doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Off Topic :( Browning Auto 5

A friend of mine gave me a Browning Auto 5 16 ga. recently.
The serial number is 60644 with an R above it.
the bbl is marked 2 3/4" 16 ga. Going to the Browning site that serial number would be 1928 ish, but in that era the 16 ga was 2 9/16 and my friend thinks he bought it in the early 1950s?
Any answer to this delimma?

My A-5 16 was made around 1930...the serial number is shown in the pictures....all A-5's that I have seen from that era and before have FN in a 'circle' above the number and a 'star' between the number and the FN circle......mine still has all the original factory Herstal blueing on the barrel and receiver etc.......

The barrel is marked 16 Special Steel with one star for full choke, with no chamber designation whatsoever......mine is a factory 2 9/16 chambered 16 gauge (and still is 2 9/16").....

All the Browning address sig lines from that era are St. Louis address lines of course......

The most prominant feature is the saftey in front of the trigger on ALL pre war Browning A-5's.....that feature alone should tell you all you need to know about when it was made.........I believe Remington started the rear saftey arrangement during the war when Herstal was building guns for the Nazi's and Remington took over production of the A-5's.......

My Browning book shows serial number ranges as an average and mentions the actual Browning records were lost and these numbers are averages matched to dates from the Herstal manufacturing records on the A-5's.....

Hope this helps....

What is the delimma??

Many 2 9/16 were converted to 2 3/4
Art's Gun Shop still offers the conversion.

Mine is 2 9/16, and was converted to 2 3/4 many decades ago.

Mine does not have the FN and Star above the Serial number, but an R above the serial number and the Safety is in the back.
Does that mean this was a Remington made Browning during the War? AND there is an R above the name Browning on the left side of the receiver.It is marked on the barrel- Special Steel 16 ga shells, 2 3/4"
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The side of your receiver is the later style........the 'R' in the circle on the side stands for "Registered Trade Mark"...the later style ....your gun appears to be made in Belgium........all of the Remington made guns had "stamped" receiver engraving that was quite ugly.......yours has Herstal, Belgium style hand engraving and the newer rear saftey and does not have the St. Louis address on the receiver sides............

I would guess it was made around 1952....but only a guess, the rear saftey is quite conclusive IMO.....after 1958 Browning started using a date code letter prefix with the serial number to help stop all the confusion......(R was not one of the date prefix's)......

Yours would be a Herstel Belgium factory 2 3/4" 16 ga. gun from that time frame IMO......

From the Browning Book:

"1940-1946...War Years. No production for civilians at F.N....From 1946 to 1951 production was by Remington in the U.S. According to records from Browning and Remington, approximately 45,000 12 gauge, 25,000 16 gauge and 20,000 20 gauge guns were produced by Remington. By 1952, F.N. was again in production producing the A-5."

Remington built guns started in 1946 with serial number 229,000 and ended in 1953 with serial number 438,000. There was an overlap when Remington U.S.A. and Herstel Belgium were both producing the A-5 simultaneously......After 1953 a new serial number sequence was begun.....

I would guess your gun is one built in the first year (1952) that F.N. Herstal re-tooled and again started A-5 production....

Hope this helps Leighton.....

I think you're going to find that the "R" designates a standard weight 16ga. gun.

The sweet 16 and standard weight 16 were in production at the same time.

All sweets are 2 3/4" guns, as are the standards made during the same period.

Thanks Doug, 1952 is about the time frame he thought he had bought it. I took the foreend off and all proofmarks etc are Belgium. And it is marked ** on the barrel also and ELG proofs under the bbl.

The Serial Number ranges at the Browning Site are a mess.

No they aren't! Damn it, Rockie, buy the book.