Remington Auto 5

[cchris]

Picked up a Remington-manufacture Auto 5 at a gun show this weekend...not a Remington Model 11 and not a Browning Auto 5, but one of the Browning A-5's made at the Remington factory in St. Louis between 1940 and 1947.

I can't seem to get a straight answer on this. Is it a re-badged Model 11 or is it truly a Browning Auto 5? Which parts was it built using? As it has a Remington barrel on it (with Browning patents), I'm leaning toward it just being a Model 11 with a Browning stamp on it, since the Browning and Remington aren't interchangeable between the A-5 and 11. The reason I ask is that I'd like to add a magazine tube extension, and I don't know whether to use that of the A-5 or Model 11, or if it even matters...are they interchangeable?

 

[surbat6]

In the Standard Catalog of Firearms, your shotgun is listed as an American Browning Auto-5. From the same listing - Remington manufactured about 45000 of these from 1940 to 1942. The only other information from this source indicates it's similar to the Remington Model 11, but features a Browning logo and different engraving. Values for this variation of the early production Auto-5 are a little lower than either the Later Belgian or Japanese Auto-5 in the same condition, and roughly equal to lower-grade early Belgians.
I'd guess yours is closer mechanically to a Model 11 than to an Auto-5, but the best way to tell would be to get disassembly instructions for the Auto-5 and see how closely they match the actual disassembly of your gun.
If you're thinking of ordering parts, you need to keep in mind that, even for a "real" Auto-5, parts may have been modified during its production run, meaning that the part you order may not fit the gun you own. This is common enough among manufacturers that Numrich Gun Parts Corp asks for the serial number when you describe your gun.

 

[whitecoyote]

I can't answer your question, but......

 

[cchris]

Sorry, no camera (one on my phone is busted). This picture isn't mine, but it's the same receiver inscriptions. Notice the magazine cutoff switch in the bottom left.

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:...ms/b127/TexasEd/Auto-5/BrowningA-5007.jpg&t=1

From further research & reading, someone on another thread apparently thought they had a bona-fide A5 until someone told them the Remington-made Brownings were just Model 11's with a mag cutoff switch and "Browning" engraved on the side.

Collector value isn't an item for me - the original barrel isn't on here, it ran far cheaper than the other A5's at the gun show, and I want to set it up for a home defense gun. My complete original autoloader is my 11-48, although a 30" barrel keeps that from being a viable option for home defense...unless I wanted to whack intruders in the head

 

[KosmicKrunch]

In 1938 when browning was taken over by Hitlers Henchmen, Browning contracted to make a metric version of the A5 with Remington. Remington 11 was all USA Inch. The Browning made by Remington were all Metric and made with the Browning logo. The 11 parts are NOT interchangable due to metric Vs. Inch made parts. After the war, Browning again began making the A5 in again metric and Remington up until 1948 made the USA Inch 11. Savage also made the Browning contract metric A5's. Savage also had their versions of the USA inch as the 740-755. Then Browning decided to use Japan's Taguchi (Japans Guru in Quality Engineering) manufacturing methods and stuck with that until it was completly phased out. Japans A5's were a combo of inch and metric for external and internal parts.

 

[KosmicKrunch]

A Remington Model 1100 extended tube should fit your Remington made A5. At least that is what Midway saysin their Browning gunsmithing FAQ.

If you try to pistol grip your A5, get another trigger guard from like gunbroker or AA and use that trigger guard as the tang will need to be heated and bent to fit the poly after market stocks with a pistol grip. Also if you try to make a pistol grip, rem the A5/11/740 has the return spring in a typical Browning style extends into the stock. 6By bending the tang, you can install the after market full stocks.

You can shorten the A5 barrel, but remember to heighten the front bead or what ever front sight you use. This is due to the taper of the barrel.

I have done an A5/11 HD gun for a customer. IMHO, it is honestly not worth it. Now on a 11-48 it is a much simplier task due to the design changes that made it more like an 1100. .

 

[cchris]

Thanks all for the tremendous help! All I planned to do was increase the capacity, as it already has a short barrel on it.