I'm in the market for my first shotgun. I've been leaning towards a Remington 870, but really like the look of the Browning BPS. 

 

I've recently seen a used one for sale within my price range so I'm interested. I'd like to hear some input from folks that have actually fired one. I'm not a hunter, so it would just be for home defense and the range.

 

I look forward to the feedback.

Browning is a great gun. It has a very smooth stroke and is night and day quality over a regular REM 870. It has bottom eject, which makes it very lefty friendly. Only downside I can think of is that the bottom inject makes it difficult for other people to know whether the chamber is empty or not.

I have one in 20g. come to the Clinton shoot out on the 25th and your welcome to shoot it. its a good gun I have had it for 18 years and it has been used and abused quite a bit and it still functions perfect.

My friend has a BPS, the engraved one, Beautiful gun. The only real issue the BPS can run into is feeding problems. Its quality is better then an 870 but i wouldn't say the reliability is. This is pretty easy to get around too, buy a used wingmaster or police 870. Quality like a BPS, with reliability. They are cheap, you can get a better gun for half the price, even if its 30 years old. My 870 wingmaster has almost 20 years on me, was cheaper then a new 870 express or similar, with 10x the build quality. It had some minor surface imperfections, but no rust or anything like that.

They are smooth and beautiful but cleaning a Browning BPS is difficult.  You need three hands.  The owners manual says it should be done by a smith.

its not that bad to clean a BPS. the only part that can be a little tricky is putting the trigger group back in and yes 3 hands would be a help then but I just coat everything in a good coat of oil and they stick into place while putting the trigger group back in. Really no need to have a smith clean your shotgun