Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Guns N Gear Were there ever any Belgium made A5's- better pics

that had a silver finish of any kind? I've come across one that was made in 1975 by the serial number and has a silver finish of some kind. Apparently came from the factory that way, just don't know if it was a custom shop job or if there was a production run of them. Looks kind of like the finish you see on marine shotguns for use on boats. Its not blue that has worn off and i dont believe its in the white, as there is not a speck of rust on it. Every metal part has the same finish, external and internal. I believe it was purchased to hunt swans at the outer banks in NC, as there are pics of hunts there. Doesn't seem to be stainless, but i guess its possible. The original owner rattle canned the barrel and receiver at some point and I would like to remove it, but need to know what kind of finish it is to determine what can or can't use to get it off. Wasn't able to get much usable info off internet searching, hoping some of the vast knowledge of Aldeer might have some ideas.

When we were young duck hunters a friend of mine used naval jelly to remove some specs of rust that showed up on his new high end shotgun after a rainy couple of hunting days. Man that gun was pretty after that.

I've never seen one that color

I’m thinking it may have been nickel teflon (or such) coated. There were higher grade auto 5s that were nickel receivers, but not barrels. There were also Superlights with matte nickel anodized receivers, but no engraving. However, I can double check since it’s a Belgian ‘transition’ gun.

Thanks! I would appreciate any further info you could find. Not with the gun right now, but if i remember correctly the serial number started with 75 V and then 5 numbers. I believe it came from Browning with this finish, there are pics from 1975, supposedly it's first hunt, and it had the finish then.

One clue would be, with a magnet, to test the receiver to see if it's a ferrous or non-ferrous metal .

To my knowledge, the alloy was never engraved on the Auto 5 in the states, just the Twentyweight. There are custom shop order possibilities, but you’d usually need a letter, and the box with dual coding to prove it. I’ll see if Mr. Shirley’s book can shed any more light.

I tried a magnet, it stuck, but not as strong as to an old blued BPS I have.

Thanks, I really appreciate it. Of course it would be great if it was some rare and valuable gun, but I really just want to clean the old paint off of it without hurting the finish. The original owner seemed to have been well traveled, there were hunting pics from trips abroad, so I guess its also possible he could have purchased it overseas.

Shirley/Vanderlinden make no mention of and show no records for any Belgian production Auto 5 (standard or custom shop) with any barrel finish other than gloss blue or matte. There were some alloy receiver and nickel receiver guns. The Nickel receivers were engraving and inlay platforms for the higher grades. Parkerizing came on some mil/LE guns. JMO: I still believe your gun was aftermarket treated/coated. It could have been a store special offered to eastern hunters for salt protection or such. The nickel/brushed nickel coating/plating process has been around for a long time. Regardless, it’s unique and worth cleaning back to original and using. Thanks for showing it here.

Does Browning have custom shop and special run records ? If so you might find something in those records via the serial #. A5

Yes and no….the custom shop had listed options, IIRC from what Mr. Shirley told me. Engraving had some true custom that could be specified, beyond their offered selections. Wood, finish, etc options were picked from a list of offerings. Most often, the barrels on custom shop orders were plucked off the shelves once they arrived in Utah….to match whatever was specified….hence the 2nd bar code/stamp on the box of custom shop guns from the last couple of decades.

The only nickel/coin finish I’ve ever known of from the custom shop was on receivers only, and above standard grade.

Thanks for the info, and especially for taking the time to look in to it for me. I really appreciate it. Get up with me if you're ever down in southeast Alabama and I'll buy you lunch.

No problem at all. Mr. Shirley was very gracious to me with regards to my Auto 5 collecting before he passed. Every time I get to refer to his work, it does honor to him and his efforts.

Looks good!

Got it mostly cleaned up. Definitely not stainless but only parts of gun not finished in this silver finish was the main spring inside the stock and the 2 flat springs for the hammer and trigger assembly. Only rust on the gun was from those springs, and the coil spring inside the stock was the worst. Not bad for a 1975 model that by the pictures spent a good bit of its early life on salt water hunting trips. Just thought I'd post the after pics for anyone interested.