1949 Browning A5, advice needed

[LoboGunLeather]

Recently received a Browning Auto 5 "Light Twelve", serial number indicates 1949 production, Belgian made, 2-3/4 chamber, 26" solid rib barrel, full choke. Overall condition is about 90%, all original and unmodified.

Estate gun, hasn't been used in 20 years or more. Well stored, no corrosion, but could benefit from a thorough cleaning and lube.

I am generally familiar with these, but not an expert. One little problem presents itself, and that is the safety. Located at the forward bow of the trigger guard, the safety functions properly but requires a great deal of force to engage or release (I mean serious two-handed force, obviously not ideal for normal use).

Any A5 experts care to offer some guidance? I suspect either a serious need for deep cleaning and lube, or perhaps a parts problem, but again, I am not the expert on these fine guns.

All advice will be appreciated.

 

[Drm50]

I am fimilar with A5s and I would say there is a good chance the safety is gummed up, possibly rust is involved over long storage period. Brn A5 are many times encountered that have never been apart for a complete cleaning. I think this is due to fine head screws and most guys think taking one apart is a can of worms they don't want. I have had A5s brought to me that looked new. Guys that bought them new didn't abuse them. They kept them in beatiful shape but only what could be done without stripping down. Oils and solvents dissolve residues and they end up in trigger group where they reharden. I would check and clean trigger group. That safety should operate with flick of trigger finger. A5 stored this long may also have gunk in buffer spring in stock, anther area that accumulates it from being stored in vertical rack. Lastly check friction bushings are in the right position for loads. It is in the forearm on most guns, on paper label. That only leaves bolt assembly to clean. A5 is best auto loader made to date.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

I am fimilar with A5s and I would say there is a good chance the safety is gummed up, possibly rust is involved over long storage period. Brn A5 are many times encountered that have never been apart for a complete cleaning. I think this is due to fine head screws and most guys think taking one apart is a can of worms they don't want. I have had A5s brought to me that looked new. Guys that bought them new didn't abuse them. They kept them in beatiful shape but only what could be done without stripping down. Oils and solvents dissolve residues and they end up in trigger group where they reharden. I would check and clean trigger group. That safety should operate with flick of trigger finger. A5 stored this long may also have gunk in buffer spring in stock, anther area that accumulates it from being stored in vertical rack. Lastly check friction bushings are in the right position for loads. It is in the forearm on most guns, on paper label. That only leaves bolt assembly to clean. A5 is best auto loader made to date.

What a wonderful reply! Why did it take 23 minutes for the S&W Forum Brain Trust to function?

Thank you very much, sir.

 

[jlrhiner]

I'm confused. My A5's safety button is on the rear of the trigger guard and there is no buffer spring in the stock.

Am I screwed up?


Edit to add; Ok, I found the "action spring".

 

[LoboGunLeather]

I'm confused. My A5's safety button is on the rear of the trigger guard and there is no buffer spring in the stock.

Am I screwed up?


Edit to add; Ok, I found the "action spring".

Several iterations of the Auto 5 made by FN, Remington, Savage, etc, in Belgium, US, and Japan prior to about 1970 or so when the "A5" became the new standard. One of the different variations was the manual safety; originally a leaf-type tab at the front of the trigger guard, but some variants utilized a cross-bolt style safety (and I have read about a few that included both!!). Sometimes when we are talking about the same things we are talking about different things, I think.

 

[DWalt]

I have owned two. Great guns but somewhat heavy. Many parts will interchange between Browning, Remington, and Savage guns. In fact, Remington made FN guns during the time FN was occupied by the Germans.

 

[Drm50]

I used a Lite 12 slug gun for years, still have it. When crew came to deer hunt they made fun of my WW1 shotgun, said I should put wheels on it.
Most of them had 870s or 1100s. Put a 1100 and Lite 12 on scale and see which one is heavier, it will surprise you.

 

[Kurusu]

I'm confused. My A5's safety button is on the rear of the trigger guard and there is no buffer spring in the stock.

Am I screwed up?


Edit to add; Ok, I found the "action spring".

the safety was changed in the post WWII production.

 

[Justin T]

Not much else to be added outside of post 2. Deep cleaning and change the action and recoil springs. Both are available as new. Your gun will thank you.

 

[dave1918a2]

There is an excellent A5 takedown video online. Can't recall the address. When removing the stock only remove the locked screw and the lock screw. The other screw is the hammer spring and is a real bummer getting it back in.

 

[fiasconva]

Please let us know how this comes out, ok?

 

[2152hq]

Take the forend and bbl off the gun.
Hang on to the gun upside-down/horizontal in a vise by the mag tube,,don't crush it.
Remove the lower tang lock screw from the tang screw,,then the tang screw itself.

Then pull the butt stock straight off to the rear. They sometimes need a little extra boost from the heel of your hand against the pistol grip to start moving. Don't be tempted to wiggle it side to side to loosen it up

Once off, the bolt return spring tube will be obvious.
You can pull the cross pin at the rear of it and allow the plug and long spring to be removed for cleaning it and the tube.
It's under some compression so watch out for your eyes. The front end has a follower that must re-engage the bolt strut when going back together. You can see that engagement with the gun still upside-down in the vise.

To remove the triggerguard with the hard to operate safety,,unscrew the two locking screws on the left side of the frame that intersect the trigger group screws.
Then unscrew and remove those 2 longer cross attachment screws themselves.
The trigger group will simply pull free from the frame at that point.
Nothing will go flying accross the room.

