Jay,My buddy who we'll call Irish has a Browning Auto-5, 3" magnum edition, that will not properly cycle. It's a beautiful piece, the blue finish on the metal is rich and deep and the stocks can best be described as purrrr-teee. The gun's manual says to shoot steel shot ammo or 3" magnum loads. Irish has tried all the premium steel shot loads he can find and even tried magnum-charged 3 inch, 1 1/8 oz solid lead slugs. Nothing will get this gun to properly cycle. The gun has been thoroughly cleaned, oiled an reassembled. When working the action manually it cycles just fine and doesn't feel particularly stiff nor does it feel like anything is binding.
If you or any of your readers can help out with some suggestions on what Irish can do next that would be most appreciated. After all, it would be great to get that old Browning up and running again.
Browning Auto-5 - also known as the Remington Model 11:
Any help y'all could give Irish would be greatly appreciated!
That is all.
18 comments:
I'm not sure if this is the problem, but it is not unusual for older Auto-5's to have their friction rings set improperly.
From Wikipedia:
"The A-5 has a system of friction rings that control the rate of recoil. Setting these rings correctly is vital to good shotgun performance and to ensure a long life to the weapon, by controlling excessive recoil. The friction rings are set based on the type of load to be fired through the gun. Different settings can be found in the owner's manual, available at http://www.browning.com/customerservice/ownersmanuals/index.asp."
If it is a used gun that has seen a lot of rounds (or if the previous owner managed to mix up the friction ring configuration on reassembly), it is possible that there might be some permanent deformation of the parts. I seem to recall reading this article that suggested replacing the recoil spring and the friction ring on any used A-5. http://www.chuckhawks.com/browning_A-5_running.htm
Does not cycle in this case mean failure to eject, failure to feed, or does the action not move at all when fired?
To clarify the problem,
1) Pull trigger
2) Round in chamber goes BANG
3) Action starts moving rearward but does NOT eject the spent hull.
Old Windways has the most likely answer.
Had an Uncle that had several A5's.
He would change ring configuration according to what was being hunted and the load used.
I would concur... not an A5, but a Rem 1100 for me. They have a reversible ring to go from heavy to light loads. If everything else is in order, I'd make sure the ports are nice and clean, replace the recoil spring and gas washers, and try again. Another possibility: When the previous owner sold the gun, did they just put all the washers on the action tube, so as not to lose them?
Definitely look at the friction ring setup then. It's an A5, so there's no gas system to worry about, but it sounds like the action simply isn't traveling far enough on recoil.
Lupis,
You have it correct . . . even with the hottest / heaviest loads, the action does not recail to the full rear position. Now if we could get some of Wally's turkey-saurus loads in a 3" config, maybe, just maybe, those would do the trick . . . at the expense of Irish's shoulder.
- Brad
Well, I would recommend he sell it to me, cheap, before the problem gets any worse.
Oh, just in case he doesn't have this, Brad, here's the owner's manual...
Greg,
I can tell you that this gun will NEVER be sold.
Jay,
Yes, Irish has a copy of the manual.
- Brad
rings most likely. if the owner is looking to have it sent out for service I could give it the once over.
+1 to everyone that said friction ring.
I've not played with an A5, personally, so I'll assume its a recoil operated system? Do well to strike my gas port comment in that case.
All,
I spoke to Irish . . . and one question came up. He indicated there are multiple recoil rings . . . do you have to run the gun with all the rings in place? In other words, if you want to shoot lighter loads, remove certain, specific rings? This nuance is NOT described in the owner's manual.
Wolf . . . the A5 is a "long-stroke" recoil operated 12ga which dates to 1900. I believe the copy that Irish has is 1950's vintage.
- Brad
Wow - I wasn't aware of this model's friction ring setup (the manual really is a good resource). Thanks for sharing this problem - and giving the opportunity for us to learn about the solution!
Posts like this are what keep me coming back to this blog!
After the friction rings are checked and verified to be set up properly, if the problem persists, I would check the recoil spring.
It is inside the butt stock and will require removing a couple of screws in the tangs that extend back from the receiver. That spring and the arm that attaches to the back of the bolt move inside the stock to allow the bolt to cycle back and eject the hulls.
It is a place that you can't see and don't normally clean or lubricate, but over time it can be come dry or dirty and affect the cycling. Even without taking the butt stock off, a big shot of BreakFree or your favorite gun oil down inside the stock along the arm that is attached to the bolt, followed by cycling the bolt several times, might be enough to get it to eject with a hunting load.
I use an old A-5 when I shoot three-gun, so I have seen this problem before. Disassembling it, cleaning it, and lubing with a light gun grease is what fixed it for me.
Also keep in mind that that gun is long-recoil operated, so anything less than a firm tuck into the shoulder will often cause a short-stroke. (I have the same gun, albeit branded as a Remington Model 11.)
Also make sure the piece is properply cleaned and lubricated. Old hardened lubricant on the forend arm the rings slide over can slow things down enough to cause failures to completely cycle. I had once years ago, had great fun shooting it with factory loads, but could not get it to cycle with my reloads so I eventually traded it.
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