Browning A5 and goose hunting

[Bountied]

Oh my Lord, I watched 5 minutes of that video and I hate that gun even more now. The SBE is just so nice in comparison. So maintenance free. Just trying to remember how those friction rings are supposed to go is giving me a headache.

Wait until you use different lubes at different temperatures and you have to tune it to those conditions. I bought a 3.5" BPS for goose and haven't shot my A5 in a while. They may not be the easiest to run but they are cool and the 1st successful mass produced semi auto shotgun to come out. It has a history. The old school guys I hunt with run A5s.

Mine is a Japanese version that handles steel well, it also has removable chokes. There is nothing like the sound when you hit the button and close the bolt on and A5. They also recoil light when tuned right, mine has run 100% for me. If I shoot target loads I switch up the main spring and ring setup.

 

[Squaregrouper]

Wait until you use different lubes at different temperatures and you have to tune it to those conditions. I bought a 3.5" BPS for goose and haven't shot my A5 in a while. They may not be the easiest to run but they are cool and the 1st successful mass produced semi auto shotgun to come out. It has a history. The old school guys I hunt with run A5s.

Mine is a Japanese version that handles steel well, it also has removable chokes. There is nothing like the sound when you hit the button and close the bolt on and A5. They also recoil light when tuned right, mine has run 100% for me. If I shoot target loads I switch up the main spring and ring setup.

Mine is also a Miroku made Light Twelve. With the rings installed correctly it runs 100% and recoils like a mouse fart.

 

[fabsroman]

Wait until you use different lubes at different temperatures and you have to tune it to those conditions. I bought a 3.5" BPS for goose and haven't shot my A5 in a while. They may not be the easiest to run but they are cool and the 1st successful mass produced semi auto shotgun to come out. It has a history. The old school guys I hunt with run A5s.

Mine is a Japanese version that handles steel well, it also has removable chokes. There is nothing like the sound when you hit the button and close the bolt on and A5. They also recoil light when tuned right, mine has run 100% for me. If I shoot target loads I switch up the main spring and ring setup.

I have one of the earliest BPS shotguns made. Think my dad bought it in 1978 for my 7th birthday and it was my main shotgun growing up. It was the last 12 gauge of my dad's to actually end up fitting me. I was able to shoulder the A5 and Winchester 101 before I could shoulder the BPS. My dad didn't want to cut down the stock on the BPS, so he ordered an unfinished stock for my 9th or 10th birthday. They sent the wrong stock twice, and then my dad just gave up on it and let me start shooting the A5, then Win 101, until the BPS fit me.

I used that BPS right up until I was about 26 years old and took it duck hunting for the first time. That day in the marsh, I realized I couldn't hit anything, especially teal, with the 2nd and 3rd shots coming from that BPS. A couple days later, I decided to take the BPS skeet shooting to try and figure out why I was missing on the 2nd and 3rd shots. Realized that I am way slower getting on target with a pump versus an o/u. The 2nd skeet target was nearly behind the house before I could even get around to it. So, the next hunting season I bought a Benelli SBE. Been using the SBE since 1997.

My biggest hang up with the A5 is how "clunky" the action feels.

 

[Bountied]

I have one of the earliest BPS shotguns made. Think my dad bought it in 1978 for my 7th birthday and it was my main shotgun growing up. It was the last 12 gauge of my dad's to actually end up fitting me. I was able to shoulder the A5 and Winchester 101 before I could shoulder the BPS. My dad didn't want to cut down the stock on the BPS, so he ordered an unfinished stock for my 9th or 10th birthday. They sent the wrong stock twice, and then my dad just gave up on it and let me start shooting the A5, then Win 101, until the BPS fit me.

I used that BPS right up until I was about 26 years old and took it duck hunting for the first time. That day in the marsh, I realized I couldn't hit anything, especially teal, with the 2nd and 3rd shots coming from that BPS. A couple days later, I decided to take the BPS skeet shooting to try and figure out why I was missing on the 2nd and 3rd shots. Realized that I am way slower getting on target with a pump versus an o/u. The 2nd skeet target was nearly behind the house before I could even get around to it. So, the next hunting season I bought a Benelli SBE. Been using the SBE since 1997.

My biggest hang up with the A5 is how "clunky" the action feels.

The clunk is my favorite part. The odd recoil is pretty awesome as well. I had an 1187 but traded it for a scope. For some reason the comb on the Remington's is too high for me for wing shooting which is why I like the Browning's better. With the Remington's I'll have a bruise on my cheek from shouldering and firing. With the Browning's I can get down on the gun and see the whole vent rib. IDK what ever works I guess.

