Browning A-5

A friend of mine has a nice Belgian A5 we went clay bashing with... I loved the thing. He doesn't know squat about firearms, so I pulled it apart and cleaned it up, checked to make sure the ring was properly positioned and away we went. It cycled fine with both my crappy AA heavy trap reloads and the cheap field loads we put through it.

I have always wanted a Belgian A5 (believe me, I tried to buy it off him...) and someday I will have one. I would rather pay $1200 for an older classic than the same for a new one... but that's me. :D
 
The old gunny was shooting one on lock n load. He didnt
much care for the recoil, and man, they do kick! He said it
would be ok if it JUST HAD TO BE SHOT!
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I couldn't disagree with Gunny's assessment of the A5. They do NOT have much recoil at all! I've fired a few that have knocked the snot out of me but once I looked into it, it's always the same story. No friction rings!
 
Wait a second, I have shot thousands of shells thru mine and it always works, never had a problem. I always set the friction rings for the shells im shooting keep it cleaned and lubed it's great. I saw a old guy with a nickle plated A5, until I got close to him to see that there was no blueing left and it was polished steel from years of use. He got in the early 1930's and shot all game birds, hunted most everything, plus trap and skeet all year long and said it never let him down. He's ran about 1,000,000 shells thru it he thinks, it's the only shotgun he ever owned for the last 50-60 years, and that was back in the mid 80's IIRC
 
Looks like a nice gun, but it has nothing in common with a real A5 except the badge and a couple of poorly executed styling cues.
 
It is a REAL A-5, just new and SUPPOSEDLY improved . We will see! So much negativity on something that has not even came out yet. Any new gun that is a good gun is a great addition to our sport/hobby. Wait untill it comes out and some experienced people have had a chance to use it before you go getting all critical. You never know, those of you that had things about the old A-5's you did not like, may find that those things are improved over the old ones. Only time will tell. I myself am being optomistic!
 
Not negative, Hydro, just skeptical. Any new shotgun with that name has very big shoes to fill. We shall see how it does...
 
The "new" A-5 reminds me of the "new" Camaro, Mustang, and Challenger cars that are being made. They carry the old name but, they are far from the originals. The "new" A-5 may be a great shotgun and I hope it is but it's not an original A-5 regardless of what name they put on it. I honestly don't feel that it will fill the shoes of the original A-5. It's kind of like the Browning make of the Winchester model 12 shotgun. They (Browning model 12's) were good shotguns but I could tell a difference between the Browning made model 12 and the original Winchester model 12 after handling and using them. There's just no substitute for an original.
 
Real curious about the Benelli comparison. I hope someone can do a side by side with an M2 Comfortech or a Cordoba. I'm curious as to how they did the bolthead. Remington and beretta both have a different design that allows for more contact area, but makes the lugs weaker. Can't wait to get my hands on one.
 
New, not always, but a lot of times does means better. Sure the Camaros and Mustangs of old are Classics and some worth a lot of $$$ in mint condition, but you will be hard pressed to find an old Mustang or Camaro stock from the factory with the torque, HP and speed with todays motors, transmissions, gearboxes and suspensions that the the new High end Camaros and GT500 stangs of today have, let alone the luxury factors the new ones have. Granted there is a lot more things to go wrong and expensive to fix, but then again we don't live in the 60's or 70's anymore neither. Another example, any Corvette from the past v/s the new Z06. Now with that being said there are a lot of older Stangs ,Camaros and Vettes I would rather have from a classic standpoint, but I wouldn't say they are better. Getting back to the point , I like the old A-5's a lot don't get me wrong , and want to eventually get another one to replace the one that was stolen from me, but I do think the new one will be an improvement over the old if it is as Browning claims.
 
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I think it is interesting that Browning (aka Winchester) has said the gas system is the best-most reliable, fastest system on the market, yet here they are copying Benelli's old technology. Makes me wonder if Browning has been blowing smoke up my ??? for the last 10 years. I own Benelli's, and wouldnt own anything else--especially not an imitation that is more expensive.
 
Boom Boom and Boom;
I don't think the A6 (as a petition, I urge you all to refer to it as the A6, it sure as hell aint an A5) is faster than a Benelli with the proper Wolff +25% spring. That said, I would really like to test one out before I really start with assumptions. The benelli certainly has a few things going for it over the A5 though, the comfortech stock works well, chromed barrels, and most models have a steel upper. The A5 has a better trigger probably (can't get too much worse than a Beretta/Benelli trigger unit), and the straight stock is something I really like. Also, I'll be money that a sporting version along the lines of the Maxus sporting comes out.
 
