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Superposed - Meaning of

5K views 34 replies 16 participants last post by  captjsjr 
#1 ·
For Fathers Day, my wife gave me several old Double Gun Journal magazines and as I flipped through them I noticed articles that mentioned the Browning Superposed shotgun and its uniqueness. However I could not find any explanation of what makes the Superposed unique. So I am casting bread on the water and ask what makes this gun unique or different from other over under shotguns. I am also asking for specifics. Yes its a J.M. Browning design, yes Hemingway had them, but what makes it so iconic if that is the correct term.
 
#2 ·
I suggest you place your thread in the I Love My Browning section to get max participation. There are some really serious Superposed aficionados that frequent that section. Just my suggestion.
 
#8 ·
superposed
adjective

1. placed on or above something else, especially so that both things coincide

Example: "a border of superposed triangles"

Definition of superposed

: situated vertically over another layer or part
 
#9 ·
nwcanoe said:
Thanks Randy that video answered most of my question. But what does superposed mean? or is it just a catchy name.
It sounds more interesting than O/U or stackbarrel. Although it is has been claimed that the Superposed was the first O/U shotgun, it wasn't even close. Notable predecessors include the Boss from 1909 and the Woodward O/U from 1913. Single triggers are were already well-known. The Boss single trigger was introduced in 1893.

It's claim to fame was being cheap, as compared to previous O/U shotguns that were unaffordable and mostly bespoke. John Browning never lived to see a production Superposed, as he passed in 1926.
 
#11 ·
The name Superposed refers to one barrel being Superposed over the other one.

There have been shotguns for centuries, but only good shotguns with two barrels laid side by side for about two hundred years, that were light enough and dependable enough that men could shoot first one, and then another fast flying birds. The first good sorting doubles were the ones made by Joe Manton, and later on a bunch of other makers supplied wealthy men with fine side by side sporting double shotguns.

After the American Civil War the perfection of the break open cartridge side by side double gun, by the Parker Brothers as much as anyone else, drove the price of a usable fine double gun down from about $100 to about $25, and Belgian made clunkers only cost $10.

John Moses Browning then designed first the Winchester 93/7 pumps and his magnum opus masterpiece the Auto Five (Remington 11 over here) and by the 1920s the American (and other) markets were flooded with such efficient, useable, modern double and repeating shotguns any of which are still usable today (and we shotgun addicts do use them).

But all around and all over the world around, every gun maker was tooled up to produce side by side doubles or pump or automatic repeating shotguns. The English best gun makers made a few double guns with Superposed barrels, at princely prices.

So just before his reputed death, the great JMB started developing a modern over and under shotgun his surviving son Val Browning lived to market, as a Superposed. It cost only about $100, had a fore end that did not remove when the gun was broken into pieces, and a double single trigger that worked, most of the time.

Remington responded with their Model 32, which in due time became the Krieghoff K-32, after the Germans learned to not start wars which ended in their utter defeat.

And, seeing how bombing Pearl Harbor only brought a rain of atomic ruin on their home islands the Japanese started making copies of the Browning Superposed in the early 1960s, and to this day a sportsman with about $100 of 1931 money ($1,771 today) wants a stack barrel shotgun as close to a real Superposed as he can find.

Genuine FN made Browning Superposed shotguns are still available from FN. They cost $25,000 for the basic gun, engraving is extra, and there is a two year wait.

The finest Superposed shotguns were made from the early fifties until economy measures were begun about 1966.

Even the field models of the fifties and early sixties are engraved my masters, wood is exquisite, and after 1938 the single selective triggers are foolproof.

A perfect 12 gauge standard field grade specimen of a Superposed made in the glory years was about the price of a new Citori before the plague of Corono hit the world.

A Superposed does not and will never handle steel shot. The chambers rust while you watch them, in the rain. The presence of a recoil pad usually severely depreciates the piece. They aren't for everybody.

But I just love em'.

The single sighting plane makes every miss due to the need for more practice.

And, you can't lose the fore end, either.

