I must have gone insane last week.

[TR675]

I was thinking about getting a new shotgun for dove season, maybe some skeet and sporting clays, and heard that Browning just recently came out with a new auto, the "A5" or something. So there I go traipsing down to the local fun store to have a looksee, and boy did I go nuts buying this hunk of junk. I really came away disappointed.

When I got there I asked if they had any Browning automatic shotguns, and they pointed me to a selection. These were pretty traditional looking, wood stocks and the like. They told me that they were "lightly used", and now I can see why. Well, it looked nice, so I ended up walking out with this one, and feeling pretty good about myself, although that would all change when I got it home...



First of all, paging Bill Rhiel! Browning could really stand some advice in the materials they used for this thing! It's made out of big, heavy chunks of steel, not aluminum and polymer, so it weighs a ton. There is a lot of room for improvement. The finish is subpar too - it's just some kind of primitive bluing treatment over plain steel. It's pretty, but apparently you've got to keep it oiled to keep it from rusting - this is not acceptable in my book; you would think they could at least have melonited it. The wood looks nice, I guess, but it won't stand up to getting knocked around in a duck boat. Should be polymer for durability. 2/10 for execution.

Maintenance - because this was a lightly used gun, I had to look up the instruction manual on the internet. Would you believe that you can barely field strip the thing? You take the barrel off, sure, and the massive recoil spring slides off of the magazine tube, and that's about it. You've got to use a bunch of screwdrivers to disassemble it to get the bolt out, even, and there's a whole bunch of screws. I didn't even try. And don't get me started on putting it back together...that giant recoil spring is hard to compress unless you're Andre the Giant or something. 1/10 for ease of maintenance.



Which brings us to the design itself - what kind of nonsense is this? There's no gas piston, no inertia driven system - I had to look this up, apparently it's a long recoil action! Seems way too complicated to me. That entire barrel recoils along with the bolt; I can only imagine what that does to the felt recoil. And there's no buttpad. So I have to give this 0/10 for the design.

Guys, this shotgun is no dang good. I can only hope to god that the Browning company fired the guy who dreamed up this thing.

But I guess this will teach me a lesson about trusting gun store employees. These guys can't know much about guns anyway, their entire store is full of dusty, rusty old muskets, old revolvers and even older milsurp bolt action rifles - there were hardly any Modern Sporting Rifles in there at all. Who wants that stuff? They were even selling a Chauchau! I know what that is after seeing it on the History Channel, it was the worst light machine gun ever and these guys would just sell one to some poor sucker. For shame. I don't know how they stay in business.

Not sure what I'm going to do now, maybe I'll take this hunk of junk down to the next gun show and see if I can trade it in for an 870 Express or something. In any event, at least you guys have been warned - stay away from those Browning auto's.

[LOKNLOD]

Since it's pretty well useless, you should SBS it, and carry it in a leg rig like Alan Bourdillion Traherne.

[EricM]

Well there's an old A5 (~1900-1998) and a new A5 (2012+), which basically don't have a damn thing in common, except cosmetically with the humpback receiver. You've got the old one, with the long-recoil action, which is a classic in its own right but perhaps not looked on as fondly these days as some of its designer's other creations like say the 1911. The newer A5 uses an inertial action akin to Benellis and they are said to be good guns, the automatic chambering of a round fed into the tube sounds pretty neat.

I do have a nagging feeling that you did indeed know exactly what you were purchasing, in that case sir well played and nice gun. That's what I get for hopping online before my morning caffeine intake lol.

[TR675]

Just having some fun.

I lucked into this one. It is minty even after being used a bit, and was priced fairly. I really like Auto-5's even if I hate the idea of trying to take it apart.

[texasaggie2005]

Alan Bourdillion Traherne.

+1 on the reference. One my favorite movies.

[LSP972]

The newer A5 ... the automatic chambering of a round fed into the tube sounds pretty neat.

The old ones do that too, if the magazine cut-off lever is in the forward position.

I have been looking, on and off for the past few years, for a beater A5 Light 12 priced less than a king's ransom. My plan is to chop the barrel, chop the stock, install a Limb-Saver and some sling swivel studs, have Billy-Bob Cera-Kote that puppy. Then I'll have me an old-school DudeShooter. Okay, maybe I won't paint it... depends on what kind of shape the finish is in.

Oh, and most important... pull out the lifter and COMPLETELY de-horn that thing. The speed-load feature is super neat, but the issue lifter will EAT your thumb if you're not extremely careful.

.

[LSP972]

I lucked into this one. It is minty even after being used a bit, and was priced fairly.

IIRC, the Schnabel (sp?) pistol grip went away in 1968. I know my two, purchased in the early 70s NIB, didn't have it. If that is correct, you have a real find there, in that condition. Grats...

.

[TR675]

I like the autoload feature, and BTW this shotgun makes an awesome "CHING" sound when it chambers a shell...

I have been looking, on and off for the past few years, for a beater A5 Light 12 priced less than a king's ransom. My plan is to chop the barrel, chop the stock, install a Limb-Saver and some sling swivel studs, have Billy-Bob Cera-Kote that puppy. Then I'll have me an old-school DudeShooter. Okay, maybe I won't paint it... depends on what kind of shape the finish is in.

I came this close to doing that with a beater Remington Model 11...sorry to say it was gone before I got to the store.

I may have lucked out with the lifter, because mine doesn't seem to give me that problem. Let's see if that's still true after a few more reps.

[TR675]

IIRC, the Schnabel (sp?) pistol grip went away in 1968. I know my two, purchased in the early 70s NIB, didn't have it. If that is correct, you have a real find there, in that condition. Grats...

Thank you, it was part of a big estate collection the local store was selling off. They had maybe five '70's vintage Auto-5's NIB with all accessories, etc. Those were gone via Gunbroker in a day or two. There were a few other shooters with little wear on them. This one was the right match of "nice" and "shootable" - and that round grip was what really sold me.

[LSP972]

I may have lucked out with the lifter, because mine doesn't seem to give me that problem. Let's see if that's still true after a few more reps.

Try it under a bit of pressure (at a match, friendly competition, etc.)

Then you'll know for sure... and don't say I didn't warn you...

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