Browning Auto 5 humpback

[Tex1001]

Does a Savage 720 count? Identical to the Auto-5 except no magazine cutoff and more curve on the lower tang.
I have 2.
A commercial model with unknown D.O.B.
A WWII model with plain stock, military stamps (Flaming bomb), and an extra 18" barrel.
Both are a hoot to shoot with field loads.

 

[Fishinfool]

Mine belonged to my Uncle, who decided to try duck hunting after my father came home from the Korean War. He bought it used, tried duck hunting, and didn't like it. He ended up giving it to me when I was a kid.

It's a .12 gauge Auto 5 Lightweight with a 28 inch barrel and modified choke. I have carried, hunted, and shot the snot out of that gun over the years, and collected a lot of clay birds and game with it.

A poor picture of the gun below.

Larry

 

[Valmet]

Have my grandfather’s 16 Ga A-5 that my great-grandfather bought fornhim as a welcome home gift when he came back to the states from serving in Europe in WWII. It was actually mfg’d by Remington, though not a Model 11. It makes it out to the dove fields once in a while and still shoots like it did in the 1940s.

 

[S&WsRsweet]

Love the A5 they are fine shotguns. I hunted with my dads 1960 12 longtube full choke after he saw I took good care of my single shot .He said " son if you scratch it don't come home " as he handed it to me .i was 12 years old almost 13 and had been hunting out in the fields and woods by myself without an adult along for about a year .Never scratched it either .Dad passed away and during his illness someone "family member had to be" stole that shotgun out of his gun case and it hasn't surfaced since . I had urged him to get a gun safe but he was old school and enjoyed looking at his firearms although he couldn't shoot anymore. He was heart broken when it came up missing as he knew it was someone in the family he trusted and he was 99percent sure who . The main thing is me and him had those memories .

 

[chief38]

I LOVE Browning Shotguns!

I've got a late 50's A-5 (27.5" bbl, Modified Choke, Ventilated Rib, with the Round Knob & Long Tang). I purchased it back in the mid 90's in unfired condition and have since put through thousands and thousands of Shot Shells. Never had a hic-cup!!

A-5 HINTS:

After you clean the Shotgun, completely wipe off any Solvent from he outside of the Magazine Tube and Friction Rings. Use ONLY straight 30 weight NON DETERGENT Motor Oil to lightly lubricate the outside of the Mag Tube before reassembling. Make SURE it's Non Detergent! The 30 weight Oil is perfect for the recoil operated action and will lube and assure the Bolt does not come rearward too fast as a very slippery and thin lube will. Most failures to eject, or re-load a fresh Shell are directly caused by improper lubrication of these seldom understood Auto 5's. Don't use this motor oil on anything else other than the outside of the Mag Tube and don't slather it on - just a very light coating works best.

Make SURE your Friction Rings are set to the loads you are shooting. If not set properly, light target loads might not eject or when shooting heavy loads your shoulder will get beat up. The diagram should be glued onto the inside of the For-end and if not you can print one from on-line and glue it in.

I'd definitely recommend the use of Tipton Snap Caps to release the Firing Pin when storing. I find that brand to be the best.

BTW - do NOT use Steel Shot in your vintage A-5 as you WILL damage the fixed Choke Barrel! The Browning A-5 was NEVER made for Steel and the Barrel will bulge if Steel is used. If you need to fire Steel for shooting over water - get a modern Barrel for the A-5 that is made for Steel. Barrels swap out in seconds.

Follow these simple hints and you should get thousands and thousands of trouble free shots. I've completely lost count on just how many thousands of shells I've put through mine, but it is definitely the most fired Shotgun I own - only second to my Browning Grade 2 Superposed. I shoot the Superposed just as much, but it only holds 2 Shells instead of 5.

 

[DWalt]

Does a Savage 720 count? Identical to the Auto-5 except no magazine cutoff and more curve on the lower tang.
I have 2.
A commercial model with unknown D.O.B.
A WWII model with plain stock, military stamps (Flaming bomb), and an extra 18" barrel.
Both are a hoot to shoot with field loads.

You may well have one of the shotguns used for aerial gunnery training during WWII. Idea was to give prospective aerial gunners (the guys who would fire the .50 Brownings in bombers) training on leading targets. The Army used both Savage and Remington Model 11 shotguns for that. It was an interesting training course with target throwers on moving platforms and shooters also. A great many years ago I worked with a man who had been an Army instructor during WWII at one of those ranges (somewhere in Texas, maybe Laredo). He described it very well. When they cleaned those shotguns, they were disassembled and reassembled with no regard to keeping all of the original parts together. They also used pneumatic BB machine guns for that training - they do exist, I have seen one.