All thanks to the immortal JMB stacking the barrels on top of each other and Val Browning giving his Father's last design (other than the 1935 Hi Power) a market five years after some claim the Great Gun Prophet died, is the reason why, we mortals were blessed with the Superposed.

Others claim that JMB ascended on the wings of caroling angels to a far better land, but who can say, all these years later.:)
 
#12 ·
The most unique feature that I personally appreciate is the one piece receiver construction. Add to that the simplicity of the action, the stock bolt, the robust cocking system and you got a quality over under that does not have to go back to the makers for servicing. Any reasonably skilled owner can do routine servicing at home. Try that with a Boss and see how that goes.
 
#13 ·
nwcanoe said:
Thanks Randy that video answered most of my question. But what does superposed mean? or is it just a catchy name.
The owners manual is here: https://www.browning.com/content/dam/br ... manual.pdf .

The way the story goes, it was originally the "Superimposed," after the adjective meaning "placed or laid over something else, typically so that both things are still evident." Considered too long and awkward, it was shortened to Superposed.

The Superposed was could not have been introduced at a worse time, 1931 . . . a year or two after the start of the Great Depression. Then, what weak production there was ended in 1940 with the occupation of Belgium, not restarting until 1948. Later, the Superposed, the only Browning with a lifetime warranty, almost destroyed Browning with the salt wood debacle. It was dropped from the Browning catalog in 1977. Custom B-25's were apparently made at the rate of ten or so per year in the 1980s. While the best-selling O/U in history, the Browning Citori, was introduced in 1973.
 
#15 ·
Superposed - or superimposed
From the French - Superposer - to stack one upon the other
Italian - Sovrapposti

I'm another of those guys who thinks that the Browning Superposed in 20 gauge, round knob, long tang is about as nice an upland gun as has ever been designed.
Randy called them cheap, but I prefer "affordable" when compared to the high end competition.
Of course, the high grade engraved guns are not so affordable today. Part of the cachet of a Superposed is the limited numbers of production.
Even a diehard Superposed lover would have to admit that the Browning Citori has exceeded the original Superposed as an affordable o/u double shotgun, produced in huge numbers and with a record of reliability.
The only other contender for the everyman's over/under is the Beretta 68X series of shotguns.
 
#16 ·
Now that the OP has had his question answered I just wanted to interject a critique I have always had of the Superposed design.

I am a huge fan of the Superposed and especially some of the exquisite engraving done by the masters; but I always thought that the forend design was a solution to a problem that did not exist. It makes the forend quite complicated and insures that not every stock maker will replace the forend wood as it is tricky to make and fit.

It also has the inevitable result of removing bluing from the underside of the barrel where the forend is slid over as part of removing the barrels for routine cleaning. IMO the great Superposed would have been even better without it.

I have heard that the reason was to prevent the user from losing the forend off a gun by it always being attached to the barrels; but to me that is specious argument. I don't have the experience of many, but I have never had a double of any configuration whose forend was removed and lost. I have also never met or known anybody that has done that. I am sure it happens, but how often?

To my eyes and handling preferences, the Superposed is best when configured as a 20 gauge with 28 inch barrels and a solid rib. It is then just a wonderfully dynamic and aesthetically pleasing gun!

I am beholding especially to Anatidae and others in the Browning section for educating me on engraving esoterica of the Superposed. Thank you all!
 
#17 ·


It was $107.50 when introduced. A cheap O/U for the American market, as mentioned by Art's Gun Shop several times. The "Browning Arms Company" was founded the year after John Browning's 1926 death. See https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encycl ... PANY.shtml .

At that time, the newly-formed Browning had nothing to sell. The concern was that the A-5, the "GAME EXTERMINATOR" would be banned. The Superposed was the answer to that, as was the Double Auto which came out much later, in 1955. The 20 gauge Superposed didn't not appear until 1949.

The Superposed, originally, was a flop. It wasn't until 1951 when Browning hit 6,000 units of 12 gauge per year. The Winchester 101 of 1963 was a bit cheaper copy of the Superposed.
 
