Browning Belgian Superposed

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6pt-sika
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Browning Belgian Superposed

Post by 6pt-sika »

It’s no great secret that I like Browning Belgian made Superposed shotguns quite a bit . Maybe not as much as Parker’s but enough ! I already have a pair of 12 skeet guns a 12 magnum , 20 skeet , 20 field 2 3/4” , 28 skeet and a 410 skeet . So I have kinda been looking for a 12 trap , 20 field 3” and maybe an old old double trigger 12 . So I was watching an Invaluable auction in Ohio today and they had what looked to be a decent circa 1968 Browning Broadway 32” so I bid and won it .
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Re: Browning Belgian Superposed

Post by octagon »

Nice score 6pt!! A 32" Belgium Broadway is the finest thing of its kind, hunting a big open field with short groundcover for Dove. This gun twists my knobs all the way to 11, the thought of hunting with it makes me want to dance a jig. I'd like to have one just like it with 26" skeet barrels for hunting thicker spots. Mine is from the 50's as I recall.
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Re: Browning Belgian Superposed

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Nice !.... :D
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Re: Browning Belgian Superposed

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octagon wrote: Thu Oct 31, 2019 4:03 pm Nice score 6pt!! A 32" Belgium Broadway is the finest thing of its kind, hunting a big open field with short groundcover for Dove. This gun twists my knobs all the way to 11, the thought of hunting with it makes me want to dance a jig. I'd like to have one just like it with 26" skeet barrels for hunting thicker spots. Mine is from the 50's as I recall.
Of the entire crowd the only one I’ve ever carried in the field is the circa 1951 20 gauge Lightning 28” M&F .
94A50995-C269-464F-9CFC-CF01101A2626.jpeg
Not the best picture but the 20’s is in that post dove hung picture . I’ve got a 26 1/2” 12 skeet circa 69 as well as a circa 62 26 1/2” 20 skeet . My circa 70 28 skeet is 28” and the circa 70 410 skeet is 26 1/2” . We had a really really nice 410 field 26 1/2” IC/M at the shop a few months back for sale , I wanted it but I passed and a friend bought it .
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Re: Browning Belgian Superposed

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Some sort of pics of the Broadway .
58D9E778-89AC-42CC-9592-65C521FA5D4E.jpeg
3059FB7F-93C2-4C08-BAA9-981A030B4954.jpeg
08C62B1B-3CAC-4E72-AFCF-1FFC28183772.jpeg
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Re: Browning Belgian Superposed

Post by octagon »

Looks good and clean, Nice!
6pt do you see any of those big white euro collered doves in your area? I get a few every year but none this year. They are big slow easy targets compared to mourning birds, you can't miss em.
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Re: Browning Belgian Superposed

Post by GunnyMack »

The Belgian guns fit me ok, the Japanese guns not so much! Good friend has had a lot of the high grades, his favorite was a Diana grade.
Another good friend has a 30" Broadway Trap- boy did that gun throw some great buckshot patterns! He killed quite a few deer with it.
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Re: Browning Belgian Superposed

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octagon wrote: Thu Oct 31, 2019 4:44 pm Looks good and clean, Nice!
6pt do you see any of those big white euro collered doves in your area? I get a few every year but none this year. They are big slow easy targets compared to mourning birds, you can't miss em.
No Eurasian banded dove here I’m sorry to say . But I’ve been contemplating a trip to the southwest to shoot them for a week or so in January or February .
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Re: Browning Belgian Superposed

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GunnyMack wrote: Thu Oct 31, 2019 4:52 pm The Belgian guns fit me ok, the Japanese guns not so much! Good friend has had a lot of the high grades, his favorite was a Diana grade.
Another good friend has a 30" Broadway Trap- boy did that gun throw some great buckshot patterns! He killed quite a few deer with it.
There are several older gentlemen here in Virginia that have the Broadway trap guns that use them as pigeon shoot guns . But sad to say they usually deface them
By porting adding screw ins and changing the recoil pad .
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Re: Browning Belgian Superposed

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I had a Belgian gun, it was one of 75 guns made. It was called the ATS . Was only made for the European market but somehow imported here. I wrote to Browning Utah, they had no idea what it was so I wrote to Belgium, months later I got a reply. They called it the American Trap Special Whoever had it before I got it had it back bored, poorly and it just didn't pattern well. I shot it on the bunker for a year or so before I bought my Perazzi. Sold it for what I had in it.

I do love the high grade Brownings , just don't fit me that well.

Not surprised, guys don't care about down the road values. I dislike ported guns but I know how beneficial porting is, but when ya shoot with overhead cover like we have at the bunker that porting is L O U D!
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Re: Browning Belgian Superposed

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GunnyMack wrote: Fri Nov 01, 2019 5:21 am I had a Belgian gun, it was one of 75 guns made. It was called the ATS . Was only made for the European market but somehow imported here. I wrote to Browning Utah, they had no idea what it was so I wrote to Belgium, months later I got a reply. They called it the American Trap Special Whoever had it before I got it had it back bored, poorly and it just didn't pattern well. I shot it on the bunker for a year or so before I bought my Perazzi. Sold it for what I had in it.

