Browning Golds??
Browning Golds??
Im thinking of getting a Browning gold hunter. What are the pros and cons of these guns? I hear that they jam up alot. I really like the browning look cause Im a big fan of the A5. Feel free to suggest any other good Automatic Waterfowling gun.
"For we were there together, you and I, though perhaps a thousand or so miles apart. In the wild fowler's way we were together to break the ice, to slog the mud and to witness the daily explosion of sunlight..while prudent men slept safe and warm."
I have 5 of them. 3 clays guns, 2 3.5" duck guns. My main duck gun has over 27,000 rounds though it and was the only camo gun to win a class championship at the state sporting clays championships 2 years ago. I have quit logging the shells through it, so it may have more than that. I pretty much only shoot ducks with it now. The last week of the season I had to put a new magazine follower in it since the old one wore out. Cost $2. No too shabby a record. My main clays gun (2 years newer than duck gun) has over 20,000 rounds. One broken firing pin (DU Southern Regional), which happens to all clays guns eventually. I clean mine about every 1200 rounds now, whether they need it or not.
I have had mine in the snow in South Dakota several times, with wind chills in the negative numbers, no problems. No problems this year in any of the freeze ups (till I busted the magazine follower with my ham fingers).
I have never had any jamming problems with any of them, other than they HATE PMC shells with that LONG crimp lip. I think that they are great guns. The duck guns will shoot light 7/8 oz loads right out of the box. They run circles around my 2 old SBE's.
After you put say, 15,000 rounds through one, check the barrel detent (slot on the right side of the chamber) to make sure that the extractor claw is not acting like a whetstone to make the edge sharp enough to snag a feeding shell. If it is getting sharp, hit it once with a diamond file, end of problem.
I always hear this stuff on the internet about how Browning Golds jam. I know at least a dozen guys who shoot them in competition, and in the blind, and we all joke about the crap you read about them on the net. Out of all the shoots I have ever been to, and duck camps I have visited, I only have met one guy with a complaint about a Browning Gold, and I solved his problem on the spot by showing him the detent issue.
Pro's: softest auto out there, well balanced, good trigger, parralel comb, easily handles very light loads, very short reciever length for a 3.5" gun.
Cons: Aluminum reciever gets scuffed around the ejection port, may break a firing pin if you shoot it hot enough to bubble the finish every weekend for say, a couple years, stock squeaks if you get it full of water.
Bottom line: Buy what you want, clean the heck out of it before you take it out the first time to get the cosmoline out, shoot and be happy.
I have had mine in the snow in South Dakota several times, with wind chills in the negative numbers, no problems. No problems this year in any of the freeze ups (till I busted the magazine follower with my ham fingers).
I have never had any jamming problems with any of them, other than they HATE PMC shells with that LONG crimp lip. I think that they are great guns. The duck guns will shoot light 7/8 oz loads right out of the box. They run circles around my 2 old SBE's.
After you put say, 15,000 rounds through one, check the barrel detent (slot on the right side of the chamber) to make sure that the extractor claw is not acting like a whetstone to make the edge sharp enough to snag a feeding shell. If it is getting sharp, hit it once with a diamond file, end of problem.
I always hear this stuff on the internet about how Browning Golds jam. I know at least a dozen guys who shoot them in competition, and in the blind, and we all joke about the crap you read about them on the net. Out of all the shoots I have ever been to, and duck camps I have visited, I only have met one guy with a complaint about a Browning Gold, and I solved his problem on the spot by showing him the detent issue.
Pro's: softest auto out there, well balanced, good trigger, parralel comb, easily handles very light loads, very short reciever length for a 3.5" gun.
Cons: Aluminum reciever gets scuffed around the ejection port, may break a firing pin if you shoot it hot enough to bubble the finish every weekend for say, a couple years, stock squeaks if you get it full of water.
Bottom line: Buy what you want, clean the heck out of it before you take it out the first time to get the cosmoline out, shoot and be happy.
