Browned brown with brown brownness  - from Browning!

"RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht" (ramblininexile) 11/01/2016 at 14:51 • Filed to: gunlopnik

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I just got a thing. It was most likely made around 1925 ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! was made in ‘26 and is only 1,000 different in serial number). 16GA, and the barrel recoils as part of the action, which is fawrking awrsome.

The Auto 5 was the first mass-produced semi-auto shotgun. It was made by FN Herstal in Belgium for Browning for sale in the US up until WWII - most of the older ones are 16GA - and was also made as a Remington.

Pictures-wise, it looks pretty much exactly like that one as well, other than still having the original furniture, which has a rounded grip like this:

PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW *click*

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/01/2016 at 14:58

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For all you of a more poindextery bent, here’s an operating animation:

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/01/2016 at 14:59

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SkyNet > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/01/2016 at 15:00

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My first time duck hunting was with this gun. *Single tear*

HammerheadFistpunch > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/01/2016 at 15:01

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take 5? interesting music choice

Cherry_man1 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/01/2016 at 15:02

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Careful, that slide can take a finger off after you hit that button.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > SkyNet 11/01/2016 at 15:02

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Groups of ducks, circa 1902: “Keep flying! They can’t get us all!”

JMB, also circa 1902: “OH SHIT WHAT NOW, BITCHES”

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Cherry_man1 11/01/2016 at 15:03

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Trufax. That is one angry bolt spring. It makes things easier on the gun to lift the bolt off the catch and let it back in, certainly.

HammerheadFistpunch > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/01/2016 at 15:04

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Good ol John, that was one smart dude.

Jcarr > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/01/2016 at 15:04

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Super neat. How difficult is it to find 16ga shells? I feel like I only ever see 12 and 20.

crowmolly > Jcarr 11/01/2016 at 15:06

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http://www.sportsmansguide.com/productlist/ammo-shooting/shotgun-shells/16-gauge-shells?d=121&c=97&s=942

Surprisingly not brutal.

Although I wouldn’t exactly get knee deep in brass with a gun like this.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Jcarr 11/01/2016 at 15:06

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Dick’s has some options, and I think the local pawn shop may as well. Of course, with something like this the urge to hand-load brass cases Like A Sir starts to set in...

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > HammerheadFistpunch 11/01/2016 at 15:08

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Indeed. If he’d just come up with one or two bolt designs you could claim it was a fluke, but he came up with whole new operating principles again and again. Like the above - “long recoil” out of nowhere.

SkyNet > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/01/2016 at 15:09

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I was a kid (and a skinny one at that!) at the time so my perception of recoil is probably greatly exaggerated, but I recall it kicking like a mule.

Jcarr > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/01/2016 at 15:09

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I’ve never tried hand-loading. Too scared that I’ll screw it up. That and laziness.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > crowmolly 11/01/2016 at 15:10

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No getting knee deep - very much true. It’s got some wear and probably needs the slip rings adjusted. Not a wildly valuable gun, but very heirloomey and certainly elderly.

HammerheadFistpunch > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/01/2016 at 15:11

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I know I’ve mentioned this before but his brother Matt (also a smart dude with his own set of pattents) is my great great grandfather. I know much of it didn’t rub off but Its nice to know that somewhere in the line there were smart folk.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > SkyNet 11/01/2016 at 15:14

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They did also make these in 12GA, which yours might have been. It’s a very light gun, though - surprisingly so. The wood forend is so close to completely hollow it makes a sound like a gourd when you tap on it.
The first shotgun I ever fired was a 12GA single with no pad or anything, which we were using for skeet. With mild buck loads because that had been what was cheap (some kind of sale). OWWW

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > HammerheadFistpunch 11/01/2016 at 15:16

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The inventors in my family tree were mostly before the age of modern firearms...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Murdoch

HammerheadFistpunch > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/01/2016 at 15:20

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nice! sidenote: steam engine erector is a good title.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > HammerheadFistpunch 11/01/2016 at 15:23

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There’s also Alexander Graham Bell, who was some type of distant cousin of my great-great grandfather or some such. Basically all the inventy people in my family tree are Scottish - both sides.

HammerheadFistpunch > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/01/2016 at 15:24

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Bell...wasn’t he the guy that was laughed at for wanting chicken for breakfast?

crowmolly > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/01/2016 at 15:28

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A beautiful piece of history. I take it you are going to clean but not completely restore?

DipodomysDeserti > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/01/2016 at 15:31

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In my opinion, JMB was the Pininfarina of gun design. Such clean and purposeful designs. The Hi Power is my all time favorite looking and shooting gun.

leicester > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/01/2016 at 15:32

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Nice rig -

One of these days I may clean up my grandfather’s Savage 720 goose gun (Licenced using Browning’s auto action, built 1930s-1940s). It’s pretty well-worn, including a taped-up stock.

In the oddball 16-ga. world, my dad has a Mossberg 190 bolt action shotgun with’C-lect-choke’.

