Tapping turkey barrels?

[joshco84]

Is it possible to drill/tap the regular turkey barrels.  I know the slug barrels can be, but what about the regular shotgun barrels (most importantly the 22 in turkey barrel)  Thanks in advance.

josh

[gimphunter]

216 posts?

You've been around here long enough to answer your own question, if you've been paying attention.

12 or 20?

20 is easy, the answer is yes, it can be drilled and tapped, and the 22" youth choke tube barrel is the obvious choice, but you'll have to special-order it, as it isn't listed in the accessory barrel list.

12 ga is a special case. Most 'smiths won't D&T it, but you can have a mount silver-soldered. Some have done it with the T/C steel Weaver rail, or with custom rails.

[joshco84]

well i dont follow the shotgun forum very close or i would know   The question is about a 12 ga (sorry i forgot to mention that) and you provided some good info thanks.  Also by silver solder do you mean like regular lead solder??  Also what is available for sights on a regular 12 ga barrel.  I have never really looked into this so it is kind of barren ground for me.  Just looking for something a little more accurate for shooting turkeys so i would not rule out a red dot or even a "rifle" style of sights.  thanks guys.

josh

[gimphunter]

Sorry for being snippy, but this is a perennial topic here.

Silver solder is different -- stronger, with a higher melting point. The heat will ruin the bluing, so you'll need to reblue afterwards.

As far as sights, I understand that H&R will install iron sights on some barrels that do not come standard with them. Perhaps they could put on a set of "Tracker" sights for you. That would be a nice setup, and probably what I should have done with mine when I found it shot far from the point of aim. What I ended up doing was to spend lots of money on a custom-machined, silver soldered mount, a reblue and a red dot. I like it a lot, but probably wouldn't do it again if I could get the Tracker sights.

Here's pics:

 

[LEO]

Reference the tracker sights, I spoke with NEF a couple of weeks ago about sights on shotgun barrels and they said that they would only install sights on rifle caliber barrels.  The other option would be to send your shotgun back have a tracker 1 barrel fitted then have that barrel fitted with choke tubes.  You would have a 24 inch barrel unless you had the gunsmith cut the barrel when he fitted it with choke tubes.  The front sight is much less of an issue than the rear sight so the gunsmith could easily reinstall the front sight.  Of course this doesn't help you if you are looking to put a scope or dot on your shotgun.

[Cookiemann]

What barrel do you have?  The only 22" 12ga barrel that H & R offers, that I know of, is an accessory barrel in Mod choke.  The Turkey barrels are 24" in 12ga with fixed full or screw chokes and 22" in 20ga with full choke(Youth barrel).
Prices around my area in MN are running about $15 a hole for D&T and about $80 for a cut and tap for choke(includes 1 tube).
If you already have the turkey barrel with the screw choke then the cheapest way to go is to see if it can be D&T'd.  That will have to be determined by your gunsmith.  Some will and some won't.  Just depends on how thick your chamber on the barrel is.  Otherwise its silver solder.  Some guys here have had success with JB weld and done it themselves.  gimphunter has probably got the cleanest set up I have seen.  Like he said, that's not a cheap fix. 
For the short turkey season, you might want to consider a TDC barrel with clamp on fiber optic sights from TruGlo or HiViz.

cookiemann

[joshco84]

i am actuallly just going to buy the whole camo turkey gun and take it to a smith and see what he says about putting some variety of rear sights on it.  if he will driill/tap then great, but i am thinking about the solder or jb for a diy project.  I think my dad and i should be able to do it pretty easily.

[myarmor]

A little warning Josh. If you are thinking about JB welding a scope rail.... I tried this with a NEF rail, of course they are aluminum, and it flew off the barrel with the 3rd shot. I cleaned the spot well, degreased it and use a generous amount of JB. I even managed to line up the rail straight even enough to dry good and for 2 days let it harden. I know it doesn't take JB that long to dry, but you see where I am going with this
Just relating my experiance bro.
As for the silver soldering I want to look into this more. I don't know it would work so well with the factory aluminum one, but as gimp said a steel mount should work...and it seems to work well for him. And a good looking setup too


-Aaron

[joshco84]

yeah if a guy had access to a manual mill, it wouldnt be too hard to make a rail out of steel for the shotgun barrels.  I almost put the turkey gun on layaway today and then i saw it was a fixed choke.  I could have swore on the website it says interchangeable, guess i was wrong.  Sportsmans warehouse even had it in stock to    But i am looking into a tap to do choke tubes so this could still be the route i am looking at.  Thanks for all the input guys.

josh