Browning are one of the best known names in shooting, with a massive selection of shotguns on the market to suit the desires of all shooters.
However, this particular shotgun is unlike most other guns you will have seen.
The first thing you will notice about the Browning B525 Composite Adjustable is that the stock is not wooden. This model has a composite stock and forend that is designed to last a lifetime. Browning believe this gun will allow the shooter to have endless trips out game shooting or outings to the clay range without ever putting any strain on the gun’s stock. This may well be true, given that composite stocks are incredible strong. In any event, it is certainly great looking and practical, with rubber sections on the pistol grip and forend that hold the your hands firmly in place.
My favourite feature it that it is ambidextrous, which is very appealing to a left-handed shooter like myself. Most left-handed shotguns on the market have a surcharge on the retail price, but not this one. There is only one model and one price.
Due to it being an ambidextrous composite stock it is completely straight with no cast. There is a palm swell on either side of the pistol grip that sits very comfortably
in the hand and the adjustable comb will allow the shooter to achieve the exact fit they require. This is easily one of the simplest adjustable combs on the market. You just loosen the Allen head bolt that sits within the rubber butt pad, move the comb to whichever position is required and then tighten the bolt. It is as easy as that.
The stock is certainly an acquired taste. It does feel fairly substantial but it certainly isn’t the solid piece of wood we are used to. The gun is very barrel heavy, which isn’t surprising considering how light the stock is. However, there is an option to have the stock counterweight-ready. This will greatly improve the gun’s balance and reduce felt recoil. Note that the weights do not come with the gun and cost extra.
An Inflex II pad is fitted to the stock. These are interchangeable pads and are available in a range of thicknesses depending on the length of stock that you require. A 20mm pad is provided with the gun to give a 14 7/8" length of pull, which is a common length for a new gun.
General overview
The gun as a whole is very pleasing because it has a very simple, modern look that is so different. The grey action, with three-pointed stars decorating the receiver, is a very simple yet elegant design. Combined with the black composite stock and gold trigger it is a great look. I was expecting this gun to be similar to an older Browning model, the Browning Cynergy, which I wasn’t a great fan of as it felt sticky to the touch and the build quality wasn’t great in my opinion. This B525 Composite is completely different, being built to a much higher quality and genuinely feeling as if it will last a lifetime of shooting.
The pistol grip is rather long, which will suit to larger hands well. However, it is very slim, so a shooter like me who has smaller hands can hold the gun comfortably while still being able to reach the trigger. The trigger itself is adjustable, so you can move it to the exact location you require with the supplied Allen key.
The barrels are back bored which is known to improve the patterning of the shot and reduce felt recoil. If you are a shooter who doesn’t clean their shotgun as much as you should, then you will be pleased to know that the B525 Composite has chromed barrels and chambers that won’t rust and enable easy maintenance. The fleur-de-lis stamp denotes that the gun is suitable for high-performance steel shot, which makes it future-proof and also a great option for wildfowlers.
It is a multi-choked barrel and is provided with five Investor Plus flush chokes that range from Cylinder to Full – a great selection for all uses and a choice to satisfy everyone’s preference. This is all presented in a simple Browning hard case.
This Browning B525 Composite Adjustable is designed as an all-rounder, so whether you are a sporting clay shooter or enjoy shooting game days in the winter months, this gun should be suitable. For this review I took the gun on a couple of outings that involved shooting clays and live quarry. I was pleasantly surprised by my findings.
On the clays Simulated clay days are always a great way to test a shotgun. On a day like this you will generally fire 250-500 cartridges, so reliability is crucial because the last thing you want to do is sit and watch everyone else shoot while you stand there with a gun that doesn’t work. I believe the B525 action is one of the most reliable on the market and it is very rare to have a problem with it.
I next took a look at the fit. With the adjustable comb set in its lowest position the gun would have shot very low, which is far from what I want. All I had to do was loosen the bolt at the back of the stock and slide it up. A 10-second job.
On simulated clay shoots you are generally shooting with a fellow shooter and you split the drive between you. I had my good friend Bryn with me, who is also a fellow left handed shooter, so we decided to share the gun between us as we have a very similar gun fit.
Bryn went first and given he had not shot for a few months I couldn’t believe how well he was doing. The drive consisted of a very steep bank in front of us, from which extremely high and fast clays were being sent. There was a fallen tree that blocked our vision slightly but it made for some fantastic snap shooting, very similar to shooting pheasants in a woodland. Bryn made very light work of these targets with convincing breaks from the Eley 7.5 25g fibre cartridges through the quarter and half chokes that we decided to use.
When it came to my turn to have a go I was expecting the gun to handle heavily due to a lot of the weight being forward, but this was not the case at all. It handled very fast in my hands, which was perfect for the scenario we had before us. Several boxes of cartridges later, I was really enjoying the gun and extremely happy with how well I was shooting it. It handled very similarly to a game gun, and due to the weight being forward I was moving it quickly yet in a controlled way to break another target with my second barrel.
Before I knew it the whistle was blown and the drive was over. We had taken a slab of 250 cartridges onto the drive and walked off with a handful in our pockets! Not a single malfunction or bad word to be said about the gun.
We walked back from the peg pleasantly surprised about how well we shot the B525 Composite and amazed that it didn’t have an excessive amount of recoil – just a bit more than most other sporting guns but not enough to be concerned about. Perhaps similar to most game guns I have tried in the past. It was a great first experience with
the Browning and I was excited to see how it performed on live quarry.
On the crows
This was a brief afternoon trip out to clear a few corvids up that were causing harm to the farmer’s crop and I decided to stand on a flight line to intercept the birds on their way to the field.
I changed the chokes to half and three- quarter then slipped in a couple of my trusty Eley Pigeon Select 6 30g fibre cartridges.
I was in a very similar scenario to the simulated clay day, behind some tall trees waiting for the corvids to fly over. I didn’t have to wait long before I had a chance at a crow and took it cleanly with the first shot. There was a great variety of flighting crows, including driven and crossing birds anywhere from 20-40yd. The B525 was effortless to shoot and the few misses I had were purely down to me not putting the lead in the right place.
The gun mounts very smoothly and comfortably into the shoulder and I was very fond of the narrower style rib, which leads to a small brass bead. It allowed me to get very quick target acquisition and maintain a clear focus on the target.
Conclusion
The Browning B525 Composite Adjustable has completely amazed me. I was expecting to be not very fond of this gun because it is so unlike my normal preferences. Due to it being so unusual, with its simple but attractive receiver, composite stock, ease of adjustability and ambidextrous design, it is going to be a popular choice with many shooters of all types.
I only have a couple of minor criticisms. The first is that the stock does sound fairly hollow, but this is to be expected from composite. The second is that with the gun being so front heavy it would have been great if Browning had provided the stock weight system with the gun instead of as an optional extra.
A great all-round shotgun, it would be very well suited to many shooters, whether for club-level clays, hide shooting or game shooting. I don’t believe it would be a great choice for a competition clay shooter, purely because of its light weight of only 7lb 7oz. There are better shotguns – including some from Browning – for competition work.
Be sure to pick up a Browning B525 Composite Adjustable and have a swing when you get chance. It will surprise you.
Tech specs
Make: Browning
Model: B525 Composite Adjustable
Calibre: 2 gauge
Mechanism: Over & Under
Orientation: Ambidextrous
Barrel Length: 30"
Stock Length: 147/8"
Weight: 7lb 7oz
Chamber: 3"
Chokes: Multi
Steel Proofed: Yes
Importer: BWM
Warranty: 10-year guaranteed receiver
More information: available from BWM Arms LTD
Telephone: 01235 514550
Price: From £1825.00