Sir_Stig: and toxic masculinity ruins the party again. > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/01/2016 at 15:35

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Haha I think the guys I’ve shot with have only ever used buck when we shoot skeet, your shoulder definitely feels it after a while.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > crowmolly 11/01/2016 at 15:37

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Clean, yes. Rebrown or refinish, no. Clean some of the dirtier parts of the bolt, yes. I may try to repair the crack in the back edge of the receiver with silver solder and some dremel work, but I’m not sure I need to - welding and sanding is right out.

A gun conoisseur friend of the family who’s mostly into black powder hadn’t heard of an Auto 5 before, and his first reaction was “that’s a G-Man gun!”. Well, yeah. It does have an Elliot Ness’ boys look to it like anything with a big square receiver and good walnut. It’s also a moonshining Robert Mitchum sort of gun, and so on...

http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Thunder_Road

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/01/2016 at 15:39

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I love the A5, it has such a satisfying ‘ka-chunk’ to the action. I usually pheasant hunt with a 20ga A5 (or a Citori)

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > leicester 11/01/2016 at 15:40

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I also picked up a 30" Iver 12GA single a while back. So far my “guns I intend to own as must-haves” and “guns I have actually bought because I saw them and needed them” set is a complete disconnect.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > DipodomysDeserti 11/01/2016 at 15:42

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HiPowers are sweet, this is true. A 1911 is higher on my list, but it’s probably my favorite looking 9. Having shot a Beretta 92, it on the other hand can GTFAC.

DipodomysDeserti > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/01/2016 at 15:55

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I actually owned a polished steel 1911 a while ago. It shot very nicely. I had a few friends in the military and they hated the Beretta. Kind of a sexy gun though.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > DipodomysDeserti 11/01/2016 at 16:01

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Having shot a couple of 1911s from fancier makes before that point, I was surprised at how well put together a basic parkerised Rock Island is.

66671 - 200 [METRIC] my dash > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/01/2016 at 16:03

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Very nice! I shot a 16 over under and didn’t feel too much difference compared to the 12 (also over under) IIRC, I’d prefer a 12 but any semi auto shotty is pretty cool.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > 66671 - 200 [METRIC] my dash 11/01/2016 at 16:08

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I think almost all pre-war Auto 5s are 16GA. There are 12GA and 20GA ones, but 16 should be fine. Especially if I go Full Retard:

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/01/2016 at 16:13

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Very nice, congrats!

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. 11/01/2016 at 16:15

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Now I just need a box of 16 to PEW PEW at things with.

66671 - 200 [METRIC] my dash > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/01/2016 at 16:15

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Wtf lol, Ive never seen those before.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > 66671 - 200 [METRIC] my dash 11/01/2016 at 16:19

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Before hulls were plastic, they were either full brass or pressed paper/cardboard (left):

You can’t reload either plastic or paper easily, but brass you can reload for years. The ones in my pic use ordinary “large” pistol primers - press out the primer, clean the hull, press in new primer, put in powder, put in wad, put in balls, put in wad, done.

BorkBorkBjork > leicester 11/01/2016 at 16:20

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I have that exact same bolt action, in 20-gauge!

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/01/2016 at 16:21

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Beretta 92s make me vommit uncontrollably.

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/01/2016 at 16:34

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Pew pew pew, ‘murcia.

66671 - 200 [METRIC] my dash > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/01/2016 at 16:49

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Yeah I looked online and saw some pics of crimpled down brass shot shells, pretty cool!

Are reloading shotgun shells easier than pistol or rifle casings? Especially being in college in Canada right now, I’m not considering getting any firearm but I will most likely in the future, so I’ve never looked into reloading, but I know its a thing. You have your own press?

Andy Sheehan, StreetsideStig > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/01/2016 at 16:56

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That’s really neat. I want one.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > 66671 - 200 [METRIC] my dash 11/01/2016 at 16:56

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I do not have a press - yet. I have done reloading a couple of times in pistol calibers with a friend and his press and powder scale/dispenser, and in most respects I believe shotgun reloading is WAY easier. First, the powder load is bigger (black powder), so you don’t have to be as incredibly careful with the amount. Second, the primer is much smaller compared to the shell - easier to remove and install. Third, though you have to pack the wadding and balls in, the depth isn’t so super-critical, and case crimp isn’t even really needed, I don’t think. It’s not like reloading for a 9mm, with the actual powder being only a few tiny crystals, and having to be careful not to push the bullet in too far or to mess up the crimp and have failure to ramp or excess pressure.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Andy Sheehan, StreetsideStig 11/01/2016 at 16:58

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Same place I got this one has a newer one with an engraved receiver, almost brand new, in 12GA for $790! Yeah, you can do better than that on gunbroker or somewhere. This one was $460, which isn’t hard to beat at auction but isn’t crazy overpriced.

vondon302 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/01/2016 at 17:33

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That’s kick ass.

Another addition to my list of want.

RonnyPStiggs > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. 12/06/2016 at 01:30

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*Belgium (but I think it’s a Browning design but idk for sure)