Gunsmith for Browning A5's

[Fishwishin]

A friend of mine has two (.12 and .20) older Browning A5's. He said they have both become less than reliable, sticking and not cycling right. Does anybody know of a good gunsmith in, or around, Contra Costa County who would go through them and make them run right?

Thanks

[Unforgiven]

Has he tried cleaning and lubricating? The other cheap fix, is a recoil spring.

[shovelon]

Has he tried cleaning and lubricating? The other cheap fix, is a recoil spring.

Good info, I concur.

Both guns? What kind of ammo? It makes a difference.

Extraction? Ejection? Cycling? Would help to know as I have experienced all of them and have solutions to my problems.

[fish45]

Has he changed loads? If he has he should adjust the friction rings. look at the first picture in the link below for how to adjust them.

https://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=578011

[NapalmCheese]

All of the above is good advice. I don't know many people shooting older A5s (I do, but don't personally know anyone else that does) on the regular; but of the people that talk about them, I don't think anyone lubes them. Ever.

The magazine tube needs an exceedingly light coating of thin lube (not no lube) and the old lube that has potentially gummed up needs to be cleaned off. Internally there's a bit of lubrication that needs to happen as well from time to time, which should again be very light.

If he actually needs to have the gun repaired I've used Art's in MO for two A5s and have had so-so luck with them, but ultimately they've done good work.

The first I sent was a 1947 Belgian 16 gauge A5 3-shot. The fore end was cracked and I wanted a new recoil pad. I had sent a note asking them to ship back any of the original parts they replaced. They called me, said they couldn't fix the fore end, but happen to have one that would fit. I asked them to replace it. They did, the finish is nice and the fit is good, but they didn't send back the original fore end (and the new one obviously doesn't match serial numbers and isn't marked '3-shot'). I called them after receiving it and asked them to locate the old fore end. They said they couldn't find it and more often than not cracked stock pieces end up in the furnace. Bummer.

The second gun I sent in was a 1967 12 gauge. The mag tube had broken off while I was hunting but I was able to recover most of the parts. I sent the receiver to them asking them to fit a new mag tube and replace the internals. They did, shipped the gun back, and I took it out hunting. It would only hold 1 round in the magazine. I emailed Art's and they had me send it back and they scheduled a UPS pick up for my shotgun. Turns out they left a burr on the inside of the magazine that was preventing my loading any more rounds. They took care of the burr and shipped it back, it now runs great.

[Huntsprig]

All of the above is good advice.

I agree.^^^

Also depending how much the the gun has been used/abused the action spring and tube in the stock may need cleaning.

I waterfowl hunt with a A-5 magnum and a number of years ago while hunting I noticed that the action was sluggish, got it home and found that action spring and tube was full of crap that had accumulated over the years.

Cleaning it out solved the problem.


.

[W.R.Buchanan]

If these guns have not been taken apart and cleaned they will need that.

Art's gun shop in Hillsboro MO is the place where the Guru Resides but he has been kind enough to put up a video on youtube showing how to completely disassemble the guns and clean and lube them. You don't have to go any farther than Removing the trigger group and bolt to completely clean the gun. This needs to be done if the gun is any more than 40-50 years old because it probably hasn't been done since then.

Then lube the parts with 30 wt oil.

This isn't that hard and if you can watch a video and do what he does you can do this. You do need the proper thin bit screwdrivers which you can get from Brownell's for $7. This si so you don't goon the screws.

A clean A5 is one of the most reliable guns there is. I just ran mine thru a Tactical Shotgun Class at Front Sight and ran 500 rounds thru it with no malfunctions whatsoever. Lubrication is key! My gun was made in 1963 and ran perfectly the whole time.

I learned everything I know about them from the video. It ain't that hard !!!!!!

Here's the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMBRdYZ5Mhs&t=4518s

good luck

Randy