Browning Sweet 16

[spifferino]

Hi guys. A little help please. I have my grandfather's Sweet 16 and I know very little about it and hope you can help.

It has evidence of gold plating on the trigger, is filigreed with 'Sweet Sixteen' on top of the receiver with lots of other filigree markings on the receiver, including the trigger guard. The serial has a single 'S' followed underneath with '1109x'. I cannot decode the Browning site's serial numbers.

Oh, also, the butt plate says Browning down one side, Automatic down the other with a grat big FN in the middle.

It all looks original, but is in awesome shape! Bluing and stock have normal, well taken care of wear and I really don't believe that either has ever been refinished.

The barrel has the normal markings with '5186x' stamped that looks like a manufacturing mark.

It has a poly choke as well. May very well be after market. Is there a way to tell?

Thanks to all!

[Waterengineer]

I did a little research and did not come up with anything quickly.

I will continue to work on it. It is an interesting little reseach project. It will be interesting to see if anyone has an answer.

Also, a little more info would be helpful. I will not be helpful with the polychoke question.

I suggest asking your question over here, on the Browning board.

www.shotgunworld.com

[collier281]

go to browning.com and they have a place to look up serial no's for all browning's

[tbotts]

your shotgun was made in 1954.
Unscrew the choke end of the polychoke and look for a number engraved on the top of the collar. Polychoke had dealer numbers for each dealer that was authorized to install their choke.
Look for a #11 or #9. #11 is for Browning and #9 is for FN. Either number means that the polychoke was installed by the factory.
The buttplate appears to be correct for 54.