NIB 1957 browning superposed?

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Firefighter88

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My Dad has a never been fired 1957 Browning Superposed Grade 1 Skeet 12 gauge. Original box and paperwork with complete set of supertubes for 410,28,and 20 guage. Tubes have never been inserted into gun and all are in mint condition. I'm looking for information on worth, places to possibly sell and get a good price for it. Any info appreciated.
 
WOW, what a prize!
It's hard to establish a value because there are so few similar sales to make a comparison. You might consider heading down to San Antonio at the end of the month for the World Skeet Championships. There will be many vendors there and a great opportunity to get a good price.
 
I second Zippy's point....you need to have a high end gun dealer look at it / or at least get some good pictures so they can evaluate it.

Barrel length - might be an issue / barrel lengths today vs 1957 have changed ....or trends have been going toward longer guns with 30" O/U's being the optimum today.../ if yours is 26" ...its a little short ...if its 28" it may not matter.

12ga barrel is one weight....
adding the tubes for 20ga ...might add 10 oz - 16oz ...which change the handling of the gun ( swing characteristics, etc ) .../ it'll be different with the tubes in it ...but a guy might want to just shoot the 20ga in 20ga and 12ga events...if he or she likes the way the gun handles with the tubes in it better than as a stand alone 12ga.

grade 1 isn't too fancy / but they still put some nice wood on them for the time...

There might be a lot of guys that would want this gun ...../ pictures would help.
 
Since it's NIB, your market may be a Superposed collector rather than a shooter. As BigJim mentioned, Skeet guns have changed since 1957.
 
these guys will probably be able to give you a value / or maybe buy it from you....

Centerline Firearms, Inc.
2110 North Ash, Ponca City, OK 74601
Ph 1-800-696-2865 www.centerlinefirearms.com

They are a Krieghoff dealer.../ and would presumably be stocking other high end guns as well.
 
Guns America has all kinds of listings for Browning Superposed guns for sale....from $ 1,000 --- to $ 10,000....

http://www.gunsamerica.com/Search.aspx?T=browning superposed

You might be able to get some idea...on value from those listings / but I still think this gun you have needs to be evaluated in person by somebody that will appreciate what it is .../ and knows what those tubes are, who made them, and when ...and make sure they fit the gun properly...

Its possible he had the tubes made ...many years after the gun was made.../ or they could be a really old set ...( from Zippy's vintage...) ??? ...just yanking my buddy's chain a little ...but he is older than I am...and a better skeet shooter than I am too ...:D
 
Thanks for the info BigJimP, There was a guy in Tulsa, OK that offered $15k, owned a pawn shop and wanted it for personal collection, but backed out and dropped offer to $8k. Its one of those situations where he doesn't really want to sell it, but if someone offers the right price he will sell and use money to buy guns he can shoot. He thinks its a 28 in BBL but not posetive. I thought the supertubes came with the gun as a set, but I"m not sure. He just wanted me to get some info on it. I appreciate the posts and help. Also, in most gun books, its hard to find value on 100% guns. Is there a "rule", so to speak, that once bought and handled it drops to 99% or 97% condition?
 
I am just suspicious, but when I hear a gun is more than 50 years old and it has never been shot or has only had two boxes through it I want to know how come.
 
The man he inherited this gun from was a collector. He purchased many guns, new and old, just to collect and not fire. He also had many guns he purchased to use, mainly hunting type guns. Many people collect things they admire and attempt to keep then in the most pristine condition possible. This is not a hard concept to grasp.
 
The Standard Catalog of Firearms does not provide the estimated value of the skeet set. The book lists the Superposed grade 1 Standard Weight 12 ga ( marked Lightning on the frame) NIB @ $3700. The note: 20ga add 45%. 28 ga add 90%.(1959 only). Trap deduct 40%. standard weight 12 ga deduct 10%. As you can see there are many variables that would dramatically increase or decrease the guns value. Not to put the LGS owner or counter person down, but i would contact a true gun appraiser. I have had very good help on the net at Shotgun World. Another good source of info is the 33rd edition of the Blue Book Of Gun Values. Remember the estimated gun values are retail value sales to private individuals, LGS shops will normally offer only 50 to 75 %, in my area, of the estimated value.
 
Firefighter,

The trick on a gun like this ...is to find a guy that wants it as part of his collection - or better yet, wants it to shoot.

If it is 28" barrels ...that's a positive thing / will attract a bigger group of buyers....but a lot of these older guns were odd lengths, like 26.5" ...

But guys like me ( 6'5" and 290 lbs ) went to O/U's like the Browning XS Skeet model Citori with 30" barrels 10 yrs ago...and a gun, even a superposed, in 26.5" or 28" just doesn't have any value to most of us ..unless I bought it for one of the grandkids to shoot - at the right price, a guy like me is only going to be a buyer at $5K or so. The other thing going against it ..is it is probably fixed choke tubes...probably Skeet....so it isn't a gun that could easily be used for live bird hunting, or sporting clays...so again that might drop the value.

I don't think the tubes came as part of the set from Browning new in box...but the original owner might have special ordered the gun - then sent it to the tube maker/tube fitter...and had them fit. Kind of depends on when it was done...and I was only 6 yrs old in 1957 - so I don't know who was making them in 1957 for sure.../ or the tubes may have been made much later by someone like Briley or Kolar and fit to this gun later.../ you'd have to carefully inspect the tubes to really know.

