Anyone ever used a Browning Auto-5....

FYI, A-5s were used as issue in both Malasia and Rhodesia No mods TTBOMK.

Really don't need much. A basic shotgun is a superb weapon as is.

My father had a Remington Model 11 riot gun with flaming bomb and US marked. He bought several Mod. 11 26 inch IC barrels for it for a couple of bucks a piece. He sold it to a coworker when I was in college so never got a shot at it. I wished I had it for sentimental reasons. Back in the 50's and early 60's we loaded all of our ammo with a Thalson loader and did mostly rolled crimps. The Remington jammed pretty bad with those paper shells and it was quite disconcerting when roosters were flushing up all around you.

With that said, I have a 3" Auto 5 and a Light 12 and just love the Light 12. It is my back up gun for pheasant hunting and shoot sporting clays with it at least once a year. I'd like to find a buck barrel for it but they cost more than what I paid for the gun, if you can find one. For home defense I use a 26 inch Model 12 with a Poly Choke and have it loaded with Federal Police #4 Buck.

I've never heard of anyone tricking out an Auto 5 but I suppose it could be done. There are so many better guns that are made for mil/police/home defense, I hate to lose what collectors value there is modifing a Browning.

FYI, A-5s were used as issue in both Malasia and Rhodesia No mods TTBOMK.

Really don't need much. A basic shotgun is a superb weapon as is.

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The Rhodesia ones had a extended magazine, and a full length foregrip.

While I don't feel like going out tonight and takeing a picture:
The Shotgun in my Work truck is a 1969 Light Twelve which has the two piece carrier for the "speed load feature". It had mucho rounds thru it when I got it, and was freckled with rust real good. I had the barrel cut to 20" and machined a Tac Star mag 2 round extension for an 870 Rem to fit;lots of work but it is thick and sturdy(now) as you can't clamp it! I replaced EVERY spring,friction piece and the firiing pin and extractor. I put Tru Glow sights on gun, but they kept blowing off, so I had a set of Remington Rifle sights brazed on (the rear one to clear the reciever in full recoil!) I parkerized it my self using Bownells kit, and their Baking Laquer, in black. I cut the stock to 13" on a Limbsaver pad, and I had the local Rhino Coat dealer spray the stocks for $20, which hid a few little cracks! I screwed a short piece of Picatinny rail to the left foreward part of forearm, to attach a light if I wanted to . I screwed on a 5 round plastic sidesaddle type strip of some make(Scattergun tech?) to the right side of the butt stock and put a sling swivel stud on the left upper side of the pistol grip just above my hand hold, which I attach a Single Point MOUT sling to.
I took this to an Awerbuck Shottie course last year and he loved it! The other guys couldn't believe my reloads!!!
It's behind the seat of my Truck with some Federal Premium 00 plated buckshot handy.

"The Rhodesia ones had a extended magazine, and a full length foregrip."
Louis Awerbuck has one of those rare birds!

"The Rhodesia ones had a extended magazine, and a full length foregrip."

I was tempted by one marked South African at a gun show 14 or 15 years ago, but they wanted $800 for it. The one thing that really sticks in my mind was the weight - it was tremendous. That was the day I realized my uncle's A-5 Magnum wasn't all that heavy.

John

Bonnie and Clyde did

source: http://texashideout.tripod.com/guns.html

The remington pattern guns, dont have the Magazine disconnect of a true browning auto-5.

And only the post 1955 or so Brownings have the treasured 2 piece cartridge lifter that gives the 'speed load ' feature.

A long time ago I saw a Remington copy of the Auto-5 (was their version model 11?) in a gun show in St Louis. It had an extended magazine, not sure how many rounds, and the barrel was shortened to just longer than the magazine. The barrel was marked with the flaming bomb.

Wish I had bought it, but it was in pretty rough shape and the guy wanted $500 for it in about 1996

And only the post 1955 or so Brownings have the treasured 2 piece cartridge lifter that gives the 'speed load ' feature.

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I have an Auto-5 magnum 12 which, (when the bolt is locked to the rear and the magazine is empty,) will automatically load the first round inserted into the magazine right after you pull your thumb out.

Is this the speed load feature that you mean?

I also have an older Remington "Sportsman" 16 ga (another Auto-5 patent copy,) which does not do that with the first cartridge.

I think the speed load is when you don't have to hit the button to unlock the lifter to insert rounds. I wish my Rem11 had that! It's rather interesting to load... not a single-hand venture.