I do love the high grade Brownings , just don't fit me that well.

Not surprised, guys don't care about down the road values. I dislike ported guns but I know how beneficial porting is, but when ya shoot with overhead cover like we have at the bunker that porting is L O U D!
The first K-32 I had I had ported . That gun was a do all ! It had 28” ported barrels with a set of Kolar tubes for skeet and I also had a K-80 unsingle ported barrel fit to it for 16 yard trap and handicap then finally I had a set of 32” ported barrels for trap doubles. That gun served me well in both skeet and trap , of course it had a Monte Carlo high comb and that was before it was in vogue like now .
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Re: Browning Belgian Superposed

Post by GunnyMack »

I have a 30" 870 barrel that I ported. Fixed full choke, and very minor choke polishing and it throws fantastic patterns with OO. haven't tried it with birdshot but I bet it's tight.

I have a porting jig that I bought many years ago. Think I've used it twice, the 870 and I had a 12ga bolt rifle that I did, made it much more comfortable to shoot! I remember one late day drive we did, I shot just at dark and the flames coming up through the ports really lit up the cedar tree I was standing by! My buddies could see exactly where I was!
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Re: Browning Belgian Superposed

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I used to shoot skeet with some fellows years ago that were so recoil conscious they had whoever made the tubes in their guns go so far as porting the 20 gauge tubes to match the ports in the barrels . And if my memory serves I think one guy even ported the 28 gauge tubes . I liked the ported trap barrels , but in my skeet career I veered away from the 12 in the 12 or doubles events and used the 20 gauge instead . I did take a try at an 11/87 with a Kolar Kob (which was nothing more then a Cutts Compensator with the ports min bed slightly).
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Re: Browning Belgian Superposed

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Received the Broadway today , doesn’t appear to be salt wood as I always sweat that but I’ll still have a Browning collector friend test the wood with his testing solution . The gun is well used but doesn’t look to have been overly abused . I tried it in the front yard a few minutes ago first a over singke then an under single then doubles over then under then doubles under then over as well as the safety each time and all performed as expected . I will say the ejectors seemed to be timed as well as any I’ve ever owned ! Gun seems to fit me well but I’ve usually been able to adjust to most any gun and shoot it fairly well .
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Re: Browning Belgian Superposed

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Don’t think I mentioned earlier the Broadway came in a relatively nice Browning Naugahyde case of 60’s or 70’s vintage ! A couple spots inside need to be addressed and I will at some point . My Superposed 410 skeet also came with a Browning case of the same period . I’d like to find one from that period for an A-5 and an extra barrel .
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Re: Browning Belgian Superposed

Post by Jay Bird »

Came across a couple of Belgium Superposed last week at a local auction..one was made in '62 and I
wasn't sure of the other one. As I was after some Leverguns, a Low Wall and an old Merwin & Hulbert, I I wasn't interested......the Brownings both sold for $600 a piece...lots of good buys that night.--6
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Re: Browning Belgian Superposed

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Sixgun Sr wrote: Fri Nov 15, 2019 10:22 pm Came across a couple of Belgium Superposed last week at a local auction..one was made in '62 and I
wasn't sure of the other one. As I was after some Leverguns, a Low Wall and an old Merwin & Hulbert, I I wasn't interested......the Brownings both sold for $600 a piece...lots of good buys that night.--6
I’ve been after a Merwin & Hulbert for awhile . We actually had one at the shop on consignment that I tried to beat the price down and someone online bought it on GB . I’d like another Superposed or two a 12 gauge 26 1/2” IC/M and a 20 gauge with 3” chamber preferably 26 1/2” as well . Wouldn’t mind a Belgian A-5 20 Mag also . But at the moment I’ve got my sights on another Parker , I’ll find out Wednesday evening if I can acquire that one . Did you get the M&H ?
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Re: Browning Belgian Superposed

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Duh I see an M&H in your signature picture so I assume you got it !
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Re: Browning Belgian Superposed

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6pt-sika wrote: Fri Nov 15, 2019 10:52 pm Duh I see an M&H in your signature picture so I assume you got it !
Yea...got it 6 point.....it's a 95 per center......lucked out.......you know how it is....every 20 guns you buy you get a good one.....a couple of years go by, another 20 guns and another luck out.....until one day after a thousand guns and 50 years you have a hundred good ones ...then everybody wants them but don't want to pay you nothing for em! :D

How many Parkers, L.C. Smiths, Westley Richards,W.W. Greeners, or Philadelphia Fox's did you go through before you kept the good ones? :D --6
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Re: Browning Belgian Superposed

