The Metro Gun – For The Quiet Shooter

Story and photographs by Larry Case

Few would argue that John Moses Browning was not an inventor of firearms par excellence. Just trying to list Mr. Browning’s accomplishment in the gun world can leave the garden-variety gun writer, like me, feeling a bit queasy. You just know that you are going to forget something. From .50-caliber machine guns to the legendary 1911 pistol, Browning’s list is long and varied. You may suspect that I favor some of his shotgun wizardry, and you would be right. The 1897 Winchester pump shotgun is one of my favorites, and it paved the way for the iconic Winchester Model 12.

I believe thathad the traits of all great inventors. First, they are brilliant in that they can conceive an idea, then picture it and finally have the tenacity to stay with the concept until the job is done. Whether it’s Eli Whitney working on the cotton gin – was also involved in mass producing firearms for the government, by the way – or Thomas Edison, who fooled around with that lightbulb thing until he got it right, great ideas often come from the most unexpected places.

Let’s talk about L.P. Brezny. Brezny is one of those guys who is hard to put a handle on. He hails from the windswept plains of South Dakota and is a former policeman – think old cowboy and sheriff with some trapper and mountain man thrown in. But what Brezny is first and foremost is a shooter. Everything from shotgun to long-range-rifle shooting is in his bailiwick, so much so that his books Modern Shotgunning and The Gun Digest Book of Long Range Shooting are widely read. He has helped more than one shotgun ammunition manufacturer develop shot loads over the years, and has created his own shotgun-choke system aptly named the Dead Ringer. Most recently, Brezny has invented the Metro Gun system. “Metro Gun?” you say! “What is that?” I am so glad you asked.

Several years ago, like all great inventors ahead of their time, Brezny saw the need for a shotgun that would go easy on the ears. Urban sprawl causes tighter constrictions on where shotgunners can shoot. Often, there might be a location where one can shoot, but it would really help to keep the noise down – keeping peace with the neighbors, and all of that. Also, reducing the decibel level can increase one’s success rate when hunting certain animals and birds, particularly crows. Remember the old adage that necessity is the mother of all invention? Well, Brezny needed to shoot more crows. In order to do that he needed to have a shotgun that made very little noise, so he created the Metro Gun.

Brezny does a lot of shooting and hunting, which includes animal-control jobs. The common crow can be a real pest in agricultural areas; ditto for feral pigeons. Shotgunning for these birds is often done in close proximity to barns, buildings, humans and livestock. One can easily see how a low-decibel shotgun would come in handy for these situations.

After a lot of testing, blood, sweat, tears and a bunch of ammunition sent down range, Brezny delivered. Essentially, the Metro Gun is a 32-inch barrel extension that simply screws onto the end of your existing shotgun barrel. Just remove your screw-in choke and insert the Metro barrel. Voilà! You are ready to shoot quietly. The Metro barrel is ported along its entire length, which allows gas to bleed off a little at a time. The Metro is so long that most of the gases are gone by the time they get to the muzzle. Very little gas equals very little noise!

How little noise? Most tests show that with subsonic shotgun ammo, the report will create only 72 decibels of sound and just 82 decibels with supersonic. Some compare it to closing a car door. Winchester, Remington and Federal all make shotgun ammunition in the subsonic line.

Mr. Brezny noticed other benefits too. Not only was there much less noise, there was much less recoil – it will make your shotgun a soft shooter – and delivered a better pattern. Essentially, the Metro acts as one long choke tube. Brezny routinely gets reports from Metro customers on how effective his barrel is for game. Ducks don’t flare after the first shot, and with no blast to drive them away, crows continue to come to the calling,

Would some consider the 32-inch Metro Gun a bit long and wieldy? Probably, but Brezny insists that while shooting, the barrel “disappears behind the bead.” Also, at only 1.1 pounds (the 25-inch Raven model weighs less), not much weight is added.

If you have a situation where you want to shoot a shotgun but would like a lot less noise, you need to check out the Metro Gun.

Eli Whitney, John Moses Browning, Thomas Edison and L. P. Brezny all had the vision and made inventions happen, but only one of them made the quietest shotgun you will ever see. ASJ

Editor’s note: For more on the Metro Gun, visit metrogun.com.

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