Val Browning's Double Auto

[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.