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I have a Browning T-bolt .22 LR that I was given for Christmas when I turned 13. It's old like me now.
Any Browning Long Gun Fans Here?
- Thread starter boykinlp
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Browning P35 Hi-Power. I bought this in 1972, my senior year. $114.00 new in padded case. I put it on layaway at the hardware store and paid a few dollars a week till I got it paid off. Displayed it with my senior gifts after graduation. People always ask. " Who gave you a pistol?" I always replied it was a gift to myself. Back tehn the Lee Jurris's SUPER VEL 9mm ammo was the bad axe ammo of the day. I put hundreds through my HP. It was the first gun I ever reloaded for with a LEE "pounder" load kit. It still lives here too.
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My ~1995-96 Browning A-Bolt II Varmint Heavy Barrel .308 is a great bench rifle and remarkably accurate. In 2018 Doug Melton of SRT Arms in Camp Verde, AZ built a Shadow Ti .30 suppressor to match the 9/16x24 thread pitch of the BOSS muzzle brake. It's a pretty sweet set up, IMO, and a joy to shoot long range. I want a stand up tripod rig for it, suggestions welcome.
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Patrick L
Member
Yes sir! I have 3 Belgian A5s (a Light 12, a Sweet 16, and a Magnum 20) and 3 Citoris (2 Lightnings, a 20 and a 16) and a 12 gauge CXS Sporting. I hope to add a few more to the collection too!
I have always liked the Belgium made Brownings. I had a Japanese B92 in 44 mag. Should have kept that. I have a browning A5 from the 40's. Honest wear, 16ga, 2 9/16 shell. Have mint 1971 Hi Power I bought new ( not fired in 45 years ). Have a heavy bbl 222 built on a sako action, safari grade( tack driver). Have safari grade 30-06 that I got in 1980. Never fired it, but previous owner fired a few rounds through it.
I think my long gun days are about over. I am getting ready to part with them
Only pic I have, HP with Spegel rosewood scales
I think my long gun days are about over. I am getting ready to part with them
Only pic I have, HP with Spegel rosewood scales
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I have always liked the Belgium made Brownings. I had a Japanese B92 in 44 mag. Should have kept that. I have a browning A5 from the 40's. Honest wear, 16ga, 2 9/16 shell. Have mint 1971 Hi Power I bought new ( not fired in 45 years ). Have a heavy bbl 222 built on a sako action, safari grade( tack driver). Have safari grade 30-06 that I got in 1980. Never fired it, but previous owner fired a few rounds through it.
I think my long gun days are about over. I am getting ready to part with them
Only pic I have, HP with Spegel rosewood scales
Sir: As long as you can pull the trigger and it gives you a smile........PLEASE.....Don't give up.
Have you had any trouble with the salt cured stock? My 1967 has had big problems.
This one isn't a Browning . . . rather, an FN, not intended for the US market.
That's exactly what I am restoring right now only mine is about a 1956 mfg.
They weren't USA imported till 56 or 57. Then they started putting the 'Browning Arms Co' name on them and bringing them in..
Up till that time (early 50's) Remington was making the Model 24 and 241 for the US market.
The US market for the rifle was off limits to FN through their agreements.
FN continued to mfg the 22SArifle for the European markets with simple Browning's Patent marking only.
FN made a nice pump 22 rifle as well that was never marketed in the USA.
Not one of JMB designs.
They show up once in a while and are usually quickly sold.
I think some time in the 90's FN 'found' enough parts in storage to build a number of the 22 pumps. They made them all Deluxe Grades with fancy wood and IIRC offered them to the members of the Browning Arms Collectors Assn. I think they could order and ask for options to be added such as upgraded wood, checkering and engraving as well.
OP
Now that I think about it, I have read about salt cured stocks causing problems for guns of certain years. Was this problem method changed or was it just done poorly for some time? And, was this a common method used by other gun companies, or just something done by Browning? GC, can you show us some pictures of what the damage looks like?
Larry
Mostly from 1967 to 1969. It apparently affected most long guns, not just the Superposed.
Browning Salt Wood Explained | Shotgun Report(R)
And here's the damage and repair to a Salt Treated Browning.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ni-5RIgbYg"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ni-5RIgbYg[/ame]
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ni-5RIgbYg"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ni-5RIgbYg[/ame]
rchall
Member
3 Grade II Belgium BAR's in 243,270,30/06. Also have an A-5 Sweet Sixteen with 2 barrels and Light Twelve with 2 barrels.
I was raised on A-5s, but don't currently own one. I do have a first year production BLR . 308 and a 1968 BAR . 30-06.
Tubbsy
Member
The gun that started it all for me was grandpa's '31 Belgian a5 12 gauge.... ugly as sin with that old polychoke on the end, but it was the coolest thing my young eyes had ever seen... have had several since, everything but a sweet sixteen in fact... only have grandpa's 12 and a remington model 11 12 left. I've also got a beat up bps that I'm pretty partial to.
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The salt cured wood really generates rust that aggressively eats away the metal anywhere the two are in contact.
The salt is in the wood from the quick-curing process. Rocksalt shoveled onto the blanks as they are stacked for normal drying.
Salt drawing moisture as it normaly does, draws the water out from the wood it is in contact with.
Salt curing wood was not a new trick. It was an old trick in the wood curing business and had been used for a long time.