Last edited by GulfCoast on Sun Mar 09, 2003 8:05 pm, edited 3 times in total.
So many ducks, so little time....
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Doc & Nash
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I guess GC summed it up about the Browning. But if you are not wanting to drop the $$$$$ for the Browning take a look at the Berretta 390 that Wal Mart is selling. I can only speak for one year of abuse but the one I have is awsome. I am probably harder that anybody you have ever met on a duck gun, and I have had no problems out of the Berretta. For the money $529.00 I think it is one of the best autos out there. I have run between skeet shooting and dove & duck hunting at least 2500 rnds through it and I cleaned it after the first 1000, it has never jamed. I have shot numerous types of loads through it with no problem.
It is only chambered in 3" but I have not found that to be a problem. All I have ever shot duck hunting is 3" shells.
What matters is what feels good to you, and what fits your needs.
Good Luck.
It is only chambered in 3" but I have not found that to be a problem. All I have ever shot duck hunting is 3" shells.
What matters is what feels good to you, and what fits your needs.
Good Luck.
Conservation is number one to all true outdoorsmen
Trey Edwards
UH HRCH Nashs' Legend MH RIP 8/11/02- 10/12/12
The yet to be named Chocolate Dawg
Trey Edwards
UH HRCH Nashs' Legend MH RIP 8/11/02- 10/12/12
The yet to be named Chocolate Dawg
Gulfcoast, so you are saying Browning Gold over Benneli's SBE? Im currently Shooting a Franchi and I don't really have any problems with it, but Im pretty damn tough on it. Whats gonna hold up better in Hard huntin'? SBE or Gold Hunter?
"For we were there together, you and I, though perhaps a thousand or so miles apart. In the wild fowler's way we were together to break the ice, to slog the mud and to witness the daily explosion of sunlight..while prudent men slept safe and warm."
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BuckeyeHoov
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I have hunted with a Browning Gold (currently), a Baretta Silver Mallard, and a Bennili SBE. Up here in Ohio it gets damn cold, sometimes hunting in windchills below -20 and on so they run the gammit as far as weather conditions. Here's how I rate them on at scale of 1 to 5.
Browning Gold (4)- In super cold conditions I have had issues with this gun jamming. I hunted this past December in some damn cold weather in which everything was freezing, and so did the gun. If you are switching from a A5 to this gun be careful!!! You are used to the hump back (as was I switching from a Sweet 16 and the Silver Mallard Baretta). It took some time to get used to looking over that smooth back that the GH has. It's still a great gun regardless and you can't go wrong!!
Baretta Silver Mallard (4.5)- this was the first gun I bought with my own money (wasn't a Christmas gift or a hand-me-down) in '94. It was a gun that I transitioned into nicely due the fact I was shooting a Sweet 16 that has the squared reciever like the Baretta. It never jammed and was the sweetest shooting gun I ever owned!!! The only issue with it was that it was only a '3 gun and had limited killing power on some longer shots. I would recommend this gun to anyone even over the new Extrema 3.5.
Bennili SBE (4.9)- By far the apex of all duck guns (in my personal opinion). It has all the intangibles of the guns listed above. This gun just flows in my shooting style. Ducks, geese, deer (we don't hunt with rifles up here), skeet, trap, wobble, it is THE gun. Of course the only thing that keeps this from a perfect five is the price. It's a damn expensive gun but I think the cost is worth it. It also doesn't get a perfect 5 because it still misses
!!
Anyway, this again is just one Yankee's opinion and I know how far that goes in the south!!
I don't think you can go wrong with any Browning, Baretta, or Benilli. It's just what you feel comfortable with.
Browning Gold (4)- In super cold conditions I have had issues with this gun jamming. I hunted this past December in some damn cold weather in which everything was freezing, and so did the gun. If you are switching from a A5 to this gun be careful!!! You are used to the hump back (as was I switching from a Sweet 16 and the Silver Mallard Baretta). It took some time to get used to looking over that smooth back that the GH has. It's still a great gun regardless and you can't go wrong!!
