Hello, all! I'm trying to help a friend figure out the originality of some A5's. The three in the pic are (right to left) 20g, 16g, 12g (12 has newer barrel on it with original in tow). All with vent ribbed barrels. My question is; did Browning offer a rubber butt plate, as seen here, from the factory? I'm worried that they have replacement butts... Most Belgium A5's I've ever seen either have the horn or plastic plates... Thanks for the help!!
Those are not rubber butt plates, those are rubber recoil pads. Rubber butt plates were used on the first guns, beginning in 1903, and are quite rare. I’m not sure when they switched to bone, but it may have been as early as 1904. Bone was used by 1909. Not that any of that answers your question! But you brought it up... Yes, Browning offered “Factory” recoil pads. The quotes are used because I believe the guns were shipped by FN without the pads and they were installed in the US by Browning. Thousands of miles from the real factory. It’s also possible that they were installed after-market. A call to Browning with the serial numbers should answer your question. I would guess that they are original to the guns as they look like the Pachmayr pads that Browning used.
Thank you, Rudolph! My worry was that they had certainly been modified based on what was offered at the time. I'll procure some serial numbers and get a hold of Browning. Thanks!
Unless stock was cut to install, don’t see it really taking much from the value. LOP is longer for most people now days anyway. And if your gonna shoot them at the range that pad really helps keep the stock from getting scratched up if you put it in rack. I actually had an old browning pad installed on a light twenty to correct length of pull, otherwise, it would have been useless to me.
So, the guns are serial #'d as follows: 12ga: 3G...(1963?) 16ga: 4S...(1964?), 20ga: 4Z...(1964?) Looks like they are a light twelve, sweet sixteen and light twenty. All three have rubber recoil pads (thanks Rudolph! You're right!) on them, though. How to tell if these pads are factory installed or from Joe's gun shack up the road? I'll have them in my hands on Saturday for more info. Condition is verified 'beautiful!!', so I'm pretty excited about it! Thanks, all!!
4Z is the code for a 1964 Light Twenty. But yours has a square-knob stock, introduced in 1967. Could the serial number prefix possibly be 74Z? Also, does it say Light Twenty or just Twenty on the left side of the receiver?
Pads look pretty new in the pictures, hard to tell for sure, but the pad I had put on my light twenty was in the bottom of a 5 gal bucket in gun smith’s attic. There were probably 10 buckets total. I looked through the majority of them and found one I thought was the best one. Come to find out they had been up there for 40 years. He said some of them were taking off new guns for this reason or that. I think they look good. Don’t really need a pad on the 20, but if LOP is correct for you, why not leave it. It’s way more fun to shoot, then make it a safe queen.
