Shotgun trivia

[G-MAN]

True or false: On the Browning Auto-5, the very handy magazine cutoff was not part of Browning's original 1900 patent for this gun, but was later designed and patented by him in 1904 after Auto-5 production had begun at FN in Belgium.

[G-MAN]

The statement as written is FALSE, but not for the reasons that have been stated.

"On the Browning Auto-5, the very handy magazine cutoff was not part of Browning's original 1900 patent for this gun..." This is true.

"...but was later designed and patented by him in 1904 after Auto-5 production had begun at FN in Belgium." This is false.

Production of the Auto-5 began by FN in 1903. In 1904 FN engineers designed and patented the magazine cutoff, not John Browning. The modification was integrated into production in 1904 and some guns that were manufactured without it were even retrofitted.

FN engineers modified Browning's original design in other ways, too--most notably improving the safety design. Because of these and other changes made by FN, except for the very earliest A5s to come out of FN, the Remington Model 11 and the Savage 720 were truer to Browning's original 1900 patent. However, there was never any indication from Browning or FN that Browning disapproved of the changes FN made.