Browning Auto-5

The Browning Automatic Five, most often Auto-5 or simply A-5, is a recoil-operated semi-automatic shotgun designed by John Browning. It was the very first successful semi-automatic shotgun design, and remained in production until 1998. The name of the shotgun designates that it is an autoloader with a capacity of five rounds, four in the magazine and one in the chamber. Remington Arms sold a variant called the Remington Model 11 that was almost identical but lacked the magazine cutoff found on the Browning.

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The Browning Auto-5 was the very first mass-produced semi-automatic shotgun. Designed by John Browning in one thousand eight hundred ninety eight and patented in 1900, [Four] it was produced continually for almost one hundred years by several makers with production ending in 1998. It features a distinctive high rear end, earning it the nickname “Humpback”. The top of the act goes straight back on a level with the barrel before cutting down sharply towards the buttstock. This distinctive feature makes it effortless to identify A-5s from a distance. A-5s were produced in a multitude of gauges, with twelve and twenty predominating; sixteen gauge (not produced inbetween one thousand nine hundred seventy six and 1987) models were also available. The gun witnessed military service worldwide inbetween World War I and the Vietnam War. A Remington Model eleven was used in the suicide of Kurt Cobain. [Five]

Production Edit

John Browning introduced his design (which he called his best achievement) [Four] to Winchester, where he had sold most of his previous designs. When Winchester refused his terms, Browning went to Remington. Tragically, the president of Remington died of a heart attack as Browning waited to suggest them the gun. This compelled Browning to look overseas to produce the shotgun. It was manufactured by FN (a company that had already produced Browning-designed pistols) embarking in 1902. Browning would later license the design to Remington, which produced it as their Model eleven (1905–1947). The Remington Model eleven was the very first auto-loading shotgun made in the USA. Savage Arms also licensed the design from Browning and produced it as their model seven hundred twenty from one thousand nine hundred thirty to 1949, and their model seven hundred forty five with an alloy receiver and two-shot magazine from one thousand nine hundred forty one to 1949. Browning’s long-recoil design itself served as the operating system for subsequent Remington (11-48), Savage (755, 775) and Franchi (AL-48) models. [Four]

Production of the Auto-5 in Belgium continued until the commence of World War II, when Browning moved production to Remington Arms in the United States. The Auto-5 was produced by Remington alongside the Model eleven until FN could resume making the gun after the war. [6] Unlike the Remington Model 11, the Remington-produced Browning shotguns had magazine cutoffs. Some 850,000 Remington Model eleven shotguns were produced before production ended in 1947. In 1952, production of Browning models returned to FN, where it continued until the end. However, the majority of production moved to the Japanese company Miroku in 1975. Eventually, in 1998, manufacture of A-5s ceased except for a few commemorative models created at FN in 1999. As of one thousand nine hundred eighty three it was well established as the second-best-selling auto-loading shotgun in U.S. history, after the Remington 1100. [Four]

In two thousand fourteen Browning released the A5, a recoil-operated shotgun with outer resemblance to the Auto Five, which is being manufactured in Belgium, assembled in Portugal.

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