Where can you find information about a 16 gauge Browning Auto-5 serial A17xxx marked Browning Arms Company St. Louis Missouri?

Answer 1

Browning turned over the patent in 1940-1946.Your ser#a17xxx is most likely made by Remington. The Remington called it a Model 11.Serial #'s that include a letter states this...A=16ga,B=12ga,C=20ga.It's most likely your gun was manufactured in the W.W.2 era.If it looks like "Old Hump back" but has no indication of the words Browning on it ...It's a Remington. Remington shotguns from that era usually stated "United Metalic Cartrige Company". To be more clear, you have an "American Browning" made by Remington under contract to Browning. These guns were contracted by Browning to keep in business while FN in Belgium was under occupation by the Germans during WWII. Although they were made on the same equipment that Remington made the model 11, they are not considered Remingtons. The Remington plant included the magazine cutoff by the insistance of Browning, a feature that Remington model 11's never had. There was great resistance by Remington Management and workers to make these guns for Browning, but because of the relationship that John Browning and the Browning family had with Remington in the earlier part of the Century, the Remington Board agreed to do this favor for Browning. American Brownings were made from 1940 to 1949. Your serial number "A" stands for 16ga and it was actually in the 12,000 block of guns made. Under request of Browning the serial numbers started with 5000 for each guage. At the end of 1946, Remington had made a total of 10,783 16 guage guns and a total of another 3017 guns in 1947. Your gun was made in 1947.