WTF,O? So sorry to have steered you to that ebay ad. It says No Hassle Returns, hopefully it means it.

The bolt looks like it wasn't finished. I wonder where it came from.

No harm done. I'll send it back for a refund. Anyone who owns vintage Browning products knows the risks. I'll put her back together soon and start breaking clays. I've learned a lot and once this one is back up and running I'll move on to the next one.

Well the breech block return went well but not without a 20% restocking fee.

Today I reinstalled the breech block assembly as well as the action spring, follower, plug and pin. Before I reinstalled the locking block latch pin I questioned why I did not order a replacement. The field manual specifies that you insert end opposite the flattened end. That's when I noticed the flats that were also present in the center of the pin.

I then started to reinstall the carrier assembly. Since I had forgotten to clean the screws I submerged them in some simple green. My wife then alerted me that dinner was ready. After dinner I thought I would watch a few innings of the the NYY opener vs Boston. Well it's currently in the 19th inning. Around the 10th inning I thought oh no I left those screws to soak hours ago. Well their clean. In fact they are blond now. Another powerful lesson learned.

Yes, but who won the game?

Red Sox in the 19th. I will always remember that game when I look at my blond carrier screws. No big deal lesson learned.

After several weeks of good weather which delayed my reassembly I got back at it since we are expecting a possible frost this week.

The most obvious lesson I learned was that this firearm is solid as a rock. Or as my fellow club members say "bomb proof." However when ever someone references the need for a hammer they ask me to bring my A5 over. Jealous is what I say.
I must admit after reinstalling the breech block and the action spring assmbly I was perplexed that the breech block would not lock open? I continued on with the installion of the two piece carrier assembly then the trigger group. While inserting the trigger assembly I was concerned on how you can make sure that the carrier spring engages the end of the left leg of the carrier. Following the A5 field manual helped as it recommended slowly retracting the operating handle. I did not follow the A5 field manual verbatim however it was there to assist me when I got hung up.

I did find some minor corrosion inside my magazine tube that I used scotchbrite on until I was satisfied. Otherwise the inside finish of the magazine tube is a mirror similar to the barrel. Another mark of great craftsmanship.

After completing the reassmbly I cycled a few snap caps through to verify the speedloader was functioning as well as the trigger dropping the hammer on the firing pin.
I am looking forward to breaking some clays with this old girl soon.

My final thought is that I personally would never attempt tearing down an A5 without investing the $10 in the hollow ground screwdriver bits.

I think the misadventure with the Simple Green makes a great story. And the blond carrier screws are no harm done to a shooter shotgun.

By now I guess you know that the bolt won't lock back until the carrier is installed. The carrier dog holds the operating handle.

Let us know how she shoots. The new action spring should make quite a difference.

I'm looking forward myself since the last outing was when the breech block was damaged. I also will see if I can notice the difference with the new springs installed as well as the bronze friction ring.

I was a bit concerned myself when the bolt was not locking in the rearward position as I installed the barrel as mentioned in the A5 field manual and watched the carrier latch function correctly. I just kept the faith and proceeded with patientce and caution.

I just noticed the very last section of the A5 field manual contains the spring replacement and free lengths. This would have been helpful should I had read it before I reassembled

The only springs I did not replace were the extractors and the carrier dog and I have no malfunctions at this point to warrant this. However I would have liked to measured them for comparison.

I'm thinking my next project will be my 1966 Lt 12 or a 1958 first year three digit serial number 20ga.

Thanks to all for the valuable information.

I decided to make my 1966 Lt 12 my next project.
I am still amazed at how well these firearms continue to function with the amount of debris that was found in the trigger assembly.
This firearm was functioning flawlessly before disassembly.

Thanks for the post. Brownell has a video series of disassembly/reassembly/cleaning and lube of the A5 here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nECbrcCxp2k

Great thread.

Brings me back to many years ago working at a gunshop and deciding to do a throuogh cleaning for a customer on a A5. We normally never disassembled them but no, I had to "go the extra mile". I worked plenty after hours and still couldn't get the thing back together, then went home and literally laid in bed all night working out the steps and pieces in my mind, then went to work an hour early to get it done...if possible...before the boss showed up. I got it done right before he entered the building!

