I read with some melancholy that Browning has decided to discontinue their pump-action BPS.
I always loved the look and feel of the BPS, but as with so many Brownings (of all types), I could never quite get past the “Browning premium” price.
Which, as Phil Bourjailly explains, is largely the reason why it’s been discontinued:
So, what happened to the BPS? Times changed. Semiautos were still called “jam-a-matics” in 1977, and many hunters back then preferred to shoot pumps even if they could afford a semiauto. As semiautos got better, the reliability gap between pumps and autoloaders shrank. Costs rose. The real advantage between pump and semiauto shotguns became price. The pump market adjusted. Remington responded with the Express in the 1990s, a cheaper version of the Wingmaster. Benelli introduced the very affordable Nova around 2000. Mossberg kept cranking out the same humble, durable Model 500 it has always made.
The BPS wasn’t intended to be a cheap pump, and Browning stuck by its gun for a long time. While it’s too bad the BPS was discontinued, honestly, it stayed around a little too long. In the last years of the BPS, it was readily apparent that costs had to be cut to keep the price down, and the gun no longer looked like the glossy 20-gauge that I bought so many years ago.
One wonders what would have happened had Browning followed Remington’s lead (or even preceded them) with a budget version of the BPS, but that’s really not the Browning Way, is it?
So why am I melancholic about the BPS’s demise? I hate to see ANY gun discontinued, is why.
Loved Brownings. My dad bought a BLR in .243 back in the late ’70’s and it is still glossy and gorgeous. Dad bought it because of the Coyote problem, but dad was at heart a softie and hated killing things unless he absolutely had to. So it remained lightly used.
I sadly on the other had never reached the earning level where I could afford any of the Browning line of products, and mores the pity. Sadly about the above I feel the same way about it, as I do about seeing the Mom & Pop hardware store close down, or a church close its doors. I understand the reason, the community is just poorer without it.
Once again, the efficiency of cookie-cutter technology trumps time honored craftsmanship. I suspect if Browning had come out with a budget model, it likely would have hastened the demise of the premium model. Also in today’s world, the bulk of firearms/ammo purchases are “recreational” and sales depend on disposable income.
On the flip side, I bought my trusty Mossberg 500 around 1980 while still a starving college student. Well OK, I did have the GI bill. Still, bought it at K-Mart on sale. It came with a coupon for an extra barrel. My youngest son and heir borrowed it a few weeks back for a trap shoot hosted by his employer.
A decade or so ago, I was gifted a used Ithaca 37 because the barrel was damaged. It is a plain barrel, 30-inch, full choke. A few years back, I actually manage to find a replacement barrel, 28-inch, vent rib, modified choke, on Ebay of all places. Need to get off my rear and go shoot it. Because of the grooves in the forend, the 37 is affectionately known as the “Tootsie Roll” pump.
Let us also remember this was one of only a very small number (I personally know of no other) downward ejecting scatterguns. Quite a nice feature for us lefty shooters. Another feature delivered to the shooting community by JMB!
That’s too bad for the folks that don’t have one. I like mine very much; the build quality and finish are noticeably superior to my Remington and Mossberg pump scatterguns, and I really like the downward ejection – no distraction from the target because of empty hulls flying through the field of view.
Hey people can still pick up a new BPS or nearly anything else over on GunBroker. I’ve bought “new” stuff 20 years after it was discontinued.
BTW, just had my 1936 Winchester 12 in 16 ga reblued and it looks wonderful. Life is good.
I inherited my Dad’s 12. I haven’t shot it much but it is heirloom quality. My Dad shot it twice in a dove field – dropped birds with both shots.