Need help IDing old rifle.

[Chumlee Bumsnag]

Hi everyone. My wife's father dug up a picture of his father with a rifle when he was a Forest official in Germany pre WW ll. He thought it was a Browning and held 5 rounds. I thought it might have been a Remington model 8 designed by John Browning but I'm not sure. Any thoughts?
Thanks.

 

[kennymo]

The Remington Model 8 had a fixed box magazine and traditional straight stock, not a pistol grip. It's definitely something else.

Are you sure it was a rifle? Looks a little bit like a Browning Auto 5 to me. Kind of like a shell lifter right in front of the trigger guard? And it's hard to tell but the back of the receiver looks like it might be squared up like the old humpbacks.

 

[9.3mauser]

Looks like a Browning Auto-5 shotgun.

 

[kennymo]

^^ Legitimately did not see that when I edited my post

 

[Chumlee Bumsnag]

I didn't know the Browning Auto 5 was around then. It does look like that is it. Thanks for the info.
Cheers.

 

[sail32]

The Browning Auto-5 was the first mass-produced semi-automatic shotgun.

Designed by John Browning in 1898 and patented in 1900,[4] it was produced continually for almost 100 years by several makers with production ending in 1998.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browning_Auto-5

 

[fingers284]

another indication that it is an Auto 5 is the cartridge/magazine cut-off lever that appears to be in the photo. I didn't know they were on that early of an Auto 5.

I have an early FN Auto 5 that has only a 4 digit serial number, 35xx. The frame has a 1903 patent # stamp so there weren't many built between 1900 and 1903. It doesn't have the mag cut-off. An interesting note from the barrel roll stamp, Barrel (or whole gun, it doesn't specify) was made with something called "Cockerill Steel".

 

[9.3mauser]

From the style of the uniform the pic looks to date around the WWI time frame. Possibly just after the war, 1920's.

 

[8 ball]

Does look like an Auto 5.....