Tribute to a Classic....show us your Auto-5

Can honestly say I have only witnessed one person ever that I can remember using an A-5 to shoot trap with. It was at an annual Amateur shoot we used to put on years back at the club. A 5 person team shoot deal with local businesses putting together teams and shooting against each other. It was true amatuers only, club members were not allowed to participate. We used to draw about 120 shooters each year. Some of the members still shooting today were from those original amateur teams. There are some nice humpbacks in here. I am a sucker for the rounded pistol grip versions personally.
 
the spank said:
Can honestly say I have only witnessed one person ever that I can remember using an A-5 to shoot trap with. It was at an annual Amateur shoot we used to put on years back at the club. A 5 person team shoot deal with local businesses putting together teams and shooting against each other. It was true amatuers only, club members were not allowed to participate. We used to draw about 120 shooters each year. Some of the members still shooting today were from those original amateur teams. There are some nice humpbacks in here. I am a sucker for the rounded pistol grip versions personally.
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We have a few guys at our range that use Auto-5's to shoot trap. Mostly light twelves or twenties. I love to use my magnum 12 as it will not eject light target loads, so I don't have to pick up shells...I have to manually open the action to remove the spent hull and load another. Obviously this is not suitable for sporting clays or skeet, but for trap its perfect...one shot at a time...no need for a shell catcher and no worry about hitting the person standing next to me with an empty hull.
 
My uncle lent me his Japanese Auto-5 Magnum today for the waterfowl season. I was curious about the friction ring setup. I have it set on the 3'' magnum setting as per the Browning manual, but I've read that 3'' waterfowl steel loads don't necessarily cycle on this setting, and may work better on the light setting. What are your guys experiences with this?

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OK thanks for the info. Also, I've read that some people leave the mag tube dry, others use a thin coat of oil, and some even use a couple drops of motor oil that is more viscous. I hear the latter was intended by JMB himself.

Also, one is not supposed to strip the action down to clean, so what's the best way to lubricate the action and bolt etc. I don't want to disassemble the receiver and action components.
 
It's a fixed choke barrel that was made in Japan before Invector chokes were used. It was Full but opened up to Mod.
 
I have a few A5 browning and love them Buck special barrels are a very good option to have. 32 inch barrels for
trap shooting
 
I guess Auto 5's are an acquired taste. I have owned a few. Just found them a little "Clunky" and slow Swinging.

But on the other hand very well made. Just not for me. It may have a lot to due with the Hump back receiver.
 
Just to clarify, are the fixed choke Japanese magnum barrels capable of firing steel shot if the chokes are opened up? Or are the Japanese Invector choke barrels the only A5's that can fire steel shot?
 
mosinmaster said:
Just to clarify, are the fixed choke Japanese magnum barrels capable of firing steel shot if the chokes are opened up? Or are the Japanese Invector choke barrels the only A5's that can fire steel shot?
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To answer some of your questions, and these are just my opinion, these guns were made to work with little maintenance, but if you do a complete strip down, clean and lube with a good quality lube like G96 you should be fine for a good long time. You can take it to a Smith for that or get a proper screwdriver set and punches and do it yourself. It's actually quite easy once you've done it a few times. But for now, a bore snake for the barrel and a cleaning cloth for the action will do. Just make sure to dry it out and give the entire gun a good wipe down if it gets wet. For the ring set up go with the light load set up for 3" steel shot. And you should be fine with a Japanese barrel for steel shot, just keep it BB or smaller. For the mag tube, put a couple drops of lube rub it around then wipe it almost dry. Load up two loads and see if it cycles. If it does your good to go. If not, leave a little more oil on the tube. You goal here is to have as little oil as possible on the mag tube, just enough to cycle. Too much an the barrel will move too deeply into the receiver and could cause damage (negating the purpose of the friction rings).
And one more thing, PATTERN YOUR LOADS. Just because you've been told it's a mod doesn't mean it will pattern like a mod choke in another gun. Try some different sizes and brands. I find that with a mod choke in my mag 12 (Hastings barrel) best patterns are achieved with smaller shot like #2 Hevi-Metals. With a light-mod I can shoot BBB with just as good results.

Hope this helps.
 
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