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After over 100 yrs Browning A-5 is still the best

scottm21166scottm21166 Member Posts: 20,723
edited January 2012 in General Discussion
Lots of gun designs come and go but there are a few that set the mark for all other manufacturers. Designs by John Moses Browning seem to top the list especially semi automatic handguns like the 1911 and the Browning High Power. One of the most popular shotguns ever designed has sold millions, inspired millions more and continues to be one of the best shotguns money can buy after more than 100 years.
http://archives.gunsandammo.com/content/browning-auto5?page=2
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Comments

  • GuvamintCheeseGuvamintCheese Member Posts: 38,932 ✭
    edited November -1
    I still love the looks and sound of an ole humpback going off. A true American classic.
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  • guntech59guntech59 Member Posts: 23,188 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    At 5PM I am going to pick up a Savage model 720 (rebadged A5 from what I have read).

    It has been painted over in camo paint and the fore end is broken. I'll see what I can do......

    No collector value that I can see and no sentimental value to the owner, so it is a no risk project. If it comes out ugly, it is no worse than what it is now.
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  • Jim RauJim Rau Member Posts: 3,550
    edited November -1
    I think the Auto 5 is the BEST out there but only if the user is smart enough to know how to adjust the friction rings for the load!!!![8D]
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  • djh860djh860 Member Posts: 3,232 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The clunk clunk as it chambered a round helped me compose my 2nd shot I missedI that whenI i moved to theyou 1100
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  • JasonVJasonV Member Posts: 2,481 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I agree 100%. The A-5 is the king of shotguns and the one I tend to grab out of the closet.
    formerly known as warpig883
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  • texdottexdot Member Posts: 2,315 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I've had a 16 gauge that my uncle gave me for almost 9 years and haven't shot it yet,shells are hard to come by. Yall make me wanna go shoot it for a while.
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  • OakieOakie Member Posts: 40,565 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    My dads uncle Charlie, a retired Dr., gave me one a few years ago. It was all beat up. I had it refinished and fixed up and gave it back to him. He almost cried. He loves that gun and still hunts with it. When he dies, I get his gun collection. His son doesnt want them. I really dont care for that gun, Iam a wingmaster guy. When I get that gun, its going up for auction on GB
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  • rongrong Member Posts: 8,459
    edited November -1
    My dads uncle Charlie, a retired Dr., gave me one a few years ago. It was all beat up. I had it refinished and fixed up and gave it back to him. He almost cried. He loves that gun and still hunts with it. When he dies, I get his gun collection. His son doesnt want them. I really dont care for that gun, Iam a wingmaster guy. When I get that gun, its going up for auction on GB

    Now there is a sentimental nephew
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  • itsawaldoitsawaldo Member Posts: 4 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I inherited my dads pre '55 A5, it had an adjustable choke, I couldnt hit a thing with it. Loved the way it looked but I like to hit what I am shooting at, went back to my uncles even older Model 12.
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  • asphalt cowboyasphalt cowboy Member Posts: 8,904 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I couldn't agree more Scott.
    In fact, I'm planning on picking up another pre war 16 gauge project gun soon.

    Some of the clones are fine guns also. Currently own 7 6 Remington 11's. Two of them are the ones my great uncle Bub gave to me. One is an 11A, the other an unfired 11F.
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  • utbrowningmanutbrowningman Member Posts: 2,772 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Never hunted before I met my wife - her family does, but she does not. Every hunter in her family has an A-5. I used her dad's A-5 to take my first pheasant. Picked up my own as soon as I could. When my sons get old enough to shoot a 12 gauge, they will be getting an A-5.
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  • savage170savage170 Member Posts: 37,569 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Have a couple Rem model 11 never a hiccup
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  • andrewsw16andrewsw16 Member Posts: 10,728 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have one of the Pre-model 11's, I think they are called. It's the Remington version of the A5 and was such an early model, it doesn't have the model stamped anywhere on it. I inherited if from my granddad. He said he got it back around 1911 or 1912. He was just a bit unsure which year. It's still a sweet shooter. That long recoil is great for taming the kick and helping a kid get into shotgunning without developing a flinch. If you watch them from the side, you can see the whole barrel and action recoiling into the receiver, almost like the barrels on those old pompom guns. [:D]
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  • footlongfootlong Member Posts: 8,009
    edited November -1
    l have owned several over the years. Never a problem w/any. l read somewhere awhile back of one digesting over 2 million rds with little maintenance. lt was used by an ammo company for testing
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  • gearheaddadgearheaddad Member Posts: 15,091 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Nothing quite like the old A-5. The A-5 was our family choice of shotguns when I was a kid! We all shot them. I have my Grandpas light 12, My Dad's Mag 12, Light 12, and sweet 16,(I gave my Dad's mag 20 to my best friend for his 50th birthday) my light 20, light 12, Sweet 16, mag 20, and a 2,000,000th commemorative..........They are great!
    I just used my mag 20 while hunting pheasants last week, what a treat to shoot!
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  • tacking1tacking1 Member Posts: 3,844
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by Jim Rau
    I think the Auto 5 is the BEST out there but only if the user is smart enough to know how to adjust the friction rings for the load!!!![8D]


    I have owned & shot (dropped & beat up) A5s and Model 11s for 35 years. I have had the rings in every concievable configuration and NEVER not had one not go BANG BANG BANG when I needed it to. I have heard people talk about friction rings forever and I have TRIED to set them wrong. I have shot reloads and storebought and can't make them not shoot.

