Steve NO, I had the same experience with my 1919 version, and it turned out that the brass friction ring had worn out from about a million rounds downrange. The recoil was really hammering the gun, so I put a new one in.
I was at the club a couple of years ago when a real pretty woman came back from halfway around the sporting clays range with an A5 with a splintered forearm. It had split into about 5 pieces. I have seen A5s with cracked foreends before, but that one was a mess. So if your gun is cycling too easy, you might want to fix it.
Maestro, you are right that A5s are hard to assemble. Remember though that you only have to do it about once a generation. I borrowed a 391 last week, that hadn't been cleaned in about 1K rounds, and it wouldn't eject light loads either. Worked OK otherwise. It didn't fit me (too long) but I still shot it about as badly as I do my guns.
The 391 is a nice gun. No nicer than an Ithaca 51, but nice.
