The Browning A-5 shotgun and the Remington Model 11 shotgun were both based on the same John Moses Browning autoloading shotgun patent, but the guns were not identical. In addition to having a magazine stop and a twin clawed ejector that the Model 11 didn't have, I've been told that most parts made for A-5's that were manufactured before WWII were not interchangable in a Remington Model 11. Also, Remington had gotten rid of the suicide safety in front of the Model 11's trigger in 1928, while I've read that FN's A-5s still had this type of dangerous safety as late as 1939.
The FN company was located in Belgium. WWII interrupted FN's European production. So, during the war and for some time afterward, Remington manufactured A-5's for FN in the US. Remingtons website for Model 11's says thats what 65,000 of the 800,000 or so Model 11s they produced were. But were those 65,000 guns really the same as pre-war A-5's, or, were they Model 11 clones that were finished to look like A-5's? If they were Model 11 clones made to look like A-5's, were there problems after the war of gunsmiths or do-it-yourself folks using Remington parts in pre-war FN-made A-5's, or vice-versa? I see comments ever so often on this website about A-5's being finiky or otherwise troublesome and I wonder if this is the cause. I rarely see that kind of comment about Remington Model 11's.
The FN company was located in Belgium. WWII interrupted FN's European production. So, during the war and for some time afterward, Remington manufactured A-5's for FN in the US. Remingtons website for Model 11's says thats what 65,000 of the 800,000 or so Model 11s they produced were. But were those 65,000 guns really the same as pre-war A-5's, or, were they Model 11 clones that were finished to look like A-5's? If they were Model 11 clones made to look like A-5's, were there problems after the war of gunsmiths or do-it-yourself folks using Remington parts in pre-war FN-made A-5's, or vice-versa? I see comments ever so often on this website about A-5's being finiky or otherwise troublesome and I wonder if this is the cause. I rarely see that kind of comment about Remington Model 11's.