Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns Browning BPS Upland 20 ga.

Looking for personal feedback on Brownings BPS Upland pump shotgun in 20 ga. Thinking this might be a good grouse/ woodcock gun to use in the woods/brush here in Vermont. Anyone here own one or use one?

Thanks.

Dave

Love mine. I have both 12 and 20 gauge.

I have a BPS Upland in 20 gauge, use it for bird and rabbit hunting. Nice shotgun, handles well, and very well made. In fact I think so much of them I bought a couple more (12 gauge turkey gun and a 16 gauge grade III).

Not the upland version, but bought my wife a field version (I guess thats what you'd call it??). She is left handed, so the bottom eject and tang safety work good for her. She has killed a pile of doves and handful of pheasants with it in her short hunting career.

My only dislike of the BPS is the weight. A 7 lb. 20 gauge is a pig for a small gauge gun. Heck, even the 28 gauge and .410 weigh seven pounds. A pound should be shaved off the 410 and 28 gauge and at least a half pound off the 20 gauge guns.

BPS 20 ga.Upland Special was my first mtn. ruff gun--maybe a bit heavy, but sure beats my 11-87 and O/U both in carry wt. and quickness--
Still got the BPS and still love it, but I'd trade it and ten more in a heartbeat for one more day afield w/ my old Springer buddy...

Thanks for the reminiscence--I bet you'll enjoy the BPS--gotta go, got sumthin' in my eye.

yeah nothing wrong with the BPS, great guns, just a little too bulky for me. i think they need to do them at like 95% scale and i would be happy. the 12 gauges seem too big to me, like a kid shooting a full size gun. and i am a big guy.

Thanks for all the comments. I did a little more research and found one locally to handle to check fit/feel/finish. I like the price point as well. I have ordered one and should see it in about a week.


Dave

Take a long look at the Ithaca 37 instead. They are much lighter. The Browning is based on the same design, but something went wrong with the weight.

LH makes a great point. I use an Ithaca model 37 12g for doves, especially if we are walking around. The weight difference is a huge plus. Both my sons were lugging Benelli SBEII's around with me, with a lot of complaints regarding the weight.

I didn't have any trouble dropping doves with the Ithaca! And was happy it wasn't an SBE that day!

The 12 gauge Benelli SBE II with a 26" barrel and synthetic stock weighs 7.2 lbs. The walnut stocked model weighs 7.3 lbs according to the specs on the Benelli website.

The 12 gauge Ithaca M37 Featherweight walnut stock with 26" barrel weighs 7.6 lbs according to their website. The alloy frame Ithaca Ultralight does cut weight down to 6.5 lbs.

As a comparison in 20 gauge guns against the BPS for the original poster the Ithaca weighs 6.8 lbs in steel and a full pound lighter at 5.8 lbs in alloy receiver models.

I have both an Ithaca 37 (12 ga) and a BPS Micro (20 ga, 22" bbl.)

BPS is heavier than I'd prefer, but rock solid and fast enough to point. Ithaca points a bit better (for me) but I don't like the crossbolt safety so I use it only on turkeys.

Top tang safety for me-I grew up on doubles and fumble for anything else.

There's a 12 ga upland and another Ithaca 12 in my future.

I have a number of 12 gauge Ithacas with 28" barrels. They don't weigh 7.5 pounds, that's for sure.

My older 2.75" comes in at 6.75 pounds.
My newer 3" comes in at just over 7 pounds.

A 3" 20 gauge comes in just over 6 pounds.

The 28 and .410 weigh the same because it's the same gun with smaller barrels. Depending on the barrel contours, they may even be heavier than the 20.

I know it may not seem a lot of weight difference, but I would carry my Ithaca over the SBE.

Odessa,

How do you like your 20ga. BPS Uplander? I have thought on and off about getting one of these for small game although my 870 20ga. will do the job.

I have heard that the BPS Uplander does not stand up to heavy use like the 870 does. Have you used yours at the clay range or strictly hunting?

Valad,
I have not used my Uplander at Sporting Clays on a regular basis. However, having owned many pump shotguns, including two M870's, so many Model 12's its hard to remember them all, an Ithaca M37, a Mossberg 535, a Smith & Wesson 1000P, several I have forgotten, etc., I will tell you that I think the Browning BPS is as tough as any pump made today or yesterday. My 12 gauge BPS has nearly 100 rounds of various Hevi-Shot and 2 oz. copper plated lead turkey loads fired through chokes as tight as .655"; the loads rattle the fillings in my teeth, but the BPS soldiers on. There are good reasons to pick another shotgun (style, handling, preference, features, etc.) but to say the BPS doesn't hold up is sheer imagination or pure BS. I bought my first one when they came out in the late 1970's and came back to them several years ago. I have two nice 16 gauge Model 12 Winchester's and in my opinion the BPS is the closest thing on the market today to the old Model 12.
Odessa