Browning A5 and copies
While most gun designs and cartridges are the subject of great debate there is one thing that isn’t. Who was the greatest gun designer of all time? John Browning of course. Our best loved and most successful designs are a powerful testimony to his genius. 1894 Winchester, 1911 Colt, BAR, M2 50 cal. ( Still in production), A5, Remington 11, Savage autoloader, Remington 8 and 81, Browning Highpower, Superposed and a lot more.
Love it or not, The A5 is a fantastic shotgun. For many decades of the 1900s there was no doubt that it was king. This was earned by reliability. A lot of people that used other guns wished they had an A5 but had to settle for something less expensive. Only during the latter part of the last century when hunters began a love affair with magnum loads did the A5 lose out to competitors. The recoil operated mechanism is not well suited for different power levels. Add that to the high cost of machining steel parts and it is time for a new design. Manufacturers are kind of funny, they don’t like to lose money.
The recoil mechanism requires a careful balance for best operation. This is located on the magazine tube and you need to completely understand how it functions before moving on to the rest of the gun. The ring attached to the barrel has a bevel cut on the side that bears on the bronze friction piece. This bevel causes the friction piece to squeeze the magazine tube when the barrel is pushed back during recoil and distribute the recoil during the cycle of operation. The goal is to have enough friction to completely absorb the energy by the time that the barrel has moved completely to the rear. Too soon and it won’t cycle the action, too late and the barrel/bolt combination slams into the rest of the gun and the action (along with the shooter!) is battered.
A combination of several factors determine how much friction is present between the friction piece and magazine tube. The quality of the surface on the tube, the type of oil on the tube, strength of recoil spring and placement of the friction ring all play a role.
Inspect the tube carefully. It should be smooth and shiny. Any scratches, dent or pitting will affect friction. If the gun was recently refinished and the tube is blue this will increase friction.
The type of oil can be a real troublemaker. The design of this gun was from 1900 before we had the super friction reducing lubricants of today. It needs a very light coat of oil for corrosion protection but none of the Teflon, moly, PTFE oils. These oils will defeat the recoil absorbing mechanism and the gun will literally beat itself to pieces. Broken stocks, split forends and even cracked receivers can result from just using the wrong lube. Many years ago I lubed my friend’s magnum with Breakfree when it first came out. He damaged a nerve in his shoulder and missed several good hunts. I think he would like to see me trip and fall to this day.
Of course the friction piece needs to hug the tub snugly. It has a steel spring around it that facilitates this. It should require a little effort to move it on the tube by hand. If it drops on, replace it. The steel spring that clamps around the friction piece should also be a very snug fit.
The friction ring is a small ring with a bevel cut that rides between the bronze friction piece and recoil spring. Its job is to cause the bottom of the bronze friction piece to squeeze the tube like the bevel of the barrel ring. This increases the grab of the friction piece for shooting heavy loads. Hold the friction piece against the barrel ring and push with the friction ring on the bottom while these parts are out of the gun and you will get a good visual of how it works. The friction ring can be placed below the recoil spring next to the receiver for safe keeping when shooting light loads.
With experience you will know by feel when this mechanism is properly tuned. Placing the unloaded gun on the floor butt down and pushing the barrel back into the receiver will be all you need to do. It should push back with smooth heavy pressure. If it is galling, gummy or sliding free it will need attention.
Now that you have a good idea how the recoil mechanism should work lets look at the cycle of operation and what problems can be expected.
Loading~ Older models require that the release button be pressed to allow the carrier to rise as you push a shell in the magazine. The latter models have a two piece carrier that allows shells to be pushed into the magazine without doing anything extra. This is a nice feature and older models can be retrofitted without any problems. If the magazine spring is rusted or broken it will jam the magazine follower. You should not hear any scraping or squeaking when you push on the follower. I like to do this with a small wooden dowel rod so I can move the follower several inches while listening and feeling for problems. The feed latch and shell stop should not interfere with the loading process. The cartridge stop is located on the bottom of the bolt and the shell to be fed will rest against it. If it is worn or otherwise defective then the shell can ride over this and get between the carrier and bolt. A real pain in the neck to push it back into the magazine and sometimes you have to dismantle the gun to clear the jam. You might need to grind the face square to prevent this.
