FN Auto 5: Anvil 0139 

The casual way that Mark uses "We" while describing work he's done by himself to include everyone who's watching and learning is a subtle sign of how good of a teacher he is. It must be awesome to apprentice with him.

Now THAT is what proper age 'patina" looks like, good maintenance and typical proper repairs done over the years.

Love the chuckle about the Hobby of building ammo. So often we get into reloading to “Save Money”. Then you chase the groups. Next thing you know you’ve got thousands of dollars of reloading equipment and supplies. However, if you do it smart you most certainly can reload and save money. The savings from loading 410 & low power 30-06/308 loads for the young ones to plunk with certainly has offset quite a bit of the cost. Amazing content as always, thanks for the videos. Cheers from Wa State.

Best way to start a Sunday morning is to have a nice hot cup of tea and Mark Novak's art to go with it! Outstanding!

Always a great day when a new Mark video is available. Couple years ago I bought a 1903 Springfield from a work friend that had been in the family since new (1912) - I refinished / restocked it and Mark's videos were instrumental in helping me do it right. I am very comfortable working with metal (been building custom/hot-rod/race cars professionally for about two decades) but wood isn't my thing. Thankfully, due to Mark - the end result not only looks great, but it looks "correct." Thanks for the great content.

That was the best way to set up the friction rings I have seen. The first gun I bought with my money was a A5 light twelve I paid $200 for in 1971.

Always a pleasure to watch a craftsman at work. Thank you, sir.

I just picked up a 1954 FN manufactured Auto 5 last week, perfect timing for this video to drop!

A true craftsman. If you livestreamed your shop, I'd spend way more time watching it than I should.

I'll never get tired of your content Mark, You're an artist bringin these old gats back to life! I'll never understand letting a gun rot away into nothing for "collectability" sake, They were built to be shot and used and man i'd pay a lot more this one than i would any crusty "true" original model. Keep it up!

I took down a Belgian made A5 once, and there will never be another time. Was nearly in tears 😭 by the time I got it back right, but I didn’t harm a thing, and I mean not even a screw. But damn was it tough. There was no RU-vid video to help me either back then.

Spoke too soon! The old oil and whiting method before dye-pen testing. Learned about that in my early NDT days. That was cool!

I just wish Mark would do a slow, up close, pan of the gun, with good lighting, so we can all see the beauty of a professional rust blue job, plus a beautiful dark orange red stock refinish which preserves some of the dings and knocks that this gun received in its long history in the family. This is a general wish for all of Mark’s refinish projects.

Not going to be able to hide the repair. So stack the deck in your favor. Brilliant!!!

"How sharp should your woodworking tools be?" "Sharp enough to cut _spacetime_ with no effort."

Sir, you are a true craftsman. Such a beautiful natural Finish on the gun.

Always a pleasure watching, listening and learning, much appreciation.

Love the longer video Mark, great job as always.

I truly enjoy watching you perform miracles on old abused wood.

Thanks Mark, & also Thank You for your service. I saved viewing for this great memorial day your skill and vids have kept me from screwing up some of my guns.

Thanks for this Mark. I have an old Franchi implementation of this recoil system that I’ve been struggling with short cycling. Now I know how I can decrease the friction braking.

Gun came out beautifully - there's something really satisfying about seeing you bring them back to life.

Your truly a master of your trade. The small bits I learn from watching are worth their weight in gold.

Thanks for demonstrating that restoring an old gun is not sandpaper, tru oil, and cold blue.

As a lover of the Auto 5 you have kept my collection looking beautiful and functional. Thank you Sir.

Awesome video ! 👌🏻👍🏻 Had a ton of fun watching this.

I love my Browning A5's so much more than any other shotgun I've ever used. The Ergonomics make it instinctively pointable and the quality really makes them last. I recommend buying a few replacement parts and New springs for these guns to keep them running for a long time. New buttstocks and fore ends are available from Midwest they even have a online store. Thanks for the great video. Y'all enjoy your Browning's!

Mark, I could sat all day and watch you work on gun, need to make more videos. 😊😊😊😊

Nice work again Mark! Always a pleasure to watch you do your magic.