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Sixgun Sr wrote: Fri Nov 15, 2019 11:49 pm
6pt-sika wrote: Fri Nov 15, 2019 10:52 pm Duh I see an M&H in your signature picture so I assume you got it !
Yea...got it 6 point.....it's a 95 per center......lucked out.......you know how it is....every 20 guns you buy you get a good one.....a couple of years go by, another 20 guns and another luck out.....until one day after a thousand guns and 50 years you have a hundred good ones ...then everybody wants them but don't want to pay you nothing for em! :D

How many Parkers, L.C. Smiths, Westley Richards,W.W. Greeners, or Philadelphia Fox's did you go through before you kept the good ones? :D --6
The M&H we had at the shop was the same style frame/grip as this one . Double action and if I’m not mistaken some referred to it as a “skull cracker” . https://www.gunbroker.com/item/845241916
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Re: Browning Belgian Superposed

Post by Jay Bird »

6pt-sika wrote: Sat Nov 16, 2019 2:22 pm
The M&H we had at the shop was the same style frame/grip as this one . Double action and if I’m not mistaken some referred to it as a “skull cracker” . https://www.gunbroker.com/item/845241916
OK, the one in your pic is the third model "Pocket Army Double Action" . Very desirable......you really have to look close at these guns as many different models look the same but are different as to value. In the army pocket variations there were no double actions in the first or second model.

Mine is similar but has the flat bottom grip frame and is the Frontier model fourth variation with the ribbed barrel. Yea...skull crusher...s..t, if I was out of ammo shooting the bad guy I'd be running...zig zagging. :D

As you know there's not a whole lot of info floating around on these guns...God Bless the Internet on this brand of firearm! I have about 12 million books (sarcasm) and between them all I found very little info. Many of the early M&H were made in 44 M&H caliber and is very difficult to make brass, even with my expertise...soooooooo glad it's in 44-40. :D As close as I can tell , mine has factory elephant ivories.....

One thing for sure, these guns are made like a Swiss watch. I have a S&W Triplelock in near new condition and it doesn't compare to the quality in the M&H and we all know the quality that went into the early Smiths.--6

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Re: Browning Belgian Superposed

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There “was” a company or group that were supposedly gonna make M&H revolvers again four or five years ago . They sent out brochures etc and you were supposed to send a deposit etc etc . Bottom line the whole thing never materialized. I just wonder how many folks fell for that song and dance .
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Re: Browning Belgian Superposed

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Shot the Broadway on Black Friday it was doing well for me until a firing pin gave up the ghost . My buddy ordered a pair of firing pins a pair of firing pin springs and a pair of hammer springs . Figured I’d get uhm all at once :wink:
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Re: Browning Belgian Superposed

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6pt-sika wrote: Sat Nov 30, 2019 9:28 pm Shot the Broadway on Black Friday it was doing well for me until a firing pin gave up the ghost . My buddy ordered a pair of firing pins a pair of firing pin springs and a pair of hammer springs . Figured I’d get uhm all at once :wink:
Sorry to hear about that. Seems like every few used guns, one comes along that needs work or has a part or two that was just hanging on a little longer before giving up the ghost for a new owner.

I have a friend that bought a Broadway some years ago, it's quite a piece of workmanship. Me, I finally settled for a Winchester Model 101, choked skeet 1 & 2. Doesn't make a bad grouse gun, although it does get heavy.

__________________________________________________________

Hey Sixgun,

If you really want to find a book on Merwin, Hulbert & Co. (Why does everyone call 'em Merwin & Hulbert?), maybe this will help you on the search:
"The Story of Merwin, Hulbert & Company Firearms" by Art Phelps, ISBN 1-882824-00-8, Library of Congress Card Number 91-65703

My copy is a 2nd Edition, copyright 1992 and has an unfilled-in # and unsigned "'One of One Thousand', signed by author" bit printed on the title page, so there might not be very many of them out there. IF he's still alive, the author's mailing address is given on the book information page. Lemmee know if you want the address, so I don't just plaster it up for the whole internet to harass the guy or his heirs, if he's passed on.

I've had a few of their guns, still have a medium frame DA .32 7-shooter, a near-twin .38 5-shooter on the same frame size and a small frame .32 5-shooter, also both DA. I know there's proper nomenclature for this stuff; I just don't remember off the top of my head and can't be bothered to dig 'em out and work it out for a quick post. Used to have a Pocket Army .44-40. It was mostly brown with a whole lot of pitting ranging from "sandblasted" to "Lunar", had punch dot engraving, traces of nickel in a few areas and was so incredibly floppy that I'm not certain it wasn't halves of two different guns. After having a gunsmith that specialized in working on old time stuff go over it and do what he could, it was only somewhat loose and the cylinder still had a tendency to skip and not lock up if it weren't run very deliberately. Shot it some, had it take up space in the safe for a few years and eventually sent it down the road via Track of the Wolf.
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