A5 knock offs

[kBob]

Help me out guys, I am having an old timers moment. I was talking to The Boy on the drive to school this AM about the story of JMB and what became the A5 and other than the Winchester Suicide Special (as brought up on these pages of late) with its patent beating lack of a cocking handle could not remember the other close-clones. Remington 11 right? and wasn't there a Savage the US government bought for training in WWII for air gunners? Anyone else?

Got pictures?

When I was a kid there were a couple of square backs floating around but I did not pay attention to them to know what they were. I really liked the one an older fellow had that had a long barrel and a Cutts compensator on it with the side gills and removable "spout" Won a turkey with that gun for the old fellow. The other was about a 20 inch barrel with a squarish front sight base that seemed to flow into the barrel shape and sported a bead on top. That one shot with that one of a Foster slug was enough! Some one later told me he must have had the friction rings installed incorrectly for that load, but all I knew was it hurt to shoot when compared to the other or a Mossberg 500 with C-lect choke.

Any how thanks ahead of time.

-kBob

 

[Gordon]

Sold the Remingtons long ago but I own a pristine Savage clone from the early 50s. It has an Aluminum receiver which I think is kewl. Excellent workmanship and fires well . i have a picture of it with another gun I think. Cant access my library from my phone, yet . I will tho
http://www.gunauction.com/buy/12158655

 

[MAKster]

The Franchi 48 AL is also based on the A-5 long recoil action but is only available in sub-gauges.

 

[loose noose]

I've got a Model 11 Remington Premier model, that belonged to my dad, it was in pretty rough shape when I got it. The wood was pretty well battered, and the receiver which has two beautiful hunting scenes one of a pheasant in grass getting ready to take flight, and some ducks getting ready to sit down in a marsh, had some deep gouges in it. Needless to say I had the shotgun completely restored, but after I did I felt kind of sorry as it reminded me of quite a few hunts my dad and I went on back in N/E Wisconsin as a kid. Quite a few barbed wire fence crossings, busting thru the briars after partridge, and rabbits, sitting in the marsh awaiting the ducks to come in, not to mention going thru the cornfields for pheasant. The gun has since become a "safe queen" and it sits in the back of my vault. If I wasn't so lazy I'd get it out and take a picture. Maybe later.

 

[d2wing]

The "knockoffs" are actually licensed copy's.When Winchester turned down the design Browning and FN made a deal. Remington was actually the first American Version as the FN ones were made in Belgium. They outsold the Browning ones and were more common. Savage and Franchi also made versions. Maybe others too. I just bought the new A5 that looks like the old one but has a Benelli action.

 

[Sovblocgunfan]

There were also several true knockoffs of the auto 5 made in japan, and a couple of officially licensed ones too.

I have a savage 720, as well as a rem 11. Very, very close cousins. Closer to each other than the auto 5.

Remington 11-48's use long recoil design, but aren't "clones", per se.

 

[Jim K]

John Browning was free-lance designer. He licensed various companies to manufacture his designs, sometimes exclusively, sometimes retaining the right to license others.

Both the Remington and the Savage were licensed copies of the A-5, so they weren't really "knockoffs" in the meaning of an unauthorized copy.

Jim

 

[USAF_Vet]

Browning Auto 5
Remington Model 11 (licensed)
Winchester 1911 (enough changes to avoid patent infringement)
Savage 720 (licensed)
Savage 745 (alloy receiver, sporter magazine 2+1)


The design eventually evolved into

Remington 11-48 and variants
Savage 755, 775
Franchi AL-48

 

[Virginian]

Actually the Remington Autoloading Shotgun preceded the Model 11. I wonder how many times Winchester regretted not licensing that design. They did not have a decent semi auto for several decades until the Super X One came along.