Browning Auto 5 slug-gun mystery...

yorgi

yorgi

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Years ago I purchased a Hastings rifled barrel for my dad's old Belgian Auto 5, he hunts deer in a shotgun-only zone and loved the gun.
Ended up getting a rock solid scope sidemount with a Bushnell shotgun scope and set it up for the old guy. The accuracy he was getting
from this setup was nothing like he experienced before and has harvested about half-dozen deer with it over the years.

Last year he tried sighting it in and the shots were all over the place, I checked the mounts for him and everything looked and felt solid.
Since his old scope was long in the tooth, he went out and got another brand new Bushnell, I mounted it on the gun for him.

Today, I took it out to the range and shot some amazing groups at 50 yards with it. I then moved to the 100 yard target and could not for
the life of me find the paper... I'm not an amazing shot by any means but decent enough to get average groups. After missing about 10 shots
at 100 yards I re-shot at the 50 yard target and was -as before- spot-on, about 1" above the crosshairs.

Simply put, the shotgun is a laser at 50y and shoots like a "shotgun" at 100y, weird... The only thing that I could think of is that over the years
the barrel has picked up sabot residue. After the range visit, I returned the shotgun to my dad with instructions on how to meticulously clean
the plastic buildup, I will head back to the range in a couple of weeks. Shells used were Winchester 2 3/4" sabots, the same shells used in
the gun for the past 10 years or so.

Has anyone experienced something similar? If so, what was the fix?
 
I would work on the barrel like you said then try shooting it in a 30yards .if dead on at 30 yards you should be very close at 100 yards .mayby you have to go to a lighter slug or find out if he changed ammo slugs come in a wide range of weights and speeds .my shot gun likes heavy slow slugs .Dutch
 
Don't really have a clue what I'm talking about, but maybe the trajectory of the slugs just happens to be spot on at 50 yards where the scope is currently set. Could be you have to dial it in at the distance you want to hunt and it'll be a bit high out to there, and low further on.
 
Shoot it at 75 yds and see where that leaves you this way u may find out where the trajectory changes . Mathematical trajectory specs are just that math . Does the hastings bbl have screw in chokes or fixed back in the 90's I bought two Hastings bbl's for win model 12's they had screw in chokes very nice bbl's I still have the 26" one
 
A 50 yds zero with a standard 2 3/4" 1 oz 1600 fps rifled slug will be somewhere around 4.5 " low at 100 yds .I know your shooting a sabot but try sighting in 2" high at 50 yds
 
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dilly said:
Doesn't the auto 5 barrel move when you shoot? How would one ever group anything consistently with that happening?
Click to expand...

Lot's of gun barrels move and are plenty capable of good accuracy. It may not have the accuracy potential of a fixed barrel firearm, but it's more than adequate for hunting.
 
Agree the plastic residue inside the bore ought to be crossed off the list. Quite likely one of the reason why the old scope was performing erratically. OTIS offers a great product for such cleaning task.

Asking out of curiosity though, how different is the new scope compared to the former one?
 
Your dad should be cleaning that barrel after every 5 to 10 shots. That plastic builds up quickly. Like was said sight in 2" high at 50.
 
Ahsan Ahmed said:
Agree the plastic residue inside the bore ought to be crossed off the list. Quite likely one of the reason why the old scope was performing erratically. OTIS offers a great product for such cleaning task.

Asking out of curiosity though, how different is the new scope compared to the former one?
Click to expand...

New scope is a Bushnell Banner Dusk to Dawn with Circle-x reticle, older scope was an older offering of the same scope.
To be perfectly honest, I liked the old scope better, it's FOV was far superior to the new one.

Winchested said:
Your dad should be cleaning that barrel after every 5 to 10 shots. That plastic builds up quickly. Like was said sight in 2" high at 50.
Click to expand...

The barrel has been thoroughly cleaned and I will revisit the range sometime this week. Thanks for the sighting tips gentlemen.
I did fire off a number of shots at the top part of the target at 100yds but registered no hits on paper at that range.
 
dilly said:
Doesn't the auto 5 barrel move when you shoot? How would one ever group anything consistently with that happening?
Click to expand...

My former Auto 5 smooth bore that I tuned up would regularly put 5 Winchester 1 oz. slugs @ 1600fps. into a single, ragged hole at 30 yds. At 200 yds. I got 3 out of 5 good hits on a 12" gong in front of witnesses. Nothing wrong with a good condition A-5.
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