openclassterror Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 I just wanted to give a report about a manufacturer who really serves this industry. I bought my son a Mossberg SA-20 Bantam shotgun for Christmas to use in 3-gun. He has been shooting a pump 20ga, as he is only 11, and not very big yet. He finally started really being hampered by the speed of the shotgun, and I felt he was ready to step up to a semi-auto. I read an article in Recoil magazine about this shotgun a while back, and it seemed perfect. In the article, they installed a Choate 8-shot extension and made some loading port mods. I looked around, and nobody seemed to make a 9-shot extension, and the 8-shot is about 3 inches shorter than the 24in barrel on the youth model (Bantam). Since 9 shells are allowed in his class I wanted to get something that wouldn't handicap him. I had a Choate extension on his pump which worked well, and they seemed to be the only company supporting the SA-20. Long story short, I called them to find out if they intended on ever making a 9-shot model for this gun. I was put in contact with Fred, (who is a fellow 3gunner btw), and he said that barrel length is unique to the youth model, and they didn't get much demand for such a beast. However, he had me measure the distance between the barrel bracket and the end of the barrel, and said they would custom cut a tube to match and solder it onto the correct nut for this model. On top of that, he said it didn't take significantly more time to make an odd length than a standard model, so he didn't even charge me extra for the custom length! ( I would have happily paid it if he had though.) I was thoroughly impressed by their desire to serve the customer, and in an era where customer service seems to be a lost art I thought I should pass on my great experience. We now eagerly await the arrival of the new tube, and my son is crossing his fingers that it show up some time next week before the match on the 18th. I told him to be patient as they have to fit it in to their schedule, and I was so happy that they would make a custom fit that I didn't want to ask them for a timeline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
openclassterror Posted January 11, 2014 Author Share Posted January 11, 2014 www.recoilweb.com/preview-mossberg-sa-20-shotgun-26913.html is the link to the article that started this project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usmc1094 Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Its great to see companies still care about their customers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan N Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 That's pretty cool of Choate. I have Choate tubes on two of my 870's and been very happy with them. I have also found them pretty easy to shorten to make them flush with the barrel on HD guns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
openclassterror Posted January 11, 2014 Author Share Posted January 11, 2014 If it was too long and needed to be shortened I woulda done it here, but to make it longer I would have had to cut off the end, thread the OD, and make an extension to thread on. Probably 2 hours worth of work including the reblue. Our shop is about 2 months behind, so I would rather pay somebody else to do it than try to fit it in around paying jobs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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