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Browning BPS

• moderate
• Shop tier 3
• high confidence
• Shotgun
• pump action
• bottom eject
• ambidextrous
• tang safety

field strip ~4 min · reassembly ~6 min · detail strip ~30 min

Specifications

Model-specific safety

• The BPS ejects through the bottom of the receiver, like an Ithaca 37. There is no side ejection port, so the chamber is checked by looking up through the bottom port with the action open and a light.
• The safety is a tang safety on top of the receiver, not a trigger-guard crossbolt.
• The BPS has a top-tang safety and bottom ejection, which together make it genuinely ambidextrous.
• Unloading a tube magazine takes several cycles. Verify the chamber and the tube.

Under spring tension

• Magazine tube spring and follower
• Hammer spring

Easily lost parts

Magazine cap · Trigger group pin · Shell stops

Tools

No tools required for the field strip.

Shop difficulty

Shop tier 3 Tier 3 — hardest among shotguns, for the full job: strip to the parts that get coated and put it back together working. About 63 keyed parts (82 rows) on a bottom-eject pump that owners widely describe as miserable to put back: the loose spring-strip shell stops block the trigger group and fall into the receiver unless held aside with shim strips, bolt, carrier and ejector arms must be juggled into position to go in through the bottom, and the carrier wings must land in the slide-arm rabbets. Browning itself says not to strip it.

Parts: 63 numbered parts (Browning BPS parts list (28/20/12 ga Hunting and 12 ga Game Gun), 63 key numbers with variant rows; the Game Gun/Buck Special list (p. 14) left out), from Owner's Manual, Browning BPS Pump Action Shotgun, 12, 20 & 28 Ga. Models and Game Gun Models — Browning, p. 13 archive.org [2].

Bench time: about 60 min to strip, 95 min to rebuild (estimate). Strip of barrel, slide arms, trigger group, bottom-eject bolt/carrier/ejector arms and top-tang safety; rebuild much longer because the loose shell stops must be held aside with shims as the trigger group goes in.

Small parts: 13 pins, 12 springs, 1 detents or plungers (counted from the manufacturer's parts list (one per key number unless a quantity is given))

What comes off for coating

• Barrel / magazine: magazine cap, barrel, magazine spring and follower
• Receiver: trigger group pins and trigger group, spring-strip shell stops (fall out), slide and action arms, bolt, carrier and ejector arms (out the bottom), top-tang safety and plunger
• Bolt: firing pin and spring, extractors
• Stock: recoil pad, stock bolt

Special tools

• Thin metal shim strips (e.g., cut aluminium can) — Holding the shell stops aside while the trigger group is rotated in
• Punch set — Trigger group pins

Known pain points

• The spring-strip shell stops are not staked, so when the trigger group is rotated in they block it and fall into the receiver; the workaround is to hold them aligned and slide thin metal strips alongside the trigger group as a jig. (reassembly)
  Owners report: Browning BPS take down (now re-assemble) — Accurate Reloading Gunsmithing Forum forums.accuratereloading.com [4] — “The spring strip shell stops are not staked in place. When you try to install the trigger group they block your way, and usually fall out inside the receiver.”
• Bolt, carrier and ejector arms have to be fiddled into one position before they will drop out of, or go back up into, the bottom of the receiver. (both)
  Owners report: BPS Disassembly — City-Data Forum (Guns and Hunting) city-data.com [5] — “I had to fiddle with the bolt, carrier and ejector arms to get everything in the right position for the bolt and carrier to drop out of the bottom of the receiver.”
• On reassembly the carrier 'wings' must sit in the rabbets on the slide arms, and the trigger group refuses to go in with the trigger in the energised position; owners describe the job as a big pain. (reassembly)
  Owners report: BPS Disassembly — City-Data Forum (Guns and Hunting) city-data.com [5] — “The "wings" on the carrier have to lay in the "rabbetts" on the slide arms.”

Fit or check on rebuild

• Shell stops seated and working — They are not staked; misplaced stops cause double feeds that lock the gun up.
  Source: Browning BPS take down (now re-assemble) — Accurate Reloading Gunsmithing Forum forums.accuratereloading.com [4] — “The spring strip shell stops are not staked in place.”
• Carrier wings in the slide-arm rabbets — If they are not, the action will not cycle correctly.
  Source: BPS Disassembly — City-Data Forum (Guns and Hunting) city-data.com [5] — “The "wings" on the carrier have to lay in the "rabbetts" on the slide arms.”
• Function check: safety, trigger/sear release, disconnector and feeding with dummy rounds — Standard after any detail strip; a mis-assembled sear or disconnector can double or fail to fire.

This is Pew-Takedown's rating, not the manufacturer's. How tiers are rated. Forum reports are owners' experience, not specifications.

Procedures

Torque specifications

No sourced torque values from the manufacturer are recorded for this firearm. Where a fastener has a specified torque — action screws, scope bases, muzzle devices, barrel nuts — get it from the manufacturer or a gunsmith rather than estimating it.

What the manufacturer does say: The manufacturer's documents give no torque value. They say: "Tighten the screws snugly, but do not overtighten." (Browning BPS Shotgun Owner's Manual) "Turn the screws clockwise to tighten. Do not overtighten the screws." (Browning BPS Shotgun Owner's Manual)

Materials and factory finish

As stated by Browning Arms Company. Prep, masking and cure depend on these; a polymer or aluminium part, a nitrided or anodised finish, and a blued steel part are each a different job. Variants with other finishes may exist — check the maker's page for the exact SKU on the bench.

Parts list

Transcribed from the manufacturer's parts list (Owner's Manual, Browning BPS Pump Action Shotgun, 12, 20 & 28 Ga. Models and Game Gun Models — Browning, p. 13 archive.org [2]) — "Parts List: Browning BPS Pump Action Shotgun" for 28, 20 and 12 ga Hunting models and 12 ga Game Guns. Part numbers are from the 12 ga column; 20 and 28 ga numbers are in notes. The Game Gun/Buck Special list (p. 14) is left out.. Key numbers refer to the exploded view in that document.

Function check

• Verify the shotgun is unloaded — chamber and magazine tube — before each step.
• Cycle the action fully. It should run smoothly without binding and lock closed.
• With the action closed and the hammer cocked, engage the safety and press the trigger. The hammer must not fall.
• Disengage the safety and press the trigger. The hammer should fall.
• With the hammer down, confirm the action will not open until the action release is pressed.
• Load two dummy shells into the magazine and confirm they feed and eject cleanly, one per cycle.

Maintenance

Lubrication points

• Action bars where they ride in the receiver
• Bolt body and locking block
• Magazine tube exterior where the forend slides
• Hammer and sear pivots

Cleaning notes

Keep the magazine tube interior clean and dry rather than oiled — oil there collects plastic wad residue and slows the follower. Plastic fouling in the chamber and bore is normal with shotshells.

Suggested inspection interval: roughly every 1000 rounds. This is a general guideline, not a manufacturer specification.

Wear parts to inspect

Extractor · Shell latches · Magazine spring · Action bars (inspect for bends) · Ejector

Common issues

Also covers

The procedures above are reported to apply to: BPS Hunter, Field, Stalker, and Upland variants. Verify against the manual for your specific model.

Similar manual of arms

• Ithaca Model 37
• Remington 870

Sourcing