doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Browning Express Options & Features

Is there a website that has details or information about the features and options that were available on the Browning Express. In particular the bullet holder hatch in the bottom of the stock...I can't find any information about this or if any come from the factory with scope rails and sling attachments.

I have looked at all of the online photos of such guns and haven't seen another one that seemed to have the bullet holder.

judging from the interruption of the factory checkering pattern, i think it is safe to say that was not original to the gun.

Rubberhead,

What you have in the toe of your Browning's stock is a cartridge trap. Bullets are the projectile that are propelled out of the barrel. A cartridge is the case, primer,powder & projectile (bullet) that make up the cartridge that is loaded into the breech of a firearm prior to firing.

I've only seen a few of the Browning/FN Express rifles & none w/a cartridge trap in the butt stock but I'm not a Browning collector so who knows what was available if you were willing to pay for it.

I tend to agree w/graybeardmm3 that that the cartridge trap is not original. I remember an aftermarket cartridge trap for the toe of the buttstock similar to the one you have pictured being sold some years ago but I can't remember where.

It looks like a nice installation regardless of who did it

graybeardtmm3,
Thanks - I didn't even consider that but I see what you mean. I also like that when it's closed it protects the stock from abrasion cause by a sling.


Brittany Man,
Thanks too for the terminology - I've never heard the term "cartridge trap" before although "bullet trap" has a nicer ring to it. I bought the gun to hunt with (and got, I think, a very good deal on it) so I'm not disappoint whether or not is factory original or not. It was a nice and useful surprise when the gun arrived.

Whoever did the work did a good job of matching the Grade I engraving on the gun itself including the "brushed" edges of the leaves themselves.

it is both a handsome and useful addition...these were quite common in german/austrian guns and rifles in the earlier 20th century.

I wouldn't rule out factory based on just the checkering. For one thing, at least in the pictures, the finish in the finger notch looks to match and blend in with the rest of the stock too well to be touched up. For another, if this were available as an option I think it unlikely that Browning would have had 2 totally different checkering patterns worked out just to accomodate a seldom ordered option that could be handled easily by letting the pattern just run out.

Roger

One thing that would be worth checking is to pull the trap out and check the quality of the inletting and finishing inside the cutout.