Just what we need, another exponentially overpriced aluminum semi-auto shotgun.

I'm sorry, as I must state I am very opinionated against it. I don't see anything in this that is novel, neat, new or revolutionary, other than the marketing.

Why not just bring back the Auto-5 as it was produced?
Easy as to why they won't- their margin percentage is not high enough for what they think they would have to retail it. Good margin could certainly be made on the original design today, but not enough for corporate's and investor's liking.

I'm just not into these trendy, futuristic lookin' Oprah-themed Italian sportscar shotguns that have been the rage for the last 20 years or so.

I'm just an old curmudgeon I suppose. :p
 
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Boom boom, was Mr Benelli ripped off by JMB before WWI? If anything, Benelli copied JMB and his company's designs..

Just because Benelli calls its action "innovative" doesn't make it true.

Engineers tell me a blowback action is a blowback action is a.....

Don't get me wrong, the Benellis I've tried have been fine shotguns. The triggers need attention, so do those on Beretta autos, Remington autos, etc.

But Benellis will not cure cancer, raise the dead, nor hit the target if we point them wrong.
 
By the way ....Browning purchased Winchester....and then FN bought both companies...and its apparent that Browning is calling the shots in their shotgun division ( with Winchesters now being a clone of Brownings guns ...like the Browning Silver series and Win SX3's being virtually identical ..and Winchester using Brownings Invector Plus choke systems ).

I like Benelli as well ...and its my go to semi-auto for a lot of reasons...and I never did like the Auto 5's ...but no reason not to give them a chance and see what Browing has in mind. We won't really know - until some of us have had a chance to shoot them...they might be a good gun ( if they fit you).

I don't need or want another semi-auto shotgun ...but I'm looking forward to seeing what the new Auto 5's come out like ...
 
so, i had to reread my post three times, but i am pretty sure i didnt say anything at all about Benelli curing cancer, or shooting around corners.... the Benelli action is not blowback, it uses inertia-which is why they were granted patents on darn near every part of the original Montefeltro's sl80's and m1's.... you dont get patents for copying JMB (who by the way is/was/and will always be the icon IMHO) I dont know everything thats for sure, but i would like to know what exactly (model name/number) you think Benelli copied with the inertia system?

As far as other comments about triggers--they are shotguns boys, not precision rifles. i would be impressed if any semi auto hunting shotgun was noticably different, they are all about the same to me.
 
the Benelli action is not blowback, it uses inertia-which is why they were granted patents on darn near every part of the original Montefeltro's sl80's and m1's.... you dont get patents for copying JMB
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I believe inertia causes the bolt to unlcock and blowback then is responsible for the bolt moving back. Regardless, I believe you can get impovemnt patents; especially after the original patent expires.
 
I'm neither an engineer nor a gunsmith, but when a Benelli shooting engineer I know says that the Benelli action is a tweaked version of the A5, I tend to believe him.

Re triggers, practically everyone who shoots at the top of any shotgun game from FITASC to Card shoots has a clean, light,crisp trigger in their competition gun. Exception, release triggers.

Angle Port will tweak an 1100, 391,etc, to a clean 4 lbs. Most autos seem to run 6 lbs up. If you tried one, betcha you'd get yours done ASAP.
 
I'm neither an engineer nor a gunsmith, but when a Benelli shooting engineer I know says that the Benelli action is a tweaked version of the A5, I tend to believe him.
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The new A5 action and the Benelli are very similar. I suspect that's what he meant.

Boom boom, was Mr Benelli ripped off by JMB before WWI? If anything, Benelli copied JMB and his company's designs..

Just because Benelli calls its action "innovative" doesn't make it true.

Engineers tell me a blowback action is a blowback action is a.....
Click to expand...

There is nothing in common between the original Browning long recoil action and the Benelli / new A5 action, other than all are semiauto shotguns. None of them are blowblack actions.
 
I'm not catching the resemblance between any A5 and any benelli. Benelli has a completely different design that uses the same force to cycle the action in a completely different manner. That said, the Benelli system is much better than the auto 5 system, and Browning recognises this by putting these improvements in the A6. This of course is why were comparing the very similar A6 to any Benelli.

I've said it a billion times, but I can't wait to shoot an A6 for comparison.
 
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