OK, so this thread caught my attention as I have been shopping for a 20ga for a while now, but have not been in any particular hurry. I saw these a couple of times in the store but did not pay much attention to them.
I went to my local Academy this morning and they did have stacks of boxes of these things.
I asked to see the 20ga model and I waited patiently as the clerk tried to put one together for me out of the box. She had to call for help and they all finally agreed that it was defective, the ejectors were not going back into the chamber and it wouldn't close.
Next we pull out another one, she starts to put this one together and I tell her no, it has a pretty bad place in the wood.
So, on to #3. Comes out, goes together pretty well but very tight.
I handle it a while, ask if I can dry fire, she says sure. I snap both barrels just to see how hard it is to open.
Wow, I've never had a Dbl that was so hard to open. I know its brand new but it was VERY hard to break open and re-cock the hammers.
The machine work is very obviously low grade CNC, but acceptable for prices like this. The gun was extremely dry, a tiny bit of oil on the wood but the metal had no oil at all.
The chokes are not marked with anything other than a little hash mark, 1 to 5 with 1 mark being tightest, 5 being most open. No idea if these correspond to standard choke sizes but I'd assume they do. Time will tell.
But, it was pretty lightweight, balanced well, trigger was not bad.
The initial barrel selector is a bit tight, left or right depending on if you want to light off the top or bottom first, and then slide it fore or aft for safe and fire. Fore and aft was pretty smooth, and thats what matters to me most I think anyway.
So, after standing there a while, I bought it. That price is just too attractive.
I was told no returns or exchanges, and any work has to go back to Academy's place in Katy, TX (outside of Houston). Academy is the actual importer of this particular model for their stores and the required ATF stampings show this with some blazing bright white letters all over the side of the barrel. I'll see if I can blacken those out where they don't stick out like a sore thumb. I'm sure that's legal as long as I don't change the depth right?
They did have the upgrade model, with a bit nicer wood and more engraving. I've read that the extra engraving on this was done by hand but after close inspection I don't believe that. Looks like machine cut to me, just more detail. The difference in wood did not impress me either so I'd say that one is more marketing than anything. I wanted 20ga anyway and the fancy model is only avalable in 12.
I'll shoot some pattern targets and clay in the next couple of days and report back on how it shoots.
Perhaps I'll do some googling on the subject and see what I can find out.
