A Do-It-All Hunting Shotgun

I heard someone pose the question recently, “If you could only have one shotgun, what would it be?” This is a really serious question for folks like myself who enjoy collecting all sorts of different shotguns and have a unique purpose in mind for each of them. I have had shotguns that I reach for during turkey season, but I wouldn’t prefer to take on a duck hunt and vice versa. To pick one shotgun would not be an ideal situation for me as I love all of my shotguns, but the one I would choose as my go-to for any given hunt would be the Browning A5.

After years of watching my dad carry his Belgium A5 that was passed down from his grandfather, I decided that I needed one of my own. I bought the A5 with the primary intention of using it for waterfowl but quickly found it to be reliable even with light 1oz target loads. This was a pleasant surprise as I didn’t expect a 3 ½” chambered shotgun to function so well with the lightest target loads. I have had experience with a handful of other 3 ½”chambered shotguns that didn’t perform nearly as well with those light loads. This was a big upside to the A5 because it meant that I could reliably shoot clays, getting in good practice that would pay dividends for doves, ducks, turkeys, and everything in between.

The A5’s humpback receiver design makes pointing the shotgun feel completely natural. It fits me like a glove. The hump on the receiver serves as a reference point for my eye to find the bead while also providing a longer sight radius. The A5 is extremely well balanced making for an ultra-smooth swing on a bird or a clay target. The engineers at Browning went above and beyond when designing the controls of the A5. For example, the grip of the shotgun has a more vertical angle that allows for more consistent hand placement and reach to the trigger. The trigger guard is quite large, making it easy to access with gloves. I find it to be more comfortable even without wearing gloves. The bolt latch sits in front of the trigger guard in a very natural location where it is easy to operate. It allows me to reload my gun more quickly when the birds are flying. The Speed Load Plus feature makes for consistent loading even with the bolt locked open. These features along with the Kinematic Drive operating system and Inflex II recoil pad make the A5 one of the most comfortable and softest shooting shotguns I have ever had the pleasure to shoot.

With just a handful of choke tubes, the Browning A5 can really serve as a do-it-all hunting shotgun. I can screw in my Jeb’s turkey choke and a couple of 3” TSS shells and head for the turkey woods in the spring. When winter rolls around I can trade the turkey choke for a Mid-Range waterfowl choke and some steel shot and head for the duck blind. It serves both tasks quite effectively. As I stated earlier, perhaps my favorite perk of the A5 is the ability to truly handle any load you put through it. This makes me just as confident carrying it to the dove field as I am carrying it to the duck blind.

To answer the question, “If you could only have one shotgun, what would it be?” my answer would have to be the Browning A5. If you are looking for a do-it-all type shotgun of your own, check out the link below and purchase your own A5. It’s as simple as SEARCH our website, FIND your gun, and BUY it from your local dealer.

All images courtesy of Browning.

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