Wwii era American made browning Auto 5

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scattershot38

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Saw an American made hump back from world war ii era when Remington was producing them thinking about buying it obviously not as awe inspiring as the belgium made ones but can't really find anything wrong with it. My question is what are the cons about them? It's just for personal collection don't plan on shooting it at all if any. Help me out here people what should I do?
 
Saw an American made hump back from world war ii era when Remington was producing them thinking about buying it obviously not as awe inspiring as the belgium made ones but can't really find anything wrong with it. My question is what are the cons about them? It's just for personal collection don't plan on shooting it at all if any. Help me out here people what should I do?
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Remington made the same gun as the FN Auto 5 under license from Browning from about 1905 until 1947. It was initially called the Remington Self-Loading Shotgun(as I recall), then the Model 11 after 1911(although I could be wrong). Either way, it is just as well made as the Belgium licensed guns of the day, if not generally as fancy. There are no cons as long as you accept it for what it is, a product of the very earliest days of the self-loading shotgun. Luckily, it's also one of the best and most iconic shotgun designs of all time. BTW, Savage licensed, built and sold the same design as the 720 during that time period. They also built many "hardware" guns for companies under that license.
 
The WWII era Browning Auto 5s were made by Remington because the Nazis controlled the FN plant, and in fact all of Belgium. The Remington Auto 5s are just like the FN ones to the best of my knowledge, but I am not a big authority (or fan). The Remington Model 11 had some differences, like no mag cut off for one. Remington did not produce them throughout the war because their production facilities were all diverted to making firearms for the U.S. The Auto 5s were built under contract; the Model 11s were built under license.
John Browning wanted to license the design to Winchester with royalties, a la Bill Gates and DOS, but Winchester balked, and as a result didn't have a decent semi auto until the Super X 1 70+ years later. IBM did license - not buy - the operating system from Gates, and Microsoft went on to dominate computer operating systems, just like for a very long time the ONLY reliable semi auto shotguns were all built on the Browning long recoil operating system.
 
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Both the Remingtons and the FNs are some of the best made robust and reliable shotguns you can buy. At one time I had 5 auto 5's and one Remington 11. They are sweet!
 
Remington didn't make Brownings/FN guns. They did produce a shotgun based on Browning/FN design.
 
The design was John Browning's. His namesake company owned the patent rights. FN is a Belgium arms maker. In early WWII, Remington built Auto 5s - not Model 11s - under contract. THAT is a fact. Model 11s were built under license of the Browning design. Until recently when FN bought Browning, Browning had never manufactured a firearm. The had them built for them under contract by FN, Remington, Mirouku, and I don't know who else. I am not implying that is good or bad, it just is. Until recently Weatherby also fell in the same boat.
 
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The only drawback, IMO, that I see is that with the Browning Auto 5/Remington 11, as well as the Remington 11-48, is the "long" recoil system wherein the barrel comes back with the bolt, and then the barrel slams forward during the ejection of the shell, and then a new round is chambered.

It takes some getting used to compared to the gas-operated Remington 58, 878, 1100, and 11-87. I have shot all of these models mentioned on the skeet/trap range long ago.

The other minor concern is that the Browning type shotguns must have the friction rings set properly depending upon the shotshells being used.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browning_Auto-5

I am not downing any of these guns; just food for thought.
 
Oh I agree with you. Don't like long recoil actions, and don't like the square backed receiver. The only long action I would ever consider would be a Franchi 48 in 28 gauge.
Yes, I did own one.
 
Browning was a freelance gun designer; he and his brother had a small shop in Utah, but other than that he never had a factory. Nor has the modern Browning Arms Company, which is an importer/distributor for guns made in Belgium and elsewhere. Browning sold his designs to gun companies, either outright, or on a royalty arrangement. He became very wealthy, though he was never in the Bill Gates league.

Jim
 
Nobody in the history of the world has ever been in the Bill Gates league unless they were born to royalty with lots of oil under their feet.
 
Well I don't plan on hunting with just want them for personal collection so with that being said I know the belgium made ones are the cream of the crop and both of them are rough neither will get much in resale so is the remington made worth putting in my collection or not?
 
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