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I dropped off my Browning Silver Hunter 20 gauge barrel only (not the entire shotgun) with a new Hi-Vix red fiber optic front sight still in its original package, which I had obtained from Midway USA and which is spec'ed for Brownings, including an assortment of screws to fit. I took it to Diablo Gun Works in Pleasant Hill, because they have two or three gunsmiths who work on site. I wanted them to install the sight because the original white bead was plastic and I could not get it off, since it immediately deformed with any tool. I did confirm directly, by phone, with Browning customer service that these beads are threaded into the sight rib. In other words, the rib is already tapped. Obviously the people at HiViz know this, too, as their product and the screws they send with it are designed for this.
I had my Trulock Skeet I choke in it, and Diablo suggested I remove it and take it home with me, which I did. As you read on, you'll notice that turned out to be a lucky move, maybe, or maybe not.
After a week, today I picked up the barrel with the new sight installed. It looked ok based on a cursory inspection. It was only after I got home that I noticed they had apparently tapped the hole down through the sight rib and into the barrel itself, and the screw they used to mount the sight is too long and sticking into the barrel! Evidently someone there is unaware that shotguns have interchangeable chokes; that if you're wondering you can simply look into the barrel and see the threads for chokes; and that most, or maybe all Brownings come with interchangeable chokes. Even if they didn't you wouldn't want a screw sticking down into the muzzle of your shotgun as it would do weird things to your patterns! Of course the chokes will not even go into the barrel at this point. And I'm not even a gunsmith.
Maybe it was already tapped through to the barrel and they just used the wrong screw. I'm guessing that if they simply replace the screw with a shorter one that stops short of the inner surface of the barrel, then installed chokes will cover up the resulting recess and there won't be any problems. Naturally it'll never be fired without a choke in it.
The good news is that the internal barrel threads for the chokes are back aways from the muzzle so those were not affected by this mistake. Tomorrow I'll take the barrel back and have them correct this avoidable error.
Frustrated. You would think a gunsmith worth his salt would not make a mistake like this.
I had my Trulock Skeet I choke in it, and Diablo suggested I remove it and take it home with me, which I did. As you read on, you'll notice that turned out to be a lucky move, maybe, or maybe not.
After a week, today I picked up the barrel with the new sight installed. It looked ok based on a cursory inspection. It was only after I got home that I noticed they had apparently tapped the hole down through the sight rib and into the barrel itself, and the screw they used to mount the sight is too long and sticking into the barrel! Evidently someone there is unaware that shotguns have interchangeable chokes; that if you're wondering you can simply look into the barrel and see the threads for chokes; and that most, or maybe all Brownings come with interchangeable chokes. Even if they didn't you wouldn't want a screw sticking down into the muzzle of your shotgun as it would do weird things to your patterns! Of course the chokes will not even go into the barrel at this point. And I'm not even a gunsmith.
Maybe it was already tapped through to the barrel and they just used the wrong screw. I'm guessing that if they simply replace the screw with a shorter one that stops short of the inner surface of the barrel, then installed chokes will cover up the resulting recess and there won't be any problems. Naturally it'll never be fired without a choke in it.
The good news is that the internal barrel threads for the chokes are back aways from the muzzle so those were not affected by this mistake. Tomorrow I'll take the barrel back and have them correct this avoidable error.
Frustrated. You would think a gunsmith worth his salt would not make a mistake like this.
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