Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns Winchester SX2/3 vs Browning A5

Looking for a new shotgun (or quality used) that will cycle 3.5" shells. Need one for duck and goose hunting. The A5 seems lighter than the Winchester but a little added weight may not be a bad thing. You guys have any experience with these? I'd like to spend as little as possible, but that may not really work with these.

Thoughts?

my SX2 is my go to gun for everything. I am thinking about getting a 20 o/u for dove and quail, as the SX2 can get heavy if walking with it all day.

I'm a Browning guy but of the two I would get a SX3.
The SX3 gas action will take a little kick out of the 3.5" shells.
The A5 uses the Investor DS tube's. There have been a lot of reported problems with them. Aftermarket ones are not easily available.
The SX3 has Investor ± tube's and there are plenty of great waterfowl tube's available.

You will also save enough on the SX3 over the A5 to buy two or three good tube's and three flats of 3.5" shells to go out and kill some birds.

Go shoulder them and it will be clear. After doing just that with every 3.5 auto in the store, I ended up with the SX3.

Even better when comparing price tags to the others.

2 waterfowl seasons so far without a hiccup.

The SX2 is noticeably heavier and has a higher rib than the SX3. The weight might be a plus if you're going to shoot 3 1/2s regularly. For the price of the 2 I would go to the 3 if you like it. I had a SX3 for a while, really tried to like it since it was a soft shooter, but mine was a 3", sold it due to the lower rib. I really like the sight alignment of the square receiver of the A5 (and higher SX2 rib), being a beretta 390 fan, it's similar. The A5 is also light. These are really different guns and there's no bad choice but if you shoulder them one should speak to you. All that said if it fit me well I would go SX3.

I've blessed with the SX2 and Auto 5 more than the SX3. I'll be shooting 3.5s more than about anything else out of this one. It will have a sling on it, and probably only see turkey and duck/goose hunting. I've got others if I want to go with lighter rounds. Found a camo SX2 that's in good shape for $650, but don't know what kind of deal that is.

In that case I might favor the heavier SX2. $650 isn't too bad if the condition is good, Last I looked on GB used ones were in that range, sometimes a little less with new ones in the 750-900 range depending on model etc.

I love the new A5 but not for waterfowl. It's too light and will push you around a bit more than either of the Winchesters. Save the A5 for an upland hunt. I am a Beretta 390 guy but I would be quite happy with a SX3 for my waterfowl hunting.

If you can pull the forearm and barrel, then slide the gas piston off. Look at the spring in the piston and make sure it isn't broken.

I owned one that had a broken spring and when I told 2 of my buds shooting same gun they checked theirs, busted spring as well.

No telling how long they had been broken or why. This has been about 7-8 years and one of them is still running with the broken spring and no issues.

These were 3 1/2" guns, never seen it on the 3" guns I have owned or been around.

That's definitely something I'll check. Thanks.

I did a Google search after I posted and saw several other forums/thread discussions about it. Not sure what the cause/fix was.

Broken piston spring is pretty common. A replacement piston is difficult to find, you're best off sending the entire piston to SRM performance to have it sleeved. When mine broke (SX2) all it would cycle reliably was 3.5" loads. If you like the SX2/SX3 you can keep an eye out for a Browning Silver/Gold/Maxus as they use a gas system that is basically the same as the SX2/SX3.

Is it common on the 3" guns or just 3.5s?? I have owned/own about5 5 of the 3" guns and no issues w those.

Only ones I have seen w broken springs was 3.5" guns.

I honestly don't know the answer to that question. I have a 3.5" gun (obviously). For me it didn't happen until I started shooting sporting clays regularly with my gun (~100 rds/wk) and had put a significant amount of shells through the gun.

I've shot Browning autos for 20 plus years in competition and in conditions far more tortuous than probably 99.99% of shooters on planet Earth.



I've never had a broken spring in a gas piston nor have I ever heard of anyone having a broken spring in a gas piston, therefore I respectfully have to call "BS"

Either you're not shooting a Browning Silver/Maxus, Winchester SX2/SX3 or FN SLP or you're in the minority. It doesn't take much of a search to find a lot of people who have had issues with broken gas springs.

I've heard plenty of guys with 6.0 Powerstroke trucks tell me they haven't had any problems, doesn't mean they're not huge piles of [bleep].....know what I mean?

Never "heard " of it myself, I actually saw several w my own 2 eyes. All of the ones I saw were on 3.5" guns so may have something to do w it.

LOL! Ok dude. I'm actually the first shooter to have used the Maxus in competition. I used to shoot for Browning.

When the Maxus was developed, two other shooters and I made a trip to Argentina with a 3 man film crew and tortured the 3.5" prototypes for 4 days and thousands of rounds on doves, pigeons and ducks. After that, I used the prototype in competition for a year until Browning started manufacturing them, then went to the carbon fiber Sporting gun.

I have a Gold Sporting that I've put over 100,000 rounds through it.

Never have I heard of this or had it happen to me or any other Browning shooter.

Must be lucky as hell I guess. LOL

I've seen a couple of broken gas piston springs on the Gold, especially the 3.5 which were being used for waterfowl with 3.5 loads.

Honestly, it doesn't make much difference if the spring breaks or not if you are using field/heavy loads. The Brownings will keep on running with the spring broken. Most people never even know if happened unless told to look for it, unless they try to shoot very light loads.