 

[italiansport]

I recently acquired an A5 12 gauge Lightweight from a lady who said it belonged to a deceased uncle. She said, to the best of her knowledge, he never fired it and it appears to be in brand new condition. This is a super nice gun made in 1953 and I will sell it since my shotgunning days are over.
Jim

 

[chief38]

I have found over the years that people love them or hate them! My Dad never liked the "Hump-back design and never bought one. After shooting a friends, I however fell in love with it and searched one up.

Not long afterwards, I hunted up a Grade 2 Superposed also from the late 50's unfired and in the original Browning "Trombone case luggage". Both the A-5 and the Superposed took me 18 months to find (in the Shotgun News) and I found both within a month or two of one another. It's amazing that there are still expensive vintage guns that people bought and never fired!

 

[muzzleblast]

The old humpback is my favorite semi-auto shotgun. I've got two 12 gauges at the moment.

 

[mpgo4th]

I’ve got a Browning Auto 5, 1957 12 ga. on layaway, real nice low usage all original FN Belgium made “humpback”. Anyone else?

I’ve got a 1973 A5 light twelve in the safe. Purchased by my father and given to me a few years back. It’s mint and I’d never part with it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Tex1001]

You may well have one of the shotguns used for aerial gunnery training during WWII.

I'm certain that this one was for aerial target training. I got it for $150 in a Helotes LGS last spring. I'm sure the price was so cheap because it was so plain. The owner knocked $75 off the price even before he handed it to me. I didn't hand it back.
My mom's first husband was a gunner on a B-24 and I like to think that he used one like mine for training. He didn't survive the war.

 

[fiasconva]

Those are great guns but can beat you up pretty well. There is a video out there of Gunny shooting a 12 ga trying to see if the auto is faster than a pump. That old war horse puts a pretty good pounding on him. I don't think he had any fillings left in his teeth afterwards. *s*

 

[dwh]

If I only had $995 bucks back in the 90s I would have one these. They were listed in the back of shotgun news and gun list. I think they were for the Rhodesian or South African armies or security forces . Ah the trouble with youth is cash flow.

 

[Babysitr]

Dad loved them, I don't like them..I got his last one that was new in 1970 or so. light 20 with two vent barrels...he used it hard, that shiny finish cracked badly on the stock...Family heirloom

 

[DWalt]

If anyone remembers the old Herter's catalog from the 1960s-70s, they sold a FN A5 shotgun knockoff. I don't remember who made it, probably Japanese. I don't remember any coming from South Africa. I once had a pair of Remington Model 11s, in 12 and 20 gauge. Taught my son to shoot skeet with the 20 gauge and trap with the 12 gauge. Eventually sold them. They were good guns but heavy.

 

[much ado]

A5 Brownings

As someone said earlier folks seem to "lov`em or hate`m". I`m in the lov`em category. I have 3(they`re all Belgian)...a std weight 12 with 26 Imp. cyl (that was Dad`s), a Mag12, and a Light 20. The Mag is 28 full and some years back I bought a Jap Invector choke barrel for the pleasure of shooting steel shot. I have other shotguns but for most purposes I tend to gravitate to the Brownings.

 

[bulletslap]

I have three A5s, a light 20 and 12 I inherited from my Dad, and a circa 1925 16 Gauge I purchased myself. I also have a Remington Autoloading 12 that was an earlier version of the Model 11, with a 30 and 20 inch barrels. All of them are great old guns, that my great-great grandchildren will be using if property cared for and the Bill of Rights survives.

 

[august1410]

I have a 1975 Light Twelve. It's one of my favorites.

 

[EMP3]

Now you Beretta hunters, don't go apoplectic on me: the A-5 set the standard for semiauto HUNTING shotguns, and that gun was born to hunt ;-)

 

[BarryinIN]

I have had a few A-5s come and go, but now only have a Remington twin, an M11. Since they are so dependable, and because this one has been reblued and had the stock shortened, I modified it more and it became my home defense shotgun. The barrel was cut and crowned to 18.5” with a front sight added, a two round mag tube extension for an 870/1100 was modified to fit, and a large aperture rear peep sight was installed.

I’ve been through a couple of shotgun classes and it’s really hard on shotguns. Most aren’t made for that kind of hard use, at least at a constant 8+ hour day rate. Compared to pistol and carbine classes, shotguns are always dropping like flies. I used that M11 in a Gunsite class, and except for the front sight departing at one point and needing re-silver-soldered on, it ran like a top and ate up ammo like a glutton.

I’d rather depend on an A-5 or M11 than any current manufactured shotgun.