When removing these screws and lock screws from the A5,,keep them separated with their assigned lock screw so you know which position they go back into. Take the time to find or grind/file a screw driver to fit the usually thin head slots found on these.
Most early guns have ser#'d screws, but not position #'d

You'll see the forward guard type safety from the inside of the trigger group and be able to get at it with some oil or other clean up products.
That may be all that is necessary to free it up.
If there's something else blocking it, at least you can better be able to see it.
I've had an errant BB from roll down into an action and block a sear or other part on some shotguns and put them out of action completely.
The Ithaca Model37 can be stopped quite easily with a single BB of even small size shot that dribbles out of a shell (usually a reload).
It gets back in the action & rolls down that machined ramp in the trigger group that's made for the downward motion clearance of the trigger.
Instant permanent safety ON.


It should work easy enough to operate with a simple push of the back of the trigger finger to the OFF position while shooting.
Good time to clean up the trigger group as a whole and inspect it.

I personally think that safety style was just not popular in the USA and many were not used.
Remington had the same style on the Model 10 pump gun and the early Stevens Model 520 (another JMBrowning design) had it also for a time.

When Remington dropped the Model 10 in 1929 and started mfg the nearly identical Model 29 pump, the 29 used a push button safety at the rear of the guard.
Some people have used the Model 29 trigger group with it's cross button safety and fitted it to their older Model 10 pumps just to rid themselves of the older style front of the guard safety.

Some guns with that front guard style safe were probably set in the Fire position and left there. Dried lube and debris from hunting and shooting tighten them up. I have a Rem Model 10 that the safety was simply removed, but that may have been for reasons of clay target shooting more than disliking the style of it.

My 1933 A5 has that style of course and most people on the range have never seen one before.
Great shotguns,,lots of parts moving around when they go Boom!

 

[Drm50]

I had a nice old FN A5 in my Gunshow pile. Good solid gun with honest wear. In the course of fixing up some minor glitches on other guns I used a screw cutter to cut the shank of a shotgun bead. 3x56 thread. Piece went flying when I sheared it off. Never gave it a thought, didn't care about a small piece of brass smaller then a #6 shot. First guy to look at it at show locked it up when he pulled back the bolt. Took it home that night and found that little piece of screw was the culpert. The only time I saw a A5 jam with factory ammo was on my old man. He was in some cat tails in a wet seep when birds flushed. He got his cock but bolt handle grabbed a cat tail and bolt sheared it off, locked up tight with bolt closed. Wanted to put pressure on it butt down but he wouldn't let us touch it. That was his baby and he wouldn't allow anyone to touch it except smith. Somehow bolt was stuck to barrel and smith said he had to strip gun to get it apart.

 

[Gene L]

I had a real nice 12 ga. Browning A5. I shot a round of sporting clays with it, very good gun but MAN did it kick. That hevy barrel coming back was painful. At first, I shot it well, but around the second half of the course, I started to feel it. My shoulder was black and blue (had other issues going on then as well, and was easily bruised.)

 

[DWalt]

The long-recoil design of the A5 humpback and its Remington and Savage siblings does rattle your teeth a little with heavier loads. I started trap shooting seriously back around 1964 using a like-new Remington Model 11 full-choke 12 gauge with light loads. It didn't recoil that badly. One shortcoming of that design is that you needed to change the friction ring location for the power of the load being used.

 

[fiasconva]

Yep, if you have the A5 set for light loads and use some full house loads it will definitely loosen a few of your fillings. *s*

 

[Valmet]

I have owned two. Great guns but somewhat heavy. Many parts will interchange between Browning, Remington, and Savage guns. In fact, Remington made FN guns during the time FN was occupied by the Germans.

Yes, I own a 1945-46 mfg'd A5 that was manufactured by Remington but it doesn't have a Rem mark on it, just "Browning Arms Company St. Louis, MO." 16 Ga my great-grandfather bought for my grandad when he came back from Europe in 1946. I take it out to the dove fields on occasion in the fall.

 

[wetdog1911]

I can only REALLY suggest going to Brownell's and putting out the $$ for the A5/Browning screwdrivers or magna tips if those are offered.

They have some screws unique to those guns that even regular gunsmith drivers don't fit. Saves buggered up screw heads, or worse, trying to replace those screws.

Rob

 

[Drm50]

An A5 shouldn't recoil noticeably hard unless it has worn or broken parts.
It does have a double shuffle recoil that is strange to those not use to it.
(1) check that recoil bushings are set correctly for load you are shooting.
(2) make sure bushing is not cracked or damaged
(3) check recoil spring, it may be weakened from age
(4) buffer spring tube gunked up will cause short recoil until it gets to short to cycle.

I bought a old gunked up Savage, Brn patent and recoil spring and bushings were shot. It kicked like a pile driver. Once replaced it run like a new one.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

Please let us know how this comes out, ok?

Followed the video instructions (Brownell's) for disassembly, cleaning, and lubrication. Reassembled, gun operates just like a new one. Mentioned it to one of the old guys at my club; next day he was at my house and practically refused to leave without it. He appealed to my sympathy, since I also remember the days when I wanted something very badly but just couldn't fit it into the budget!

So the old FN Browning Light Twelve has a new home with someone who will appreciate it for a long time! It is his "birth year" gun and a model he has wanted for half-a-century.