Sorry in advance, this may be a long post. A couple months ago a friend told me about an auction that had a few guns listed. I checked out the pictures and keyed in on an Auto 5, something looked different to me. I’ll admit in my younger years Brownings didn’t catch my interest, I knew some were made in Belgium. As I was looking this gun over in the one picture of it I noticed something different. I knew Brownings would overlap the screws in their receivers, this one had single screws. It also had a safety inside the trigger guard, never seen that before. I looked online trying to find pictures that would match this gun, nothing. Basically I was just trying to find out some idea of value so I had an idea when the auction came. The day before the auction my friend and I went to look over the items to be sold. I asked the auctioneer if he knew anything about this Auto 5. He said at first he thought it was a 20ga, but it wasn’t. The only identifier was a 12 inside of a diamond stamped on the barrel. He tried to shoot it but said it wouldn’t fire, he thought it may just be a firing pin issue. I mentioned the single screws and he wasn’t sure why they were that way. I surmised that this gun must be older that the ones I seen online. I surprisingly thought to take a pic of the serial number and a few other characteristics of the gun. I went home, looked up the number or what I thought I read in my picture. It turned out it was a 1904 number. I then looked up 1904 Auto 5 and there were pics that matched this gun. Holy Crap!! I then found an old post from gun broker of one that sold as inoperable, and another site that had a 1904 for sale. Wow, they wanted a lot! I should also mention that once I found out the year, in trying to educate myself more about these guns I stumbled onto this site. Boy, did I get a lot of info from here. I went to the auction and showed my friend what I had found out. We were both dumbfounded to say the least. Once the gun came up for bid the auctioneer gave a brief description of it being a Belgium Browning Auto 5. He mentioned it didn’t fire when tried. All of a sudden a guy shouts out “it’s a Remington model 11, not a Browning”. I’m thinking what are you talking about, everything is stamped on the gun. As I’ve learned the model 11 did look just like the early Auto 5’s, but clearly he didn’t pick up this gun and actually look it over. So the bidding starts, me a two others. The bid came to me at $300, and no one bid after. Oh My Gosh!! My friend and I couldn’t believe I just won this auction for $300. Another thing the auctioneer told us the day before is that this gun was from an estate of a local business owner that was quite a gun collector. He said he had some more high end rifles that are going to be sold next spring. We were thinking to ourselves, how did nobody in that guy’s family know the value or significance of this gun? So it gets a little better yet. I get home and tear it down to clean it good, I reference this site to see what to look for on early models. I read how the fore end groove shouldn’t go all the way, check, it doesn’t. Serial numbers should match on barrel, fore end, and in front of the trigger. Yup, all matching, except the number was way lower than I originally thought. I misread the number, thinking it was five thousand, it was actually three thousand. Making this a first year gun. All original, blueing, wood, butt plate from FN. One of the coolest guns to me, the history and story behind this gun is amazing. I’ll do my best to get pictures on here soon. But, just curious how rare are first year guns? I’m just trying to learn all I can about them. I did buy the Auto 5 book to, that thing is awesome! Thanks for any info
First, Welcome. Next, congratulations on your purchase. I don’t know why these things never happen to me. Out of millions, there were only 4121 Auto-5’s made in 1903. Your shotgun is incredibly rare. That’s not to say it’s incredibly valuable. Condition and the market determines that. You didn’t say if you got it working. If you fixed it, I would definitely shoot it, but not too often. Some parts were changed soon after the introduction and if one breaks, it’s Game Over. Please learn how to post pictures. Soon.
Lol, got one on there twice. Not the greatest pictures but it’ll give you an idea. Rudolph, I hear ya. Everything is only worth what someone is willing to pay. That site I found online that had the 1904 for sale, they were asking $3250. The 1904 that sold on gun broker as inoperable sold for $1330. I haven’t looked into the functionality yet, the gun cycles just fine and dry fires. But, I don’t actually see a firing pin in the bolt face.
Let me run this by you, see what you think. As I was cleaning it I noticed the barrel felt strange just in front of the fore end. I wouldn’t say it’s a full on bulge, but there is some irregularity going on there. Do you think at some point someone may have used a modern higher pressure loaded shell and caused some damage to the barrel? I just wonder if something like that may have happened and the previous owner took the firing pin out. Just a thought.
Congratulations Chilli for your nice first year auto-5. I know the feeling of finding such rarity. Having the original forearm and buttplate is extremely rare. When you get a taste of collecting those beauty, you can’t stop. Good luck.
I’m no expert but I’d think any of the modern 2-3/4” loads would be fine in that gun. Who knows what could have caused the bulge. You might be right about the pin being removed. Pull the barrel and dry fire it to see if the pin protrudes
I agree, the gun should be safe with modern loads. I’d stick with target loads, though. And I wouldn’t worry about the bulge. Put a piece of tape over the primer of a spent shell to check the firing pin. If the pin is broken, you’re in luck, the firing pin stayed the same over the years.
