Morrison]

We have a friend who has consistently great hunts. Great and even good dove hunts are getting to be few and far between

[Mills Morrison]

Ok now I see the 410. You done good again

[CraigThompson]

Ok now I see the 410. You done good again

Thanks !

I think one decent 32" Broadway and I'll be done looking for Superposed !

But now I'm kinda getting interested in Remington 32's again . Had a couple that had been totally rebuilt reblued and refinished , and like many other things I sold them for something else . And now I think I need two more a skeet and a trap oughtta do it !

[Mills Morrison]

Our gun club had an older Krieghoff multi barrel set a few years ago for a couple thousand and we should have nabbed it. The ones that get away . . .

[CraigThompson]

Our gun club had an older Krieghoff multi barrel set a few years ago for a couple thousand and we should have nabbed it. The ones that get away . . .

I have a K-32 trap gun that was made in the first year or two of production . It's my understanding that this gun is early enough that it was made atleast partially with left over Remington 32 parts .

Four or five years ago I had a pair of Remington 32 12 gauge skeet guns that had been reblued , refinished etc . I should have kept one of them , the gun had a factory vent rib . In all honesty that is THE ONLY shotgun I ever owned that I NEVER missed with . But I shot it maybe 400 times before I let it go all on the skeet field of course and never more then 50 shots at a time .

I'll just wait until someone brings in a nice old Remington 32 skeet and or trap at the shop and I'll pounce if the price is right .

[Mills Morrison]

The one we saw had a nice take down case and everything. It was one of those things we weren't looking for that gun nor looking to spend that kind of money and a month or so ago, we look at each other and ask why we didn't nail it.

[Mills Morrison]

Just got a second dove invitation over lunch so I may try two of the three barrel sets on the Superposed. Probably 20 and 28

[James Palmer]

1931 Fore-ends

[CraigThompson]

As I pretty much assumed the 410 tested negative for salt in both the stock and forened :bowdown:

[Dave Noreen]

To my eye, those forearms are as ugly as a mud fence


For their intended purpose of shooting NSSA Skeet, I find nothing better for me.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/Ansleyone/Browning/P1010055_zpsde0aca5d.jpg

The 20-gauge in this set is the Standard weight. The 20- and 28-gauges and the .410-bore are all within a fraction of an ounce of seven pounds. I also have an extra 20-gauge New Model Skeet that is a Lightning going six or seven ounces less.

[Bill Murphy]

I didn't know that the Standard Weight 20 was made as late as the New Model Skeet.

[CraigThompson]

Tried the pair on the skeet field this evening !



Can't say I hit them all but I stayed above 90% for the pair combined !

[Mills Morrison]

Now you need to shoot that well with a Parker and come shoot for Team Parker

[CraigThompson]

Now you need to shoot that well with a Parker and come shoot for Team Parker

Thank you for the compliment !

But that actually isn't to good !

When I quit competing at skeet my 410 average was 96.5% and my 28 gauge average stayed a hair above 98% which kept me AAA in the little guns . Now that unto itself sounds pretty good until you realize at a big shoot like the now defunct Great Eastern or the old North South where 50+ of the big boys showed up these guys were like 99.5% or better with the 28 and 98%+ with the 410 so if I was having a good day I might outshoot some of them but very rarely if ever all of them .

To put the NSSA average thing in perspective to get your minnimums for a year you need to shoot 1200 with the 12 and 1000 with each of the smaller gauges and 500 doubles . I saw alot of years where the high average leaders for the 12 , 20 and 28 might have gone clean for the entire year . And a few times I remmember more then one guy in a gauge going clean for the whole year . I dare say Todd Bender went clean for the year in the 20 and 28 several times and I think he did it in the 12 a time or two as well . Seems to me the best I remmember for the 410 was like 995 out of 1000 .

The first BIG shoot I ever attended was in Winston Salem at the now defunct Bingham and Parks gun club , at the time Bruce Evans and his wife owned the place . Anyway it was like a
55-60 shooter shoot but of the shooters probably 40 of them AA/AAA . I tied for LAST in the AA (there was no AAA at this shoot as there were not enough participants to offer the class) with a 390 overall . I tied George Lehr a past Open Team All American with that score , but the kicker to the whole thing was out of the 50+ shooters on hand there were THREE 400x400's recorded . So you could say as far as shooting with the big boys I got my cherry popped in big fashion that weekend LOL's !