The Auto 5, the shotgun of choice for the British Army for jungle warfare in the 1950’s.

Oh No! A Submariner using steel wool... Another great job Mark.

That was a great episode and very enjoyable thank you for sharing this with us six stars sir

Always a pleasure. Exceptional craftsmanship and artistry, Sir. Thank you for sharing, again.

Thank you for another wonderful video. A great job Mark. 👏

I used the scraping technique on an old stock this weekend that needed some love. Saved me a bunch of sandpaper. Thanks Mark

The timing of this video is great just picked up a Browning light 12 made by FN. now i have an in depth tear down on it. Thanks Mark for the work you do!

Love watching your videos, a true professional with a great sense of humour amazing.

Awesome job Mark. As always! God Bless

I have an old winchester that beats me to hell. You may have just saved my shoulder . Time to dig into it. Thanks

Nice use of the block plane. "Ridiculous sharp tool"... Tormek? I heard once, "Power tools get you 'close', but wedge and edge finish the job. A plane can remove less than .0005" per swipe. While truing/sharpening the card scraper, find a moldmaker that has some DME 3/4" ejector pin cut offs. The really hard casing is wonderful to true card scrapers. Keep an eye out for a Stanley #140 rabbet block plane. The knife is skewed and makes clean work of hard to handle grain. Thank you for the content and videos. Your descriptions and demonstrations have me chasing tools as I watch. I hope we cross paths someday.

That is some amazing work.

Excellent presentation !!! Many of these 16 gauge FN’s have survived !!! The original rust blue turned out very nice !!!

The pleasure was all mine. Thanks for sharing !

That turned out beautiful!

"Gelatinous Mass of Goo Gobery" gotta love it !

Always a pleasure to watch Mark.

Thank You for sharing Your knowledge and efforts Mark. Best Wishes to You, Your Family and Friends.

will always love your content ty for continuing to provide such wonderful content.

Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful firearm

Thanks Mark another great video and as always I learned something I didn't know before about checking one the old gun dad had whoever checked it they didn't follow the contours of the grip as you did with what was there his had only straight checking and a heavy leather but plate about 3/8 of an inch thick. The fore end wasn't original but was correct and un checked.

Was a pleasure watching, thanks Mark.

You're an absolute national treasure, Mark.

Just picked up a 1953 manufactured auto5 last week... Needs a bit of restoration and cleaning, but not bad. Damn this video was timely!!! I'd love to strip off the urethane finish and give it a good oil finish like you show here, but I don't have the right tools to re-checker the furniture... Ç'est la vie...

I've got a Light Twelve made in the 50s, with a super cool "FN Browing Automatic" bakelite butt plate.

Live long and prosper,great watching .

Another entertaining and informative episode. Keep up the great work!

I truly love your content Mark!!!

Loved it - Craftmanship!

That type of iorn was also used in the covering of aircraft back when they had fabric coverd wings and fuselage.I have only done a fabric job twice since learning it in Airframe and powerplant school years ago.

Excellence video ! A true craftsman 🍺🍺

Me: couldn't you use a thread pitch guage? Mark: I'm going to show you something...

That was fun to learn thank you mark awesome beautiful work

Thanks Mark. Very informative

thank you Mark for the information.

Thank you for these videos, these are great.

Thank you for sharing your expertise

Once again I've picked up another trick, many thanks.

I had a 1930's FN A-5 12 Ga. with a poly choke for years. An absolutely wonderful gun to hunt dove with, In the end I had to sell it to a collector so that it would be better maintained, I still love the A-5 to this day.

Another excellent video.

Beautiful!

Thank you Mark

Thanks once again Mark. Maybe have a demo on hand loading shells from the prespecitive of a Smith, as well as how to make checkering tools.

Judging by the containers that are used for holding oil and stain, does your wife save every sour cream, chip dip, cottage cheese, or other plastic container that has ever been brought into the house, and has done so since the day after the honeymoon was over? Mine has, and I don't want to think I am all alone on this issue.

