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silverhawk
PostPosted: Wed Mar 08, 2017 10:04 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 21 Apr 2008
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Last week I took my various Auto 5 Brownings out for a day at the range to test some reloads. I included my Light Twenty and Twenty Magnum- thought they deserved to come out of the dark and get some fresh air. In a word-fantastic. Let me tell you guys, and I have to be careful here, but This is what everyone should be talking about. These guns are beautiful in every respect. BTW, also own Beretta Silverhawks. All these guns range from 1957-1970...the Golden age of shotguns for the common man. Hopefully, I am not just TROLLING, but I felt the need to remind everyone where the bar was originally set. I collect vintage recurves and longbows, so that may give you some insight on how my mind is wired. Scott
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skeettx
PostPosted: Wed Mar 08, 2017 12:01 pm  Reply with quote
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Wonderful, thank you for sharing

My first bow was an osage orange bow
and the first compount was a Jennings (1978)

LONG time ago Smile

Mike

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silverhawk
PostPosted: Wed Mar 08, 2017 12:11 pm  Reply with quote



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Perfect week? A bottle of good whiskey, a couple of the aforementioned guns, a good dog and lots of shells in October/ South Dakota. Yeah......
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dannypratt
PostPosted: Wed Mar 08, 2017 3:03 pm  Reply with quote
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Browning Twentys and Sweet Sixteens are nothing to be trifles with. I have long held the opinion that the true Browning Automatic 5 is quite possibly every bit of a finely made shotgun as any standard production qaulity O/U or SxS, Brownings own Citori and BSS included. I may be on the fence yet about including the Superposed....that was quite possibly the finest production made O/U period. Not the lightest in a 12ga, but pick up a 20ga Lightning...my oh my, it doesn't get better.
The ammount of craftsmanship in the original Automatic 5 is unbelievable, and it is that detailed labor that makes them operate in thier uncannily smooth way.
Not just a classic, but a Benchmark.

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silverhawk
PostPosted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 9:29 am  Reply with quote



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Danny, I am in full agreement. My neighbor has a Lightning and I have shot it. Love that gun and I think he may be ready to sell. I seem to recall its a 12ga though. I came of age in the 60's and 70's, so I am deeply influenced by the guns widely available at that time. Hell, I think the cars, guns, recurves, longbows etc. from that era all evidence craftsmanship that nobody seems to care about anymore. I have never owned an Elsie or Fox SXS, but if your a fan of a semiautomatic shotgun at any level, its hard to beat the original Auto-5, esp. in 16ga.
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MaximumSmoke
PostPosted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 11:13 am  Reply with quote
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Good post, Silverhawk, but those guns of '57 to '70 you mention are in fact the guns of the very early 20th century -- even those Beretta's. In fact the A5 was actually designed in the 19th century. The golden age of US shotguns for the common man as well as for the wealthy was actually just about the same as the golden age of the guns of Europe and England -- About 1880 to 1920 or 1930. I'm talking about all the great repeaters, the Browning A5, the Win Model 12, the Remington Model 17 and its direct descendent the Ithaca 37, as well as the great doubles of Parker, A.H.Fox, L.C. Smith, Ithaca, Baker, Remington, etc. The "gold" in the age reflected the difference in the customer, though - largely craft-built in Jolly Olde as the customers tended to be more privileged in general, and naturally, in the USA, mass produced for a more even-classed market. And a lot of those US designs were made well into the 60's and 70's, of course, just as you point out. The tail end of that "golden" era in the USA brought us the Browning Superposed, The Remington Models 31 and 32 and the Win Model 21 which all came out in the very early 30's.

Of course we certainly did get some great new U.S. designed repeaters from Remington starting in 1948, which continue to this day, but as good and as cost-effective as they were and are, they certainly have a whole different "flavor", for the want of a better term, vs. the guns born in the early 20th century -- the difference between an era when labor was cheap and materials were relatively costly vs. the opposite.

Anyway, thanks for the great sentiments on the feel of older guns -- I feel the same way. Wink

Cheers!
Tony
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kgb
PostPosted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 6:58 pm  Reply with quote
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The crisp, clear ring produced by an Auto-5 when the bolt closes on the first round gives sweet counterpoint to the racket it makes in the disassembly-reassembly process of reloading itself, and the only alteration I'd make to its praises as sung would be to go early enough to get a safety through the front of the triggerguard. Trade-off is you get no Speed-Load feature. Could always buy a Double Auto for that, though.

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dannypratt
PostPosted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 7:12 pm  Reply with quote
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That front mount safety, though some disdain it, is really quite a marvel of machining itself. Next time you look at a pre -53 A5, pay close attention to that trigger gaurd safety....patience in practice. Really a beautiful design.

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rudolph31
PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 8:43 am  Reply with quote
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According to "The Book" the cross bolt safety became standard in 1951.



I like the trigger guard safety too. Here it is disassembled after re-plating.

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studdog
PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 12:50 pm  Reply with quote
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I have a 1951 with the thru the guard safety. It's cute, but I'd rather the crossbolt version. My 2017 while a nice gun is not up to the old models in quality feel.

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kgb
PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 5:08 pm  Reply with quote
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Who did your plating, Rudolph31? Did they require much prep work?

Crossbolts behind triggers just don't feel right to me, the single such I currently own is in a Model 31. I will admit the only time I've gone over every square inch of a shot gun looking for its safety was with a model 12. That pheasant just flushed too damned close to underfoot. He survived the encounter, too.

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rudolph31
PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 7:58 pm  Reply with quote
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Cross bolt safeties debuted sometime in 1951. Speed load late 1953.

My safety was re-plated by a jeweler friend of mine. This was the second one; we learned after the first that the parts need to be copper plated first or the gold wears right off.
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kgb
PostPosted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 10:54 am  Reply with quote
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Good to know, thanks.

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dannypratt
PostPosted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 10:58 am  Reply with quote
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Rudolph:
This explains the occasional green oxidation I have seen and cleaned off if some gold plated Browning Auto-5 trigger groups. It only takes a small area of copper exposed to moisture to allow the green to "grow". Very interesting indeed.

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rudolph31
PostPosted: Sun Mar 12, 2017 8:27 am  Reply with quote
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Green triggers? Haven't seen that yet, fortunately.
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