The Browning Auto-5 that I may consider...

[Mack The Knife]

For those that don't know, my father-in-law has a Browning Auto-5 that he wants me to have.

The gun was bought in England probably during the '70s.

Legal hurdles aside I would like to know if this particular shotgun is worth having. It was in very bad shape when I last saw it in Dec. 2003 - Jan. 2004. I tried to remove as much rust as possible with just cotton waste and oil. I had then covered it with Vaseline and packed it away.

I have about 60 pictures showing the gun both before and after and I will put some of them up after I have had them digitised.

At present I have the following information which can be seen in the next two pics.





I have two questions:

What is the date of manufacture? The Browning site does not have this series.

Does the 'F' under the serial number indicate a Full choke?

Thanks.

Mack The Knife

[Mack The Knife]

penpusher,

If I were to restrict the magazine capacity to just one shell and have it certified as such by a police armoury, would the authorities look at this gun in a different light even though it still retains its semi-auto feature?

Mack The Knife

[mehulkamdar]

Mack The Knife,

From the Ned Schwing guide, the Belgian A-5s were manufactured between 1940 and 1942 and later after the war between 1952 and 1976. Schwing does not talk about serial numbers about the Belgian Brownings but says that:

1 The 40-42 guns did not have a ventilated rib on the barrels

2. The 52-67 guns had round knob type pistol grips. Post 67 guns had flat bottom grips

He has given price guidelines but I personally think that they are irrelevant as far as India is concerned. The A-5 was made by Remington in the USA, Miroku in Japan and of course by FN in Belgium. From a collector's standpoint the most valuable ones are the FNs.

Hope this helps. As fas as whether the gun is "worth having," you know what my answer would be. I am sure that Inder, Amit and virtually all of the members of the Naperville and Aurora gun clubs would agree with me.

Cheers!

[Mack The Knife]

Hi Mehul,

This gun does not have a ventilated rib above the barrel. Infact there is no rib at all.

It has a straight grip akin to Wild West lever action rifles. What is a flat bottom grip?

Thanks a lot for the pointers.

Mack The Knife

[dev]

Sounds like what was called the humpback. In my GunsDigest it does rate as a shotgun to possess. I will try to scan the pages for you.

Regards,

Dev

Hi Mehul,

This gun does not have a ventilated rib above the barrel. Infact there is no rib at all.

It has a straight grip akin to Wild West lever action rifles. What is a flat bottom grip?

Thanks a lot for the pointers.

Mack The Knife

[Mack The Knife]

Dev,

It is indeed the Humpback.....of NOIDA.

In my GunsDigest it does rate as a shotgun to possess.

Provided it does not blow up in my face.

Some pics until I can get them all digitised.

BTW, sorry for the size - mea culpa. I have resized the pics but Photobucket can be a bit slow in this regard.




















































The last two pics show the gun after it was 'cleaned'.








Well, Mehul, do you still honestly feel this is worth pursuing?

Incidentally, for those who haven't noticed, the butt stock was broken through at the grip.

Mack The Knife

[Mack The Knife]

Mehul, Grumpy, Mark, et al, any clue if that 'F' denotes a Full choke?

Mack The Knife

[penpusher]

Mack The Knife,

Does look ugly.How's the barrel from the inside?

penpusher

[Mack The Knife]

Does look ugly.How's the barrel from the inside?

There are portions of the barrel that are pitted - at least in one part. My memory plays tricks, so the only way to be sure is to check it again later this month.

I assume you have seen Huntergill's sale ad for a semi-auto?

Mack The Knife

[penpusher]

Got a surprise call from him in the morning.Nice chap.

penpusher

[kanwar76]

That just shows year of no use and lack of love can do.. but I am sure you can revive it Mack The Knife. I am no expert on guns but A5 points very good and swing is just effortless... considering it will be free, its worth a try Mack The Knife.

-Inder

[Mack The Knife]

Actually there was almost no rust when I saw it before my 2003 visit. Must have been put in a damp place and.......

It may be free but I value my life more. Waiting to see what Grumpy has to say.

Mack The Knife

[Grumpy]

Oh S**T ! What a crying shame. I hate it when guns are abused in this fashion.
Mack The Knife, if there`s any gun that can tolerate this amount of abuse it`s an A-5 because they are TOUGH !
OK, it`s a Belgian made gun. The straight hand grip is actually desireable in a game gun and the lack of a rib is of no consequence. Looks to have decent wood as well. Clean off any vaseline and oil that are on the wood as they will rot it.
Clean the gun up a little - making sure that there`s no rust floating about in the action - give the mechanicals a VERY light oiling and load two shells in it - one in the chamber and one in the mag. If it fires, ejects and cycles correctly the gun is fine. I`ll bet that it does work properly. I`ve seen and handled loose and rattley old A-5s that have not a trace of blue on them that function absolutely immaculately.
Light barrel pitting is of no consequence - A-5 barrels have really thick walls. The Belgian ( and Japanese ) Brownings were made of really good steel anyway. Don`t bother lapping the barrels to remove the pitting as it makes little sense to thin the barrels down to the depth of the pits. The only time that is worth doing is as a cosmetic job for resale..........
The likelyhood is that the barrel is full-choked as most of them were.
I don`t know what Schwing is talking about as the earliest Belgian made guns were manufactured around 1903. I have all the Browning serial numbers somewhere so will look up the date and let you know.
If Indian firearms laws are anything like the British then the magazine will only have to be restricted to two shells - not one. The crimping needs to be done by a competent gunsmith and - in the UK at least - then has to be subjected to reproof. I know that with one in the chamber that actually allows you to load three shells but firearms legislation is drafted by idiots..... - beg your pardon `bureaucrats`- not experts. If you can get the gun licensed without having it restricted don`t bother.
My advice ? ..... Try not to bite your father-in-laws` hand off ! Use some of the money you would have spent on a gun to administer the Vitamin-M needed to get a grant for a semi-auto. Doesn`t the fact that the gun is a family heirloom carry some weight ?
Dodger, with your abilities and attention to detail you will be able to restore this gun to near mint condition. You would then have a gun that you would be proud to pass on to your sons as it will easily outlast you.

[mehulkamdar]

Mack The Knife,

As per Schwing it would be a 1940-42 gun as it was built without a rib. It does look like an older gun thanks to the straight grip, the front trigger-guard mounted safety and the lack of a magazine cut out.

I am not sure the barrel is also too rusted but if you could emery the rust off and ask Grumpy for thickness suggestions and you would know whether it could be used or not. Frankly, if you could rebarrel it, it should be a fantastic gun to use, this, presuming that the barrel is beyond repair. If there is no more rust on the action it could easily be emery papered and reblued. I have seen A-5s with more rust than this clean up very nicely.

Hope this helps,

Mehul

[kanwar76]

Just one question Rusty,

Right now is it entered as SBBL on NPB license or Semi Auto on PB license?

-Inder