Browning B525 Liberty Light

Designed specially for lady shooters, this stunning new addition to the Browning range is likely to become a highly sought after lightweight 12-bore shotgun.

Browning B525 Liberty Light

What’s new?

Although Browning has produced a lightweight range for some time, this new addition breaks the mould due to some new and exciting characteristics.

• Weight is just under 6lbs (2.7kg)
• New style engraved aluminium 
action frame
• New style Monte Carlo stock, in 
American grade 2/3 walnut.
• Diana Extended Chokes.
• Back-bored 28in or 30in barrels.
• Inflex Recoil Pad.

The gun instantly impresses and exudes quality. Picking it up, its lightness, balance and feel give it the dignity and authority of a high quality gun.

Designed for the lady shooter

Primarily designed for the lady shooter it also works well as a training and coaching gun. It would also suit younger and smaller shooters of all ages.

As a gun for walked-up and rough shooting days, I would rather have this over my arm than lug around my usual game gun. It would certainly be my go-to choice.

Instructor Rose Thomas tested the Liberty Light

For the test I enlisted the help of a lady shooter, Rose Thomas of Kibworth Shooting Ground who is a qualified shooting instructor. After using it she said: “What a fabulous gun, I could get to like this – a lot, and it’s an ideal choice for teaching newcomers to the sport. I love it”.

The higher than usual comb prevents any shooter from being too low and not being able to see the barrels, giving a more head-up position for visual target acquisition.

Rose says the gun is ideal for teaching newcomers

Conclusion

I’ve shot a lot of different guns during my life and have to say that this is the first lightweight gun that I would want to own.

I said earlier that it possesses a dignity and quality, and by that I mean it has a pedigree and class that I find very attractive. It handles very well and so sweetly. It offered me a “liberating” experience.

Yes, it’s fast-handling and so very easy to move and swing on target. But the gun always felt controlled because it was so well-balanced. Compared to my usual “sporterized” trap gun, it had a very different feel altogether and I loved it.

Load

I’m a great fan of 21g cartridges and would probably only ever use that load with this gun. The gun we had on test patterned well with the 21g and and shooting a 
lighter load through a lightweight gun made for a comfortable shooting experience – which is exactly what this gun is designed for.

This gun is ideal for sporting, sport trap, skeet and any clay target with lateral targets. However I would not use it on trap layouts such as down-the-line or ball-trap.

In terms of functionality, the gun performed faultlessly, you could say, “it does what it says on the tin!”

Tech spec

• Calibre: 12 -760
• Barrels: 28in (710mm) and 30in (760mm) Back Bored
• Chokes: Diana Extended 
¼ – ½ – ¾ – Full
• Top rib: Ventilated 8mm
• Barrel finish: Blued
• Action frame: Aluminium
• Wood grade: American Walnut grade 2/3
• Wood: Oil finish
• Stock: Monte Carlo
• Length: 342/350/355 mm 13 7/16: – 13 ¾in – 14in
• Drop at comb: 1¼in 32 mm
• Drop at heel: 1 1/5in 42 mm
• Fore-end: Tapered
• Weight: 2.7kg
• Case: Browning ABS case

Cartridges

We used a selection of Rose’s own branded cartridges made by Eley in 21, 24 and 28g. As you would expect the 21s and 24s were lovely and almost recoilless, particularly the 21s. The 28s were a bit punchy and not really what I would use for either ladies or new shooters. Lighter loads certainly suit the gun well, thanks also to the back-bored barrel profile.

For more information visit Browning 

Back-bored explained: Back-boring increases the internal bore diameter to its maximum ideal specification. This reduces friction between the shot cup and the barrel wall, allowing the energy developed by the powder to propel the pellets to a higher velocity thus also reducing recoil and improving pattern densities.