I had a horrible experience with my Browning shotgun and Browning customer service. I bought a 12 gauge Browing Maxus automatic from Bass Pro about a year ago. I shot the gun (using 3 inch Remington Nitro shells from Bass Pro) and the gun shot fine. I shot again a few seconds later and my barrel exploded, ripping the barrel to shreds (as shown by pictures of the barrel). The hole in the barrel was within an inch of my hand. Thank God it did not rip my hand off. My eight year old son was nearby and was horrified by the explosion and the thought that I might be severly injured. I took the exploded barrel to Bass Pro in Savannah GA and they forwarded it to Browing. I was expecting the gun (or al least the barrel) to be replaced. Instead of sympathizing with my situation (because I lost the use of my gun, almost had my hand blown off and had my son was traumatizied), I was told by Browning that it was not their fault and that something as simple as a spider in the barrel could have caused the explosion (talking about poor customer service). I am considering putting this information and pictures on social networks like Facebook. Robert Beasley 912-6612459