Shotguns can be pretty spendy, but these two guns are in a class of their own. At a recent Rock Island Auction Company sale, the most expensive shotgun, and the most expensive punt gun both sold for staggering sums.
The overall top-dollar gun was a Browning Auto-5, a mass-produced semi-auto that was designed by John Browning in 1898. But what is particularly special about the gun is its unique history: this particular Auto-5 was owned by Clyde Barrow, the infamous criminal in the duo known as Bonnie and Clyde. The Auto-5 was recovered after Bonnie and Clyde were killed in what later became known as their “death car,” a stolen 1934 Ford Model 40B DeLuxe Fordor sedan into which law enforcement agents fired over 100 rounds.
The historic gun went for $1 million dollars in August, eclipsing any other public shotgun sales, with the previous record being Billy the Kid’s double-barrel 10-gauge shotgun, which went for $978,312 in 2021.
But Clyde Barrow’s A-5 wasn’t the only shotgun to break a world record at the same auction; there was a record-breaking punt gun, too. Punt guns are oversized shotguns that were used by market hunters to take down whole flocks of waterfowl at once. While they aren’t used today, they’re interesting historical objects.
But the new world record punt gun had been fired recently on a recent episode of MeatEater. The 7-foot Holland & Holland went for $117,500. The best part? Proceeds from the impressive sale went to MeatEater’s Land Access Initiative, which directly supports initiatives to open and improve access to public lands and waters.