    Have any of you had difficulty with the rings?
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  • scottm21166scottm21166 Member Posts: 20,723
    edited November -1
    The Remington model 11 is a club compared to an A-5.The shape is similar and the 11 uses recoil operation but thats it.
    There isn't one interchangable part bertween the two guns. There is nothing refined or technical about them, the engraving is childish, the finish is poor quality and the checkering looks cheap.
    They shoot ok but fail 10 times more often than the Browning.
    The War year, (1942-46) "American Brownings" are just Remingtons version with Brownings name on them.
    I am a Browning snob especially since a model 11 forearm broke and allowed gas to vent right into my eyes.[xx(]
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  • scottm21166scottm21166 Member Posts: 20,723
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by gearheaddad
    Nothing quite like the old A-5. The A-5 was our family choice of shotguns when I was a kid! We all shot them. I have my Grandpas light 12, My Dad's Mag 12, Light 12, and sweet 16,(I gave my Dad's mag 20 to my best friend for his 50th birthday) my light 20, light 12, Sweet 16, mag 20, and a 2,000,000th commemorative..........They are great!
    I just used my mag 20 while hunting pheasants last week, what a treat to shoot!

    I keep forgeting I need that 2 millionth for my collection.
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  • Jim RauJim Rau Member Posts: 3,550
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by tacking1
    quote:Originally posted by Jim Rau
    I think the Auto 5 is the BEST out there but only if the user is smart enough to know how to adjust the friction rings for the load!!!![8D]


    I have owned & shot (dropped & beat up) A5s and Model 11s for 35 years. I have had the rings in every concievable configuration and NEVER not had one not go BANG BANG BANG when I needed it to. I have heard people talk about friction rings forever and I have TRIED to set them wrong. I have shot reloads and storebought and can't make them not shoot.

    Have any of you had difficulty with the rings?
    It is not a matter of it functioning, but functioning properly. Many of them get cracked forend because the friction rings are not set properly. Not to mention the increase in felt recoil. When the rings are right you feel almost NO recoil!!![^]
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  • JnRockwallJnRockwall Member Posts: 16,350 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    +1 on the OP.

    Can't beat them.
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  • pingjockeypingjockey Member Posts: 1,879 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Have had many over the years but the only one I have kept is a 16
    that has "Browning 3 shot" pressed into the forearm wood down by the
    cap. The magazine only holds two rounds. Browning told me they were
    common but it's the only one I've seen in my 63 years.
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  • slumlord44slumlord44 Member Posts: 3,702 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have the Light 20 that m dad bought new in '60 and the Standard 12 he bought used late in '60 plus a Sweet 16 that I bought used in the late '70s. The 16 and 20 are my go to guns. Quality then and now.
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  • dongilldongill Member Posts: 2,640
    edited November -1
    The Auto Browning 12 guage is the world finest ever made!!!
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  • lkanneslkannes Member Posts: 2,278 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The first new gun that I bought was my Auto 5 in 1987. It's a Japanese with Invector tubes and still my go-to gun for pheasants. I also bought a Buck Special barrel at the time. Before I started handgun hunting, that was my deer gun.
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  • mossberg500manmossberg500man Member Posts: 833 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    i bought an old well used model 11 on the cheap in sept and just got around to putting rounds downrange with it today...i belive im in love
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  • asphalt cowboyasphalt cowboy Member Posts: 8,904 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Scott, I take it you've never handled an 11E Tournament or 11F Premier?

    quote:Originally posted by mossberg500man
    i bought an old well used model 11 on the cheap in sept and just got around to putting rounds downrange with it today...i belive im in love


    Take good care of her, and it will be a long relationship.
    You've got to realllly try to tear one up or wear one out.
    Your grandkids will likely be shooting it when they're your age.
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  • scottm21166scottm21166 Member Posts: 20,723
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by asphalt cowboy
    Scott, I take it you've never handled an 11E Tournament or 11F Premier?

    quote:Originally posted by mossberg500man
    i bought an old well used model 11 on the cheap in sept and just got around to putting rounds downrange with it today...i belive im in love


    Take good care of her, and it will be a long relationship.
    You've got to realllly try to tear one up or wear one out.
    Your grandkids will likely be shooting it when they're your age.

    no i haven't, Truth be told, after that accident I never wanted another one. I really had no Idea Remington made upgrades in the 11.
    I'm kinda surprised I never ran across one, lots of guys still shoot trap with their vintage shotguns
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  • asphalt cowboyasphalt cowboy Member Posts: 8,904 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Oh yea. The 11A may look crude, but the intention was so the average Joe could/would buy one. What you see as engraving is roll stamping on the 11A's.
    Can't/won't guess at what happened with the one you fired, but the 11's are just as robust and reliable as the A5's. Some parts will interchange, just not enough of them. Things like the mag tube, trigger plate inerds (not the trigger plate though), locking block and all of the screws are the same.
    The reason for this is patent rights granted by Browning to Remington.

    My safe and most of my 11's still reside in my fathers basement in Topeka. I'll try to remember to get pic's next time I'm up there.
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  • scottm21166scottm21166 Member Posts: 20,723
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by asphalt cowboy
    Can't/won't guess at what happened with the one you fired, but the 11's are just as robust and reliable as the A5's. My safe and most of my 11's still reside in my fathers basement in Topeka. I'll try to remember to get pic's next time I'm up there.

    the forearm broke and basically fell off in my hand.
    That allowed the barrel to slide forward, way out of the receiver. The top of the barrel extention has holes that allowed the gas and burned powder to vent right in my face and eyes. Insult to injury was, that gun belonged to someone else (I was test hunting it before purchase) and they wanted me to buy them a new forearm. I had not taken the gun apart and did nothing to make the forearm break.
    I have owned several since then but never hunted with them so I probably make more of it than I should.

    I'd love to see pictures of yours, post them when you get a chance
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