The Auto 5 (the original one)

[fpgt72]

I have a 16g auto 5 made in 1926....and I am pretty sure it has not been apart for ANY REASON since 1927....to say this is gooky is an understatement.

I am having issues getting the pin out of the bolt....I know it has to come out to remove the bolt, but that sucker is not moving.....it is currently soaking (as best it can still in the receiver) and it is just like taking a punch and hitting a steel plate.

any suggestions.

 

[Rudolph31]

I’ll ask the obvious; have you made sure the pin is aligned with the notch on the ejection port, and are you driving it out from the left? Assuming you are, a few drops of Kroil on the pin, a few days, and a bigger hammer should work.

https://www.shotgunworld.com/images/BROWNINGA5DISASSEMBLY.pdf

 

[FL-NC]

Penetrant oil

 

[fpgt72]

I have it soaking in hoppes thinking that the solvent will do its magic on the....well just yuck...that is in there. And yea I am sure it is lined up.

I have given it a few pretty good wacks, but you know, it should not take that much of a hit to get it to come out.

The bottom of the rec is now sitting in hoppes, as I just keep putting a drop or two on the pin/ bottom of the bolt....it is so bad.

Bad to the point it took a rubber hammer to knock the spring off the mag tube.....

just dropped the small parts into a sonic cleaner....The safety would not even move.....safety is in front of the trigger....kinda of an interesting thing pushing on a "bar" that runs back to block the the trigger from doing its thing and letting stuff go.

I had to pry the small "leaf" I guess I will call it off the side of the rec....if you just looked at it you would have bet money it was machined into the side of the receiver.

I usually don't wear gloves in cleaning, but after I took the fore stock off (more on that later) I put on some latex gloves....I bet I used about 4 pair of them.

Even the stock is black on the inside.....the return spring shock of all shocks actually is silver.....I am not sure but I think the retainer is wood like on my model 8, but it is just black and yucky.

 

[fpgt72]

Now another question....the fore stock.

It is cracked pretty badly. I DO NOT want to replace it....it is SN# to the gun, so I do want to keep it.

Now I know nothing....as in NOTHING about wood....in fact I hate wood....and wood hates me....I can't cut it straight, I can't cut it to the correct length, it changes size with the weather.....give me cold hard steel.

Even if I could figure out how to post photos of the stock, it looks like this site wants a hosting platform, and as photobucket broke the internet a few years ago I have not done anything like that....so I can't show you how it is damaged. The wood is very light colored....almost blonde, but I don't think it is that.....I will say I have not seen another 5 with this color wood.

Suggestions on this.....I guess I could just replace the stock and fore stock and shoot the gun with the replacements and pack the originals away....but I really don't want to do that.....I like keeping things as original as possible....but I dont want to risk cracking it in half.

Oh and shooting will be just busting clays....I don't hunt anymore.

 

[entropy]

Suggestions on this.....I guess I could just replace the stock and fore stock and shoot the gun with the replacements and pack the originals away....but I really don't want to do that.....I like keeping things as original as possible....but I dont want to risk cracking it in half.

This is your best option. Shooting it with the original stocks will just make the cracks worse. It is the Achilles Heel of the A5.

A Honey Blonde 16?

Buy new stocks, put them on for the clays season, take them off, and put the blonde stocks on, enjoy in your gun room all winter, you lucky dog!

 

[Rudolph31]

You might consider sending this one to Art’s. It would be money well spent.

https://artsgunshop.com/

Art also has a series of videos on YouTube that are well worth watching.

 

[fpgt72]

This is your best option. Shooting it with the original stocks will just make the cracks worse. It is the Achilles Heel of the A5.

A Honey Blonde 16?

Buy new stocks, put them on for the clays season, take them off, and put the blonde stocks on, enjoy in your gun room all winter, you lucky dog!

Honey Blonde?

It is looking like I need to do some research on this old girl

 

[fpgt72]

Success.....I guess letting it soak did its magic....kinda mangled a punch, but it is out.

I was tap tap tap and still nothing.....well how about a good hard WACK and half the punch went away.....bingo.

Ended up using a drill bit as a punch to get it the rest of the way out....you could grab it but it was not going to come with just fingers pulling on it....so what do I have that is long enough.

now the bolt and its little innerds are in the sonic cleaner, I am taking a rest before going down to clean up the mud that is in the receiver.

After this is it on to an old side by side that will lock up tight after being shot....wifes grandfathers shotgun.....before it was gooked up like the rest of this stuff, but after manually pushing the hammers down the action opened....I cleaned the gook and figured that should do it....guess not.

 

[Rudolph31]

A short punch may also mangle the receiver. I bought a longer set at Lowe’s for that very reason.

 

[whughett]

As to posting photos
Smart phone, smart phone. I do all with a smart phone Take photo. Log in THR, reply, select upload a file, select photo from photos, type remarks. Post reply. Simple as that. No host needed.

 

[fpgt72]

As to posting photos
Smart phone, smart phone. I do all with a smart phone Take photo. Log in THR, reply, select upload a file, select photo from photos, type remarks. Post reply. Simple as that. No host needed.

A test photo of a gooky receiver.....thank you so much for that....more pics will come.

 

[entropy]

A test photo of a gooky receiver.....thank you so much for that....more pics will come.

Looks like the Ithaca 37 a guy brought into the shop to get rid of. The shop didn't want it, and he just gave it to me, grandkids were poking around in his closet.....A thorough cleaning turned it into a great grouse gun-it had a 24" barrel with a Cutts on it.

 

[whughett]

Yikes looks like some one used French fry oil as a lubricant.

 

[fpgt72]

I made a video tossing the trigger group into the sonic cleaner....after 5 min the water was so dark I could not see the trigger group....I will see about uploading that as well.

We think we found out that this was the wifes uncles gun....and it does ring true....he was a cheap bastard and I bet in 1950 an old auto 5 was what he would spend the money on.....the FiL said he doubted if he ever cleaned it. It shoots well now but darn 16g is really expensive.

 

[Rudolph31]

An excellent reason to start reloading.

 

[fpgt72]

An excellent reason to start reloading.

I reload for pistol and rifle....took a quick look at what it takes for shotguns, but not sure I want yet another big pile of stuff....and as I understand you need to change all kinds of things if you change your formula....

I shot a box at some clays and the gun worked great...and was a bit of fun....really liking shooting the clay birds.

 

[Rudolph31]

....and as I understand you need to change all kinds of things if you change your formula....

True, but once you’ve settled on a recipe there’s little reason to change. There’s some flexibility. I typically add spreaders that displace a little shot. Going down in weight reduces pressure. I also add overshot cards to my short shells. The weight of the card is negligible.