Comments on: Browning Reintroduces the A-5 Humpback

By: bhp0

bhp0 — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 20:52:46 +0000

I did forget to mention one thing. Keep the barrel and receiver tracts clean and well greased. This will prevent barrel wear and looseness which will cause the gun to vary in accuracy by shifting the patterns high, low, left and right.

By: Grizzley1

Grizzley1 — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 02:41:52 +0000

I’ve had my Belgum made Auto-5 for at least twenty five years with absolutly NO problem of any kind at all,lets just hope that the new version works as well.And yes they can be had for less than the asking price of a new one,but I like to know how well my guns were taken care of when I get one,and I dont think the kick is that bad at all. just MHO.

By: bhp0

bhp0 — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 15:58:40 +0000

I am not holding my breath. The new A-5 will probably be made with junk cast parts, junk stamped sheet metal parts and junk plastic parts.

True, the old auto 5 had its flat springs break from time to time but that took many years of hard usage. Contrast this to the clock like breakage of op rods on the modern made junkers like the Beretta and Mossberg auto loaders.

True, the auto 5 kicked like a mule but it was of no consequence when hunting as you seldom shoot more than 3 rounds at a time anyway.

The old auto 5 was very well balanced as contrasted to most modern mad auto loaders that feel like a club when you swing them, read that Remington 1100.

Old auto 5′s seldom jammed either. Not true of today’s modern made auto-loaders.

The price of the new gun is a joke as you can still buy the old auto-5′s and its clones that were made by Savage for 1/2 to 1/3 the price of the new modern a-5.

By: Puzzlebug

Puzzlebug — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 14:31:21 +0000

This may not matter to some — it may not even matter to most — but it matters to me: will this new incarnation of the Browning Auto-5 be manufactured in Belgium or the U.S.A., or in some other country? I’d love to buy one of these if it’s manufactured in Herstal, Belgium, Morgan, Utah or even Columbia, South Carolina, but I’m not interested in a gun made in Japan or — absolutely worst case scenario — the P.R.C.

By: Dixie Gunsmithing

Dixie Gunsmithing — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 12:30:13 +0000

The old Auto-5 was the most reliable, semi-auto shotgun, ever built, in my opinion. The only thing I have seen fail was the hammer and trigger springs, due to them being the flat type. I think Browning tried to remedy this with coil springs in the 2000. The only other bad point, was the forearms tendency to crack, and I hope they have came up with a working fix for this.

I have heard a few say that the recoil, or “kick”, was bad on the Auto-5, but it was tolerable, especially compared to several others. The Auto-5, never once, made me want to not shoot it.

If they would take the old Auto-5, replace the trigger and hammer springs with coil types, and fix the forearm problem, it would be the perfect auto-shotgun, especially for hunting. Winchester had the “perfect repeater” with the Model 12, but Browning had the Auto-5, and to me, they are the best shotguns known in the auto and pump styles.

Winchester really screwed up by not paying royalties, and manufacturing this gun for John Browning. If they had, Winchester would have had the best guns in both pump and auto to this day. However, we probably would never have had the Brownings we have today, either.