This may be the dumbest question ever on this forum but I recently inherited a Vintage FN Browning A5 and am having trouble loading it. Does the carrier latch button on the side have to be held down to gain access to the magazine to load the shells? Does the bolt then have to be manually pulled back to load the first shell in the barrel?
You got it. In late 1953 Val Browning’s Speed Load was introduced. This used a 2-piece Carrier that did away with the need to hold the button down to load. Not only that, but when loaded with the bolt open, the first shell was whisked into the chamber and the bolt closed, ready to fire. Most of us with older Auto-5’s toss the first shell into the chamber, then push the button and load the remaining shells.