Superposed Lightning: Restore or not?

B

bald1

New member
I have a 1957 vintage 2 3/4" 12ga Belgium Browning Superposed Lightning Grade-1 with modified over improved cylinder 28" tubes. The bores are in great shape. The stock and metal work show some light wear. The gold finish on the trigger is mostly gone. The stock has been fitted with a Mershon White Line recoil pad while retaining the stock 14 1/4" LOP.

I picked the Browning up in 1997 and have only used it a handful of times. The LOP fits me and I love how the gun handles and shoots. It's my only smoothbore.

The question is whether this piece is worth investing in a restoration (cleaning up a few minor dings in the wood and refinishing the stock, re-bluing the metal work, and re-plating the trigger). No clue about the current value of the gun nor how much such restoration work might cost either.

Appreciate any sanity checks folks might provide here :)

superposed1.jpg


--Bob
 
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Personally, I would leave it as is and go shooting more often with the money you would spend on the restoration. I have seen guns like that running anywhere from 1200 to 2000......IMO, a restoration wouldn't add any value, might actually detract from the value, but if you're going to keep it and want it to look like new, then that would be your choice
 
JMO, but if you must have a pristine shotgun, the Browning Superposed would definitely be one that is worth investing in. Factory work, if possible, would be the way I'd want to go if it were my gun. (I believe the Superposed is still available through the Custom Shop, so Browning may still work on it). If not, one of their authorized service centers, like Midwest Gun Works might be the best alternative.
 
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ANY Browning Superposed is well worth preserving. If you elect to have it reblued, try to find a gunshop the somewhat specializes in blueing. I'd recommend Turnbull Restorations as the best in the Country, but the BEST isn't cheap. Just Google his name up and review his prices to see if it will fit your budget. There are others in business too, just E mail them for pricing and a resume.
You can gold plate the trigger yourself if you like ( I've done several). Get a Texas Platers kit and it will plate 24 K gold on the trigger. Unfortunatly, being pure gold it will wear out in time, but then, you can always replate it in an hour or so.
If it were my gun, I would do some internet searching for competent smiths either to do it all or peice it out to a couple, one for stock refinish another for metal work. Best of luck on the project.
 
Is it worth restoring? Sure.

OTOH, it looks great from 5 feet away. That's not wear, those are character marks. Some folks call them beauty marks.

I say plate the trigger and call it a day.

John
 
It looks better than my 1975 Citori. If you do choose to restore it, call Browning and get their price or recommendations. Also, remember that the barrels are soft-soldered together, so caustic bluing is out, rust bluing is the correct method of rebluing.
 
Less wear than my Broadway Trap and I have no thoughts of having it refinished... which would cost a good many hundreds of bucks to have done right. I think I'd treat it to a new recoil pad, that one is dry and hard and not much padding; and keep shooting it as is.
 
Thanks gents! I truly appreciate the input which provides much food for thought.

The notion of leaving well enough alone or perhaps just restoring the trigger plating and replacing the recoil pad makes sense in preserving the weapon's "wabi." Going full bore (pun intended) with quality work looks to represent a very significant percentage of the shotgun's current value which certainly gives cause for pause.

Again, much to contemplate :)
 
Since it was made in Belgium, I would prefer someone who knows about them. IIRC, Browning farms everything out - they did with a stock repair for me. There are ex-Browning employees, as well as very competent gunsmiths like Doug Turnbull who, IMO, will do a better job
 
Since it was made in Belgium, I would prefer someone who knows about them. IIRC, Browning farms everything out - they did with a stock repair for me. There are ex-Browning employees, as well as very competent gunsmiths like Doug Turnbull who, IMO, will do a better job
Click to expand...

Considering Browning still makes the Superposed, and they stand by their work, there is none better.

WildnotevendougwhoisagreatguyandgunmanAlaska ™
 
Browning makes very few of their firearms - they are contracted out to various firms - not saying they aren't well made, but there are plenty of fokilks out there who can do as good or better than the marketing firm of Browning to repair or refinish one of their guns.....JMO
 
Well starting last night I thought I'd see what a little Dicropan T-4, lemon oil, paste wax, and elbow grease might do while I weighed more serious efforts and inputs here. I suppose I got the bug because I just had 3 pistols refinished and the Browning just looked...well....in need :) Just took a better photo too.

It still has dings in the wood, worn off wood finish spots, worn trigger plating, stiff old recoil pad, thin joint edges mating barrels to action showing some "flaking" (not really sure what to call it), and longitudinal abrasion marks on the tubes ahead of the forearm wood. But it looks 100% better than it did before. And yeah I'm surprised. I may just leave well enough alone.....

superposed.jpg
 
Broadway vent rib?

I again want to thank everyone who took the time to provide input to my query here. I am going to have the recoil pad replaced and have talked to a few in my area about re-plating the trigger. We may also be using some heat to address the few larger "dings" in the stock. Hopefully that won't mess up the finish in those areas.

Another thing I am curious about is the vent rib on my shotgun. It has two beads. So is this a "Broadway" vent rib?

superposed_closeup.jpg
 
Nice gun.

The Broadway rib is quite wide. Yours looks more like the standard from this angle. No probs, just a difference.

Clean it up, Decellerator pad and exercise it frequently.....
 
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