Browning A-5 Street Howitzer!

[Gordon]

Built a Browning A-5 into a "street howitizer" today!
I got a decent, but rusted Belgian A-5 "light Twelve" vent rib for $125
I used Naval Jelly and took off the rust, it wasn't deep. I did not sand or bead blast the surface other than wiping with an ultra fine ScotchBrite pad to blend the rusted areas in with the bluing, now looks well worn but no bare metal.
Complete detail strip(you got to love the machine work of those interlocking parts and screws and robust springs and forged steel parts!!!) and cleaning /inspection with mail and recoil springs and friction rings replaced. I used brake clean and air to blow junk out and CLLP and syn lube to relube. I did poliish the bottom radius of chamber with a Cratex wheel like a mirror.
I cut the stock to 13" with a rounded Limbsaver pad with a slight angle shorter on top than bottom- this is a Robar trick that aids mounting to shoulder.
I screwed in (with pilot hole and countersick) a stock sling swivel eye just behind the left side of grip where stock is beefy(away from interior spring tube) and doesn't interfere with a right hand or lefthand grip. I plan to use a swivel here for a single point sling. It hangs nicely with my Wilderness Single point!
I cut the barrel down to 18.5", which fell nicely at a Vent rib pillar, every thing was solid not hollow , with a 32point hack saw in a miterbox and a brake wheel cylinder hone (3/4") made a nice job!
I put on a set of Williams "Slugger" sights which I set in(lots of) two part industrial epoxy besides the set screws that lock these sights to rib. I needed the adjustable rear sight to sight in slugs but BOY those fiber optics are bright and visable for these old eyes!
Now comes the "trick" stuff; I had this 6" piece of Aluminium Picatinny rail which I crudely ,with a Dremel tool inletted into the left forend. With 3 #8x1/2" stainless wood screws(from my boat work) and more industrial epoxy I mounted the rail into the front foreend groove right ahead of my thumb. My Fobus flashlight adapter with a Streamlight Scorpion, that I used to have on my AR-15 before I put on a Surefire vertical fore grip, found a new home.
I'll take a picture tommorrow but the 6 hours of work and the $200 investment got me a shotgun to take to the Awerbuck H.I.T.T. class in 2 weeks that should warm Louis's cold little heart!
I'll bring the Robar 870 I just went through his Shotgun/Handgun class with as back up, I KNOW what that baby will do. But THIS is a work of art, and won't be locked in a safe, it will be THERE -always!

 

[Average Guy]

I, for one, am looking forward to pictures!

 

[Biker]

Ditto that!
Biker

 

[Smoke]

WHERE"S THE PICS?!

 

[Dave McCracken]

Sounds great, eagerly awaiting pics. Also, please let us know how it goes in the class.

 

[Gordon]

Sorry, I spent the day : sailing in the am and shooting the thing at Swiss Rifle club in the PM. I had to make sure it works. I had to find a friction ring setting for 1 1/8oz bird shot, 1 oz reduced recoil slugs and 9 pellet Federal Tactical buck shot(med setting- cup toward bevel) . Sighted in for slugs at 25 yards.
I did find one fly in the ointment: The Pic rail I put on left front of foreend whacked me BAD on knuckle of thumb in a normal grip! I am gonna bevel back the first inch toward the back of rail so there is nothing to come back and bite me. The flash light slips on the first 2-3inches anyway, I don't need that portion of the rail!
The gun shoots like a clock! Yes the recoil is kinda "abrupt" . I shot my 870 which also weighs about 7.25 pounds and the recoil seems a little more manageable, BUT I'll get whacked a little not to have to "run the bolt Gordon" ! The thing grabs the shells out of you hand, literally and eats them into chamber! The mag cut off is REALLY nice. Funny the tube accepted 6 rem slugs, but although they feed OK it was too many to apply the Mag cutoff.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Thanks for posting,Gordon. Bet it does the job at your upcoming class. One caveat....

An excellent smith I know recommends new springs and friction rings when buying an old A-5 or Model 11. Calls it the 10K round rebuild. Cost is minimal. Cheap insurance....

 

[Gordon]

first thing I did Dave, this is not the first A-5 I've had!

 

[Dave McCracken]

Great, I went back and found I had missed that first reading. Do some pics when you can.

Nice to see an old soldier returning to the fray.

 

[KarbineKrazy]

PICS!!!

I'll get some of my M11 if you show me yours!

I really want to find a Browning A5 12 gauge Magnum to put in the same configuration my M11 is. I want the mag cut off and the more stout 3 inch chamber...

 

[TrapperReady]

Gordon - This sounds like an amazing project! I have one old A-5, which is a lot of fun, but I come across various beaters from time to time. Something like this could be very cool.

One quick question though...

On my A-5, if I've got a shell in the chamber, I have to depress the bolt-release button in order to feed shells into the magazine tube. If I don't, then the shell lifter won't budge. Does you (or anyone else) know if that feature was changed at some point, or will that be a stumbling block during the "tactical" care and feeding of an A-5?

