Do I have a Standard or Magnum A-5 Shotgun?

[xmanpike]

I inherited a shotgun from my grandfather that is a belgian made A5 12 guage. Serial number on it # 108278 places it in the first production line. In fact it says Ogden, Utah on the bottom of the barrel which people are telling me means it was in the first 10,000 brought into the US.

No one though seems to be able to tell me if its a standard or magnum 12 gauge. Is there an easy way to tell or might someone here be able to help?

Gun is fairly rusty so I am in the process of giving it a good thorough cleaning. Anything special I need to know about this gun?

Need to know whether its a magnum or standard because I am going to order friction ring and replacement recoil spring for it. Thanks

 

[rcmodel]

Serial places it in 1931.

The first 3" Mag A-5 came along in 1958.

rc

 

[xmanpike]

thank you RC!

 

[xmanpike]

is there a website where you found the exact year? Browning couldnt give me that much info?

 

[rcmodel]

I have a book, but it's only a guess anyway.

The FN (Browning) factory was totally distroyed during WWII, along with all the pre-war records.
First when it was captured by the Germans in 1940, then again when they blew it up as they left Belgum in 1945.

rc

 

[xmanpike]

Thanks RC

 

[xmanpike]

Does anyone know how I can find out what the choke on this shotgun is? I looked for the *** markings but have not found any.

 

[Tijeras_Slim]

Very early guns frequently did not have choke markings, some in the 20's had the chokes marked in plain english, and the * system arrived after that.

Pull the barrel and look for 2 numbers next to each other in the 18 or 19 range. These will be the bore size (larger) and choke size (smaller) in millimeters. Subtract the small from the large, convert to inches for constriction.

What fun!

 

[oneiron]

Take the fore arm off

Look on the under side of the barrel. The chamber length will be marked 70mm will look like 12 70 in and oval it will be written in in English as well along side the barrel just above the serial number (** Special Steel-16 Gauge-Shells2 3/4" ). My serial Number is 16250. I was 13 or 14 years old when I purchased it from a pawn shop. Kids could do that back then in the South Georgia.