Questions for the A5 and Remington 11 owners

[Lex Luthier]

A friend may be offering up a mid 1950s Browning A5 that has been gunsmith-converted to an 18.5" Bbl "Whippit" format.
It has a vent rib barrel with a single bead, and I know there are some great sight options for them. But I am curious, as they say.
Has anyone here mounted a red dot sight on an A5 or Remington 11, or even one of the Savage clones? Is it possible to drill and tap the receiver or is it too thin on top? And does anyone make a base for such a thing?

The thread about the shortened Model 11 with the Nydar sight got me thinking.

[farscott]

I think the receiver may be too thin based on the cutaway image from https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=5MfLYgTe6NI. The bolt cycles all the way to the rear of the receiver.

[fatdog]

B Square made a unit that mounted using several of the screws on the side and pushed a pic style rail about 1/4" above the receiver.....discontinued according to Midway

similar model by aimtech on ebay

[Lex Luthier]

B Square made a unit that mounted using several of the screws on the side and pushed a pic style rail about 1/4" above the receiver.....discontinued according to Midway

similar model by aimtech on ebay

Thanks for this! I'd bet either of those mounts are fairly easy to source second-hand.

[DamonL]

If it has a vent rib, you might be able to use an Aimpoint S1.

[Lex Luthier]

If it has a vent rib, you might be able to use an Aimpoint S1.

It's an intriguing idea, but I'm not sure how even the most robust optic would deal well with being mounted on a recoil-operated shotgun's barrel.

[farscott]

The barrel of the Auto-5 recoils back into the receiver, providing the impulse to cycle the bolt. I think the S1 will survive that as it was designed to survive fixed actions and their recoil forces.

[DamonL]

I had forgotten that the barrel moved in recoil. It would be a different recoil impulse. Not sure how it would impact the sight. The S1 is designed to go on a vent rib shotgun.

[314159]

I watched a You-tuber turkey hunter who did the S-1 on the vent rib thing. It worked for him.

The big gottcha has to be a low round count. No mentions on competition or a training regimen, vice sighting in and then harvesting a Thanksgiving/Sunday dinner now and then. The S-1 is a not cheap item and I wouldn't want it flying off and smacking me in the face. The A-5 rib is narrower than most and the S-1 attaches via a pretty simple clamp. I don't think the S-1 is the way forward.

[willie]

Eventually an optic mounted on a recoiling vent rib would self destruct. It also might crack the rib. Too, adding weight to a barrel belonging to a long recoil shotgun can affect function. Subtracting weight as in cutting the barrel can also mess up function. I found this fact out the hard way. In my two examples, Heavily lubing the mag tube against which recoil rings braked was necessary. Also installing the rings to do away with braking or friction function was necessary in one gun. Both kicked terribly.

Read up on how the friction rings can be adjusted. There are two ways. Before I bought a chopped Auto 5, I would remove forend and examine how it's set up. Then I would test fire. Low recoil buckshot probably won't operate the mechanism. Regular buckshot may recoil excessively. Rear of barrel hits receiver back of receiver when recoiling. If it will only run when set up to kick like he'll, wear is increased.