Amazing sound effects!

12:00 ... I've always put a pipe on the inside of wood such as the forend you are working on to keep it from snapping as I put a bit more force from the vice. Now I didn't do it on a firearm piece of wood, so I don't know if the channel is even from front-to-back, but when working on U-shaped wood parts, putting a pipe that fits exactly in the channel keeps it from crushing or cracking. It allows more support for when the vice is holding the wood in place. You still don't crank down on the vice, but it does let you use more force without breaking the wood.

Love these videos, though they usually reignite the buying old guns itch.

1:17:55 Nothing ugly about rolling your own ammo. Thanks for the lesson. Very enjoyable.

OK, I have only been seconds into this video but what a great word! Tawilikers! lol, got to love it!

Seems Truman-era ammo doesn't work in a Teddy Roosevelt-era shot gun. Need some era-specific hand loads. Only then 'speak softly and carry a big boomstick!' 😄 Great video as always Mark - so much knowledge and experience from one segment! Cheers and Dobri Dan!

Over 55 years ago, I picked up a Savage or Stevens of this type. Being in my teens, I thought more power was better- magnum loads. No idea how to set up the friction brake, so it beat the living daylights out of me.

Wish I could come over there and be an apprentice at your shop. I like your work.

Still one of the best shotguns ever made works good carries easy nice n lite and swings good

I owned a proper FN herstal Auto 5 and a Japanese made Auto 5. Both very impressive

Acetone and whiting has worked pretty well for me.

Mark! epic flinch, it reminds me of... me. 0~o Always love to see anything on the venerable Browning A5. ^~^

Wonderful! THANKS

"it's an engineering issue but it's John Browning so who's gonna tell HIM?" I had to pause I was laughing so hard at that. "Sure as heck not me!" Though in his defense he was the mechanicials guy, not the fit and finish or stock guy, right?

Outstanding

I have the Remington model 11 version. It was my first shotgun. They are sweet shooters.

I had to start rolling my own for an OG Schmidt-Rubin in 7.5x53.5. Now if the Powder companies would go back to making the Cowboy Shooting powders, I could stock up. Trail Boss or Tin Star. Scary thing is GP11 fits (my first cases were GP11 surplus, with the bullets pulled and powder replaced with TB) and will blow them up eventually.

I've shot an auto 5 and the primary memory i have of it isn't the recoil but the trigger reset damn near breaking my finger. Still a cool piece.

Excellent!

Got a 1936 Wehrmacht 8 mm Mauser with all the armory stamps, dings, checks, cuts, gouges from use as a war weapon. It's in great shape and I thought of refinishing the stock (about 90 years of oil, finish, grime) but don't want to scrape off the character marks or crests. The metal parts show some rust and wear of the bluing. Thought I might try your bluing restoration method. Did you just soak in kerosene overnight? Or did you hot dip blue again on the FN A5?

Thanks for sharing.

Apologies if I've missed it (maybe there's another video where you explain it?) but why do you do all-mechanical finish removal rather than using chemicals? I'm sure you have good reason(s), but it seems to generate a lot of rework.

Great video Mark! I have a 1916 Remington Model 11-A I restored however I am not a professional gunsmith and I have not finished the stock work yet. It does have the suicide safety and the internal parts were so caked up with crud, I had to use dental pics to clean them. I should have watched this video before I repaired the original forestock. It had a triangular wedge broken off on both sides where the pins were placed. Anyway, your videos are very educational. Maybe you could demonstrate how to remove the old rivet for the asbestos buffer in the back of the receiver.

If you were like this back in the day, I bet your Chief lost his shit a few times over during field day. Some part of ERLL or the bilge looked like the day it left the builder's yard.

Outstanding!! I love Auto 5 Shotguns I have a FN 16 ga made in 1930 well used but loved. It is still 2 9/16 chambered. You can purchase 2 9/16” ammo from BOSS shot shells. Keep them coming how about a browning double automatic.

Audience question, not for Mark. Which licenced production variant do people like more, the Model 11 or the 720?

indispensable video for auto 5 owners !