[samwe]

I have a Browning 12ga side by side I inherited from my father.

It is in near perfect condition except that it only shoots out of one barrel.
I haven't been able to find out much about these.

Can any of you reccomend a source for info?

Here is a pic:
http://www.samwe.com/images/gun/BSXS12.JPG

My dad died a few weeks before I turned 6 (22 years ago.). This is one of the 3 guns (Marlin .30-30, sprinfield .22) that were his that I have.

TIA,
-srw

[Dave McCracken]

It's a good shotgun. The malf in one barrel can be fixed. What else did you want to know?

[Kingcreek]

Nice guns- I have 2 of them, a 12 and a 20g.
Made by Miroku of Japan, well built but run a tad heavy. Yours does not appear to have the barrel selector sometimes present in the little triangle area of the trigger guard. I've got one with and one without.

[PJR]

Forgive what may be a stupid question but does it only fire out of one barrel or does it only dry fire out of one barrel?

If it only dry fires out of one barrel then it may not be malfunctioning.

If this is a stupid question because you are familar with the workings of an inertia trigger please ignore the posting.

Paul

[samwe]

I tried it with live ammo shells and nothing happened after the first round.

Is there a way to tell what year the gun was made?

If you feel like explaining, I would love to hear about the inertia trigger, if nto I can do some googling during my lunch break today.

[PJR]

An inertia trigger uses the recoil of the first shell to reset the trigger for the second barrel. Conversely, a mechanical trigger, mechanically selects the second barrel when it is pulled whether a round is fired or not.

I've seen people unfamiliar with the system claim a shotgun was broken when it was working fine. Did you use a very light load when you tried this gun? Sometimes, very light loads won't reset the trigger. I once owned a Beretta o/u that would sometimes not reset with light loads.

If the gun has not been used in 22 years it is possible that there is some corrosion or gunk in the trigger mechanism that is preventing if from being reset. A good cleaning and oiling might solve the problem and even if it's something more complicated, as noticed previously, it's not a hard problem to fix.

I don't have a serial number list for the Browning BSS maybe someone else does. I do know they were made from 1971 to 1983 and those with non-selectable triggers were earlier production.

Paul

[Kingcreek]

The BSS should have single mechanical not inertia trigger.

[samwe]

It has been 8 years since I tried firing it. It was some sort of bird load.
Next time I have a chance I will buy some new ammo for it and go see what it does.