WOOX Vigilante Fixed Stock: 0.84 lb Walnut AR-15 A2 Buttstock

WOOX added a fixed buttstock to its Vigilante AR line: a Claro walnut body on machined aluminum interfaces that slides onto an A2 rifle-length receiver extension, priced at $199 and weighing 0.84 lb. It slots in under the existing Vigilante Adjustable Stock, which mounts on a mil-spec carbine tube and costs more.

The build story is the same one WOOX has been telling since it started putting wood on modern rifles: blanks selected out of a Claro walnut harvest, machined in Italy, hand finished at the company's Hickory, North Carolina shop. CEO Ben Fleming framed the new stock as an aftermarket replacement for "AR-15 and AR-10 enthusiasts who appreciate both performance and a timeless aesthetic."

What is more interesting than the material is the mounting standard. WOOX already sells a carbine-tube Vigilante, and it built this one for the A2 rifle extension instead, which puts it in a narrower lane: service-rifle clones, retro builds, precision uppers on rifle buffer systems, and fixed-stock compliance rifles.

The two Vigilante stocks share the walnut, the dual-side QD sockets, and the Microcell recoil pad, but they are not interchangeable on a rifle. The fixed version needs an A2 rifle-length extension; the adjustable version needs a mil-spec carbine extension. Look at the back of your rifle before you order: a collapsible stock means a carbine tube, and a fixed A2 buttstock means a rifle tube.

If your AR already runs a rifle-length buffer system, this stock is a screwdriver job. If it does not, the swap is a rear-end rebuild, not a stock change. A rifle-length receiver extension takes a rifle buffer and a rifle action spring, and neither part crosses over from a carbine setup. A rifle-length extension also needs no castle nut or end plate; it threads into the receiver and the stock retains it. Budget for the tube, buffer, and spring on top of the $199.

The install itself is four steps and one tool. WOOX ships an adapter that screws into the 1/4-28 UNF hole at the rear of the A2 tube. The stock then slides over the tube with its internal groove aligned, seats forward, and locks when you drive the two supplied T20 Torx screws that come pre-inserted in the butt plate. Nothing else comes apart, and the buffer and spring stay in the tube throughout.

The lack of adjustment is a real constraint worth naming. Comb height is fixed, so a tall optic mount will put your eye above the cheek line and there is no riser path inside the product. Length of pull moves only in 0.5 in steps by stacking walnut spacers, sold separately, between the body and the recoil pad. Decide your LOP before you finish the build. Our AR-15 stock guide covers the adjustable alternatives if fixed geometry is a problem for you.

Three groups, and they want it for different reasons. Retro and service-rifle builders are already on a rifle-length tube and already accept fixed geometry, so the Vigilante is a straight upgrade in material over an A2 polymer stock at the same weight. Hunters running an AR-10 in the field get a warmer cheek surface in cold weather than bare polymer, plus a look that does not read as tactical at a deer camp.

The third group is builders who want the rifle to look like a rifle, and on a rifle-length tube that costs nothing in weight. The Vigilante line is built to be matched across a rifle, so the stock is not a lone wood part bolted to a black gun. If you are assembling one of these from parts, the rifle builder will let you check that the rest of your component list clears before you commit to a rifle buffer system, and our AR-15 upgrade priority list covers where furniture sits against a trigger and an optic in the priority order.

A fixed stock removes exactly one item from a feature list, and it is worth being precise about which. Eleven jurisdictions treat a folding or telescoping stock as a regulated feature on a semi-automatic rifle: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Washington, and the District of Columbia. Going fixed takes that one off the board.

It does not take the rifle out of the test. California, Connecticut, Illinois, and New York apply a one-feature test to a detachable-magazine semi-auto rifle, so a protruding pistol grip on its own still classifies the rifle regardless of what is on the back. The Vigilante is a component of a featureless configuration, not a substitute for one; our featureless AR build guide covers the grip and muzzle-device side, and the state legality matrix has the per-state feature lists.

Note also that this is a rifle-length fixed stock on a rifle-length tube, which is the longest configuration an AR comes in. On a 16 in barrel that is not a concern, but it is the wrong direction for anything trying to stay compact.