But all of this stuff means you need to really have someone look at it - that understands what a Skeet set is ....and help you go over the pros and cons of how this gun is configured / figure out what its worth ....maybe the value is $15K ...or maybe its only $5K ....

New in the case, and unfired, can be a big deal....but 99% of us are going to shoot it ..../ so in my opinion, it helps you sell it ...but it doesn't raise the value a lot.

A lot of Skeet shooters spend a lot of money ...on high end guns...like Krieghoff and Kolar....or Blaser, Perazzi ....and the "pedestrian guns" like Browning Citori XS Skeet models (which I shoot - in all 4 gagues ) - or most of the Beretta line of guns - although Beretta has some high end guns too.

I spent about $ 13 K on all 5 of my Citori XS skeet model ( bought two in 12ga so I had a backup gun ) and one each in 12ga, 20, 28 and .410 .../ negatives - my guns are a little different ...20ga, 28ga, .410 are all built on the 20ga receiver ...so they're all at 7.5 lbs and swing the same ...12ga is almost 1 lb heavier ...so I weight the other 3 guns to come up to my 12ga weight.

If I had a single 12ga gun ( like your superposed )...maybe its an 8 lb gun now...adding a set of tubes might make it 9 lbs....so I'd want weight added to it (under forend / and maybe inside stock ) ...to get all 4 gagues up to the 9lbs....or I'd just shoot it with the 20ga tubes in it ...in 12ga and 20g events...with 7/8 oz of shot ..and live with it.

The best system of all....get a 12ga barrel - have it bored out ( to fit the tubes) ...call it a "carrier barrel" ...now the carrier barrel with tubes in it weighs 8 lbs....and you have a stand alone 12ga barrel and its 8 lbs...one receiver ...triggers are all the same, its a perfect system for competition. Far better than having 4 stand along guns like I have ...or a 12ga that is tubed like you have....

here are my standard Citori XS Skeet models....
http://thefiringline.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=82011&d=1339792349

Here are a pair of my Citori XT ( trap guns ) ...
http://thefiringline.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=82013&d=1339792349
one is a standard grade IV ...one is a custom Turkish Walnut grade VII maybe...?? that I bought used....
But that grade VII I have, is even pretty plain next to some of the Krieghoffs and Kolars



But a Krieghoff ....with a carrier barrel and tubes ..and a stand alone 12ga barrel...starts at about $ 15K ...many go up to $ 25K with nice wood ( real nice wood and engraving ) which will make any grade I Browning, even a superposed look pretty plane jane...

Even my Five XS Skeet models, all nice guns, grade IV wood on them ...all Citori models made in Japan by Miroku ....../ but your superposed has some nostalgia to it ...little different feel to the grip area, maybe a little lighter...so its different....but value...who knows.....
 
BigJim

Sounds like the Superposed will have to make a trip to see someone who can evaluate and estimate the value in person. Thanks for all the info and help, much appreciated.

Love those pictures, beautiful guns!
 
Thanks...and you're welcome..

But maybe you should just keep it and shoot it as is....nothing wrong with that either.

Depending on who made those tubes....you can probably get screw in chokes fit / or retrofit to them ..if they don't have them now ...and that would, or could, make the gun - in a 20ga or in 28ga format...by changing the chokes to an IC or Modified - a pretty versatile gun for most of the clay target games ...or bird hunting. It doesn't necessarily just have to be a "skeet gun".

Good luck with it - regardless of what you decide.
 
As a guy who absolutely loves 26" barrels, especially in 12 gauge, and just about pees himself at the sight of an original Superposed that hasn't been butchered by someone. I would shoot it and live happily ever after. I believe they are one of the best guns ever built Mechanically.
 
In my area ...a lot of the Browning SuperPosed, especially in grade 1, are losing value as well.

Part of it - is the clay target sports are losing popularity (especially registered Skeet ) ....and among shooters under 40 yrs old...its just too expensive to practice and shoot tournaments these days in this economy / and the guys that are still raising families don't have the money or the time to dedicate to the pastime. When I was still shooting competition ...when I was in my late 30's and 40's ...I was practicing with at least 16 boxes a week / and tournaments most every weekend or at least Sat or Sunday - maybe not both days...but it took a lot of time and money.

Many of the shooters that might want that gun - are older (like me ) ...and we've got all the guns we'll ever need and we're starting to unload our extra guns too ....so your market is shrinking. Plus a Grade 1 --- when there are a lot of fancier grades of guns out there...just isn't as sexy as some of the other offerings.... Brand new in the box Browning Citori's ( XS Skeet models, Grade IV's are selling at around $ 3,000 ).../ Citori 625's and 725's in grade V/VI are selling new for under $ 4,200....

Your Dad will have to put it on consignment somewhere if he really wants to sell it...in my opinion.
 
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FWIW, Browning introduced the 16-1/2" long Supertubes in 1965, for multi-gauge Skeet shooters.

Browning Supertubes should have the Browning name, or the gun's SN, marked on them.

If the tubes are full-length, but have either the Browning name or the gun's SN, then it's possible they were from when Browning was experimenting with the idea.

If the tubes are longer then 16-1/2", and/or unmarked, they were most likely made as an aftermarket addition by Purbaugh (Claude Purbaugh, Calif), long before Briley and/or Kolar were making tube sets.



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Here are a few pics just because. Thanks for all the info everyone. Very much appreciated!

vezase5e.jpg

yrehugar.jpg
 
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