Belgium · 1931–1976

Browning Superposed

Landmark model
Out of production

Specifications

Maker: Browning
Type: Shotgun
Action: Break action
Era: Classic (1890–1945)
Produced: 1931–1976
Magazine: None

Chambered in

12 gauge
20 gauge
28 gauge
.410 bore

Stock

Wood

What it is worth

Value unknown

No published price was found for this model. Rather than estimate one from a comparable gun, the compendium leaves it blank.

Chapter 01

Overview

John Browning’s last design, finished by his son Val after his death in November 1926 and released in 1931 — the gun American Rifleman calls the benchmark of over-and-unders. FN built it in Belgium, where it lives on as the B25: about 350,000 made, custom order only since 1984, and around 30 bespoke guns a year still built at Herstal.

Chapter 02

How it works

A massive boxlock with full-length barrels and integral tandem lumps under the lower one, locked by an under-bolt worked from a top lever; for takedown the forend slides forward on the barrels. The first guns had double triggers, and Val’s single selective trigger with a tang selector — inertia-type at first, mechanical in today’s B25 — became standard after the war.

Chapter 03

Variants

Offered in 12, 16, 20, 28 and .410, with 20-bore from 1949, 28 and .410 from 1959 and 12-bore magnum chambers from the mid-1950s, in grades from Field to Grade V and in four-barrel skeet sets. The pre-war grades were Grade I, Pigeon, Diana and Midas.

Chapter 04

In the field

Its weight made it a trap gun and a waterfowler’s favourite for soaking up recoil, and British driven-game shoots that first shunned the B25 came round to over-and-unders. In Sweden 12, 16 and 20 bore are cleared for all shotgun hunting, while 28 and .410 are limited to class 4 game such as grouse, pheasant and pigeon.

Sources

Written from: Browning Superposed — Wikipedia, A Look Back At The Browning Superposed — American Rifleman, Browning B25 Superposed, often imitated but rarely bettered — The Field, Klassifikation av jaktvapen i Sverige — Wikipedia (sv) — read 2026-10-29

Cross-reference