My brother-in-law picked up a Browning B-27 O/U made in Belgium, at a gun show, and for a song. He sent me photos and I had never seen anything like this. Some online research on his part resulted in an FN factory owners manual, obviously for the European market, printed in Belgium and in 6 languages, English, French, Dutch, German, Italian and Spanish. I think his is the game model with 7 mm wide rib, 1/4 choke, lower and 3/4 choke, upper. Sporting, Skeet, Super Skeet and Trap models all have 14 mm wide ribs. The choke designations stamped on the barrels are (*-) and (**-). It has a mechanical selective trigger and appears to have laser checkering and rather common wood (compared to a B-25).
I'm aware than Browning sold the Liege in the U.S. for a few years, but it wasn't very successful and was later dropped. To me, the Liege looks like a nicer finished gun that this one. The B-27 forearm is very spartan, with a release rod at the muzzle end and no cut outs for release mechanisms like the Citori. The barrels are chrome lined up to but not including the chokes. The booklet states that the forearm is adjustable for "thrust". "Thrust is the force with which the fore-end iron pushes against the action frame and keeps the hinge lug of the barrels against the action frame pin. Your gunmaker can easily restore the required thrust to your B 27 by means of the patented adjustment built into the gun."
Have any of you seen a B-27 and how far down the "food chain" is the B 27 from the B 26 (Liege)? Matt Eastman states very briefly in his book that the B-27 was never imported by Browning to sell in the U.S. and he didn't give it much space. He says they are NOT Superposed and have never been called anything but the B-27. He says that some were brought home by service men returning from Europe. Price at the PX was $1,500. He says they're about on the same level as the Citori. To my eye, the Citori has better wood, fittings and checkering.
The different background colors are the result of me trying to improve his photos on Photobucket.
Looks to me like he got a good shooter for a great price. If I understood him correctly, I think he's got around $500 in the gun. I'll correct that if I'm wrong.
DF
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I'm aware than Browning sold the Liege in the U.S. for a few years, but it wasn't very successful and was later dropped. To me, the Liege looks like a nicer finished gun that this one. The B-27 forearm is very spartan, with a release rod at the muzzle end and no cut outs for release mechanisms like the Citori. The barrels are chrome lined up to but not including the chokes. The booklet states that the forearm is adjustable for "thrust". "Thrust is the force with which the fore-end iron pushes against the action frame and keeps the hinge lug of the barrels against the action frame pin. Your gunmaker can easily restore the required thrust to your B 27 by means of the patented adjustment built into the gun."
Have any of you seen a B-27 and how far down the "food chain" is the B 27 from the B 26 (Liege)? Matt Eastman states very briefly in his book that the B-27 was never imported by Browning to sell in the U.S. and he didn't give it much space. He says they are NOT Superposed and have never been called anything but the B-27. He says that some were brought home by service men returning from Europe. Price at the PX was $1,500. He says they're about on the same level as the Citori. To my eye, the Citori has better wood, fittings and checkering.
The different background colors are the result of me trying to improve his photos on Photobucket.
Looks to me like he got a good shooter for a great price. If I understood him correctly, I think he's got around $500 in the gun. I'll correct that if I'm wrong.
DF