Couple things; Thanks about the Simple Green. I didn't know it removed bluing. They can be cold blued, but don't just wipe on some and be done with it, as you won't like what you see. Degrease entirely with acetone, then warm them up {along with the bluing} and wipe on with a Q-tip, then take 0000 steel wool and rub them down well, then repeat about 6x's or so. I make knives and find this actually works pretty well. Remember to rub down with 0000 wool after the last bluing and then dry and oil immediately.

I also remember a detail strip on my Father-in-law's old A5. Found a broken left side extractor. He never even knew it was gone as it did not affect the functioning of the gun at all. I thought that odd till I learned that the Rem 11 doesn't even have one. Anyhow, great thread and thanks for posting.

Thanks for the link to the screwdrivers, too. Just bought a couple sets.

I recently aquired a 1951 - 16 ga which was filthy. The online owners manual was helpful in its dissasembly but its an old grainey version (with no color picutres).

Im sure going back together will be much simpler with this information.

If you have an A5 apart its for the obvious reason, a couple things i would add that may be useful.

Pure liquid parrifin (lamp oil) is a great cleaning agent for all the metal parts. I also use it and an old tooth brush to clean the checkering. It will easily disolve many years of oil buildup.

That horn buttplate use to be a living thing and they dry out. Remove the plate and put it in a container and pour in enough mineral oil to submerge it completely. Let it soak a couple days, clean off the excess and put it back on the gun. It will look a lot better now.

The mineral oil trick was given to me by a knife maker as a way to keep ivory handled knives fron cracking.

Mike

I've got a 16 ga 5 digit S/N 290XX here, it was my wife's dad's dad's gun. The first dad is 79 now, the older dad died in the 80's. This gun probably hasn't been fired for 30-40 years. S/N lookup shows it to be made in 1924, it's 92 years old. S/N's on the barrel, receiver, and forearm match. The bore is spotless, but it does show wear. Barrel has no rib and it's 27" long. Says "Choke" on the side, and "Fabrique Nationale D'Armes Guerre Herstal Belgique", and "Browning's Patent Depose". Made in Belgium.

The exterior is in rough shape - about 1/4 of the receiver bluing is gone, and there are some edge scratches with fine rust lines. The wood is aweful, someone decided to shellac the wood with thick gloss while it was still on the gun! It's not too banged up though, I'll try to take that stuff off with some steel wool and mineral spirits.

The recoil spring is one of those old, machined flat type of springs. Very cool! It has a 2-9/16" chamber (65mm) so it has to shoot the expensive ammo.

The problem is that I can't pull the bolt back. I took the barrel off, but can't pull back the bolt. It moves a little not much, I don't want to break it. It just won't budge. Is there a release?

Do you think the action spring is all gummed up and preventing the bolt from moving? I need to get a decent ground screwdriver set and take this thing apart for a cleaning.

You have one, too. Yours is a year older than mine!

Sounds to me like the Link came off the Action Spring Follower.

The link from the bolt to the action spring follower.. yup, I bet that's it. Come to think of it, my Beretta semi-auto behaves the same way when the link falls away from the action spring.

I just need to take this gun apart and clean it really well. Need some screwdrivers.

http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools ... 25476.aspx

http://www.midwestgunworks.com/page/mgw ... NBPS6/HG-5

Thank you for the screwdriver links, I ordered the Brownell's set.

Once I get it shooting, I will need to buy some 2-1/2" shells. With this type of old, original spring, can you guys recommend a velocity/load for this old gun?

I'd like to get the lightest load it'll shoot... I'd like my wife's dad to shoot it and he's 79. That way his dad and he will have shot this gun before my wife inherits it.

Thanks!





I assume some of these will work:

http://www.rstshells.com/store/m/3-16-Gauge.aspx

Polywad says their Vintager 2 1/2", 7/8 oz shells won't cycle most auto loaders, but that their 1 oz Spred-R loads will cycle Auto-5's. However, I cut down both Herters and Remington hulls to 65mm and load 7/8oz to about 1200fps and they cycle just fine.

http://www.polywad.com/spredr-shells.html

Good info. I also see now that RTS puts "A5" in the description of their 1 oz, 1200 fps loads.

I bought the Brownell's screwdriver set and have this 92 year old gun broken down per their online video.

The serial numbers all match.

Some of the caked on junk is quite old.. the next step is to clean all these parts up. Time to get out the Hoppe's.. or something else to break this crud up!