Browning Citori question, strange serial no.

[Texas10]

Been lurking for a while, and just joined your forum.I figure this is probably the only place in the US that there's any chance of finding someone who knows the history behind this unique Citori model. It's very...... Californian.

Long story short, this 12ga, 3" chamber, 28 in barrel Citori is model RTJ53 and does not show up on any Browning list. It is a Grade I, Hunter with modified and full chokes, gloss blue finish, shiny stock finish, no Monte Carlo, made in Japan.

A call to Browning Historian indicates that his particular gun was part of a shipment of three hundred 28" and 30" Citori shotguns sold to....Lucky Stores, Buena Park, CA in 1977. Lucky, of course, is a grocery chain that originated in San Mateo, CA back in the 30's.

Lucky also owned Gemco stores and some of them sold guns and ammo back in the 70's. But....the sale was to Lucky, not Gemco.....I know, weird!

I'm thinking Lucky gave these away as prizes, but can't find any history to support that notion. Maybe some of you "experienced" shooter may know more about this as a possibility.

As i recall, I traded a Mossberg 550 pump sold by Montgomery Wards and some cash for it back in 1980 to a gun store in Hayward, CA and found it to be an excellent trap and duck gun. Shot trap at Chabot gun club and hunted Grizzly Island.

Anyone have an personal experience with this unique model?

Thanks for any help!

[Ducky's Dad]

I would guess it's not a unique model, just an odd S/N range that was ordered for one customer. Is there anything about the gun that differentiates it from the run of the mill Citoris of its era? I have a mid-70's Citori that sounds like a dead match for yours, except that mine has oil finish on the wood.

[-hanko]

RT indicates 1976 manufacturing date.

From a little google...

"Browning used a series of codes in the serial number to describe the year of manufacture and model designation. The RT tells me that your gun was made in 1976. The J53 is supposed to designate a specific model. The problem is, J53 does not appear in any list of Browning codes that we have. There's J43 and J63, but not a J53...

"Now, the J53 code has been seen before and the general consensus is that the J53 code was used on the hunting model. A call to Browning's customer service may yield a better answer, but as of now that's all I have."

From a bit more google...

""I deciphered the Citori I just purchased using the "Date Your Gun" section at the Browning website. Look under the "Services" section.

"I could figure mine out to year, but not model of Citori. The "J53" suffix was not at Browning's site. One call to Browning and I found out what I suspected. A 3" chamber Hunter (field) model."

The gun was produced by Miroku in Japan...they do very nice work. I've "informally exported" a pair of Miroku SxS's in 12 and 20. Sweet shotguns that seem to last forever.

[Texas10]

Thanks for the replies, guys. The Browning Historian provided the lineage of the gun, its a 1976 grade I, Hunter. The J53 code is unique to the special order purchase made by Lucky Stores, and in the case of my particular serial number, was part of a batch of 300 made; 250 with 28 inch barrels, 50 with 30 inch.

My real interest is in why a grocery chain would purchase 300 shotguns, ( there should be a good joke in there somewhere, but I can't think of one just now), or did they purchase them for the Gemco chain.

I was hoping to find someone who was an original recipient/buyer of a J53 code Citori and could provide some first hand information as to how it was come by.

[Thefeeder]

><

Back then, it was a different world. Guns were given as gifts. Hollywood stars was into shooting Skeet and Trap and hunting. Nobody called in the SWAT team when a kid with a 22 was walking down the street to go target shooting....and this was in the cites like San Francisco

[ceh383]

Back then, it was a different world. Guns were given as gifts. Hollywood stars was into shooting Skeet and Trap and hunting. Nobody called in the SWAT team when a kid with a 22 was walking down the street to go target shooting....and this was in the cites like San Francisco

So true, I remember myself and several friends slinging .22s and BB guns over our shoulders, jumping on our bikes to head for the hills to shoot at cans and whatever...Never a problem what so ever...
Oh the good old days

[JagerDog]

Might find some specific intel at shotgunworld.com