The Browning Automatic 5, most often Auto-5 or simply A-5, is a recoil-operated semi-automatic shotgun designed by John Browning and manufactured by Fabrique Nationale de Herstal. It was the first successful semi-automatic shotgun design, and remained in production until 1998. The name of the shotgun designates that it is an autoloader with a capacity of five rounds, four in the magazine and one in the chamber. Remington Arms and Savage Arms sold variants called the Remington Model 11 and Savage Model 720 that were nearly identical but lacked the magazine cutoff found on the Browning.
Browning Auto-5
John M. Browning with his Auto-5
Auto-5 field stripped
Recoil operation is an operating mechanism used to implement locked-breech autoloading firearms. Recoil operated firearms use the energy of recoil to cycle the action, as opposed to gas operation or blowback operation using the pressure of the propellant gas.
The barrel from a Para Ordnance P12.45, an M1911-derived design which uses short recoil operation. Under recoil, the barrel moves back in the frame, rotating the link (shown in the unlocked position), which causes the rear of the barrel to tip down and disengage from the slide.
