Il Browning B 25 over / under which Val Browning and the group of technicians from the atélier of Herstal, then with the signature of the Fabrique Nationale d'Armes de Guerre, familiarly known as FN, put hand to hand with sagacity and science, remains one of the most interesting examples in the panorama of over-and-under made in the first mid-twentieth century. Here he has enjoyed the favors of a large audience in the hunting field and, even more, in the shooting field where for years he has fought with Perazzi and Beretta disputing clay pigeon platforms with an appreciable determination. It is known that the competition and its actors live of great substance surrounded by a series of factors that in the eyes of the outsiders seem minimal, but which obviously have a validity if, by setting a trend, they also score. We recall how in those 60's friends of the sector indicated the functional lameness of the system in the coil spring batteries: the delay with respect to those with forged V springs had become unacceptable. At least so it was claimed. Around the world, however, today's heir to the B 25 continues to grind cartridges to the satisfaction of the owners.
For the rest of the barrels and receiver, with the grandiose system of seals and closures, he did not lend himself to criticism, on the contrary he put all of himself to the appreciation and considerations of those who understood a bit of gunmaking technique. The phenomenal design of the whole complex needed an equally classy realization and Herstal's specialists ensured high-school craftsmanship. A few years ago, as guests of the company for a few days of which we keep a wonderful memory, we always saw these holy hands at work still controlling the tilting and grazing between the side walls of the breech and the sides of the receiver together with the correspondence of the tenons in mortises. We do not dwell on it, but we affirm that the armory poetry still exists and at the Belgian headquarters of Browning they interpret it wonderfully.
Obviously the current market conditions have reduced the pieces produced on this class of refinement and cost by proposing models that, on the same basic system, are made with some savings: so when a particularly valuable example comes by hand, we do not fail to shoot a certain number of images, just to document the beautiful or valuable things in their intrinsic value.
Browning B25 - The D5 engraving
This rifle was submitted to us by Dr. Paolo Silvano of the Berrone armory in Alessandria, a lover and connoisseur of beautiful weapons that he manages to find in the most unexpected places. The brief history of the over-and-under in question focuses in particular on its engraving made by the Chief engraver of the company at the time, Maestro André Watrin, whose signature can be read in the smallest cartouche on the lower left edge of the receiver. The set-up follows the specific requests of the august client, King Hassan II of Morocco, with themes not very suited to our taste, but executed with a technique and precision worthy of those who then directed one of the most accredited specific schools in the world. The reason for the existence of this piece is curious: after having finished the first, the one already booked by the monarch, the Master decides to continue the work by creating a second example equal to the first.
The rifle thus takes its guise and is regularly put on the market: probably sold to one of those collectors who like to see the different grades and styles of engraving of the B 25 in the rack, it arrives, after several decades at the Berrone armory where Dr. Paolo Silvano illustrates the executive peculiarities with insight and attention: after having appreciated the perfect concealment of the lines between moving parts and fixed parts of the receiver back, we pause a moment longer on the central mask, discovering how the right eye of the same (on the left of the observer) is placed partly on the extension of the oscillating platform, partly on the external bottom of the corresponding tenon. This peculiarity appears only by tilting the barrels and then moving the two parts which, differently, are one. There are not many images, but we believe they are sufficient to document a work as unusual as it is of the highest level.