What brought you to Browning?

Discussion in 'Firearm Maintenance, Modification, Safety And Trou' started by Noturus, Oct 30, 2019.

  1. Noturus

    Noturus .410

    For me it was my good hunting and shooting buddy back in the 70's. He had a Browning auto 5 for hunting foul, I had an 870. He had a Medalist for 22 for target competition and I had Ruger Mark IV. He had an auto Browning deer rifle in 30-06 and I had a Savage 308 bolt action. He always out did me no matter what we shot. It was then I promised myself I would one day have a Browning of my own! Promise fulfilled! I have an 1885 single shot in 45-70 that I will cherish until the day I can give it to my grandson to be passed on for generations ahead! I chose the 1885 because my grandpa had a Winchester 45-70 that we shot together when I was a teenager.
    Rudolph31 likes this.
  2. Bill Idaho

    Bill Idaho .270 WIN

    Back in about 1975 or so, I was working as a fledgling gunsmith in Peoria, Illinois. We usually had about 700 guns on the shelves, and for unknown reasons, every time I walked by the shotgun rack, a lone A5 would whisper for me to buy it and take it home. Finally, the voices convinced me to grab it, and I hunted pheasants and rabbits with it for a few years.
    Then, in 1978, my father died, and I inherited all of his guns. Back in the 40s, 50s-60s he was quite the accomplished competition shooter- high power, NRA pistol, etc. (No competitive shotgun stuff, although there were a couple of model 97s mixed in his gaggle of firearms.) I ended up all of his rifles, and pistols he competed with, to include targets, scorecards, EVERYTHING. That A5 evolved into a safe queen.
    Anyway, I moved to Idaho in 1980, and hunted birds for a year or two, and gave up "armed hiking". Life got in the way.
    At a Boise gun show in about 1982, I was walking up and down the rows, and once again, for unknown reasons, as I walked past an A5 I heard it whisper to me. Yep, it came home with me too.

    That's been about 20 A5s ago. Funny thing about it, I own several other Brownings, (a couple of High Powers, a Medalist), and they don't talk to me. Like I said in my intro post---A5s have a soul. Something about'em..... I think I'll go open up a couple of my safes and just sit and enjoy.
    Rudolph31 and Auzzie like this.
  3. Noturus

    Noturus .410

    It kind of seems new members like you and I are the only active ones here and I appreciate you input. Actually my new bride of 6 months and I ventured all the way to Idaho back in 1974 to Coeur d'Alene but couldn't find work so after two weeks went back to Kansas and started over again. No regrets now but we were devastated back then that we couldn't settle in. The 45-70 always whispered to me ever since my grandpa introduced it to me when I was 12 years old.
  4. gomer_pyle

    gomer_pyle .22LR

    I drop in once in a while but you're right, it's usually pretty slow.

    I moved back to this area (Twin Tiers of PA/NY) around 1992 and started collecting some firearms. I bought a Browning Euro-Bolt 7mm Mag for deer because it fit me so well. I'm 6'6" and the Euro-Bolts have a longer pull than most rifles. The problem with the rifle is that it's too long to maneuver easily in the woods and far too loud with the BOSS. I kept looking for a better rifle for still hunting. I wanted a lever action with more oomph than a .30-30. About a week before deer season one year I stumbled on a pre-81 BLR .308 in my favorite gun store. It's turned into my favorite deer rifle because it carries and maneuvers easily, packs a good punch, and is well balanced for quick handling.

    A few years later I went to a gun show with an uncle. I didn't intend to buy anything, I just went to keep him company and drool over the toys. Wouldn't you know, the first table had a Browning Euro-Bolt .270. I had always wanted a .270 and it was such a pretty rifle and fit me like a glove. It's the gun I use for whitetails when I expect to be more on stand in open areas. The BLR is better for sneaking through thicker areas while still hunting.

