Beckerhead firearms

NWFRS said:
Oh yeah! That would have been amazing. I stated that badly. They both had overstamps, but one was really bad, and the other was so light it was barely present, as well as symmetrical. It was much nicer to our eyes. But they were shockingly crude rifles in general. I think that may have been the only time I ever examined one up close. I remember that we had trouble with the stock wrist/tang screws, but I can’t recall why.
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Towards the end of the war the Japanese actually issued training weapons to the soldiers. They were made from left over parts some weren’t even ordinance steel.
 
Tanker 1/66 said:
Towards the end of the war the Japanese actually issued training weapons to the soldiers. They were made from left over parts some weren’t even ordinance steel.
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Huh. I didn’t know.

I’ve read about their “last ditch” weapons, and Ian has put out some good videos on them, but I don’t know how to spot a lot of things. I’ve seen ‘mums on GB rifles that were ground down completely, but the one my buddy kept only had four very light strikes with what might have been an “0” stamp. It seemed a really half-hearted over-stamp, since most of it didn’t even contact the round receiver properly. Or maybe that indicated something different altogether. Was it always the Japanese who defaced their own rifles? Do we know what the percentage was of completely ground vs over-stamped?
 
Tanker 1/66 Tanker 1/66

Lol. I’m an idiot. I never looked that up until just now. Apparently those little over-stamps indicated “removal from the imperial army”. Or something along those lines anyway, rather than some kind of defacement in defeat. I obviously know very little about these. Is that what you were trying to tell me? Is that a feature of the training rifles? Pretty neat stuff….
 
Tanker 1/66 Tanker 1/66
NWFRS said:
Lol. I’m an idiot. I never looked that up until just now. Apparently those little over-stamps indicated “removal from the imperial army”. Or something along those lines anyway, rather than some kind of defacement in defeat. I obviously know very little about these. Is that what you were trying to tell me? Is that a feature of the training rifles? Pretty neat stuff….
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Yeah lol And they are extremely dangerous to shoot. Any of the 6.5 and the early 7.7 are safe. After 1943 it could get scetchy on the build quality.
 
Tanker 1/66 said:
After ordering and waiting on parts for months I finally hit the woods with my 450 Bhshmaster this season. I refuse to buy a complete AR . Just to much satisfaction building number 15
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I'll be curious to hear your thoughts on the 450BM. I have considered it due to our deer hunting laws, but haven't convinced myself yet.
 
JJ_Colt45 said:
I'll be curious to hear your thoughts on the 450BM. I have considered it due to our deer hunting laws, but haven't convinced myself yet.
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I did quite a bit of research on this round before committing to building one. I’ve never taken a hog or deer beyond 100 yards. I like it thick and close. The 450BM excels in that environment.
This is a moa round as long as the user does their part. Leupold has enough faith in this round that they developed a scope just for it. The Leupold VX Freedom 450Bushmaster. I installed this scope on mine and sighted it in. I’m getting moa. I hung 8 inch steel gongs out to 300 yards and used the BDC feature on the scope. Center mass on all the gongs with every shot. It’s a meat getter.
What I like about the round is it dumps all of its energy into the game. Absolutely destroyed deer this year. I say it’s like throwing supersonic bowling balls. Recoil is like shooting a 20 gauge. Ammo is not cheap. About $2.00 a round on average.
 
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Just finished replacing all the springs and associated small parts in this Belgian-made vent-rib 16ga Auto-5. Going to hit the trap range again and see if it does better than last time. This was a project I picked up for cheap, maybe ten years ago, and just didn’t know what to do with. The stocks were too far gone, and too short to salvage properly, so I added a 1” Pachmayr pad and just cleaned them up. I think it may already have been modified for modern shells, but I had a buddy machine a tapered cone at the chamber throat anyway. It seemed capable of reliable operation the last time I had it out, but the recoil felt excessive, and the hulls wanted to just dribble out. Hopefully it does better this time. If anyone has an up-to-date Big Book or specialty FN/Browning book handy I’d appreciate more details, since I don’t know much about this particular trim level. The serial is in the middle 78,000 range. Barrel is 28”.
 
