The standard weight 16's are very nice, if a bit (obviously) heavy.
The engraving was cut very deep on the older guns, and as you mention the checkering was very well done.
It is likely a 2 3/4" gun, but as mentioned you should verify.
They are fun to shoot. The gun is alive, and the action working has a certain charm after you get used to it and learn to appreciate the genius of the design.
A couple things... it's a recoil operated gun. You can adjust the friction by changing the rings to the correct orientation. The beveled edge of the bronze friction piece should be toward the muzzle, and for just about any shell made today the other ring should be stowed below the barrel spring and not used.
Very light loads are not good for the gun. This is because to get them to function, the spring steel clip needs to be removed from around the bronze friction piece. The bad part is that the bronze piece also controls the speed of return to battery and without the clip the barrel comes forward with more speed. Thus the cracked fore stocks.
It's not heavy shells that crack fore stocks, it's the speed of the barrel returning to battery and the actual recoil of the shell has nothing to do with that. The barrel spring is compressed the same amount by any shell that fully drives the action rearward, thus is has the same stored energy. The friction system acts much like a recoil buffer on the return stroke.
Shooting the thing with the bronze piece removed will almost guarantee a cracked fore stock. I'm pretty sure this is why we see so many of them with cracks. It's easier to remove the friction piece than to clean the gun, and indeed a few used A-5's are found on the rack with that piece missing.