    I have some other nice guns for hunting but that's how I got my Brownings.
  5. Ranger6

    Ranger6 Administrator Staff Member Administrator Global Moderator Forum Moderator

    “The best there is come hell or high water”. Welcome to all you new folks. There are times it’s slow but that’s ok, the longer you stick around the more people you will come into contact with.
  6. Noturus

    Noturus .410

    Thanks Ranger6! As I get older I don't get out as much to shoot or hunt. I've had sold off some of my collection. There's a few that I want to have my family inherit and others that don't mean that much to me. The most important however is my 1885 45/70I love that rifle so much! I reckon that's what brought me to Browning more than anything! That and my first rifle (savage crack shot .22) will go to my only grandson.
  7. Ranger6

    Ranger6 Administrator Staff Member Administrator Global Moderator Forum Moderator

    I like that. All of mine will go to my daughter. She is still a little young but I hope she gets the sickness like her dad. She likes to shoot so there is hope
  8. Noturus

    Noturus .410

    I have two adult daughters. One wants only my Colt Anaconda and the other (who has my grandson) wants what I mentioned before plus a Model 34 Kit Gun. Who knows though, 45/70 government ammo sadly may not even be manufactured or available in 20 years.
  9. gnappi

    gnappi .22LR

    Sometime in the mid 70's I wanted to go dove hunting and found an A5 in a pawn shop and bought it. So, when I started trap (bought a BPS for that) and skeet (yup used the BPS for that too) the BPS brought me my first 25 in both disciplines and eventually I wound up with a BT, and finally a Citori.
  10. Norske

    Norske .410

    My first was a Challenger 22 pistol, which got a Medalist barrel added to it shortly after. That was used during three years of college pistol team shooting. My second was a BL22 rifle, and the last was a 358 Winchester BLR. I still have the Challenger, sold the BL22 because it ws too light for ofhand shooting, and (except of the magazines) love my BLR.
  11. I’d say Browning was engrained in me from as early an age as i can remember! My grandaddy had an old auto 5 16 he acquired when he traded a buick car for about 100 acres of land back in the 30’s. I remember him telling me the man that he traded with had the shotgun and grandaddy said - since you don’t have to worry about hunting anymore you might as well throw in that shotgun too - so the man did! Killer of a deal i’d say!!!! It had a 2-9/16” chamber until he “adjusted” it with his file set so he could shoot 2-3/4” shells. He also had a newer model sweet 16 but I'd guess it was made in the 50’s. My dad had a standard 12 that i shot every time he allowed me to use when we hunted together and every single time i got to hunt with grandaddy! Shortly after my 16th bday dad & i went to a dove shoot together when he said not today son, you’re going to have to shoot the 50, which was a Winchester that was in no way a comparison to that Auto 5 in my mind! I’d started my 1st job working for somebody other than dad several months before that day so when the shoot was over i went straight to the ace hardware in town and bought my 1st shotgun - it was a Browning B80 and it’s with me to this day! At that time i had no idea new auto-5’s were still in production or you can bet thats what i would’ve purchased!!! Lots of years went by and the B80 remained my only shotgun until my boys got older and i could afford more guns - to this day it’s never been to a gunsmith however it has been “retired” since my dad passed away. Out of all the shotguns in my safes today only the model 50 and a field grade 101 are the only ones that are not Brownings. My dad has been gone a decade now but when duck season gets here that old standard 12 is what goes to the swamp for woodies. Both my sons rarely have the chance to hunt these days but the oldest always calls dads standard 12 when when he's home! My dad was an excellent wing shooter but he only had 1 shotgun and he knew how to use it! I witnessed him kill 2 doves with 1 shot at least 4 times that i can recall - that’s only happened for me once... Dad also had 1 deer rifle and 1 22rifle - all 3 Brownings and all 3 continue to shoot and function just fine today. With a record of success like that theres no way I’d want change up - ya got to stick with what works and in my experience that’d be a Browning!
    Auzzie likes this.
  12. rcatastrophe

