Introduced at this year's SHOT Show, the new A5 in 20 gauge with the kinematic/inertia action. I really want one, but two sources more knowledgeable than I tell me it will be very hard to actually get one. I've messaged back and forth with Randy Wakeman and talked in person to Dr. Jim Willingham who is a fairly high volume dealer in north Alabama, and here's what we know about an American citizen like myself purchasing one of these:

-- The shotguns might become available in March 2024, ... June 2024, ... or sometime later even though they have been in production for about a year.
-- *If* you can get a dealer to put in an early order for one, you might have to pay the full $2,000 up front (or perhaps a deposit up front), and then who knows if your gun will ever arrive because, according to both men, "Browning is very unpredictable these days."
-- You won't be able to handle and check the new A5 for fit as we have always been coached to do. You must commit to purchase before ever seeing or handling your shotgun. They won't be sitting on the gun store rack.
-- According to Mr. Wakeman, long gone are the days you could find Brownings sitting on a dealer's rack where you can handle and look at them before purchase.

All this makes me hesitant to put a bunch of money down even as much as I want one of these. I miss the good old days of gun buying.

Bout time

I was looking at it on their website a week or two ago. But with the price tag I think I just would buy a silver or another Citori.

Meh. I’ll stick with the Belgium version.

I guess if folks stop buying browning then they won't feel entitled

I have enjoyed owning and shooting all the Brownings I’ve had, but dang it Browning is the KING of getting customers’ interest up with very attractive marketing on both the website and catalogs in the past … and then not actually manufacturing the advertised models or making very few of them before quietly dropping that line or model. I’ve often said that half of Browning’s models are “ghost guns” that don’t actually exist.

I have been wanting a BLR 30-06 takedown. Every dealer I go to says good luck. I can give them the money, but they cant say if or when I'd get the gun. No thanks on that deal.

Exactly. I don’t know how that’s a sustainable business model for Browning. And they’ve done that to some extent for 25 years.

I’ve been waiting so now I guess I’m about to pony up.

Idk..i went to gun store the other day an they had all kinds of brownings..they just all 12gauges tho…you van get their bolt guns no problem..or most of them anyway..an the BAR are plentiful as well…but I rarely see a BLR thats not 308 or 6.5 creedmoore..I occasionally see 243…i see BLRs new pretty often..i just dont see any variety of caliber. You can get a browning BPS in 12 or 20 all day about anywhere you go..this is my observation anyway

That is my experience as well. The auto silvers in 20 gauge seem almost as rare as the blr 30-06. But citori and the other o/u 20 gauges are lining the walls.

I don’t need it! I don’t need it! I don’t need it! I don’t need it! I don’t need it! I don’t need it! …………….infinity!

X 2

Hard to believe they’ve only made a 12 until now.

I was given an A 5 30 years ago. We went into Walmart and walked out toting the gun. It was $500 and a great gun. Some crack head has it now or it’s at the bottom of the Alabama river. I don’t think I’ll buy one. Looks nice though. Why can’t they fill orders or have stock in retailers?

I’d take the Silver 100x

Good looking gun

The huge A5 logo on the older ones looked a little much. I was talking to the Browning rep at a sporting goods store when they were trying to get me the Wicked Wings Bottomland A5 a few years back. Told him I didn’t care for that logo. He said they’d done a lot of marketing test and the newer generation really liked it. I told him I’d buy a 20 gauge if the logo as smaller. I’m glad to see they went smaller with the logo.

I’ll be looking into it and a bird dog

This is a good point. There was a time when good top brands produced enough shotguns that even dadgum WM had them in stock! Now not only does WM carry much lower quality guns, but dealers can’t get many Browning models. Something insane has happened in the firearms industry.

Is this gun made with benell’s inertia system too?