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NWFRS said:
Just finished replacing all the springs and associated small parts in this Belgian-made vent-rib 16ga Auto-5. Going to hit the trap range again and see if it does better than last time. This was a project I picked up for cheap, maybe ten years ago, and just didn’t know what to do with. The stocks were too far gone, and too short to salvage properly, so I added a 1” Pachmayr pad and just cleaned them up. I think it may already have been modified for modern shells, but I had a buddy machine a tapered cone at the chamber throat anyway. It seemed capable of reliable operation the last time I had it out, but the recoil felt excessive, and the hulls wanted to just dribble out. Hopefully it does better this time.



If anyone has an up-to-date Big Book or specialty FN/Browning book handy I’d appreciate more details, since I don’t know much about this particular trim level. The serial is in the middle 78,000 range. Barrel is 28”.
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Oof, I've been slapped in the face by those in 12ga. Very unruly recoil vs. other action types.
 
daizee said:
Oof, I've been slapped in the face by those in 12ga. Very unruly recoil vs. other action types.
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Good to hear. I’ve never fired another. It seemed brutal to me. Of course I had a hard plastic repro buttplate on it that first time, which didn’t help.
 
Just finished replacing all the springs and associated small parts in this Belgian-made vent-rib 16ga Auto-5. Going to hit the trap range again and see if it does better than last time. This was a project I picked up for cheap, maybe ten years ago, and just didn’t know what to do with. The stocks were too far gone, and too short to salvage properly, so I added a 1” Pachmayr pad and just cleaned them up. I think it may already have been modified for modern shells, but I had a buddy machine a tapered cone at the chamber throat anyway. It seemed capable of reliable operation the last time I had it out, but the recoil felt excessive, and the hulls wanted to just dribble out. Hopefully it does better this time.
NWFRS said:
v2V6AU5.jpg


If anyone has an up-to-date Big Book or specialty FN/Browning book handy I’d appreciate more details, since I don’t know much about this particular trim level. The serial is in the middle 78,000 range. Barrel is 28”.
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Sweet 16 I do like me some Belgium made Brownings. Nice Shotgun. I’ll dig up some info on your Sweetie
 
Early 16 gauge was 2 9/16 inches. Just make sure yours is 2 3/4 before shooting it. The 16 gauge was never made in 3 inch. The gas ring arrangement can be switched for high velocity or low velocity shotshells on the 12 gauge. I’m not sure about the 16 gauge. Most of the time when a Auto 5 kicks to hard The gas rings were set for light loads and heavy loads are shot. This causes an over gassed system forcing the bolt to slam into the back of the receiver and excess recoil. Do a YouTube search on gas ring arrangement. Lots of info available.
 
Tanker 1/66 said:
Sweet 16 I do like me some Belgium made Brownings. Nice Shotgun. I’ll dig up some info on your Sweetie
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Thank you! I gave away my last Big Book just before I became curious about this gun. I think mine pre-dates the “Sweet Sixteen”, and with the vented rib, it’s been hard for me to identify. I haven’t spotted one on gunbroker yet, in my sporadic searching of completed auctions.

From my reading, I think this gun started life as a 2 9/16” gun, and was modified. I think I read somewhere that that ring of bright metal barrel extension indicates it was properly modified to fire 2 3/4”. I wasn’t sure though, which is why I had the chamber throat opened up before firing.

I’ve only tried the rings in the “heavy load” configuration. I also just replaced the steel gas ring parts, but I’m still using the original fluted bronze bushing. The new action springs seemed quite a bit longer and beefier, so I’m hoping that’s all it needed to be more reliable. Fingers crossed.

I’ve always been on the fence about this gun, so if it doesn’t smooth out this next time out, I may just move it on. I feel like it deserves better than I can give it. It really needs a new stock set, and I don’t see myself shooting trap with it regularly.
 
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