Baretta Silver Mallard (4.5)- this was the first gun I bought with my own money (wasn't a Christmas gift or a hand-me-down) in '94. It was a gun that I transitioned into nicely due the fact I was shooting a Sweet 16 that has the squared reciever like the Baretta. It never jammed and was the sweetest shooting gun I ever owned!!! The only issue with it was that it was only a '3 gun and had limited killing power on some longer shots. I would recommend this gun to anyone even over the new Extrema 3.5.
Bennili SBE (4.9)- By far the apex of all duck guns (in my personal opinion). It has all the intangibles of the guns listed above. This gun just flows in my shooting style. Ducks, geese, deer (we don't hunt with rifles up here), skeet, trap, wobble, it is THE gun. Of course the only thing that keeps this from a perfect five is the price. It's a damn expensive gun but I think the cost is worth it. It also doesn't get a perfect 5 because it still misses
!!
Anyway, this again is just one Yankee's opinion and I know how far that goes in the south!!
I don't think you can go wrong with any Browning, Baretta, or Benilli. It's just what you feel comfortable with.
"Opportunities are like "Kodak Moments." They are only captured when one is prepared to take the shot"
I think if you just stood there and shot them till they melted and fell apart, the Browning would fall apart quicker. The aluminum reciever would give up the ghost first. However, I have loaned a Browing to some poor SBE owner on many occasions when his $1200 wonder stick was acting up.
Hunting wears guns from the outside in. Target shooting wears guns from the inside out. That is why dedicated target guns are way more overbuilt most of the time than field guns. The average duck hunter could not wear out either a Benelli or a Browning in his lifetime unless he also is a high volume clays shooter. So, durability is not a problem, IMHO. As to which one jams the most, my SBE's were garbage, but probably atypical of most of them. I have seen a couple Benelli barrels come flying off the gun and stick up in the mud quivering like a spear cause the welds on the barrel rings failed. My golds seldom, if ever, act up in the blind, other than 2 parts problems I mentioned above. All mechanical things Brownings or Benellis break parts with heavy use, even the jillion dollar Perazzis and Krieghoffs used by the guys in the Olympics.
The bottom line with the choice of of the SBE or the BGH: As to those 2 guns is "It just depends on how much you want to spend."
I do agree that the Beretta 390 is a great gun. I just like the Browning stocks much better.
Hunting wears guns from the outside in. Target shooting wears guns from the inside out. That is why dedicated target guns are way more overbuilt most of the time than field guns. The average duck hunter could not wear out either a Benelli or a Browning in his lifetime unless he also is a high volume clays shooter. So, durability is not a problem, IMHO. As to which one jams the most, my SBE's were garbage, but probably atypical of most of them. I have seen a couple Benelli barrels come flying off the gun and stick up in the mud quivering like a spear cause the welds on the barrel rings failed. My golds seldom, if ever, act up in the blind, other than 2 parts problems I mentioned above. All mechanical things Brownings or Benellis break parts with heavy use, even the jillion dollar Perazzis and Krieghoffs used by the guys in the Olympics.
The bottom line with the choice of of the SBE or the BGH: As to those 2 guns is "It just depends on how much you want to spend."
I do agree that the Beretta 390 is a great gun. I just like the Browning stocks much better.
So many ducks, so little time....
HRCH (500) UH Ellie Mae MH (2005-2017)
HRCH Tipsy MH
Zsa-Zsa Puppy
HRCH (500) UH Ellie Mae MH (2005-2017)
HRCH Tipsy MH
Zsa-Zsa Puppy
I can't believe anyone is even having this conversation.A SBE vs. a Gold,whatever,I wouldn't wipe my ass with anything that takes a $120.00 aftermarket Sure Cycle system to make it work.Delta Duck please help me on this one and tell him that there's only one duck gun and it is the SBE.
