Val Browning's Double Auto

[Pay Dirt]

Anyone?

I shot a very nicely balanced "Twelvette" this past weekend and it felt like a 6 pound Superposed.
The Net says these guns really don't do well with reloaded ammo.
I loaded Federal Paper hulls, 1 oz, 18gr Clays, 5800 psi, 1180 fps. The auto shot them flawlessly. Pillow soft too.



I've been told that some "Doubles" events will allow this gun because it only holds two shells.

[John Davis]

I'm betting it would make a great Doubles Trap gun.

[Mark Garrett]

I HAD ONE AND FOOLISHLY LET MY FREIND TALK ME OUT OF IT.

[James L. Martin]

I had a twentyweight 26" I/C vent rib, nice gun I just couldn't get used to the safety.

[Gary Laudermilch]

I shot one at International Skeet many years ago and liked it a bunch. Just curious what wad you are using in the Fed. paper load?

[Pay Dirt]

Originally Posted by Gary Laudermilch

I shot one at International Skeet many years ago and liked it a bunch. Just curious what wad you are using in the Fed. paper load?

ClayBuster Windjammers.
Fed Paper Hulls are straight sided, a tapered wad will produce "Poofers". Great crimps too!


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And don't even get me started on the fragrance

[J.B. Books]

I picked up a Double Auto in 2018, like yours it is an aluminum frame "Twelvette" finished in Dragon Black, the most common color. I believe mine is a Trap model as it came with a 30" full barrel and the stock dimensions are 1 3/8" x 1 5/8" x 14 1/4". It was made in 1963. A previous owner had the barrel threaded for Colonial Thin Wall choke tubes and it came with a Skeet tube. I picked up a modified tube that shoots 68% at 40 yards for crow shooting.

My gun is not as dependable cycling as a Remington 1100. In cold weather, below freezing, it acts gummy and at times the bolt drags slowly as the gun tries to go back into battery. I have solved this problem a couple of times by spraying some WD-40 into the action spring(s) tube in the stock, then it cycles very smoothly. In warm weather it cycles reliably and with 7/8 ounce reloads. With one ounce crow loads, 1150 fps #6, it is surprisingly soft, as you say soft as a pillow especially for such a light gun. The mechanism in the rear of the stock looks a bit complicated; inner action spring, outer action spring, inertia block, inertia block core, inertia block spring. I am sure my reliability would improve with a full tear down, cleaning and lube.

Mine weighs 7 pounds even, very well balanced and points nicely for me, I like the thin forend and the lack of weight out front that the 1100 has. The aluminum frame guns, "Twelvette's" and "TwentyWeights" came in several colors, if you see a red or blue one at a good price grab it as those two colors are scarce and collectible. Many of them had no rib but they also came with a vent rib and channel rib barrels, vent rib is the least common.

Overall I really like it and surprisingly it is my best hit to miss ratio gun on crows in spite of the super straight stock.

Advertised as "Tomorrow's Gun Today" it was a poor seller and only 70,000+ were produced, production ended in '72. I bought the gun at the Kittery Trading Post and when I was looking at it two clerks were helping me, neither one of them knew how to close the action or remove the barrel. Thankfully I had watched a Youtube video and remembered how to do it.

[charlie cleveland]

I ve seen a few of these guns over the years but not many..i believe stevens made a gun similar to this gun it had the tenite stock on it it was very lite...some people claimed it kicked to much....charlie

[J.B. Books]

Originally Posted by charlie cleveland

I ve seen a few of these guns over the years but not many..i believe stevens made a gun similar to this gun it had the tenite stock on it it was very lite...some people claimed it kicked to much....charlie

Charlie I believe you are thinking of the Armalite AR-17, a similar design. This is a good write up on it. Says it was a hard kicker, a 5 1/2 pound 12ga would be.

http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/view...p?f=3&t=347730

[Steve Hodges]

It is actually not an "aluminum" receiver, but a receiver made of " horridum".