Browning Maxus – The New A-5?

Monday, March 7th, 2011

I was 19 years old, and trying to balance hunting, working to pay for college, and studying. I wanted a Belgium Browning A-5 Magnum, so I saved tips for over a year before I found the gun I wanted. I remember that day as if it were yesterday. In a small shop in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, the owner took me back to his private gun case and there it was. The A-5, just like Grandpa Lange used to shoot. It became mine!

Browning Maxus

The Browning Maxus reminds me a lot of that gun. It is a hunter’s gun – only better. The Maxus incorporates several new technologies and creates a gun with 18% less felt recoil, 44% less muzzle jump, 19% faster bolt speed, and 24% faster lock time according to Browning experts. What does this all mean to the hunter? It means greater comfort, faster target acquisition on quicker follow up shots.

Many of us only own one shotgun. Many of us hunt a lot – one day ducks, the next pheasants, maybe some quail or doves, and turkeys in the spring. The Maxus is that versatile “one gun.” The Browning Power Drive gas system technology makes that all possible. Its research and testing resulted in a new enclosed seal gas system that will reliably handle the light loads and the biggest turkey and goose loads. The Inflex Technology recoil pad is there to tame those loads.

All the modern technology that Browning has incorporated in the Maxus is great, but how does it HUNT? I recently carried the Maxus on an early season Canada goose hunt to find out.  The first thing I enjoyed, after taking a pair of geese from the first flock to work decoys, was the Speed Load system that Browning has used for years. It takes the first shell loaded into the magazine right to chamber.

However, I wish it had a fiber optic bead on the barrel. High visibility beads work great for low light conditions in the morning or evening. They are also great for turkey hunting because they really help with aiming when not using a red dot or scope.

That being said, I truly enjoyed shooting the Maxus on this hunt. Shooting Federal’s Black Cloud 3” goose loads in shirt sleeves was very comfortable with the gun, and deadly. I left the field with a smile on my face and reminisced about years past and that old hump back A-5.

The Pheasant Fest blog is written by Brad Heidel, Pheasants Forever’s Director of Corporate and Special Event Sales. Look for Brad’s column, “The Gun Shop,” in the Pheasants Forever Journal.