I bought my first Double Auto (DA) new, during the winter of 1961 @ Jim Flynn's Sporting Goods in Dayton, Ohio as a youngster, a few months before enlisting in the United States Air Force, for the (at the time) heady sum of $149.99 (there was a trade involving my Ithaca Model 37 as a part of the transaction).
It is thought that European elitists, who would never dream of hunting with anything but their status-steeped doubles, prompted Val Browning, son of famed firearms inventor John M. Browning, to develope a semi-auto shotgun that was limited to two shots to serve as an affordable alternative to the expensive twin barrels. This shotgun was dubbed the Double Automatic or Double Auto. Only made in twelve gauge with 2 3/4" chambers, the DA operated with a novel short-recoil system and was introduced to the European market in 1952. Though it only held two shells (in an effort to appeal to Europeans who believed that 2+1="unsportsman-like conduct"), the DA failed to gain the popularity in Europe that Val had hoped for. Always manufactured in Belgium, in 1954, the Browning Company began importing the DA to the United States.
Many (I count myself amongst them) consider the DA to be the best handling semi-automatic shotgun ever made. With its short receiver and magazineless forearm (fully loaded, one shell was chambered and the second stowed in the open receivered "magazine"), the DA came in three models: the conventionally blued, steel-receivered "Standard" model weighed about 7 1/2 pounds; the alloy ("hiduminium") receivered "Twelvette" model weighed between 6 3/4 and 7 pounds and the alloy receivered "Twentyweight" model weighed approximately 6 pounds. All DAs came with tastefully done, hand-engraved receivers, similar to that found on Auto-5s of the era.
The DA was offered in many different stock configurations and barrel choices over time, including Trap, Skeet and Buck Special models. A "speed-load" feature (akin to A-5 shotguns) was deemed a "necessary selling point" to compensate for the DA's lack of a third shot. The DA's safety is located on the rear of the trigger guard where the second finger of either hand can easily access it.
Sadly, the DA never became popular in the U.S. either. Apparently, American hunters never warmed up to the idea of a repeating shotgun having only two shots. In 1971, after only 67,487 were produced, the last DA rolled off the Belgium assembly line.
Savvy hunters who appreciated the fine handling qualities of the DA sought them out but those most interested in them are serious collectors. In addition to the usual variations most firearms generate over the course of their lifetimes that forever intrigue collectors, the alloy receiver DAs offered something few other guns ever have: it came in different colors! Satin/Velvet Gray, Jet and Dragon Black, Maroon, Red, Royal and Light Blue, Autumn Brown, Forest Green and Gold are the primary colors that could be had. Some colors are far more scarce than are others and, to add spice to the "hunt", there are many different hues and shades of colors within colors. Factory installed recoil pads, Cutts Compensators and Polychokes were optional and there is evidence that a very few DAs were made with extra-fancy engraving as well as "English" style straight stocks.
The Double Auto makes for a splendid upland gun for the hunter (two years ago, after decades of many attempts, I scored my first "double" on ruffed grouse in a Michigan cedar swamp using a "Standard" model DA) and because there is such a plethora of DA variations, collectors have a lifetime of hunting opportunities to complete a collection.
It is thought that European elitists, who would never dream of hunting with anything but their status-steeped doubles, prompted Val Browning, son of famed firearms inventor John M. Browning, to develope a semi-auto shotgun that was limited to two shots to serve as an affordable alternative to the expensive twin barrels. This shotgun was dubbed the Double Automatic or Double Auto. Only made in twelve gauge with 2 3/4" chambers, the DA operated with a novel short-recoil system and was introduced to the European market in 1952. Though it only held two shells (in an effort to appeal to Europeans who believed that 2+1="unsportsman-like conduct"), the DA failed to gain the popularity in Europe that Val had hoped for. Always manufactured in Belgium, in 1954, the Browning Company began importing the DA to the United States.
Many (I count myself amongst them) consider the DA to be the best handling semi-automatic shotgun ever made. With its short receiver and magazineless forearm (fully loaded, one shell was chambered and the second stowed in the open receivered "magazine"), the DA came in three models: the conventionally blued, steel-receivered "Standard" model weighed about 7 1/2 pounds; the alloy ("hiduminium") receivered "Twelvette" model weighed between 6 3/4 and 7 pounds and the alloy receivered "Twentyweight" model weighed approximately 6 pounds. All DAs came with tastefully done, hand-engraved receivers, similar to that found on Auto-5s of the era.
The DA was offered in many different stock configurations and barrel choices over time, including Trap, Skeet and Buck Special models. A "speed-load" feature (akin to A-5 shotguns) was deemed a "necessary selling point" to compensate for the DA's lack of a third shot. The DA's safety is located on the rear of the trigger guard where the second finger of either hand can easily access it.
Sadly, the DA never became popular in the U.S. either. Apparently, American hunters never warmed up to the idea of a repeating shotgun having only two shots. In 1971, after only 67,487 were produced, the last DA rolled off the Belgium assembly line.
Savvy hunters who appreciated the fine handling qualities of the DA sought them out but those most interested in them are serious collectors. In addition to the usual variations most firearms generate over the course of their lifetimes that forever intrigue collectors, the alloy receiver DAs offered something few other guns ever have: it came in different colors! Satin/Velvet Gray, Jet and Dragon Black, Maroon, Red, Royal and Light Blue, Autumn Brown, Forest Green and Gold are the primary colors that could be had. Some colors are far more scarce than are others and, to add spice to the "hunt", there are many different hues and shades of colors within colors. Factory installed recoil pads, Cutts Compensators and Polychokes were optional and there is evidence that a very few DAs were made with extra-fancy engraving as well as "English" style straight stocks.
The Double Auto makes for a splendid upland gun for the hunter (two years ago, after decades of many attempts, I scored my first "double" on ruffed grouse in a Michigan cedar swamp using a "Standard" model DA) and because there is such a plethora of DA variations, collectors have a lifetime of hunting opportunities to complete a collection.