Exploring the Legacy of the 1929 Fabrique National Full 12 Special Steel Shotgun

Sometimes, in a gun store, something walks through the door that is truly remarkable. That happened recently here, at 2 If By Sea Tactical, when John Moses Browning’s famous shotgun waled through our doors. We recently acquired the Fabrique Nationale de Herstal Full 12 Special Steel. This is a FN made Browning Auto-5 semi-auto shotgun from 1929.

John Moses Browning was, at least in this one man’s opinion, the greatest and most influential gun designer in the world. The majority the world’s best handguns, hunting rifles, and shotguns feature a Browning designed feature. This doesn’t even count the machine guns (such as the M2 “Ma Deuce). Mr. Browning has been dead since 1926 and we still have been unable to come up with better ideas than his designs.

While he is credited with an astounding 37 different types of firearms and seven calibers, one of his most famous designs is the Browning Auto-5 shotgun. Designed in 1898 this was the first commercially successful semi-automatic shotgun in the world. IT was so advanced that the majority of modern semi-auto shotguns utilize this design to this day over 100 years later.

Our recently acquired version of this infamous shotgun highlights its beauty and modern traits. The example here is from 1929, just three years after the passing of it’s designer. The Auto-5 would be built from 1900 until it was closed down in 1998. They have a reputation for extreme reliability and accuracy among its users.

This example was a "premium” model that was marked as “Special” in order to sell at a high value. It featured a more robust design and some thicker steel than the standard Auto-5. This resulted in it having more weight as well. While the design was tweaked and simplified through the years before production ceased in 1998, this one features many of the unique details that the earlier models boasted.

An example of this would be the double tapped screws in the receiver. The one screw on top of the other was intended to ensure they would remain tightly in place. As production wore on these were later scraped for single screws to cut down on production cost and streamline manufacturing. While this did not radically change performance, the older models have a certain mystique to them utilizing

the double screw design.

These shotguns were extremely expensive in their day retailing for around $30 in 1900 which is the equivalent of over $950 in today’s money. While this may seem reasonable the average yearly salary in the U.S. was $450. Simply put, people could not afford these guns in mass. Despite this, the A-5 still found a market.

Guns can at times tell a story. They can give us a peek into our industrial past. As it pertains to this example the FN Full 12 Special, it is one of those firearms that gives a example of the massive leaps that the industrial age brought about. The impact of these guns are felt even to this day. You can see this gun on our Youtube Channel @2IBST on our “From the Vault” Series.