Great subscription deals at http://www.sportinggunsubs.co.uk MAY 2019 SPORTING GUN 85
I would be reluctant to make such an
adjustment in haste because get it wrong
and you can really mess up the handling
characteristics of a good gun.Action
A standard 525 action is at the heart of
the gun. These are generally reliable and
have stood the test of time. I have
Brownings and Mirokus that go back to
the early 1980s and they are still operating
on a regular basis. The selector toggle is on
the top strap and moves nicely to alter the
fi ring sequence of the barrels. The safety
is also situated here and is manual, as you
would expect on a clay gun.
The trigger blade is adjustable for reach,
which means you can truly tailor this gun
to your body shape. This makes it ideal for a
clay buster.Barrel
The gun we tested had 30in barrels,
although a 32in version will be available
shortly. There is a ventilated top rib and the
barrels are also ventilated. Some people will
hate the white centre bead and fi bre-optic
bead, but they can easily be removed. The
gun comes with a range of external multi-
chokes and I fi tted improved cylinder and
modifi ed cylinder.“TheLaminateseemedtohandleeven
better than the wood stocked 525”
signifi cantly by a warped stock, but it ’s good
to know that the fi t of your shotgun isn’t
going to change due to wet weather.
Laminate is also denser than wood,
meaning that it absorbs the recoil of a 12-
bore, which is good when you are shooting
hundreds of cartridges on the clay ground.
Weighing in at 8lb 4oz, the 525 SL we tested
is about ideal for a clay gun.
Finally, laminate is cheaper than
walnut, so you get a gun that will retail
for around £2,000 when it hits the gun shops
later this month.
Stock dimensions
The dimensions of the laminate stock are
typical for a Browning. With a length of
pull of 14^7 ∕ 8 in the stock was just about
right for my build. However, length of pull
can be altered with a different butt pad.
An adjustable cheek-piece means the gun
can be made to fi t the shooter. Unlike the
Browning Pro Sport XS Ultra, the cheek-piece
is adjusted with an Allen key through a hole
on the butt pad.
When the cheek-piece is left unadjusted,
the drop measurements are pretty standard
with 1^3 ∕ 8 in at comb and 2^1 ∕ 8 at heel. For me,
the gun fi tted nicely. The only adjustment
I would have made if time permitted was
to raise the cheek-piece a little. However,
GEAR
Editor’s testHandling
This is where the 525 SL came into its own.
When I picked up the gun it felt pretty heavy- as you would expect with a Sporter – but on
aim that weight disappeared, due largely to
the point of balance being around the hinge
point. More than this, the Laminate seemed
to handle even better than the wood stocked
- I am familiar with the 525 because I
have an XS Pro, but the Laminate felt ‘alive’.
It swung on target with ease, there was no
muzzle fl ip and with the Eley Superb 28g
cartridges recoil was negligible.
Driven targets were a cinch. You didn’t
feel the gun in your hands because it felt as
if it were part of you. It came easily to the
shoulder and cheek enabling instinctive
shooting. If I’d had time to set it up properly,
I’m sure I’d have been even more impressed.
Further information
Visit: https://browning.eu
Tel: 01235 5514550
On sale from May at
The Oxford Gun Company
Tel: 01844 238308Up close
- The laminate stock
is robust, dense and
cheaper than walnut - The fibre optic bead
on the foresight can be
swapped for something
less garish. A set of multi-
chokescomewiththegun
EDITOR’S VERDICT
Even thought the 525 SL Browning
isn’t the fi rst shotgun to incorporate
a laminate stock, it is certainly a leap
forward in stock-making technology.
Laminate is robust, dense and cheaper
than walnut, which means it has a
signifi cant advantage over more
traditional guns in terms of both
performance and affordability. The
laminate stock will divide opinion.
Some will like the plain, purposeful
looks, others will prefer a more
traditional gun, but that doesn’t detract
from the fact that the new 525 SL
handles superbly and should give many(^2) yearsoffaultlessservice.
1
SCORES ON THE DOORS
Build quality 24/25
Handling 24/25
Styling 24/25
Value for money 25/25
To t a l: 97 /10 0