My only hang up on the BPS is you can't drop a shell in the receiver and close it, on mine I have to load one rack it and then fill the magazine. You can squeeze one in between the lifters if you try but if they get messed up you'll have bigger issues.

 

[fabsroman]

The clunk is my favorite part. The odd recoil is pretty awesome as well. I had an 1187 but traded it for a scope. For some reason the comb on the Remington's is too high for me for wing shooting which is why I like the Browning's better. With the Remington's I'll have a bruise on my cheek from shouldering and firing. With the Browning's I can get down on the gun and see the whole vent rib. IDK what ever works I guess.

My only hang up on the BPS is you can't drop a shell in the receiver and close it, on mine I have to load one rack it and then fill the magazine. You can squeeze one in between the lifters if you try but if they get messed up you'll have bigger issues.

Only way to drop one into the gun with the slide back is when you have it switched to single shot. Not even sure if that is a feature on the newer BPS shotguns.

That is the thing I like about Beretta and Benelli semis. All I have to do is change out a shim and it changes the drop of the stock.

The more you see of the rib, the more you can float the bird above the bead. I prefer to see barely any of the rib unless I am shooting trap.

 

[Bountied]

Only way to drop one into the gun with the slide back is when you have it switched to single shot. Not even sure if that is a feature on the newer BPS shotguns.

That is the thing I like about Beretta and Benelli semis. All I have to do is change out a shim and it changes the drop of the stock.

The more you see of the rib, the more you can float the bird above the bead. I prefer to see barely any of the rib unless I am shooting trap.

Mine doesn't have the selector, my dad's does. Mine is a newer 3.5" Basically a 12ga built on the 10ga frame. I got it from a guy in Salisbury for $200. It needed a little TLC but is in good shape other wise. There was marsh grass and some mud in the receiver when I took it apart. I don't worry about it getting dinged like I do with my A5, the bluing on the A5 is 100%, I swapped out the wood furniture for polymer as well. The BPS has a flat finish with polymer furniture. I just need to get some Hevi-Shot or some other heavy loads. The Kent Fasteel just don't reach out and doesn't have the knock down power like bismuth or tungsten. I'll have to look for those copper plated heavy loads for this year. Nothing worse than lighting up a goose, seeing it flinch, and then keep on flying.

 

[fabsroman]

Mine doesn't have the selector, my dad's does. Mine is a newer 3.5" Basically a 12ga built on the 10ga frame. I got it from a guy in Salisbury for $200. It needed a little TLC but is in good shape other wise. There was marsh grass and some mud in the receiver when I took it apart. I don't worry about it getting dinged like I do with my A5, the bluing on the A5 is 100%, I swapped out the wood furniture for polymer as well. The BPS has a flat finish with polymer furniture. I just need to get some Hevi-Shot or some other heavy loads. The Kent Fasteel just don't reach out and doesn't have the knock down power like bismuth or tungsten. I'll have to look for those copper plated heavy loads for this year. Nothing worse than lighting up a goose, seeing it flinch, and then keep on flying.

I looked into getting a 10 gauge as a dedicated waterfowl gun, but shells, etc. would have been a PITA. Think I looked into the Browning BPS and Browning Gold at the time. This was about the time I bought my SBE. Might have been looked into it a couple years after buying the SBE, because a 3.5" 12 gauge just isn't the same as a 3.5" 10 gauge when it comes to ballistics.

Hevi-Shot is about all I use for waterfowling nowadays. I'll use steel sometimes for the first shot, but the 2nd and 3rd shot are Hevi-Shot. I bought some of it when it first came out, and the results were insane. First shot I took with the stuff was some #4's on a mallard that must have been 50 yards straight overhead. It came down hard and was dead on impact. I was hunting by myself that day. A couple weeks later, I was hunting in a large blind with a bunch of guys in Shady Side by the South River. Somebody picked up one of the empties and asked, "Who is the rich guy shooting Hevi-Shot". I got a bunch of ribbing that day. They threw in the fact that I bought the SBE almost as soon as it came out. Of course, after I bought the SBE, I let a couple of my buddies shoot it and next thing you know, they bought an SBE.

Glad I could derail this thread in typical fashion.

 

[Bountied]

BLUF: Yep, shell out for non-steel loads.

Personally, I switched to BOSS copper-coated bismuth this year for waterfowl after patterning my gun showed it well worth the money. Copper is softer than both steel & bismuth, so it's better for pre-80s barrels than either of those. You have to choke it a bit more than steel, so a full choke shooting 4s should be more than sufficient.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

Do you prefer 4s over 2s for geese? BOSS has a 3/5 mix that looks interesting. They also have 3s. 1.5oz in a 3" shell is pretty good.

