I passed on a salt ear 28 several years ago that was being sold out of an estate. Same gun popped up two years later for sale at a semi distress sale price. Most of us have been in the place where you needed money and the wife wanted some of the guns to go to get the money the family needed.
Called the first owners son and asked if he could tell me if the gun had any problems. Told me that it had been back to Browning and had the wood replaced. He did not know why but his father was a bit of a pain in the a-- to all the gun makers he dealt with. I suspected that he had heard of the salt wood and complained until they replaced the wood. So I bought it for $300.00 less than it sold out of the estate. Pulled the wood and not any hint of metal pitting. That has to have been before I started surfing the net so it is about eight years ago. Even then $1,250.00 for a Browning 28 Super was a deal.
Even salt guns can be OK if they have had the wood replaced before the metal is damaged. I would pull the stock and look at the gun if you want to buy it. Might save you several hundred dollars in a major mistake. Not every stock in these years was a salt blank. I have seen several that fall in the years and no hint of any salt damage. I suspect that a high percentage of 70-80% were salt wood and the rest older blanks with no salt problems.
