The Greek letter XI following the kg. --- indicates the barrel at least was made in 1956. Based on the finish color of the wood, it is a 50's gun. Can we get a more clear picture of the ejection port on the receiver?

Here it is. Gun has matching serial #'s on the receiver and barrel ring

Thanks for the pics and info. The squared off ejection port was in use until 1958 when the rear edges were radiused like the front. Matching numbers are a real plus. Congratulations, you have an unusual A5 in excellent condition from the "high water mark" of FN craftsmanship.

Thank you for letting us see it and add to our body of A5 knowledge.

The nice folks at Photobucket blurred your original pictures. Since you have such an unusual gun, would you mind reposting the one showing the serial number? Thanks.

Here are the clear pictures

Here are the rest of the pictures

The omission of the “Y” series was purely oversight. I remember suffering from Sweet Y gun envy but never found one. It is a very rare gun.

I’m traveling home to South Dakota from Columbus Ohio. The weather is not cooperating. When I get home I will update the guide.

Thanks for the posts and fresh info.

Welcome back, Goad. We haven’t heard from you for a while.

Good luck making sense of the senseless. Another anomaly I’ve noticed is the serial number is marked on the barrel ring. Interesting on a 1956 barrel since according to S/V (and my own collection) FN ceased doing that three years earlier.

Also, good luck getting home. Stay safe.

Maybe someone can make sense of this:

Perhaps a 1953 Sweet 16 ?

I am with you on 1953. The R preceding the 1009 unsweetened it. The A70 is a huge mystery.

Two serial numbers, one gun. Both indicate 1953, when the A prefix was applied to both standard and Sweet Sixteens.

The question is, why two? If this was at the end of the 958 A-prefixed guns I could understand it. But A70 was right at the beginning of that short run. And, with only 3100 R-prefixed 16’s produced in 1953, I’d have to assume that R1009 was made late in the year.

Rudolph, do you own this one? Do you know if it’s FN European or US Browning?

No, I only know it’s in Mississippi. This is the only picture, I haven’t seen it for real.

But neither the R or the A prefix was used anywhere else but the USA.

According to S/V p.76, A01 was accepted into the warehouse on 9/19/53. A958 was accepted on November 4, 1954. However, in the text says “by November 4, 1953 a total of 958 had been produced...” I can assume this is a typo. On p.77 serial number R01 was shipped on November 5, 1953 and R3100 on December 31, 1953. Serial number R1009 may have been produced late November. In the text on p. 77 “FN sold minor amounts to distributors in other countries, the vast majority of both (S & R) of these series were sold to Browning.” This is what we have for objective information.

Now the subjective, speculative, abstract and opinion begins. It is reasonable to speculate R1009 may have been stamped A70 first then wound up being stamped R1009. Both within 60 days. Some were destined for the European market. It would be interesting to know if R1009 is Browning or FN. Is there a small production that are double stamped, A above and S,R below.

PS. There are a lot of people on this planet and some of them could care less but a couple of us get tickled over this crap.

Yes, trying to make sense of this is what caught, and retained, my interest.

I agree there’s a typo in S/V, but I think it’s the 1954 date that’s in error. Producing 958 guns in a month and a half seems like a normal production schedule for FN.

I owned A48, and that was the only marking.

Hi Slim, was it FN or Browning?