Does anyone know what and how the spring, bushing and ring(s) differ from those used on the Lightweight belgian A-5 12 gauge. Can you fired and have the 3" magnum with field loads, as I can with my Lightweight A-5?? RWTF

The short answer is 'maybe'.

There will be a certain minimum recoil impulse necessary for functioning. A stout field load should work, a target load probably not.

https://www.browning.com/support/frequen...-my-auto-5.html

My Dad had a mid 1980s Japanese imvector choked magnum A5, that never ran reliably on any 2 3/4” non-magnum load.

Some use and sag in the action spring might have helped, but, he sold the gun and bought a Stupid Black Eagle.

Out of the fire, and into the pan.

Best,
Ted

I had a 3 inch A5 and got it to work well with light loads.
What I did was change the recoil spring to one from a 2 3/4 AND a spacer to make up the difference in the spring length.
No other combination of rings or spacers was consistently successful.
Worked for me.
YMMV.

When I owned one (and before I sold it to my waterfowl-hunting buddy who loves it) the only thing it would cycle reliably other than 3" loads was 2.75" max dram 1 1/4 oz. AA pigeon loads. They are purpose-built guns.

Bruce

True enough.

I have most of the variants, I lack a Mag 12 and a standard weight 16. Just no real use for either.

The mag 20 may be the best of the breed. It will in fact shoot any 20 gauge shell and it weighs and handles exactly like a Sweet Sixteen.

A5's are fun.

I used one for around 15 years with the light setting above for all duck and goose hunting. Used only steel and bismuth, never had a problem or felt beat up. That gun weighs 8.75 lbs

Thanks, gents. Might buy the 3"Mag as it is a "Belgie" RWTF

My duck hunting buddy and the Germans from Russia around here used to call them "Belchin Browniks"

Well, so much for that never fire the gun without the bronze friction piece. I was told the same thing at a good gunsmith store. I wanted to fire 3/4oz loads in it and was told they're too light. Well, no friction piece or spacer/washer, just the spring, and it works great. The forearm hasn't cracked. Same with my buddies auto-5. Just a spring. It all depends on how much recoil there is.

The guns should never be fired without the friction piece.

It acts as a velocity damper on the return to battery stroke.

Without it, it's a matter of time before the stock will crack.

I've got a 32" Mag that I shoot SC's with for grins.
I Installed a standard spring and friction ring kit from Midwest Gun Works and it works like a dream with target loads.
The Xtra Full turkey choke I use is fun for goofing around. The only gun I've ever smoked half a target with. I had to install a stick on comb riser, otherwise too low for me.

Good answers- any concerns about salt wood on the pre-Jap made A-5's-- The lightweight A-5 (yeah, like a M-1 Garand is a "lightweight" weapon- has the older reddish stained wood and rounded bottom pg== the 3' Mag has the later blonde stained wood and still a round grip knob. Both have Ventilated ribs, about 85% wood and blue on the lightweight, 90% on the 3-incher..

Love to visit Gun Broker in the A-5 sections- over half of the sellers listing the A-5's misspell it as Belgain-- proper spelling is Belgium, this-yields Belgian-- Reminds me of the great movie "Murder By Death" where James Cocoa tells Peter Falk- "I'm a Belgie, not a Frenchie". RWTF

Hello Gentlemen:

I hope the virus are not affecting (too much) your lifes!
I also hope and pray that an end of the pandemia is near.

I wrote because I have an advise for long recoil operating shotgun owners: to avoid damage to the forend due to the slam the barrel produces when it return to the normal position, I put a hard rubber gasket (the type used for water conections) once you install the barrel and prior to instal the forend. This rubber gasket dampens the knok at the end of the cycle, seems that enough to avoid craks in the forend, a common problem in this type of shotguns. The gasket can not be too thick or the mechanism will not "close". After some use, replace with a new one.

Best,

Mil gracias, amigo del Sur in Mexico. Palabras de veritas para las escopetas hechan de Sr. Juan Browning. Usted es un cazador, si como mio? Muy buena suerta-- Sr. Zorro

I'm not saying they didn't exist but i've never owned - nor seen - an auto-5 with salt wood. but, every A5 i ever had was stocked in French walnut and it was the CA Claro that was cured in salt.

