Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Japan Browning Auto-5 Magnum Stock Question

I picked up a Japan A-5 Magnum twelve recently and it looks like I'll need to replace both the buttstock and the fore-end. Will the stock and fore-end from a non-Japan magnum 12 work on this gun?

I knew when I bought it that the fore-end would likely need to be replaced but completely missed a well-camouflaged crack in the underside of the butt stock.


Thanks,
Mike

It's Japaneasy, go synthetic.

Send it back to Browning. I bet you a cup of coffee and a donut they replace it, no charge.

They did for me. I offered to pay and it was done and returned without charge other than my cost to ship it there.

If Browning can't help the real guru on the Auto Five is Art's Gun Shop in Hillsboro, Missouri. Art is the best of the very best. Art ran Browning's gunsmithing operations at their Arnold, Missouri facility for 20+ years. Another source is Midwest Gun Works in Pevely, Missouri. MGW does most of Browning's warranty work in the midwest/south.

I would go synthetic. My forearm cracked on mine and I bought synthetic. The wood butt stock is hanging in there so I haven't replaced it. I drove up to Arts last summer and he tore mine down deep cleaned it and replaced the firing pin in mine in about an hour. Didn't charge much either. Interesting guy.

My impression of the synthetics is that they have more drop than the walnut ones. Is that so, or just my notion?

I’ve owned two Belgian Light Twelves and they fit me very well.

I will second if Browning won't take care of it buy replacements from midwest gun works. I bought a japan SA22 that had a broken stock at the wrist. Midwest gun works offers a fully finished replacement, no fitting required.

Hunt down NWTF matte walnut stock set and thank me later. I still have a Light 12 and Mag 12 set in the safe for a matched set build if I can find time to fit and then send the metal off to Walter Birdsong for Black T.

Midwest Gun Works originally posted them on eBay for stupid cheap years ago.

Depending on your plans, a set of Stalker stocks wouldn't hurt you, if you have matte finished metal, which you probably don't since it was originally a wood stocked shotgun.

The A-5 is pretty notorious for being rough on stocks. It is a long recoil system snd the barrel slides back to operate the action. It hammers the fore end. The Remington 11-48, M-11, Franchise, Savage and others copied the action at one time or other. As it wears it will get sloppy. If you soft shoulder one it might not have enough resistance to operate the action. The Japanese version stock won’t fit the Belgian model without fitting.

I put as synthetic on my Jap A5 Mag, had no issues and the drop at heel is identical to the wooden butt stock.

You have the right dog !

Is Magnum wood different from a light 12? If so, what is the difference? Asking for a friend.

ditto Art's Gun Shop

All the best people.

Forend, location of the barrel lug, buttstock on light 12 usually has a plate, magnum has a pad

Thank you and I had assumed that on the stocks but is there a way to tell the forearms apart by looking?

Thanks guys. I ordered a synthetic stock & fore-end set from Midwest.

I may go the wood route at some point but I don’t have the patience for it right now.

Yes

3 shot, Light and Magnum, left to right