Browning Heritage Hunter - a B25 without the pricetag

A few weeks ago we published an article about the John M Browning Collection, which celebrates the heritage of Browning’s B25 over-under shotgun. Being hand made by the firm’s craftsmen at their workshops in Belgium, these shotguns are at the pricier end of Browning’s offerings, with even the most basic coming in at well over £10K. However, if you’re looking for something that shares many of the B25s characteristics but without the price-tag, the B525 Heritage Hunter could be just the ticket.

 

 

Browning themselves describe the Heritage Hunter as “the heir to the B25 side-plated model”. Looks-wise, there’s no doubt that the two guns share a lineage, with the distinctive “tulip” forend, half-pistol grip stock and gamescene engraving on the sideplates.

 

 

Sitting at the upper end of Browning’s range of Japanese-built over-unders, the attention to detail is excellent. The Heritage Hunter features Grade 5 walnut with an oil-rubbed finish for the stock and foreend. The aforementioned gamescene (pheasant and partridge on the 12 bore, partridge and woodcock on the 20 bore) is finely engraved, and surrounded by slightly deeper-cut intricate scroll designs. Being a Browning, the finish is top-class on engraving, chequering and wood-to-metal fit is of a high standard.

 

 

Moving on from the aesthetics, and looking at some more practical elements, the first thing to say is that because it is built on the B525 action, the Heritage Hunter will be reliable enough to stand up to a bit of rough handling (though if I owned one if these it would be lovingly wrapped in cotton wool) and should be able to handle many years of heavy usage.

 

Speaking of weight, in a 12 bore, the Heritage Hunter tips the scales at 7lb 4oz, so on a par with most over-under game guns. This means that it is well placed to handle heavier loads comfortably, and with 30” barrels, it should make a good all-round game gun.

 

Those barrels are back-bored. This means that the bore diameter is increased beyond standard specifications which Browning say enhances its performance, reducing friction of the shot charge against the barrel wall resulting in an increase in shot velocity, reducing constriction or pressure from the barrel walls on the shot, resulting in fewer deformed pellets. All of this delivers more uniform patterns and more shot pellets in the effective part of your pattern. The gun ships with interchangeable five Invector chokes, cylinder, 1/4,1/2, 3/4, and Full.

 

 

It is true that there are cheaper over-and-under shotguns out there, but this is far more than an entry-level gun. It might suit someone who has been shooting for a few years and is looking to move on from their first gun to something that’s just a little smarter, while still being pretty bomb-proof, but without dropping the kind of cash required for something handmade. See the full specifications.

 

 

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