Amazing how many people have never had anything but an A5 and don’t have any idea how it feeds. When the gun is fired the bolt and barrel are locked together and ride back into the receiver compressing the recoil spring and the action spring that powers the bolt. The shell to be fed into the action is pushing against the cartridge stop on the bolt and rides back with it until the shell stop that is located in the side of the receiver comes inward and catches the loaded shell and stops it from moving. This part operates on a cut on the barrel and is critical for functioning. It only protrudes about a 1/16th of an inch so it has to have a well-defined edge that will hold the shell. If this shell slips over the shell will continue and feed into the ejection port before the fired case can be ejected. The jam will be a failure to eject but the problem will be feeding too early. The fired case will be half out of the port and after you pull it free it will load the shell. If it does its job correctly then the shell will be delayed until the barrel bolt combination has reached the end of its range of motion. Understand that the bolt has not opened yet. Now the bolt overrides the carrier dog and is held to the rear. The powerful recoil spring now powers the barrel forward. The bolt locked to the rear holds the fired shell by the rim with the extractor and the barrel is pulled off of the fired shell. When the barrel is all the way forward the ejector mounted on the barrel strikes the shell rim opposite the extractor and the fired case is pivoted around the extractor. About the same time that the ejector strikes the shell stop folds back into the side of the receiver and the shell that was resting on it is released. The carrier that is connected to the bolt via the carrier dog is prevented from moving upward by the feed latch. The released shell now pushing rearward forces the feed latch to release the carrier and now the bolt can ride forward and the carrier rises lifting the new shell as the bolt pushes it into the chamber and the bolt lock rises and locks the bolt ready for the next firing. Whew! No wonder nobody knew how it worked. And we haven’t even got to firing
.
Firing~ the trigger of the A5 really shows off the talent of Mr. Browning. When the trigger is pulled the hammer that is held by the trigger releases and flies forward powered by the hammer spring. The hammer strikes the firing pin and it leaps forward striking the primer and you have another duck to pick. Sounds simple enough, what could go wrong? Let’s go back to the start. Before you pulled the trigger you pushed the safety to the fire position and heard a click. If the safety doesn’t click or stay in place the trigger spring is broken. This spring is under the hammer spring and has three fingers. The outside two prongs power the trigger return and the middle prong presses a detent ball that rides on the safety. That hammer spring also can be loose and won’t have enough power to fire. This is usually from someone trying to take down for cleaning and loosening the wrong screw. Notice the hammer hooks on front and back. The hammers will break but it is rare. Inspect for cracks, especially on the hammer that have been lightened by a series of holes being drilled through the side. Look at the safety sear which keeps the trigger from being pulled unless the bolt is closed and locked. This part rides inside the bolt link and is operated by rear of the slot in the link when the bolt goes all the way forward. The hammer also goes through the link to strike the firing pin. Firing pins break and many times keep working. If both parts are retained in the bolt it works like a two piece firing pin but might misfire now and then.
Extraction~ is fairly simple compared to feeding and firing. Remember the fired case is held to the motionless bolt as the barrel flies forward. Brownings have two extractors but the clones like the Remington 11 have only the right. You can inspect and see any problems. Notice that the left extractor is not a sharp hook but rather a smooth bump. Its job is to hold the shell against the bolt face and cause it to be released with a snap. Of course the problem can also be a pitted chamber or dirt and carbon. Caution the owner to lightly oil and keep the chamber clean. This will save a lot of extractors.
If extraction went well then ejection will probably be a snap. Ejectors do break loose and disappear or worse go into the action. You should have spotted this on the initial inspection. Sharp and square ejectors give best results.
If you understand these cycles and inspect carefully you should spot the problem. Browning A5s usually break parts instead of bending or deforming and this makes them easier to diagnose the problem.
Parts to keep on hand are friction rings, trigger springs, extractors and magazine springs. The other parts are so infrequently used it will usually be more economical to order as needed.
A5 3” Magnum
Not an entirely different gun but it has enough problems of its own to make it into a separate discussion. The main difference is a longer stiffer recoil spring that is designed to take up that shoulder bruising recoil of the magnum, and I mean the old lead shot 1 7/8 oz load. After steel shot became the norm for waterfowl it became apparent that steel didn’t recoil as much as lead (you knew that!) and adjustments were necessary.
The first look at the friction rings on the magnum A5 might cause a double take but if you understand how they work it becomes simple. Two bronze friction rings and three bevel cut friction rings allow the owner to make more mistakes than a blind man with a rubix cube. Remember one bevel is built in the barrel ring and for max friction you want bevels on each side of the bronze friction pieces. Now it sounds easier doesn’t it. Of course the same information about lubrication applies with the magnum but maybe even more so. With close to double the load and fierce recoil more is at stake.
This model came with a recoil pad as standard equipment and it should probably be upgraded to one of the new softer pads.
If the gun is used with steel shot and has a full choke barrel now is a good time to educate the customer about better patterns with steel if he has the choke opened up a little.
If the customer wants a more versatile gun capable of firing light loads as well you can make a kit consisting of a standard recoil spring and friction piece and make a spacer with the lathe out of aluminum to make up the difference in length between the springs and it will function with light loads. Just make certain he understands he will wreck the gun shooting magnums with the light spring.
The A5 family of shotguns have proven record of reliability in field conditions. The secret to a long trouble free life with an A5 is stay with a good load and tune the gun for it. For most of the years this gun was manufactured this was not a problem because there were only two choices, light field load or heavy (high brass). Remember this and educate your customer (sometimes harder than stacking BBs) and this gun will still give years of trouble free shooting.