"SHOOT EM IN THE FACE"
I hate to lay the stone cold truth on ya: The sure cycle was created because Shawn Spakes' SBE broke on him in the field and infuriated him, so he designed a replacement system for his Benelli. Don't believe me, try a spin through http://www.surecycle.com. Here is the text from their site:
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Surprisingly enough the idea for the Sure Cycle System was not invented in a lab by a group of engineers, but instead was born in a Southeast Arkansas tupelo swamp on Thanksgiving morning 1998. On that fateful morning, Shawn Spakes was duck hunting with the other members of his club at a favorite spot in their flooded woods, the infamous "Swamp Monster Hole". Shawn remembers the morning well.
"I had been having cycling problems with my Benelli SBE during the end of the previous duck season and during that dove season so I had sent it to the gunsmith for repair. It had been doing better for the first part of that season, until that morning. The first bunch of ducks that came in that morning was a flock of at least 50 mallards. As they started to light in the decoys I called the shot and we all came up shooting. I took a big greenhead on my first shot, and when I pulled the trigger again nothing happened! I pulled it again and again as the surviving ducks climbed out of the trees. Mad is not the word for what I felt, but the worst was yet to come! As I examined my gun I could see the bolt was all the way back and would loosely slide forwards and backwards. I was done for the day and in fact until the end of the next week when the ordered replacement parts arrived. The gunsmith found that my recoil spring had rusted so much that it had failed and broken in half."
*********
How 'bout dat?
None of my present guns have a sure cycle in 'em. Both my old Benellis had to have them or they never worked. Sad but true.
If you think that there is only one great duck gun out there, you are loony. I don't even think that there is a "best" gun right now. Plenty of blue chip guns out there, just buy what you like.
*********
Surprisingly enough the idea for the Sure Cycle System was not invented in a lab by a group of engineers, but instead was born in a Southeast Arkansas tupelo swamp on Thanksgiving morning 1998. On that fateful morning, Shawn Spakes was duck hunting with the other members of his club at a favorite spot in their flooded woods, the infamous "Swamp Monster Hole". Shawn remembers the morning well.
"I had been having cycling problems with my Benelli SBE during the end of the previous duck season and during that dove season so I had sent it to the gunsmith for repair. It had been doing better for the first part of that season, until that morning. The first bunch of ducks that came in that morning was a flock of at least 50 mallards. As they started to light in the decoys I called the shot and we all came up shooting. I took a big greenhead on my first shot, and when I pulled the trigger again nothing happened! I pulled it again and again as the surviving ducks climbed out of the trees. Mad is not the word for what I felt, but the worst was yet to come! As I examined my gun I could see the bolt was all the way back and would loosely slide forwards and backwards. I was done for the day and in fact until the end of the next week when the ordered replacement parts arrived. The gunsmith found that my recoil spring had rusted so much that it had failed and broken in half."
*********
How 'bout dat?
None of my present guns have a sure cycle in 'em. Both my old Benellis had to have them or they never worked. Sad but true.
If you think that there is only one great duck gun out there, you are loony.
I don't even think that there is a "best" gun right now. Plenty of blue chip guns out there, just buy what you like.So many ducks, so little time....
HRCH (500) UH Ellie Mae MH (2005-2017)
HRCH Tipsy MH
Zsa-Zsa Puppy
HRCH (500) UH Ellie Mae MH (2005-2017)
HRCH Tipsy MH
Zsa-Zsa Puppy
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BuckeyeHoov
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That problem is not predicated to Benneli's only. My Gold is currently at Browning getting the recoil spring and some other problems fixed. I agree with everything you have said so far GC, though. I can tell your a Browning pureist a la Phil Robertson
On a side, I helped out at a local billionaire's game preserve (Les Wexner- The Limited/Bath and Body/Abercrombie and Fitch) for about 5 years. He has a world class sporting clays course on which he let me shoot his 200K Holland's and Perazzis. Everyone of them are 2 of 2's. He has them handmade in pairs. And I can tell you this, other than KNOWING that they are worth more than my housex10-I still shot better with my Silver Pigeon!!!!
