I completely understand your disappointment, but I agree with others that have said that you should consider it to be the first of many marks that the gun will endure.
Here’s a somewhat relevant story… 25(ish) years ago, I won a Beretta AL390 semi-auto shotgun as a door prize at an event that I was invited to. I had grown up with a .410 H&R Topper, a 20ga Ithaca 51 semi-auto that I bought with paper route money, and was shooting a 12ga Rem 870 Express at the time. So this Beretta was like an exotic sports car to me. It was several steps above anything that I would have bought. It was beautiful, and I was very proud of it. A month or two after getting it, I was shooting clay pigeons off the hill with my Dad, brothers, and one of Dad’s friends. We were all shooting well at the going-away birds, so Dad’s buddy thought it would be fun to try some crossing shots. I was on the line when he launched the first bird from the hand thrower to my right. It came straight at me. I had the gun at low ready, and instinctively turned away from the approaching clay pigeon. The bird smashed right into the beautiful, deeply finished stock of my new gun. There were several deep gouges through the thick finish and there was black dust pressed into the wood fibers. I was sick, and the poor guy felt terrible about it. That is still my primary shotgun today, and it has a lot more character marks on it (a big gouge in the fore end from when the dog knocked it off the seat in the duck boat, scratches from the layout boat, etc). Looking back now, I am glad that I had that mishap. Every time that I pull that shotgun out of the case, I remember that fine day and smile. I suspect that you will also smile when you tell your story at some point in the future.