    rcatastrophe .270 WIN

    What a great thread. My first gun was a 12g Browning BPS. I was 18yo and I shot the tar out of it. Bought a reloader and loaded hundreds and hundreds of shells that me and my buddies would shoot up at the manual-one-at-a-time-pull-a-string thrower at our closest gun range. Some years went by and I bought an A-Bolt Stainless Stalker in 30-06. Killed my first deer with that but never another because I wanted to bow hunt. That rifle is over 30 years old and probably has yet to see 100rds. Decades passed and many guns have come and gone. The Browning collection is strong though and a lot has to do with me learning about JMB and realizing how much he had to do with so many of the guns I owned. Now I’ve got two Buckmarks, five Challengers, two BPS’s, one SA-22, two Medalists, the A-Bolt, a Gran Lightning in 12g, two Auto 5 Light Twenties, and four Sweet Sixteens. They’re all I want to shoot nowadays because it just seems so cool to use designs that have been around so long. I love the Buckmarks but their grandfathers the Challengers just shoot that much better. Something about the long recoil of the Auto 5’s just does all sorts of things for me and I love shooting them. The 16g’s have driven me back to reloading and I’m getting all my stuff together to start that which I’m sure will obligate me to lots of shooting for years to come.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Rudolph31 likes this.
  13. Abbeville

    Abbeville .22LR

    My first Browning is a first year Magnum 20, acquired in a deal including a Toro lawnmower. I used to work at an old school chainsaw / small engine shop. I was taken on to service the loggers' saws at night so I could keep my day job. This was before mechanization changed the logging scene.
    Moving on to the deal, the shop went out of business. When my youngest daughter needed a lawnmower she could start I checked with the boss to see if he had NOS Toro walk behinds with electric start. Turns out he had a Personal Pace self propelled with battery start. We settled on a price and then he offered the Magnum 20 and named a price. I made a counter offer which was accepted and settled up. Boss took the gun in to settle an overdue account and put it away in the fleece lined case.
    By the time I got it, there was some freckling of rust, not too bad but when you add the boogered screws it's a hunting gun not a safe queen. As I said, it's a 7X over a 3 digit serial number first year manufacture. Everything works fine, I intend to change the safety button to a left hand version. I am right handed but must shoot long guns lefty because my left eye is dominant.
    I have no idea of the round count or any other history of the gun. Would it be a good idea to get the springs/friction pieces kit from MGW when I order the LH safety button?
  14. Ranger6

    Ranger6 Administrator Staff Member Administrator Global Moderator Forum Moderator

    Yes, it would be good to start with new springs. You could always measure the old ones, but I find it's easier to replace and be done.
  15. Abbeville

    Abbeville .22LR

  16. Auzzie

    Auzzie 20g

    My association with "Browning" goes back to being an eight year old hearing stories from my Grandfather about his adventures in the aircraft turret behind twin 50s in WW2.
    He took me out bush hunting one day then introduced me to the potential fun of skeet and trap shooting with a wooden handled western hand thrower and box of clays
    Used an old A5 plain barrel 12 g standard that weighed a ton and way too long for a little kid.
    Once that first one actually broke was hooked for life.

    They are the memories you never forget.
    As teenager ended up with a beat up 30's Browning trombone 22 that's been to hell and back as a plinker which still have 40 plus yrs later. Ugly but still effective.
    That started the procession of JMB platforms A5 , BPS , DA, B 2000 and Superposed that have passed through the hands since.
    Rifle side bit leaner with trombones and a B92 lever.
    They all have stories if only they could talk!
    Rudolph31 likes this.
  17. Living in Utah for the better part of 31 years, and marrying into an Auto-5 family.
  18. Sounds like a good “deal” for u!!!! My bride has no hunting family members so no such luck for me…. Have two bro-n-laws that like to go shoot clays with me once in awhile but they’ve yet to buy their own browning!!! One talked like he was going to get his own last time we shot but it hasn’t happened - could be they waitin on me to “leave” em some when i kill over ha!
    utbrowningman likes this.
  19. My parents did not hunt although my maternal grandparents did and paternal grandfather may have. I always wanted to hunt while growing up in Minnesota but never had the opportunity. Auto-5 count when I met my wife was 5 12 gauges amongst her family. So, I naturally had to find one. Shot my first pheasant with my father-in-laws Aut0-5.
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