 

[Bountied]

I looked into getting a 10 gauge as a dedicated waterfowl gun, but shells, etc. would have been a PITA. Think I looked into the Browning BPS and Browning Gold at the time. This was about the time I bought my SBE. Might have been looked into it a couple years after buying the SBE, because a 3.5" 12 gauge just isn't the same as a 3.5" 10 gauge when it comes to ballistics.

Hevi-Shot is about all I use for waterfowling nowadays. I'll use steel sometimes for the first shot, but the 2nd and 3rd shot are Hevi-Shot. I bought some of it when it first came out, and the results were insane. First shot I took with the stuff was some #4's on a mallard that must have been 50 yards straight overhead. It came down hard and was dead on impact. I was hunting by myself that day. A couple weeks later, I was hunting in a large blind with a bunch of guys in Shady Side by the South River. Somebody picked up one of the empties and asked, "Who is the rich guy shooting Hevi-Shot". I got a bunch of ribbing that day. They threw in the fact that I bought the SBE almost as soon as it came out. Of course, after I bought the SBE, I let a couple of my buddies shoot it and next thing you know, they bought an SBE.

Glad I could derail this thread in typical fashion.

Hey that's what we're here for. Should we switch over to the waterfowl hunting thread? I'm interested in the BOSS ammo. It's heavy at 1.5oz in a 3" shell. The guys I hunt with all reserve their shots and shoot Hevi Shot. My motto is if they are still flying I'm still shooting. I almost always empty my gun unless it's a single and it's down in 1. I think we are going to set up our blinds in a few weeks.

 

[fabsroman]

Do you prefer 4s over 2s for geese? BOSS has a 3/5 mix that looks interesting. They also have 3s. 1.5oz in a 3" shell is pretty good.

I never use the mixed shot stuff.

For goose hunting, the first shot is either steel BB or Hevi-Shot #2. After that, Hevi-Shot B for the 2nd shot, and for the third shot I use Hevi-Shot Dead Coyote T (EXPENSIVE). I have to really want to take that third shot. For teal I use #6 Hevi-Shot and for larger ducks I use #4 Hevi-Shot.

It also depends a lot on how the birds are working the decoys. If they are working good, then I just use Hevi-Shot B for the 2nd and 3rd shots, maybe even some cheap steel for the first two shots. It all depends how things are looking when the first couple groups come in. Of course, with the 2 bird limit in the migratory zone, the hunt could be entirely over after one or two groups come in.

I have not hunted early season in quite a while, but for early season I just used cheap steel. The birds are so dumb in September, you can almost use a baseball bat. I remember one time when we had 11 birds come in. There were 4 of us in the blind. We killed them all. I was able to reload, use a comeback call, and the two that made it out of the first volley came back around to meet their end.

Now that all my kids are in school and my wife gets them on the bus three days out of the week, I need to find some guys that can hunt during the week.

Couple pics from several years ago:

 

[OneGunTex]

Do you prefer 4s over 2s for geese? BOSS has a 3/5 mix that looks interesting. They also have 3s. 1.5oz in a 3" shell is pretty good.

TBH I haven't had a chance at a goose with BOSS yet, but I shoot their 5s. My recommendation for 4s was based on the BOSS website and OP saying he was shooting a full choke at decoying birds.

Probably can't go wrong with anything in the 2-4 range, but no need to shoot BB or 1 shot like we do with steel. I would pattern the 3/5 duplex load before I committed to it. Duplex loads don't always pattern the same/good.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Jerry M]

Buy some Bismuth shell. You can use a smaller size than with steel. It's very effective but expensive.

 

[skeet 028]

My first repeater was a Win M -12 ...A real pumpgun. It happened to be a mod choke. It was and still is a killing machine. When I really started waterfowl hunting commercially as a guide bought a first year 1100 skeet gun with an extra trap bbl. 2 3/4 inch..didn.t need more. Used it and others till steel...ye gods it was terrible. I had bought a 3 inch gun and used a lot of lead BBs pass shooting geese. The last year of lead. Learned something. When we had to shoot steel I kept on shooting BBs for geese...took tolling birds I used skeet choke...even with BBs. Hevi shot came out and a wholesale distributor gave me a case of it..mixed BBs 2s 4s 4s sucked as they just ground up tolling birds.2s were better. BBs and open chokes continued to rule the roost. And 10 GA is truly a better pass shooting gun than 3 1/2 12s...and kick less in a semi auto than a 12 GA...and unless you are shooting tame golf club geese will kill geese in the hands of a real shooter out to 90 yrs consistently. I still have an Ithaca mag 10 I shoot at late season birds(geese) here in Wy and Montana. Early season teal use a skeet gun and hevi 5s or 6s

 

[Doco Overboard]

