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Bishop's had a couple Grade II 20g guns this past year. I gave it some thought. They were $3k+ In the end, I was dabbling with all my slush fund in the .410 world.

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The one I am looking at is assembled in Korea which would make it the middle of the road according to Don's three barrel markings. This gun has the NON SELECTIVE trigger which also means it is an earlier gun. Can we assume then that the SELECTIVE trigger models were either "made in Japan and assembled in Korea" OR "made in Korea with Japanese components" I thought that the Made in Japan models would have had all the bells anf whistles. Does anyone know when the selective triggers arrived on the scene?MOST CONFUSING

If this helps, I have a 3 inch chamber M & F chocked 30" 12 gauge. Non selective trigger, "made in Japan and assembled in Korea". I assume it is an early gun as the selective triggers were later per my understanding.

Thanks Lawrence : What I am trying to find out is when did early end and later begin. There is always mention of early gun and later gun but where is the line, was it when the selective trigger came in or earlier???

I don't know the answer to the early/late dates, but I have 2.
First is a 12 ga. BSS Grade II, Made in Japan barrel markings, Single Selective Trigger, I purchased new in June 1985. It had to be special ordered from Browning, so was in their inventory on that date.
The second is a 20 ga BSS Sidelock, Made in Japan barrel markings, double trigger, I purchased new in January 1986.
I have them cased in 2 Browning Leather hard cases which I purchased from a midwest supplier in 1986. They were mentioned in only one catalog, I think 1982, With Browning and FN markings, Made in Poland. As I recall, shortly after Browning introduced them, Jimmy Carter decided that Poland was the scourge of the earth and placed an embargo on any products made there.
In the Browning Catalog copyrighted Jan. 1987, Both the Boxlock and Sidelock versions are shown and it indicates that the both the Boxlock Sporter and Hunting versions have the Single Selective trigger.
Both are great guns. Hope this helps.
Gordon

Thanks for your imput Gordon. My info has Browning producing the BSS between 1978 & 1987, with the sidelock starting in 83 to 87. If your boxlock purchase in 1985 was marked made in Japan and had the selective trigger, then all those other barrel markings (assembled in Korea) (made in Korea) must have all taken place in the last two years of production. The selective trigger idea as being a later innovation would seem to say that your 1985 gun is a later model. That being said, then all barrels marked as having anything to do with Korea should be considered LATER models.( but they don't have selective triggers, at least not the ones I have seen) Was your selective trigger a special order??

The BSS was made from 1971 until 1987.
The first triggers were chrome plated and non-selective. In 1978 they were changed to gold plated and selective. The "gold plated" was discontinued in 1981 and was changed to "golden colored" trigger.

If you will give me the seiral #, I can tell you when it was made.

The owner is away for two more days Don so I don't have access to the ser#. I got those mfg dates from the Browning website when I googled DATE YOUR BROWNING go figure. Thank you for all the imput these forums are great.

Much of the Browning website data is bogus.

http://www.browning.com/customerservice/dategun/detail.asp?id=26

The above link will give you your production dates. My 12 GA boxlock was made in 1983, so it sat in Brownings inventory for 2 years before I bought it. Not much call for the Grade II at that time. The selective trigger was not a special order.
My 20 ga sidelock was made in 1985.
Hope this helps,
Gordon