The first Browning I used extensively was a new Auto-5 humpback that my dad owned. He had gotten it brand new. Made in Belgium and a nice looking gun.
I shot skeet, dove, and pheasant with it for about 4 years. It was very reliable, so long as the internal steel friction ring was placed in the right position for heavy or light shells.
After four years, though, I saw the the forestock had cracked all of the way through, on the top of the forearm, far forward, where the tightening knob screws down. I came to learn that this is a very common problem with these gun, since the very heavy return of the barrel under the power of the return spring results in the foreward barrel ring slamming against the soft wooden front of the stock with each and every shot, crushing it up against the steel tightening knob. (Look at older ones at gunshows, and you will see that about one-third of them are cracked!)
No problem, I said, I'll just buy a replacement. It took me a week of phone calls to find a place that stocked one, and the price was $45.00. This was a huge shock for me, since the cost of the original gun was only $210. And, since this was at the time when minimum wage was only $2.00 per hour. I was working a full time summer job, and with taxes and withholdings, this was nearly two full weeks of pay. When it arrived, it would not fit, and I had to spend another $25 to have a gunsmith fit it.
A year or so later, I decided I wanted an extra barrel. I was stunned to find that new barrels were $125, and used barrels (Belgian) were $85.00.
I then decided that this gun, though reliable, was just too expensive and too much of a pain in the butt for me. I switched to an old Remington 870 pump that my dad had, and used it for 25 years without ever spending a dime on it. Nothing ever broke. Nothing ever jammed.
Ten years ago, a friend of mine at the skeet club won a brand new Browning Gold auto at the annual fundraising dinner. He offered to sell it to me for really cheap.
I used it to "try" to shoot four rounds of skeet. The trigger pull was absolutely terrible, and resulted in me either yanking off the track of the target when I squeezed it slowly, or interrupting the swing when I squeezed it hard. I passed. My internet research indicated that this problem is part of the design, and there is no effective fix for it.
These are only some of my experiences with the Brownings.
I did have the opportunity to fire a nice BLR at a range, in .30-06. It functioned perfectly but that recoil felt like it would knock my crowns out. I think that you would have to be a pretty big guy to shoot one comfortably, and I only weighed 135 pounds soaking wet. My dad was friends with several officials of the Bureau of Land Management in D.C., and they all came from the western states (Montana, Colorado). They all shot BLRs and loved them. And they were also huge strapping outdoors guys.
I think that with the Brownings, it is best to assess them on a gun by gun basis. Some are superb, . . . some not so good. :-)
Manny
