Just bought a 20 ga A5 Browning

[John Allen]

A lot of folks don't know that the round knob A5 20 gauge is the scarcest of the A5s. Browning did not start making 20s until 1958. In 1967,they went from the round knob to the square knob stock. So the round knob 20 was only made for 8 years. If you look on gunbroker or gunsinternational you will see 50 or 60 12s and sweet16s, but less than 10 20s and only one or two round knob 20s. Very hard to find.

[Larry the Gun Guy]

This just popped up on GI. Although, it's been re-done, it has nice wood and it's a good looking pre-war gun. It looks like a grade II or a transition to the grade I. Browning may be able to provide a letter on it saying what exactly it is; grade II or grade I. If desired, Art can reestablish the missing engraving around the bolt release button and the zigzag border. Or just shoot it the way it is. Only $900 bucks. Toys...
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https://www.gunsinternational.com/gu...n_id=103174312

[John Bastiani]

Originally Posted by John Allen

A lot of folks don't know that the round knob A5 20 gauge is the scarcest of the A5s. Browning did not start making 20s until 1958. In 1967,they went from the round knob to the square knob stock. So the round knob 20 was only made for 8 years. If you look on gunbroker or gunsinternational you will see 50 or 60 12s and sweet16s, but less than 10 20s and only one or two round knob 20s. Very hard to find.

I would have to check my Browning book for sure but I think the 20 gauge only had the rust blued actions from 1958 to 1963 and started Dulite bluing them after that. It took me years to find the rust blued version that was still new in the box. I should have never let this gun go but my brother wanted it to raffle in a quail unlimited banquet. If it had been choked imp. cylinder instead of full-I probably would have kept it.

[Kevin McCormack]

I always wanted an A-5 but was too dumb to buy one at my employee's 25% discount when I worked in a major sporting goods store in the late 1960s - early 1970s. I saw one at a local gun show a few years ago that was the quintessential duck (blind) gun - a 12 ga. 28" MOD VR RKLT version with the original funky FN hard buttplate complete with gun cabinet worm holes, washed out wood and receiver and barrel gone to pewter color. It had a broken rib just forward of the rib stanchion so the guy had it on the table for $180.

I bought it on the spot and took it home and tried to figure out how to completely disassemble it (booklet says remove forend & barrel and you are done). Couldn't figure it out so I called Browning UT and when I finally got to talk to a live human, the guy said, "Are you handy with tools?". I said yeah, reasonably so. He told me what I needed was the reprint of their 1923 Shop Manual which gave complete dissasembly instructions. I got it and took the gun completely apart (all 70-some pieces of it!).

I was so mesmerized with the design and function of the completely inertial spring driven action (no gas pistons or cylinders!) that I started to buy them in different variations (Sweet 16s, 3" Mags, etc.) to shoot and hunt with. How JMB got the recoil train to function with split-second timing and leverage to produce the rate of fire and reloading really put the sap on my head! I wound up having a collection of 15 of them at one time, including graded guns.

The strangest thing is that in all those years of searching and buying I never bought a 20 ga. for whatever reason. Years after I sold off all of them but my original broken rib gun, I saw a really nice 1965 A-5 20 ga. 28" MOD VR RKLT come up at auction. I bought it and added an extra FN skeet VR barrel (pricey but who cares!?). It is a great shooting little gun and fills my niche of the 'missing' smallbore A-5s.

Pics are of the broken rib 12 that started it all.......

[J.B. Books]

Originally Posted by Kevin McCormack

I was so mesmerized with the design and function of the completely inertial spring driven action (no gas pistons or cylinders!) that I started to buy them in different variations (Sweet 16s, 3" Mags, etc.) to shoot and hunt with. How JMB got the recoil train to function with split-second timing and leverage to produce the rate of fire and reloading really put the sap on my head!

The original Auto-5 and it's clones are proof that John Browning was a genius.

[Phil Yearout]

As close as I ever got to an A5 (or ever will); my dad's gun, Savage 775a in 16ga...

[MarketHunter]

I've got a Model 11 20 gauge that's a two barrel set. A 32 inch solid rib full and a 28 inch solid rib imp cylinder. It's a dandy little gun.

[Larry the Gun Guy]

Originally Posted by Destry L. Hoffard

I've got a Model 11 20 gauge that's a two barrel set. A 32 inch solid rib full and a 28 inch solid rib imp cylinder. It's a dandy little gun.

Destry, are your barrel(s) marked "Long Range"? A 32" 20 gauge is indeed a rare one. I had to look it up because I wasn't aware they made one. INTERESTING.

[MarketHunter]

No it's not marked Long Range. I've actually never seen a Long Range marked gun that I thought was real, though I know they supposedly made them.

[Researcher]

The "Long Range" boring was only offered in 12-gauge --

Long Range Boring, June 10, 1941 catalog.jpg