I have one with the brown receiver and no vent rib. Using 1 1/8 oz. it kicks me like a mule. My friend had one and we shot it that same day at clays. His kicked me the same. My head still hurts from it and I have not shot it since.

I shot some 7/8 ounce loads at 1200 fps and they were comfortable I also shoot some 1 ounce loads at 1150 fps and the recoil was not too bad. I'll use 7/8 ounce on clays and 1 ounce on crows. I have shot 7/8 loads at clays for so long I think the recoil of 1 1/8 ounce is stiff out of any gun.

I read up on the gun before buying it and I knew the color of the aluminum receiver affected value. This was priced right and I bought to be a shooter. It really doesn't feel like an any other auto when I handle it. It's an odd enough gun to be interesting and fun to me.

Pete, great find. I have owned about six different Double Autos over the years. All shot really well and i liked them. Wish i had kept at least one. Seeing yours makes me want to buy anther. Yours is in really good condition. No worm holes in the buttplate and the particular rib on yours is fairly rare. Maybe I will go on the hunt:) Can't wait to see it.

Worm holes in the butt plate, I had forgotten about horn butt plates and the problem with the Powder Post Beetles. If you look closely at the butt plate in the picture I posted there is some damage. It looked kind of weird to me and I assumed it was plastic and damaged from the gun going in and out of gun racks but now I know. By '63 I read Browning had gone to plastic butt plates but some say they were still using up old stock. I bought to shoot it, the price was right, I saw the choke tube install as a plus. The gun was not used very much and overall it's very nice, if I really like it and use it a lot I can put another butt plate or have a pad put on it.

When I mentioned shooting 1 1/8 ounce in the Double Auto that is what I shoot at doves and I thought I may take it out. But I did not like the recoil so I never did. I think 1 ounce or less is probably ideal for the gun.

I believe I remember this being a design of Val Browning, and the auto feed feature he designed was adapted over to the A5, thus making the production cost even higher, which led to the A5 being so expensive to manufacture.

When I was a little boy, I'm not sure how old, my dad went to a neighbor's house, who was the same age as my dad, they had been in the war at the same time. Daddy asked David if he could see his Browning and David obliged. It was a Browning Double Auto, not sure if it was the 12 or 20. I thought that day it was the most beautiful gun I had ever seen, the family still owns the gun and know the value of the sentimentality. I've picked several up since then thinking of buying but I never have, but I still believe the streamlines of the shotgun and the gold inlay are as pretty as a useable gun can be. Congratulations!

Thank you. The Browning DA was only made in 12 ga. Not many were built, 67,000 or so. There were three models. A standard with a steel receiver that weighed around 7 3/4 lbs. The "Twelvette", which is what I have with an aluminum receiver at 6 3/4 lbs and the "Twentyweight" around 6 1/4 pounds. The aluminum receiver guns came in a variety of receiver colors with some being quite rare. It came with either a plain barrel, a solid channel rib or a vent rib in a variety of lengths and chokes. From what I see on gun for sale sites they did come with 1/2" increment barrel lengths 27.5, 29.5 etc. Perhaps people measure them differently.

I have not shot it very much yet but I found it handles and feels different than my Rem 1100's and Ithaca 51, it's not as nose heavy and lighter overall. I think it's a good gun that never caught on. If you want to shoot heavier loads I would go with the steel receiver model. If you like 7/8 and 1 ounce loads the lighter gun seems fine.

This guy did a great job explaining the history and the operation of the Browning DA.