BTW-I know nothing of SureCycle. Can someone give me more info?
On a side, I helped out at a local billionaire's game preserve (Les Wexner- The Limited/Bath and Body/Abercrombie and Fitch) for about 5 years. He has a world class sporting clays course on which he let me shoot his 200K Holland's and Perazzis. Everyone of them are 2 of 2's. He has them handmade in pairs. And I can tell you this, other than KNOWING that they are worth more than my housex10-I still shot better with my Silver Pigeon!!!!
BTW-I know nothing of SureCycle. Can someone give me more info?
"Opportunities are like "Kodak Moments." They are only captured when one is prepared to take the shot"
Try http://www.surecycle.com
I am not a purist:) I collect the old style Beretta 682's. Much prefer the Beretta and Perazzi O/U's to the Brownings.
I just had a Beretta 303 rebuilt.
Very partial to the Beretta 391, too.
I just shoot the Browning gas guns better. Guess I am just weird
I am not a purist:) I collect the old style Beretta 682's. Much prefer the Beretta and Perazzi O/U's to the Brownings.
I just had a Beretta 303 rebuilt.
Very partial to the Beretta 391, too.
I just shoot the Browning gas guns better. Guess I am just weird
So many ducks, so little time....
HRCH (500) UH Ellie Mae MH (2005-2017)
HRCH Tipsy MH
Zsa-Zsa Puppy
HRCH (500) UH Ellie Mae MH (2005-2017)
HRCH Tipsy MH
Zsa-Zsa Puppy
Sure Cycle
Gulf Coast I checked up on your SBE story and you were correct.I hunt alot and my SBE has never let me down.Guess I'm just a SBE fan as you are a Browning but you are right about one thing,if you hunt in cold inclimate weather as we do with an automatic,sooner or later anyone of them will lay down on you at some point in that guns lifetime.Mine probably sooner since I laid down the thread promoting SBE in the way I did. I still love old"BLACK DEATH"..........
"SHOOT EM IN THE FACE"
I can't remember who it was, but I'm sure it was someone famous, like Anat. ...who said, "All automatics are a single-shot waiting to happen!" Or, something like that, anyhow. I am not aware of any weapon that has working parts of any kind that doesn't break or malfuncition at some point...usually at the most embarrassing time, in my experience!
Try several and buy the one that fits the best and feels the best. Any other method is an exercise in frustration. If satisfaction is the yardstick you use to decide what to buy, who cares what other folks like. Some folks buy what they like; others buy what other folks like so they can blame it on somebody else if it turns out wrong. Depends on what sort you are.
I agree taht there is no "best" gun out there today. By the "best" one for you.
I couldn't make up my mind, so I bought two! Made my wife real happy!
...who said, "All automatics are a single-shot waiting to happen!" Or, something like that, anyhow. I am not aware of any weapon that has working parts of any kind that doesn't break or malfuncition at some point...usually at the most embarrassing time, in my experience!
Try several and buy the one that fits the best and feels the best. Any other method is an exercise in frustration. If satisfaction is the yardstick you use to decide what to buy, who cares what other folks like. Some folks buy what they like; others buy what other folks like so they can blame it on somebody else if it turns out wrong. Depends on what sort you are.
I agree taht there is no "best" gun out there today. By the "best" one for you.
I couldn't make up my mind, so I bought two! Made my wife real happy!
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Super Black Eagle
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Meeka
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GC, I looked at the surecycle site and still cant figure out what it is and does. Course I aint the smartest guy around and don't know much about gun workings, so K.I.S.S. And I am in the market, cause my SBE was sticking off the side of the fourwheeler in an awkward way and Munro ran it into an oak tree and it is now a little crooked. Any extra hints for me? I liked the SBE mainly cause it was very lightweight and I could adjust the stock so the barrel is a little higher. Yes, I had problems with the ejector. Now, the spring in the stock is not working well cause I keep the stock full of duckwater.
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