Browning B525 Composite Adjustable

Browning is one of the best-known names in shooting, with a massive selection of shotguns on the market to suit the desires of all shooters. However, this particular shotgun is unlike most other guns you will have seen.

First impressions
The first thing you will notice about the Browning B525 Composite Adjustable is that the stock is not made of wood. This model has composite furniture that is designed to last a lifetime. Browning believes this gun will allow the shooter to have endless trips out game shooting or outings to the clay range without ever putting strain on the gun’s stock. This may well be true, given that composite stocks are incredibly strong. In any event, it is great looking and practical, with rubber sections on the pistol grip and fore-end that hold your hands firmly in place.
My favourite feature is that it is ambidextrous, making it very appealing to a left-handed shooter like myself. Most left-handed shotguns on the market have a surcharge on the retail price, but not this one. There is only one model and one price.
Due to it being an ambidextrous composite stock, it is completely straight with no cast. There is a palm swell on either side of the pistol grip that sits very comfortably in the hand, and the adjustable comb will allow the shooter to achieve the exact fit they require. This is easily one of the simplest adjustable combs on the market. You just loosen the Allen head bolt that sits within the rubber butt pad, move the comb to whichever position is required, and then tighten the bolt. It is as easy as that.
The stock is certainly an acquired taste. It does feel fairly substantial, but it certainly isn’t the solid piece of wood we are used to. The gun is very barrel-heavy, which isn’t surprising considering how light the stock is. However, there is an option to have the stock counterweight-ready. This will greatly improve the gun’s balance and reduce felt recoil. Note that the weights do not come with the gun and cost extra.
An Inflex II pad is fitted to the stock. These are interchangeable pads and are available in a range of thicknesses depending on the length of stock that you require. A 20mm pad is provided with the gun to give a 14.88” length of pull, which is a common length for a new gun.

It’s all in the detail
The gun as a whole is very pleasing because it has a very simple, modern look that is so different. The grey action, with three-pointed stars decorating the receiver, is a very simple yet elegant design. Combined with the black composite stock and gold trigger, it is a great look. I was expecting this gun to be similar to an older Browning model, the Cynergy, which I wasn’t a great fan of as it felt sticky to the touch and the build quality wasn’t great. This B525 Composite is completely different, being built to a much higher quality level and genuinely feeling as if it will last a lifetime of shooting.
The pistol grip is rather long, which will suit larger hands. However, it is very slim, so a shooter like me who has smaller hands can hold the gun comfortably while still being able to reach the trigger. The trigger itself is adjustable, so you can move it to the exact location you require with the supplied Allen key.
The barrels are back bored, which is known to improve the patterning of the shot and reduce felt recoil. If you don’t clean your shotgun as much as you should, then you will be pleased to know that the B525 Composite has chromed barrels and chambers that won’t rust, enabling easy maintenance. The fleur-de-lis stamp denotes that the gun is suitable for high-performance steel shot, making it future-proof and a great option for wildfowlers.
The barrels are multi-choked and five Invector+ flush chokes are supplied. They range from cylinder to full, ensuring most shooter’s needs are met, and everything is presented in a simple Browning hard case.
This shotgun is designed as an all-rounder, so whether you are a sporting clay shooter or enjoy shooting game days in the winter months, this gun should be suitable. For this review, I took the gun on a couple of outings that involved shooting clays and live quarry. I was pleasantly surprised by my findings.

High ammo consumption
Simulated clay days are always a great way to test a shotgun. On a day like this, you will generally fire between 250 and 500 cartridges, so reliability is crucial. The last thing you want to do is sit and watch everyone else shoot while you stand there with a gun that doesn’t work. I believe the B525 action is one of the most reliable on the market and it is very rare to have a problem with it.
With the adjustable comb set in its lowest position, the gun would have shot very low, which is far from what I wanted. All I had to do was loosen the bolt at the back of the stock and slide it up. A 10-second job.
On simulated clay days, you are generally shooting with a fellow shooter, splitting the drive between you. I had my good friend Bryn with me, who is also left-handed, so we decided to share the gun between us as we have a very similar gun fit.
Bryn went first and given he had not shot for a few months, I couldn’t believe how well he was doing. The drive consisted of a very steep bank in front of us, from which extremely high and fast clays were being sent. There was a fallen tree that blocked our vision slightly, but it made for some fantastic snap shooting, very similar to shooting pheasants in woodland. With the quarter and half chokes fitted, Bryn easily broke the targets using Eley No.7.5, 25g fibre wad cartridges.
When it came to my turn, I was expecting the gun to handle heavily due to a lot of the weight being forward, but this was not the case at all. The handling was very fast, which was perfect for the scenario we had before us. Several boxes of cartridges later, I was really enjoying the gun and extremely happy with how well I was shooting it. It handled very similarly to a game gun, and due to the weight being forward, I was moving it quickly yet in a controlled way to break another target with my second barrel.
Before I knew it the whistle was blown, and the drive was over. We had taken a slab of 250 cartridges onto the drive and walked off with just a handful in our pockets! Not a single malfunction or bad word to be said about the gun.
We walked back from the peg pleasantly surprised with how well we shot the B525 and were amazed that it didn’t have an excessive amount of recoil – just a bit more than most other sporting guns but not enough to be concerned about. Perhaps similar to most game guns I have tried in the past. It was a great first experience with the Browning and I was excited to see how it performed on live quarry.

Not a simulation
I went on a brief afternoon trip out to clear a few corvids that were causing harm to the farmer’s crop, and I decided to stand on a flight line to intercept the birds on their way to the field.
I changed the chokes to 1/2 and 3/4, then slipped in a couple of my trusty Eley Pigeon Select No.6 30g fibre wad cartridges. The scenario was very similar to the simulated clay day, as I was behind some tall trees waiting for the corvids to fly over. I didn’t have to wait long before I had a chance at a crow, and I took it cleanly with the first shot. There was a variety of flighting crows, including driven and crossing birds anywhere from 20 to 40 yards away. The B525 was effortless to shoot and the few misses I had were purely down to me not putting the lead in the right place.
The gun mounts very smoothly and comfortably into the shoulder, and I was very fond of the narrower style of rib, which leads to a small brass bead. It allowed me to achieve quick target acquisition and maintain a clear focus on the target.

Conclusion
The Browning B525 Composite Adjustable has completely amazed me. I didn’t expect to like this gun because it’s so different from what I usually prefer. Due to it being so unusual, with its simple but attractive receiver, composite stock, ease of adjustability, and ambidextrous design, it is going to be a popular choice with many shooters.
I only have a couple of minor criticisms. The first is that the stock does sound fairly hollow, but this is to be expected from composite. The second is that with the gun being so front-heavy, it would have been great if Browning had provided the stock weight system as standard, instead of as an extra.
A great all-around shotgun that will suit many shooters, whether for club-level clays, hide shooting or game shooting. I don’t believe it would be a great choice for a competition clay shooter, purely because of its light weight (7lbs 7oz). There are better shotguns – including some from Browning – for competition work.
Be sure to pick up a Browning B525 Composite Adjustable and have a swing when you get a chance. It’s likely to surprise you.