Hi all new to the forum, I've joined as ive got what i believe to be a Belgian FN made A5, Not sure whether im going to keep it yet as i want to fund a scope, however wanting to do a bit of research first. I've so far dated it to pre 1939 from its serial number so think it was made prior to the production move to Remington.
Hello Noel, and welcome. From your pictures I can say your shotgun is pre-1934. If you provide your serial number I can get closer. By the way, the Browning site is full of errors and omissions, this is a much better reference: http://www.nramuseum.org/media/940941/serialization-date of manufacture.pdf
Rudolf thanks for that very helpfull, the serial number is 1419** from the link above am i right in saying it was 1929'ish ? Thanks again mate.
Hi all Not been on for a while, apologies for reviving an old thread. @Rudolph31 where will i find the proof marks and what would they look like ? are these them located at the base of the barrel ? Thanks Noel
Those are some, and it includes the date code. Here is a picture of my 1924 16's proof marks: Your date code appears to be a lower case "h" which corresponds to 1929, the same as the gun. This isn't alway the case, as barrels were sometimes manufactured and proofed a while before being paired with a receiver. http://damascus-barrels.com/Belgian_All_Proofmarks.html
Thanks for that Rudolf, the picture i posted above are the only marks i can find on the barrel. Out of interest if i was to restore this gun, for example have it re-blued professionally and recondition the wood work, would it spoil the gun ? At the minute its really tired certainly what id probably expect for a gun of 88 years. Im not sure overly what its worth so thinking restored it would make a nice keeper.
Noel, Right now your gun has little collector value, so if you want to restore it, go ahead. Just be aware that you most likely won't recover your investment if you later decide to sell. Also, although Art's and others do wonderful work, they salt blue the guns. Until the '60's FN rust blued, so there'll be a subtle difference. http://www.artsgunshop.com/
Thanks all for your time. I bought the gun in a job lot of 5 guns, It cost me £30 and i was hoping to sell it on with the others and make some money, however now i know a bit of its history i think im going to do it up and keep it. As and when i get round to doing it ill maybe put some before and after pics up. Thanks again.