A.A. Brown & Sons | Dogs and Doubles

12 gauge A.A. Brown boxlock side by side shotgun

Few people in the double-barrel shotgun world know the name A.A. Brown & Sons. This isn’t surprising. Even though A.A. Brown & Sons has been making doubles since 1938, they’ve spent most of their history making them for firms like Holland & Holland, E. J. Churchill, and Westley Richards (this sidelock Westley Richards is a Brown).

Officially, it wasn’t until 1974 that A.A. Brown & Sons started making side-by-sides under their own name. So the one you see here is a bit of a mystery. Even though it’s clearly a Brown, its proof marks show that it made before 1954. So was it a one off that the family turned out for a friend, or a leftover that was finished off in house and then sold out the back door?

Whatever its story is, the gun does looks well made. Check out the pics to see what I mean. At $2999, it’s a pretty good deal, too.

Here are the rest of the specs on the gun from Cabela’s site: 7 lbs 9 ozs, 30″ bbls, 2 3/4″ chambers, Full and Improved Modified, 14 3/8″ LOP; 1 9/16″ DAC; 2 1/4″ DAH.

BTW: I’ve written about A.A. Brown & Sons before. You can read my earlier post here.

A.A. Brown & Sons is not well known. Even though their Supreme de Luxe double barrel was just named one of the best British guns of the last 60 years, few people have heard of this gunmaker’s name.

A.A. Brown & Sons, 12g shotgun, matthewbrownphotography. c. 2012. — A.A. Brown & Sons, 12g shotgun, www.matthewbrown-photography.com. c. 2012.

This is understandable. Since opening 1938, many of A.A. Brown & Sons’s double barrels have been made for the trade. Through the 1950s-1960s, side-by-sides “made” by firms like Holland & Holland and E. J. Churchill were manufactured in Birmingham by A.A. Brown & Sons. This Westley Richards sidelock was also made by by them.

Today, A.A. Brown & Sons makes best-quality side-by-sides under their own name. The Supreme de Luxe is their sidelock. It’s hand made to the highest quality and almost all the work is done in house. Only the raw bbl tubes and the engraving are farmed out. A.A. Brown & Sons even makes their own locks and does their own color case hardening.

Currently, the base price for new Supreme de Luxe is £38,000 (+ engraving) — expensive, but cheaper than the £62,500 that Holland & Holland wants for a new Royal. A.A. Brown & Sons builds just a few Supreme de Luxes a year and the wait list for them is long. So when a nice used one comes up, it’s usually sold before pictures of it can be taken.

This nearly-new 12g was just available. It’s price — £24,000 — is steep, but more than 50% below the price of a new one.

Images by Matthew Brown Photography, c. 2012

Tag Archive for 'A.A. Brown & Sons'

Good gun alert: a 12 gauge, A.A. Brown boxlock…

Fantastic gun alert: an A.A. Brown & Sons sidelock 12 gauge…