doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Win 23 or Browning BSS?

You're inferring and extrapolating a lot with your assumptions there, Larry. The Ithaca/SKB offerings probably sold at a 3 or 4 to 1 bias for the O/U's, and the salesman's results for one year in two states are just a snapshot; everybody who wanted one probably got one within the first couple of years of production, and sales tapered off quickly after that. Assuming 60,000 total from there is a BIG jump, but especially so for sxs's.

There is no way to draw any analogy with NID Ithacas and the SKB offerings either. Different times and all.

My guess is CSM probably has sold 400-500 20 ga. RBL's, less than 100 16 ga., maybe 100 28 ga., and 150-200 12 ga. But even if it's double, triple, or even 5 times those numbers, which is entirely possible, you are still talking a relatively small amount total.

But this is all just speculation and no there's no way to prove anything unless someone associated with each company steps up with actual production figures.

Regardless, there's a reason Browning has not bothered with doing another BSS, and that's profit.
JR

I would love to see a 12 and 20 gauge BSS with 32" barrels at around 7.5 to 8lbs for 3k.

I'd like to see an RBL 20 with 32" barrels at 7 pounds or only a little more. I think that's more likely.

32" bbls. would certainly be interesting as a Launch Edition re-fit, but I would prefer 30".

CSM really misjudged the market on the Launch Edition 20 by not offering it with a 30" bbl. option.
JR

That too.

I am surprised that CSMC did not offer longer barrels for the 20, not to hijack this thread. Personally, I think the lines on the smaller gauge RBLs look a little better.

I think that'd be very do-able weight wise. About 2 oz/2" is pretty common in a 12ga standard O/U, sometimes less. A 20 RBL 28" is 6 1/4 lbs-ish. My 32" 20ga Browning 525 Sporting is 7 lbs on the mark without a recoil pad and an uncut stock. A pad is about 1/4 lb for a Pachmyr 1", more for those thicker/denser makes.

I gotta say, those Browning RBL's are just fascinatin'.

Does anyone have any info on the different screw set biz with the Browning BSS like in the pix I posted?

thanks

have a day

Dr.wt.S

Interrupt a fascinating discussion with a redundant question?

nm

John, no jumps or assumptions. Unfortunately, I no longer have the original source material on SKB production numbers, which was loaned to me all those years ago. But I didn't pull them out of a hat, nor base them on what one salesman sold--although 900 in a year is pretty impressive. As for your 3 to 4 to 1 bias for the OU's vs sxs, sorry, but that's YOUR assumption--and a seriously incorrect one, per the same source material that gave me the 60,000 sxs figure. 87,000 OU's, which is just less than 1.5/1.

As mentioned previously, one reason Browning did not express interest was because all of Miroku's former sxs makers had retired by the time the Cynergy appeared and we spoke with them about it. And the Spanish market was very different then than it is now, both in terms of quantity of boxlocks being produced and price.

Re RBL, we are indeed speculating, but I think your numbers are significantly low. Not sure Galazan would have made the decision to produce the other gauges if he only sold 500 in 20ga. Remember, Parker Reproduction made over 12,000 sxs--a verified figure--and at the end (not speaking of the "closeout" prices) they cost only a little less than what an RBL costs now--and that's in $ from 25 years ago, which makes the RBL look like a real bargain.