 

[BigG]

I had an old straight grip Automatic Five that I rehabbed like you say about 25 years ago. Quite an impressive riot gun - wish I still had it.

 

[Fred Fuller]

In the fall of 1962 things were just a little tense in the USA. There were Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba and a young American president wanted them gone. The world moved to the brink of total war. Nuclear war. People were nervous, to put it mildly. No one knew what might happen.

A friend's father assuaged his nervousness with a trip to the local gun shop. He picked up a brand new Browning Auto Five and two boxes of Peters 00 buckshot (those were 25 round boxes in those days). The new gun got dropped off at the gunsmith's on the way home, and in a couple of days had lost all but 20" of its barrel and had the base and bead reattached at its attenuated muzzle.

Well, the war didn't happen, though we came uncomfortably close. The new shotgun didn't have to serve its intended purpose in the feared nuclear Armageddon. But actually it did serve, it was available for the rest of that man's life if needed, and ready to do its duty if needed.

It still is. My friend still treasures his father's cut-down Browning and one surviving full box of Peters buckshot...

lpl/nc

 

[TrapperReady]

Lee - I can't say I blame the guy... any excuse to buy a gun is a good one.

But I have to say that fending off a potential nuclear attack with a 12ga and a couple boxes of buckshot makes me smile. I can just hear the conversation with his wife...

Our Hero: "Honey, look at this great new shotgun!"

His SO: "WHAT!! Why do you need another shotgun?"

Our Hero: "Well... I... uhh... I figured with Castro and the Soviets and all the nukes... ummm... we might need one."

His SO:

Then again, he might have heard someone say "Duck and cover", and he only paid attention to the "Duck" part.

 

[KarbineKrazy]

 

[Smoke]

I am still waiting for the pics!

Smoke

 

[Dionysusigma]

Hello? Pics?

 

[Average Guy]

I think maybe this shotgun exists only in someone's mind. Like his girlfriend who "lives in Canada."

 

[Gordon]

Here it is durn y'all: :

 

[Gunsnrovers]

But but but but it's just not tacticool.

I have always loved the hump back A5. That and a Stevens 520.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Nice shotgun, Gordon. If it passes the 200 rounds test, I see no reason to not use it.

A-5s and 11s show up in "Hot Zones" to this day.

 

[mr.trooper]

* goes into convulsions at the thought of his 60 year old A5 undergoing similar treatment *

Well, i must say, it does look nice...but id go bannanas if my A5 got so much as a scratch.

 

[Kestrel]

Looks good. Makes me think of the roaring twenties and cops chasing bank robbers, standing on the sideboards of their cop cars, guns blasting, sirens blaring...

Good luck.

 

[Smoke]

Makes me think of the roaring twenties and cops chasing bank robbers, standing on the sideboards of their cop cars, guns blasting, sirens blaring...

That's pretty much the vision I had. Not crazy about the light set up, but the short barrel on the Humpback looks extremely nice.....may have to hunt up another old AF and put a slug barrel on it myself.

Dang ....gotta buy another shotgun.....oh, well.

Smoke

 

[Gordon]

Revisited: I couldn't let the thing languish so I ordered $50 worth of stuff from Brownells and went thru it -again.
The "action return spring, which went south is 2" longer than the original one- so much for this months Cooper's Corner on modern springs not taking a set! I really can't see the action spring taking much of a pounding.I replaced the pitted tube and the spring holder plug with a new synthetic one (it had a wood one) and the whole deal made the action cycle quick!
The recoil spring was 1 1/2" longer than the one that came out of gun, THIS one gets a pounding like a 1911 recoil spring, (which I replace every 1500 rounds). The new bronze friction piece with a new friction spring over it really fits much tighter, I was worried about function (needlessly) . I have the bronze bevel forward and the cup forward on the rear of the bronze- a position called "medium heavy" and one reccomended by Lewis Awerbuck who grew up with an Auto-5 and has an FN produced 8 shot Rhodesian Army issue one as his prized possesion! I lubed with "Jardines" super grease the tube and moving parts. Light turbine oil on pivots ect. I repaired the missing Williams fiber optic with a new rod , glued and slightly crimped this time!
I took it out and put 75 heavy field loads (1 1/4oz #6) which really swings the steels at 25 yards, then 5 rounds of my favorite 000 buck loads which held a 12" pattern at 25 yards(and a fist sized pattern at 15 yards). I fired as fast as I could stuff the mag with NO malfs. Then I sighted the rear sight adjustments in with 20 Remington low recoil slugs (NO malfunctions!) and verified 5 Brenneke's (3/4" lower at 25 yards-OK) slugs. It cut one hole about 3" dia. from an unsupprted prone.I noticed the recoil was VERY LOW, much less than the first go round! I just cleaned the barrel , locktited the rear sight and made sure everything is tight, slipped on the flash light and hid it in a slip case under my bed. It is "cruiser ready" with 4 rounds of 000 in tube, and 5 rounds of Brenneke slugs on the Sparks cuff. I left the single point sling off as it might hang up if I have to pull it out fast.
As GW Bush said "mission accomplished" !!