I thought some of you would appreciate seeing some photos of my first year production FN Browning Auto-5. This gun was saved from a grizzly fate, having been acquired in a pawn shop for $175. The gun had been reblued at some point, the forend had been replaced with a later production example, the buttstock was a crudely fit replacement and the action spring tube was bent. I worked on bringing this gun back to life for a few months. I was able to straighten the action spring tube as well as replace some internal springs and a cracked locking block. The stock was a replacement Remington Model 8 stock, made of black walnut, which I reprofiled, fitted an original FN buttplate to, fitted to the gun and did an oil finish on. I left the existent forend on for the time being. (That said, if anyone knows someone who can make an Auto-5 forend, I'd be interested in having one made in the early style as I have a piece of dried and matching black walnut.) Serial Number is 4367, which gives a best date of production as around January 1904 based on the tables in the Shirley/Vanderlinden Auto-5 Book, as production ended in 1903 at SN 4121. Since first deliveries began on September 17th, 1903, I think it's fair to call this a first year gun. This also makes one of the first 10,000 guns which were potentially delivered to John Browning in Ogden, Utah. Hence the "Browning Automatic Arms Co. Odgen, Utah U.S.A." address on the barrel. I did check with the Browning historians, to see if they could dig up any info or provide a letter. Unfortunately, they have no records for this gun.
Very nice job! I’m curious how you replaced the locking block. Those first year guns have a rail on each side, which was soon changed to one side only. Replacement parts must be hard to come by. Your gun is certainly First Year and one of the “10,000”, but it’s unlikely to have been shipped to the US. S/V tells us imports ceased in December, 1903 and didn’t resume for 20 years.
I used a Remington Model 11 locking block which shares the same dual rail setup. The only modification you need to make is to cut off the "tail" that projects upwards from the rear of the locking block. The "tail" is supposed to act as an additional out of battery safety and engage with a cutout on the barrel extension, but that cut isn't present on these early barrels. Other than cutting it off with a dremel and cleaning up the cut, it was pretty much a drop in replacement. It also tightened up the headspace a bit and took out some slop between the breech block and barrel.
I was thinking about the Model 11, but I didn’t think it would fit. And you must be damn handy to make it. Are you a machinist?
Not a machinist by trade, but I do have a little machine shop set up with a drill press, grinders, welder, etc. for my hobby gunsmithing projects.
