A friend (who knows his way around Auto5s too) and I went to a gun show 140 miles away today. Usually a pretty good show, however today's was the worst show ever. On the way back through town we were in we decided to stop at the local pawn shops to see if there were any hidden A5s deals. We strolled into one pawn shop and saw what first looked like three Auto5s lined up on their rack. Turns out one was a Remington Model 11, so that one was immediately out of the question. We asked the 15 watt kid behind the counter if we could see the other two. He plops both of them in front of us. We start to go over them for obvious discrepancies such as overt problems, incorrect time frame parts, etc. The first one we looked at was a straight stock 12 gauge, good wood, bluing mostly gone, but no pitting, or rust. Three digit serial number!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Marked at $399. I gave my friend "the look", which he has learned to know it means this one is going home with me. The second one is also a straight stock, about the same condition, only a 16 gauge. Made in 1920. It was marked at $599. He got the same look. "Could you sharpen up your pencil and give me a better price on both of these?" "Well, this one (the 12 gauge) has been here quite a while, so I can work with you on that one, but the other one has only been out for a few days so I'm going to have to stick pretty close to that price." While he is playing on his computer, I quietly talk it over with my friend. He says offer them $750 and I can always come up. We agree---keep in mind I would gladly pay twice what they had marked. "Ok, sir, the best I can do is $700 for both, but only if you pay cash." "That's with the tax right?" "Well......I guess. Cash?" "That's all I use pal." Maybe, just maybe, life IS worth living until your 68.
And you will sleep like a baby tonight! Good things come to those who wait! Sent from my LG-H700 using Tapatalk
Can't wait for the pictures.....and you thought your 60's were just about Social Security...GREAT FIND!!!!
Computers and me posting pictures are not on speaking terms. I would gladly email a picture to someone else to post. I think I know how to do that. Maybe. And I just got done taking the 1920 apart down to the naked frame, and did a detailed cleaning. Decades (!!) of brown shellac all over the inside, but once I cleaned all of that cheese off----the inside looked like NEW! Very little wear, the springs still looked pretty good. The other one is on the 800 number range.
I was hoping for an under 500 SN where you can see the Browning patent on the bottom of the receiver.
Update: Yesterday the 1920 got a complete disassembly and inspection. I removed all the obligatory brown shellac, once known decades ago as "gun oil". A bunch of dirt, and crud, but afterwards, it cleaned up very nicely. Hardly any wear on the usual places, this gun has not been fired a bunch. A blessed it with a good lube-job, and put it back together. Into the safe it went. (I put my ear to the door of the safe after I closed it and heard the other Auto5s introducing themselves. They are a polite bunch.) Today, I went into the 1903---very carefully. I total tear down. Again, brown shellac was in abundance. After cleaning and looking everything over, it too looked to have spent way more time leaning up in a closet than being used as intended. Not a lot of wear at all. HOWEVER........................upon my teardown, when I pushed the pin out to remove the breech block assembly (and BTW, the hole in the receiver for removing that pin was right above the carrier screw rather than the more common farther forward location) and grabbed the locking block latch, I instantly noticed about half of the rear surface had broken off. It didn't fall out when I was tearing things part, I am guessing on the dirt on the broken rough surface it happened many decades ago. So, I also guess it still ran. My dilemma--do I replace it, and lose the ability to say it is 100% original? (I will surely never shoot this one) Or do it leave it in and let it lower my blood pressure? Another difference I noticed was the rear of the action spring tube on the receiver has two "J' slots to remove the wood spring plug, so you don't need to punch the retaining pin out, you just use a large screwdriver to push in and twist for removal. Oh yeah, one extractor.
Glad you are using your time wisely...spending time with your Auto 5 and keeping it healthy. This is just my two cents worth and everybody has different ideas. I think Mr. JMB would want you to keep the old girl firing and ready to go on the next hunt. A firearm has many working parts and they wear out or break; that is just the way everything works. If you had a 70' Hemi Cuda and changed the spark plugs, brakes, bulbs, tires, etc...would you say it was still original...I would bet that most people would. My reason for thinking that way is because it still had the same original foundation of frame, sheetmetal, engine, transmission, interior, and paint etc... the heart of the car. Which to me is the same as firearm where the heart and soul of the originality is in the the barrel, receiver, wood, finish and any other serialized part. Just think of all those Brownings after the 1950's era where the serialized parts are all but gone...hard to say what is original on them. I would bet that somewhere in the last 100 years there may have been a few parts replaced somewhere in the shotgun due to wear but that is natural and acceptable. I would ease my blood pressure down to 120/80 and try to find the right NOS or other used parts to keep her running. Just another reason to keep looking and start a new chapter in your great Browning adventure!!!! ENJOY YOUR AWESOME NEW FIND!
As for the locking block latch, if it were mine, and the gun cycles as is, I would dress the broken edge with a file and call it good. If it doesn’t, and I wanted to shoot it, I’d replace the part but keep the original. It can always be reinstalled. That’s assuming that a newer part would work. Lots of parts changed, beginning the very next year. One reason I stopped shooting my own 1903 is the bolt and locking block with the double rails. Break either of those and good luck finding a replacement. And since it’s a safe queen, I kept the original springs.
You guys need to send those safe queens to Texas, I'm not scared to shoot them. If they break, they can be fixed. What's the purpose of having something you're afraid to use?
I’ve shot mine. It’s got a full choke so I need to have a friend load spreaders for Skeet. But I have other guns, so why bother? Maybe every September 17th. Also I don’t think you can fix a broken rail for less than the value of the gun. But right now it ain’t broke.