#18 ·
Part of the reason that the Superposed shotgun was a slow starter, was that it was aimed at an upscale kind of hunter, and American repeating shotguns were substantially cheaper.
The low Superposed price was predicated on low Belgian wages for skilled tradesmen. When Belgian workers discovered that they had some power to improve their severely limited incomes through unionized action, the price of a Superposed shotgun escalated quickly.
Japanese production of the Citori, with more simplified construction, and more modern machinery, gave Browning a price competitive re-entry in the O/U shotgun market.
 
#19 ·
saskbooknut said:
Part of the reason that the Superposed shotgun was a slow starter, was that it was aimed at an upscale kind of hunter, and American repeating shotguns were substantially cheaper.
There weren't many upscale hunters in the Great Depression, or during WWII. L.C. Smith, Fox, Parker, etc. went belly-up. When the Roaring 20's turned to a muffled whisper, all the more expensive hunting gun companies fell on hard times.

When Beretta saw that Browning was having some success with the Superposed, they developed the first Beretta O/U . . . the Sovroposto SO Sidelock, which was not competitive price-wise to the Superposed. Japanese manufacture wasn't an option yet, for from 1945 to 1952 General Douglas MacArthur ruled Occupied Japan.
 
#20 ·
The increase in cost of Superposed production in the early 60s led to cost cutting in manufacturing, but could not hold the price down.
When Beretta S54, S55, S56 shotguns began to be imported to the US, under different US designations, it became obvious that the Superposed was no longer competitive on price.
I don't think that anyone was looking at Japanese production of shotguns immediately after WWII.
 
#22 ·
Even tho a well-used Superposed will flop open like an old wallet, a 20 gauge model with a 26" barrel, blue-worn and scarred, just looks the part of a ruffed grouse gun.
Plus, like them all, it also does all that needs done there.....and in many venues.

Pretty normal to discover that even a marshmallow will have it's few foibles catalogued on a message board.
 
#23 ·
oyeme said:
I have heard that the reason was to prevent the user from losing the forend off a gun by it always being attached to the barrels; but to me that is specious argument. I don't have the experience of many, but I have never had a double of any configuration whose forend was removed and lost. I have also never met or known anybody that has done that. I am sure it happens, but how often?
!
Just an aside...was driving off from a station when a cart mate yelled stop...He got out and picked up out of the dusty road the fore-end of my LC smith. 'it happens.
 
#24 ·
oyeme said:
Now that the OP has had his question answered I just wanted to interject a critique I have always had of the Superposed design.

I am a huge fan of the Superposed and especially some of the exquisite engraving done by the masters; but I always thought that the forend design was a solution to a problem that did not exist. It makes the forend quite complicated and insures that not every stock maker will replace the forend wood as it is tricky to make and fit.
Well, I have no idea who actually made that decision, whether it was Val Browning or part of FN. Back in 1931, there was no competition at $107 in the world. The forearm isn't particularly complicated. While losing a forearm may not be all that common, they get dropped regularly . . . and still do. The main stopper was the weight . . . the 12 gauges were all too heavy for upland guns. Jack O'Connor (and many others) wrote repeatedly that he would not tolerate an upland gun that weighed more than 7 lbs.

In 1931, there was another double barrel shotgun that made quite a splash: the Winchester Model 21.

Sport: Who Won, Sep. 28, 1936
Monday, Sept. 28, 1936
Dick Shaughnessy. 14-year-old son of a Boston sporting-goods dealer: The all-gauge championship, No. 1 event of the National Skeet Championships; with a score of 248 out of 250, one better than his closest rival, 17-year-old Bobby Stack of Beverly Hills, Calif., who set a record by breaking 150 targets in a row; in St. Louis. The "Bobby" was Robert Stack.

 
#25 ·
Coincidentally, Robert Stack owned the 1953 BrowninG Superposed Grade V serial number 33449 known as the 'Stack - Cooper' gun. He sold it to his friend and shooting partner, Gary Cooper. The gun was owned by a gentleman in VA the last time I saw it listed for sale.

I agree with assessments and preference for the non-detachable forearm feature on the Superposed. Assembly and disassembly is a 2-handed operation as opposed to 3-handed ''fumble-fest' (or laying the forearm down) normally required of detachable affairs. To each, their own.
 
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