Art's Did It

dbuffington · May 3, 2013

Hi Folks!

Back in November, I made another one of my ill-advised gun purchases, a heavily worn 1959 A5. Scuffed wood. Wear on the bottom of the receiver. Corrosion on the top. It's appeal? Uniquely beautiful, if badly beat up, engraving …

For a few weeks, I fiddled around, trying to decide what to do with it. Eventually, I bit the proverbial bullet and sent it off to Art's (http://www.artsgunshop.com). The result …

Enjoy!
Dave

P.S. The original thread on this gun can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=53&t=314542

mglanham · May 3, 2013

Wow........that about sums it up. It is awesome.

muskyjack · May 3, 2013

That is what I call a fun Browning! Very unique and impressive.

baril · May 3, 2013

Wordless ...

thatoleboy · May 3, 2013

.......I'm guilty of staring, sorry

dbuffington · May 3, 2013

Thanks for all the compliments! Just remember that even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then =)

A few notes, in no particular order …

- Art's didn't just reblue and refinish the gun. They actually recreated several of the silver inlays, which were missing when I bought the gun. For example, they recreated the pheasants in a style matching the other inlays.

- That leads to a broader question about the engraving. The Browning historian told me that the gun originally came to Browning as a plain, field grade gun. In the late 1950s, even field grade guns came with an engraved receiver, not heavily engraved, but engraved none the less. However, none of that remains on this gun? Was it somehow stripped?

- I have looked and looked and looked for some information as to who engraved this gun. Any ideas?

- My friend Frank noticed that the bolt on this gun was decoratively machined. (See the first photo at the top of the thread.) However, when it came back, the machining was gone. Either Art's removed it or they replaced the bolt. I'll ask.

Finally, I fully understand that this is no authentic Midas grade gun. Heck, it's not even my style. (I prefer the decorative "floral" engraving as opposed to representational game scenes … they remind me of airbrushed hippie vans.)

But the craft and skill that went into the original job and Art's restoration is truly amazing, and I'm thrilled have it in my little collection.

Enjoy!
Dave

RandyWakeman · May 3, 2013

Gorgeous.

lowgun · May 3, 2013

English Pointers pointing flying waterfowl over water? Typical Japanese postwar work. I think this is a wonderful gun and would be welcome in my house.

drsfmd · May 3, 2013

Are you guys seeing pictures? All I get is the box with the red X.

dbuffington · May 3, 2013

lowgun said:
English Pointers pointing flying waterfowl over water? Typical Japanese postwar work. I think this is a wonderful gun and would be welcome in my house.

Thanks! Randy suggested the same thing earlier, and yes, it does have that kind of look, but ...

Would it have been practical to take a gun and ship it to Japan to have the work done? Or was it done by a Japanese engraver based here in the States?

Thanks again!
Dave

Tijeras_Slim · May 3, 2013

The Japanese engraving I've seen was usually done in country for GI's who purchased the guns at the PX in the 50's and 60's.

dbuffington · May 3, 2013

Tijeras_Slim said:
The Japanese engraving I've seen was usually done in country for GI's who purchased the guns at the PX in the 50's and 60's.

THAT makes all sorts of sense. And to support that theory, the gun is definitely a "Browning" not a "FN" model ...

Thanks!
Dave

crazyforbrownings · May 3, 2013

dbuffington said:
Thanks for all the compliments! Just remember that even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then =)

A few notes, in no particular order …

- Art's didn't just reblue and refinish the gun. They actually recreated several of the silver inlays, which were missing when I bought the gun. For example, they recreated the pheasants in a style matching the other inlays.

- That leads to a broader question about the engraving. The Browning historian told me that the gun originally came to Browning as a plain, field grade gun. In the late 1950s, even field grade guns came with an engraved receiver, not heavily engraved, but engraved none the less. However, none of that remains on this gun? Was it somehow stripped?

- I have looked and looked and looked for some information as to who engraved this gun. Any ideas?

- My friend Frank noticed that the bolt on this gun was decoratively machined. (See the first photo at the top of the thread.) However, when it came back, the machining was gone. Either Art's removed it or they replaced the bolt. I'll ask.

Finally, I fully understand that this is no authentic Midas grade gun. Heck, it's not even my style. (I prefer the decorative "floral" engraving as opposed to representational game scenes … they remind me of airbrushed hippie vans.)

But the craft and skill that went into the original job and Art's restoration is truly amazing, and I'm thrilled have it in my little collection.

Enjoy!
Dave

Dave:

What an awesome story! Art's did a great restoration on a beautifully unique gun!!

Thanks for sharing with us!

Please post some of those pics on the following thread: http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=286714

Congrats! {hs#

CFB

dbuffington · May 3, 2013

crazyforbrownings said:
Please post some of those pics on the following thread: http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=286714

You don't mind me crashing a thread about factory engraved Supers with a third-party engraved A5?

Thanks!
Dave

dbuffington · May 3, 2013

drsfmd said:
Are you guys seeing pictures? All I get is the box with the red X.

Others are definitely seeing the images. Try closing/quitting your web browser, and then restarting it. Let me know if the images appear. Thanks!

drsfmd · May 3, 2013

dbuffington said:
drsfmd said:

Are you guys seeing pictures? All I get is the box with the red X.

Click to expand...

Others are definitely seeing the images. Try closing/quitting your web browser, and then restarting it. Let me know if the images appear. Thanks!

Nope. Not in IE, Firefox, or Opera. Not on my iPhone either. Your avatar is nothing but a red X too... but everyone else's stuff shows up as normal. Where are you hosting your images? Perhaps it's blocked for me...

dbuffington · May 3, 2013

drsfmd said:
Your avatar is nothing but a red X too... but everyone else's stuff shows up as normal. Where are you hosting your images? Perhaps it's blocked for me...

Yup, you figured it out. It's hosted on my company server, which your ISP/server/firewall isn't liking. Sorry!

crazyforbrownings · May 3, 2013

dbuffington said:
crazyforbrownings said:

Please post some of those pics on the following thread: http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=286714

Click to expand...

You don't mind me crashing a thread about factory engraved Supers with a third-party engraved A5?

Thanks!
Dave

Silly, Dave!! :lol:

Art is art. I love the engraving on your A5. {hs#

I will edit the thread from engraved Supers to all Browning shotguns with lovely engraving.

Have a good weekend, Dave!

CFB

dbuffington · May 3, 2013

crazyforbrownings said:
Silly, Dave!! :lol:

Thanks! Done.
Dave

Irishwhistler · May 4, 2013

Great looking gun and a credit to the work by Art's.

Irishwhistler

Dbl Auto · May 4, 2013

dbuffington, that is fantastic!
Doug

JJK · May 4, 2013

just awesome - wow.

dbuffington · May 7, 2013

JJK said:
just awesome - wow.

Thanks! I just wish I could get the thing to talk to me, tell me where it's been.
Dave

Kraiza · May 7, 2013

Beautiful looking gun.

Jim P · May 11, 2013

If I could bother you for a bit more information on this a5. Could you possiably provide pictures of any engraving on the barrel.I am intersted in barrel engraving on mainly Browning shot guns so any pictures you could provide would be very intersting and informative to me. Do you have any idea who did the engraving? It would be of intrest to me to know if the gun was engraved when manufactured and if not to know if for some reason either special order or age that it came to who ever engraved it without any engraving or if the existing engraving was some how removed before it could be engraved with the existing pattern.
Thanks, Jim

Orion6 · May 12, 2013

FABULOUS looking gun. Congrats.

Art's Did It

Top Contributors this Month

Recommended Communities