My first repeater was a Win M -12 ...A real pumpgun. It happened to be a mod choke. It was and still is a killing machine. When I really started waterfowl hunting commercially as a guide bought a first year 1100 skeet gun with an extra trap bbl. 2 3/4 inch..didn.t need more. Used it and others till steel...ye gods it was terrible. I had bought a 3 inch gun and used a lot of lead BBs pass shooting geese. The last year of lead. Learned something. When we had to shoot steel I kept on shooting BBs for geese...took tolling birds I used skeet choke...even with BBs. Hevi shot came out and a wholesale distributor gave me a case of it..mixed BBs 2s 4s 4s sucked as they just ground up tolling birds.2s were better. BBs and open chokes continued to rule the roost. And 10 GA is truly a better pass shooting gun than 3 1/2 12s...and kick less in a semi auto than a 12 GA...and unless you are shooting tame golf club geese will kill geese in the hands of a real shooter out to 90 yrs consistently. I still have an Ithaca mag 10 I shoot at late season birds(geese) here in Wy and Montana. Early season teal use a skeet gun and hevi 5s or 6s

90 yards do you mean?
I for one happen to be very impressed if thats the case.
My hats off to you indeed sir!
WOW.

 

[skeet 028]

I don't type well on a tablet. yes 90 yds. The 10 will do that and a bit more with hevi. I hunted with some great shots. Being my age I don't shoot as much. In fact this will probably be my last year hunting geese. I actually have a couple friends back in Md that you don't want to be between in a dove field. One of em regularly outshot me on doves usually limiting while shooting less than 20 rounds...with a 410. We hunted geese on one farm (QA county) with one pit that would shoot as many as 10 people at A time. Over the years I shot there we took more geese than you can imagine. In the last 4 years I hunted there before moving here... I don't remember having a bird we shot at leaving..alive. I shot my first Canada goose Thanksgiving day 1959 while hunting rabbits with a Winchester M-37 single shot 410. We didn't have many geese in those years...deer either.

 

[skeet 028]

Doco Overboard Where do you live on the shore? Dorchester county? If so do you know of John Tieder? Shot ducks with some others down there

 

[Doco Overboard]

I live nearly right in the middle of it and do not , did not know John Tieder personally if he’s still around but did work with’s at CEC with his gang quite a few times.
But I do know enough of the old heads locally and have enough practical experience to know that a consistent 90 yard shot is a near improbability even for the best shooters in the Basque region of Spain.

 

[chriskat]

I have a couple of Remington 11-48's. I'll have to pull the forearm off and see what kind of friction rings are in them. Haven't shot or had them apart in a while. I assume the set up is similar.

 

[Bountied]

I live nearly right in the middle of it and do not , did not know John Tieder personally if he’s still around but did work with’s at CEC with his gang quite a few times.
But I do know enough of the old heads locally and have enough practical experience to know that a consistent 90 yard shot is a near improbability even for the best shooters in the Basque region of Spain.

My buddy shot a swan at greater than 100yds with a Crossman pumpmaster and killed it. Sometimes you get lucky.

 

[skeet 028]

Not claiming 90 yd shots consistently How often would you choose to do it. Just saying it is consistently doable with the 10 and Hevi shot loads. Heavier than lead and holds a better pattern. Even with lead the 10 is an 75 yard shooter Just wondering if you knew John...outlaw of the first order but a great duck shooter. Good duck shootin here is mostly field shooting. Not much water Rivers (actually streams in Md parlane move prettu fast. We get to shoot mallards pintails and such in fields like geese back there. The Browning A5 is an adequate shooter self destructive over time. There were two groups of us hunting the Nanticoke marshes for ducks...teal mostly once. the one bunch of guy turned their boat over one time..lost guns ammo and all. ...we got 'em on the shore safe and all. Went back the next day with a pair of oyster tongs I had. We fished two guns and a bag with a bunch of ammo out. One was a Rem 870...the other was a Belgian Browning Third was a Winchester 1200 so no big loss. The water down there has a bit more salt than the Chester River. When we got to shore the Remington had a swollen stock and was turning rust. The Browning was swollen too and the rust wiped off...with most of the blue. I took 'em apart at home baked the stocks for a few hours at about 150...the 870 stock came out alright the Browning had a slight bend in it and needed a new one. Internals were fine if course. Had to reblue the Browning.. The 870 got painted camo. It's still ugly but the fellow still shoots it. The fellow that owned the Browning died about 1990...but he hunted with it till about then. BTW according to Remington the 11-48 58 1100 870 are all useable with steel shot The Browning is a good shooter but the Belgian should not be used with steel shot. Remington smith also said the A-5s made for Browning by Remington were also useable with steel shot