Other trades using wood had used it.
Other gun makers had used it before FN/Browning.
I've had FN/Liege SxS and French SxS shotguns from betw the Wars that were heavily rusted inside from salt wood.
Here's a 1930's Belgian example. This one has the active rust nearly all cleaned up,,a few spots still active. No work was done yet to remove the pitting.
You can see especially on the under side of the forend latch where the wood contact was and was-not. Rusted and no-rust..
Most of the heavy pitting was then cleaned up on the inletting edges of the metal to get back to smooth surfaces. Files the primary tools.
The gun gets restocked so any changes in dimensions don't matter.
The wood is scrap though it can be used as a pattern. It can be used to turn a new stock (pre-carve).
That's what was done here.
The rusting action of the salt wood usually effects the outside surfaces of the gun as well if the gun has been around and together for any length of time. The Brownings have been.
The rust will have crept onto the outer surfaces from the inletted faces and grown. Heavier in some areas than others usually. I all depends on how much salt is in the wood and what the grain is in any one area. A more porous grain area will atract and hold more moisture from the air creating more rust on the metal.
Butt plate screws and grip cap screw will usually snap right off when you try to unscrew them. They will have been nearly eaten up by the rust.
Sling swivel screw screws as well.
Bbl surfaces under the wood line and just at and above it can be heavily pitted as well just like the frame.
All kinds of treatments have been used to stop the rusting and save the wood. Most of the salt wood from Browning was their fanciest grain stuff.
You hate to see the stuff go to waste. But putting it back on the gun is just asking for the same problem all over again no matter how you treat or seal up the wood.
Even the best methods fail. The best they do is hold off the rust better for a longer period than the other methods. The rust always wins.
As I posted on a Gunboard thread re: a saltwood Browning,,
FN burned all the salt cured wood in their inventory for a reason once the problem was discovered.
Winchester and Ruger also had some salt cured wood in their stock wood supply at one time. Ruger #1's show up with the stuff.
Salt curing is a quick way to get extremely expensive and valuable wood to market very fast. A few months instead of years
It's quick money if they can slip it past the buyers.
The salt is in the wood from the quick-curing process. Rocksalt shoveled onto the blanks as they are stacked for normal drying.
Salt drawing moisture as it normaly does, draws the water out from the wood it is in contact with.
Salt curing wood was not a new trick. It was an old trick in the wood curing business and had been used for a long time.
Other trades using wood had used it.
Other gun makers had used it before FN/Browning.
I've had FN/Liege SxS and French SxS shotguns from betw the Wars that were heavily rusted inside from salt wood.
Here's a 1930's Belgian example. This one has the active rust nearly all cleaned up,,a few spots still active. No work was done yet to remove the pitting.
You can see especially on the under side of the forend latch where the wood contact was and was-not. Rusted and no-rust..
Most of the heavy pitting was then cleaned up on the inletting edges of the metal to get back to smooth surfaces. Files the primary tools.
The gun gets restocked so any changes in dimensions don't matter.
The wood is scrap though it can be used as a pattern. It can be used to turn a new stock (pre-carve).
That's what was done here.
The rusting action of the salt wood usually effects the outside surfaces of the gun as well if the gun has been around and together for any length of time. The Brownings have been.
The rust will have crept onto the outer surfaces from the inletted faces and grown. Heavier in some areas than others usually. I all depends on how much salt is in the wood and what the grain is in any one area. A more porous grain area will atract and hold more moisture from the air creating more rust on the metal.
Butt plate screws and grip cap screw will usually snap right off when you try to unscrew them. They will have been nearly eaten up by the rust.
Sling swivel screw screws as well.
Bbl surfaces under the wood line and just at and above it can be heavily pitted as well just like the frame.
All kinds of treatments have been used to stop the rusting and save the wood. Most of the salt wood from Browning was their fanciest grain stuff.
You hate to see the stuff go to waste. But putting it back on the gun is just asking for the same problem all over again no matter how you treat or seal up the wood.
Even the best methods fail. The best they do is hold off the rust better for a longer period than the other methods. The rust always wins.
As I posted on a Gunboard thread re: a saltwood Browning,,
FN burned all the salt cured wood in their inventory for a reason once the problem was discovered.
Winchester and Ruger also had some salt cured wood in their stock wood supply at one time. Ruger #1's show up with the stuff.
Salt curing is a quick way to get extremely expensive and valuable wood to market very fast. A few months instead of years
It's quick money if they can slip it past the buyers.
OP
Since I know Browning has some of the prettiest wood I have ever seen on non custom guns, when I think of all the fanciest grade blanks that had to be burned, it makes me sick. I bet a wood worker like John Culina or Keith Brown would really be sick thinking about it. The salt does a real number to the metal.
Larry
Larry
Richard Simmons
Member
My only Browning long arm is one of the Model 1895 rifles made by Miroku in 2001. Mine is a take down model with case colored receiver chambered in 30.06. It's still NIB but I intend to take it to the range before this summer is over. Fit and finish are excellent!
OP
I just happened to look at the 2 NIB A-5's I recently got while they were next to my older one. I was surprised to see that the older one didn't have a gold trigger.
I also figured out how to date them. I have a 1973, 1976, and 1979.
Larry
I also figured out how to date them. I have a 1973, 1976, and 1979.
Larry
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