I bought a Browning Gold Auto (3" chamber) for duck hunting back in 2005 when I was doing a bit of waterfowl hunting. It shot great for a few years, then I moved to a less ducky location and tossed it in the safe. It's been there sitting there hardly used except for the occasional skeet training for going on 9 years.
I cracked open the safe the other day and went to move it to get to a gun further back in the safe and the entire DuraTouch stock is gooey....totally unlike the feeling when it was new. I spot tested some solvents to clean it up and nothing worked. I ended up putting it back in the safe for a few months and resigned to work on it later.
Well, today I decided to tackle it and tried rubbing alcohol, additional solvents and even Goo Gone and nothing worked. I called Browning and they passed me around for a bit before I reached the parts department and they told me they were out of the Mossy Oak Shadow Grass DuraTouch stocks, but could warranty me black or walnut as a direct replacement. I opted for black as it's a hard use hunting gun. Looks like some rattle can is in my future.
The parts gal stated that there are a lot of Gold Autos out there, and they're getting calls on a few of them with stocks that are "melting".
It's unfortunate a 1k gun came apart like that, but I applaud Browning for how they dealt with it.
Here's hoping it looks decent.
Ed
---------------EDIT------------------
I just noticed that my Limbsaver recoil pads on two of my shotguns were "melting". A quick call to Limbsaver at 877-257-2761 and new ones are in the mail. One of their suppliers provided a bad batch of rubber a few years ago and they'll replace them for free (upgraded models even!).
I cracked open the safe the other day and went to move it to get to a gun further back in the safe and the entire DuraTouch stock is gooey....totally unlike the feeling when it was new. I spot tested some solvents to clean it up and nothing worked. I ended up putting it back in the safe for a few months and resigned to work on it later.
Well, today I decided to tackle it and tried rubbing alcohol, additional solvents and even Goo Gone and nothing worked. I called Browning and they passed me around for a bit before I reached the parts department and they told me they were out of the Mossy Oak Shadow Grass DuraTouch stocks, but could warranty me black or walnut as a direct replacement. I opted for black as it's a hard use hunting gun. Looks like some rattle can is in my future.
The parts gal stated that there are a lot of Gold Autos out there, and they're getting calls on a few of them with stocks that are "melting".
It's unfortunate a 1k gun came apart like that, but I applaud Browning for how they dealt with it.
Here's hoping it looks decent.
Ed
---------------EDIT------------------
I just noticed that my Limbsaver recoil pads on two of my shotguns were "melting". A quick call to Limbsaver at 877-257-2761 and new ones are in the mail. One of their suppliers provided a bad batch of rubber a few years ago and they'll replace them for free (upgraded models even!).
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