Carrier Getting Stuck Creating a Problem with Speed Load Function

So I’ve searched and not found anything like what I’m dealing with. Surprising since usually I can find SOMETHING.

Anyway my 1955 Auto 5 Sweet Sixteen won’t speed load with regularity. Loading the shell into the mag should cause it to jump right back out and get chambered. It will work sometimes but not every time.

So I took it apart, cleaned it everything as best I could and ordered a rebuild kit from Arts. Once the new parts got here I cleaned everything again, poured up some whisky, and proceeded to put an Auto 5 back together for the first time. Only mishap was getting my right index finger slammed by the bolt.

Was disappointed to see I still had the same issue so I started tinkering around to see what the issue might be. Noticed the carrier stays up when I press it. Comparing that with my 1961 Sweet Sixteen I can press hard on the carrier and it pops right back into place. Every time.
On the ‘55 I can press to a point and let go and it it will spring back down but if I press all the way I feel a little rub/click and it’s stuck. A gentle push from the top reaching in through the ejection port and it springs back down. So I took out the trigger and tried to get an eye on what might be happening. It looks like the carrier spring is getting stuck behind the little boss on the carrier instead of riding on top where it can do its job. The clearance on those parts is so close. If the spring was .2mm longer it wouldn’t sneak behind the boss and work perfect...I think. If that’s even the problem.

What other known issues would/could cause this?


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Ranger will be along soon. He knows the speed load well

It looks like you’ve found the problem. FN switched to a trigger plate mounted spring a few years after the advent of Speed Load. The one on my ‘57 Sweet Sixteen broke and I found that the old springs were unavailable. So I ordered a Remington Model 11 spring and ground it to fit. You would think it would be easy, but it took a lot of fitting before I could get it to work. If the carrier spring is off just a little, you will have problems with your carrier.

Afterwards, Wolff ran off some old style carrier springs, and may still have some. I bought two, but haven’t tried them since my Remington spring works perfectly. I also learned that the new style springs can be made to work in the old guns. The FSM shows how, it’s available here:

https://www.midwestgunworks.com/field_service_manual/browning_auto_5_field_service_manual.pdf

If I were you I’d try to fix the spring you have, and order a replacement — either Wolff or new style — in case you can’t.

The MGW picture is mislabeled. It actually shows the NEW spring in an old gun. Here’s the same pic from the FSM:



Also, changing Trigger Plates is pretty drastic, as the new springs can be made to work.

You’re saying Trigger when you mean Trigger Plate, though in your case you replaced both.

In the OP’s case, he’s got the new Trigger and Safety. His gun is sort of unique in that it’s got Speed Load but uses the old Carrier Spring. That only occurred 1953-57. It made sense for you to change your Trigger Plate if you wanted the new Safety. I see zero advantage for the OP, since the new spring can be made to work.

Art’s was one of the first places I called in my search for an old style Carrier Spring. At that time, they didn’t have any. Wolff ran off some, I think because I requested them to. By that time I’d already fixed the ‘57 so I never tried the ones I bought. I’d like to know what trouble you had with them.

As for the OP, I think a few strokes with a file will fix your original spring, or smooth out the part of the Carrier that’s galling. Failing that, I’d replace the spring, with a new style per the FSM, a Wolff old style, or a modified M11.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

This post makes me want to do the speed load conversion to one of my guns.

Speed Load, late 1953.

Ranger if I remember right on one of your guns you cut the carrier spring posts of the receiver. Was that for the new style trigger guard?

Murderer!

Wow. Y’all are awesome. Very happy to have found this site

I didn’t consider it’s just galling. My thinking was the end wore off. I’ll 100% try passing a file over it as a Plan A.

Failing that, Plan B is to order a new spring from Art’s. He has them listed for $45.

Plan C is to use a new-style spring. Rudolph you told me something I didn’t know when you noticed I have the old style spring and trigger plate but have speed load and that that only happened for a few years. Last night I tried a long time to for my new style spring into my old style receiver. Getting forward enough to start the front trigger screw makes it hard to impossible to get the plate rotated into place. It gets stuck on the spring sitting on the post in the receiver. I’ll go back and see what the instructions say. FWIW Art in one of his videos says it works too so with enough patience and maybe a little luck I’ll get it.

So far I see I can buy a new old-spring from Arts for $45, a new new-spring from Arts for $35, a new new-spring from MGW for $15, and a new reproduction old-spring from Jack First for $20. I don’t know about the Jack First spring because they sell the same one for all gauges. On other sites you must select your gauge. Does anyone know if the 16g carrier spring is the same size as the 12g?


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Looks like the new springs are all the same except for the Magnum Twelve. The old springs seem to have different part numbers for the 16 and the 12. But if I could make a M11 spring work...

https://www.gunpartscorp.com/gun-manufacturer/browning/shotguns-browning/auto-5/parts-list-auto-5

Roger that. Ok so I broke out my fine Arkansas stone and went to work on the spring. Speed load worked perfect 16 out of 25 tries. 64%. Not quite good enough since my expectation was perfection. Gonna order a spring and see where that gets me.

I’ll reassess once that’s done. Reluctant to send it up to Art’s because if I do that I’m sure I’m going to want a full restore and I’m kinda hung up on that because if I restore it I want it to be JUST LIKE it was originally with a slow rust blue...which he doesn’t do.

Flip side. I bet if someone put a restored gun in my hand with the bluing he does I’m sure I’d be completely impressed. For those of you who’ve had it done, how different is it?


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Ok so some times passed, who knew nowadays such a small envelope could take 10 days to arrive??

So here’s the new carrier spring compared to the old one.


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