Auto 5 Guru's ... Greetings. I was lurking on some auction/sale sites and found an Auto 5 Magnum 12 with a reinforcement bolt setup in the forward section of the handguard. Been around Auto 5's basically my whole life, but have never encountered this. Could be just be a standard reinforcing bolt utilized by owner or a Smith ?? Anyone ever seen this before? I would appreciate your input and discussion on this, Cheers, JB
Welcome sir, that's a slug barrel. I have killed lots of deer with one in my younger years. Smooth bore good for about 50-75 yards. That forearm with bolt wasn't on my granddad's gun. I have seen them before like that but might be the Jap fix for the forearm or aftermarket. If it is aftermarket, it looks pretty close to a browning. Rudolph31 will know. Any way welcome and you will fit in here with those kinds of toys.
Appreciate the scoop, I would imagine the installer of such an item is attempting to correct a bad previous experience, but never heard of a stock cracking up front, just being battered and compressed after extensive use to where it would need replacement, as it had been pounded to the point where it didn't correctly align barrel properly in receiver. Could be maybe this helps our some with that as well (?)
I found this picture on Midwest site so looks like it has a place for the bolt. Browning A-5 Shotgun Forearm, 12 Gauge Magnum: MGW (midwestgunworks.com)
OK, Strongly looks like a Factory Japanese thing somewhere in their manufacturing years, probably later years. I wondering if it engages another other Non-wood component embedded in the stock to provided more strength, Very interesting.
Not sure, as all mine are Belgium. The only change to Jap that I like are the addition of chokes and steel shot capable. The round knob stock is hideous, in my opinion, however, Win7stw had one reworked and it looks pretty good. The Belgium round knobs are getting hard to find. If you do expect a premium. I have a Jap stock now that needs to go on a Belgium, but to get it close it needs to be refinished, and lots of work, because the wood is too proud for my liking. I have found a place that duplicates for a reasonable price, so may try that. I was quoted 3800 plus wood for a perfect fit done by hand job without finish.
If it is aftermarket, it looks pretty close to a browning. Rudolph31 will know. Sorry to disappoint, but that’s news to me also. I was going to opine that it looked to be professionally installed before the OP showed it to be standard on the later guns. I agree that it seems to be in the wrong place, but not having a magnum, what do I know?
I own 2 final tribute magnum forends, both of them have this extra cross bolt in the front of the forend. Both are japanese. The positioning in the photo posted by John Barber is in the same place as on both my forends. I'm uncertain what this achieves in terms of reinforcement. One side of the bolt has a tube coming out the back with female threads inside, the other side has a male threaded side and they thread together in the middle. There's no reinfocing piece inside that the bolt holds in place. It's frustrating that when this bushing is fully tight the two holes don't line up on each side of the forend. On these later magnum forends the finger groove doesn't run to the end of the forend, this provides a lore more meat in the end of the forend. The magnums are prone to cracking in the front so this extra meat mitigates against this. In my opinion the magnums are setup badly from browning and you get better results by putting a standard spring in them.