Remington 11 Combat

If you do a search here for Auto-5 under Gordon's name, he posted some pics of his shotgun a while back. He was one of the reasons I rebuilt a thrashed Remington model 11 into a combat shotgun. I installed a Scattergun Technologies extended 870 mag tube, shortened the barrel accordingly and added Remington rifle sights fore and aft. I also installed an Auto-5 two-piece lifter and there are very few things cooler than watching that system suck that round into the chamber and close the bolt! I also had to install a new stock and fore end. I got mine from Boyds. It fits OK, but is nothing to write home about. I have yet to refinish the metal, but giving it a wipe down with an oily cloth has kept rust at bay.

I have about 50 rounds of mixed stuff through it at this point and have had some feeding problems. I suspect that they are related to my replacing the one-piece lifter. One of these days I will get ambitious enough to finish this project and work all of the bugs out of it. it's been a lot of fun up to this point.

Mossy rock: have you replaced the action return spring? It's the one in the tube in the butt stock. Since the Auto 5 is a gun of springs and friction pieces, replace ALL of them. Nothing else really to wear out other than the firing pin and the extractor. I got an Auto 5 rebuild kit, with all the springs and friction pieces for $60 last year on Gun Broker .com I think there are still some .

Something to note.. Dad had 3 Belgium Light 12's for years. He still has one of them. It was his standard gun before he started upgrading to gas guns over the years. He did manage to break a bolt in one utilizing heavy loaded shotshells (1 1/2 ounce magnums). After that he never used anything heavier than 1 1/4 ounce shells and soon after he started upgrading to Browning's later models. First the B80, then the A500 series guns, and then finally the Gold, which had the old fashioned speed feed feature like the Auto-5's did. He has since picked up a Beretta and now a Benelli. I've stuck with my Gold as at this point no other gun has hooked me more than that one. I never could shoot an auto-5 humpback all that well and I hated listening to the "boing" of the spring action. I know a few local people who have used it in club 3-gun matches, but they are few and far between.

Vince

...and I hated listening to the "boing" of the spring action.

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No worse than the buffer spring in an AR-15, in my opinion.

Both the Marine Corps and the Navy used the A-5 during and before the 60s.
Tough reliable shotgun.

I still bird hunt with a light twelve and a sweet sixteen, as do my sons.

Gordon's gun sounds like the bomb of an a5 combat shottie.

The Brits used a 26" barrel standard hunting version in the jungles of Malaysia. I saw one on display while on a tour of the Brit Army Museum while on vacation in England. It was funny to see that gun which looked like it had been pulled from Uncle Seamus's cabinet after a driven grouse shoot, given to a Tommy and used to blast insurrectionis ambushers in the deep jungle.

My sweet sixteen has the 25" barrel with a raised post site. I think with an extension from an 870 16g machined to fit it would be a fun home defense gun. But finding a extension for a 16g would be a dream.

I would love to find another a5 to make into a combat shottie, but I need to find one in such a condition as it would be a resurection job. You can get the plastic stock sets for cheap now, the 870 extensions work and the barrel can be cut down to about 20" without affecting the timing of the recoil action, from what I have heard. So please take that with a grain of salt.

Springs

Gordon,

I replaced ALL of the springs and friction bits and pieces. My glitches are probably something really simple. I just need to find the time to work through them.

Are the American clones of the Auto-5, by Springfield, Savage, etc. compatible with the Browning for spare parts?

Are those decent candidates for "tactical" guns?

-MV

Mathew,
I do believe that most if not all parts will work. Some parts, stock and trigger guards I have seen have been different. Each case would be a seperate issue.

I love my a5s, but I dont think I would ever count on one in a shtf scenario for a long period of time. Even I would pull out the 870 for that. But if it was all I had... I would definetely not feel outgunned. It would just take some extra care in camp.

I am not sure that is what your question was... but those clones would make a "FUN" tactical shottie versus "SERIOUS". I hope all can see the difference.

Generally speaking, swaping out parts of the clone guns should be alright. Keep in mind though that the Remington and Savage clones (as far as I can remember) don't have the mag-cutoff, utilize a somewhat different yet effective buffer system , the barrel threads are completely different than the original Brownings, and the older guns have one-piece carriers while the newer guns have two piece carriers. Yeah, I think that's about it.

Can you swap the 2-piece in?

I'm really not a shotgun guy, but I'll need one if I get into 3gun. If I did, it'd be a fun/gaming shotgun, so going a little retro with a beater A5 copy wouldn't be too frivolous.

Then again, there are plenty of IDPA and Carbine matches around, might stick to those. I just never got sold on the whole "shotgun as the most versatile weapon" meme.

Definitely fun for clay and dove though. I'd imagine I'd have a hard time hitting a flying dove with a Marlin 60.

-MV

Axeman: I grew up in South Jersey, funny you used the exact words I would have in your post above.

must be something in the water!