Called Browning about my Jack O'Connor Browning.

[Trey Veston]

My dad always claimed that his Browning Superposed O/U was owned by the late Jack O'Connor. His story was that Jack was gifted the gun from a gun magazine and ended up selling it on consignment at the local sporting goods store in Lewiston, ID where he lived.

My dad then bought the shotgun from the store for $500. He kept it for a while, then sold it to a lawyer buddy of his for $1500 who thought it would be neat to have the gun custom engraved to honor Jack's two favorite bird-hunting states; Idaho and Arizona. That likely destroyed most of the collectability value of the firearm. Lawyers...

So my dad ended up buying the shotgun back for an unknown amount and kept it in a safe. It is in excellent condition. I asked him just a couple of months before he died about the shotgun. He told me he bought it in 1964, but that is unlikely since I believe it was manufactured in 1972. He said he never bothered to establish providence for it and that it was likely impossible to do since it was sold on consignment nearly 50 years ago.

So, I just got off the phone with Browning. They said they offer Historical Letters for firearms. Apparently, there is a single employee who does research on their firearms in order to find out as much info as possible. The fee is $40. He is about 2-months behind in research, so I will have to be patient. The customer service person I told my story to was really interested and made sure to get my contact info so the researcher could reach out for all the details I could remember.

I'm not holding my breath that I will be able to establish providence, but either way, it is a fine shotgun with a great story that will be passed down for generations.

 

[Poper]

Interesting story. Beautiful wood on that gun!
I swapped a gun safe for a 12 ga. NIB Superposed in 1997. I was relocating from N.E. SD in the middle of waterfowl season and the dealer couldn't sell it because it did not have 3" chambered barrels. He was asking $700 (IIRC) with no lookers and I really did not have the desire to move that big, heavy safe all the way to AZ in a U-Haul trailer behind a base model 1996 For Ranger. The Superposed was MUCH easier to transport. I ended up selling it, though as I got in a tight money spot and needed money for child support. I made came out ahead money-wise but it all ended up in the hands of my ex-wife. Oh, well. Those were the days!!

 

[22250Rem]

Interesting indeed. It would be ultra cool to have some provenance on that beautiful gun. If it were proven to be one of Mr. O'Connor's I'm sure it would increase the value, but don't ask me how much. It's very interesting to hear about Browning's historical research availability. There's a very nice Browning Citori here that I picked up in 2017 (a Citori was one of my grail guns). Always wanted to know more about its history. Thanks for that tip; I may just cough up the 40 bucks and see what they can tell me. Just to satisfy my curiosity, even though I'm not selling it or anything. It will likely wind up with my son someday. It's a keeper.

 

[doubleh]

However this turns out and it would be nice if it actually belonged to O'Conner you will still have a very nice shotgun. O'Conner is my all time favorite gunriter even if I did go for an '06 for a deer rifle over his beloved 270.