The only 3" mag i had was a very early gun with the dual recoil springs, one wound inside the other- essentially screwed together. that one, i removed one of the springs in spite of all the internet experts who've probably never even seen one telling me it was a bad idea. that one with just the one spring worked flawless with 2-3/4" shells and the rings set just like for a 2-3/4" gun, although it worked very slowly on the return stroke. But recoil was incredibly gentle. I know i ran some 1oz reloads that i'd put together for old British doubles. it was really slow, but worked.

the later guns with the single recoil spring, i don't know. My dad's had a magnum 20 since '69 or '70 and with the rings set per instructions for 2-3/4 inch shells it's likewise never malfunctioned. never. I'd assume Browning made 12's just as good as they did 20's.

BTW, on the old dual spring 12's, anybody who can't separate and re-join the springs doesn't need to be handling things like shotguns.

Roger

I actually remember being with him the day my dad bought that. he went to a big gun shop in either college park or, i think, east point GA. the sales guy there told him you couldn't shoot anything but 3" mag's in one and he didn't want that. we ended up later at the old Barnes Hardware in Mableton - back when hardware stores could sell Brownings and be competitive - and the guy there said that was bull and showed him how to set the rings so he just bought it there.

I think i was with him when he bought nearly every gun he ever owned, excepting the ones i gave him.

Roger

Those are good memories, Roger.

SRH

Jose, thanks for the suggestion, I'll give it a try. Paul

Run with the Fox: Yes I am a hunter, more than any, a quail hunter. In Mexico we have 11 different quail species and I can hunt 4 of them at 2 hrs or less from my home in Mexico city.

By the way, congratulations for your spanish knowledge!

Best regards,

Gracias amigo mio- el gusto es de mio. No tenemos quail aqui in MI- No es possible para cazadora los palomas tambien. Que lastima, no es verdad.? Via con Dios Sr.. El Zorro!! Y muy bueno suerte y para que dedicarse al esport de la caza en Mexico, y tambien en Los Estados Unitos, si como no?? El Zorro- otra vez..

Fox, you speaking/writing Spanish is really impressive. Jose, and others, I can see how the friction brake acts as a break when it's up on the muzzle end of the spring, but not when it's at the receiver end. To me it's just a spacer to make the spring a little stronger. Maybe someone could say if that's correct or not. Is the rubber washer home made, and about how think is yours. Thanks - Paul

Paul: Maybe I do not explain correctly how I use the rubber gasket.
I bought in a harware store for US 10 cents a piece; for a 12 ga the 1" diameter adjust perfect to the outer magazine tube.
I trim the outside diameter of the gasket to fit the contour of the barrel guide.
To assamble, you put the spring and all the friction rings and conical washers as normal, then the barrel and, AFTER you put the barrel, the rubber gasket.
The rubber piece must be between the barrel and forend.

When the barrel returns at the final of the reloading cicle, it hits hard the forend, but this rubber gaskets dampen the smack to avoid craks. In my shotgun, that is a Breda semiauto, not a Browning A5, it preserves the integrity of the forend wood just nice.
I hope this new explanation clarify the use of the gasket.

Best,

Yo entiendo, Jose-- pero las escopetas hechan en Belgium, altima qualitad, no es verdad.? Breda- no sabes.

Hechan en Europa?? Con su permisso, amigo mio,una pregunta aqui-- Tienes algunas escopetas hechan in Espana? Quizas: Sarasqueta, o Arrizabalga, o AYA--??

El escritador muy famosa y un Rey Del Mundo hombre tambien, Don Ernesto Hemingway donarse escopetas a Srs. Bud Purdy y Aaron Hotchner, amigoes de Idaho-- Sarasqueta quizas?? El Zorro

Sr. Zorro: Un placer saludarlo nuevamente.

My Breda semiauto is a good utility shotgun; of course it is made in Italy in the 60´s. It has 4 original interchangable outside chokes (0, 10, 20 and 30 thousands), well ahead of its time. Exactly the same long recoil system as the Browning A5.

About SxS shotguns (my passion) from Spain I had a Pedro Arrizabalaga 20 ga and a Ignacio Ugartechea 12 ga; both great quailty, but probably Arrizabalaga the best: The sound the shotgun make every time you close it says "perfect adjustment".

Regards,

Mil gracias, y muy buena suerte con los quail y palomas en este season del cazadoreo. El Zorro!!