Defender barrel interchangeability


Copper BB
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2015 2:41 am
PostPosted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 10:31 pm
I just bought a standard Defender, and I really like the gun....except for the non-choke cylinder bore. It shoots 4 foot patterns at 20 feet with target loads. :D

Anyway, I called Winchester and asked if the Defender Extreme choke-threaded barrel would fit my standard defender, and was told it would not fit..which seemed odd to me since they appear to be virtually identical guns, other than a few bells and whistles.

When I asked which barrels they sold for my defender, he said they had a 26" and 28" barrel (both threaded for chokes) that "would fit all defender models". When I asked him to clarify that, he said yes....according to his info, those barrels would fit all of the defender models.

So by now, I'm smelling something that belongs in a pasture. When I asked him politely to please explain how two barrels would fit all defenders, but a barrel from one defender wouldn't fit another one...the CS rep got defensive and basically said "I don't know, but that's what everything I have says".

I find it hard to believe that they would machine an entirely different barrel for the extreme, rather than just adding threads for a choke to the standard barrel. I find it even harder to believe that two barrels interchange with one that doesn't.

Anyone have any insight into this?
PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 12:22 pm
Welcome to the Winchester Owners Forum calan !!

Sorry...can't help with that question, maybe other members here will be able to provide the answer.

Copper BB
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2015 2:41 am
PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 11:28 pm
Thanks, but I just had it threaded for rem chokes, and picked a couple up at Bass Pro. Looks like it will work great...should see some range time tomorrow.

I'm having a hard time finding good sights though. I got a picatinny rail for it, but can't find a decent inexpensive ghost ring for the rear and a taller FO sight for the front that will utilize the existing post thread. I've been searching for days....can't believe it's this hard to find something so simple that doesn't cost a kidney.

Does anyone know if Williams makes a front fire sight that would fit, and use the existing hole to mount with?
PostPosted: Thu Feb 26, 2015 12:57 pm
OK...looking forward to the range report !
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Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
PostPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2016 5:34 am
Some of the pump guns in the past had different length mag tubes depending if it was a standard model or defender, meaning the ring or loop on the barrel that the magazine nut tightens against to hold the barrel on was positioned differently to accommodate the different length mag tube. Not sure if this is the reason, but I ran into this before with an older model 1200.

.22LR
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Nov 23, 2013 2:53 pm
PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 9:42 pm
Know it's an old thread that's since been resolved but figured I would add a bit of my knowledge here.
The Defender and Extreme Defender barrels are interchangeable in the sense that they will install and fire. The reason the rep said it's not is probably because the Extreme has those ghost ring sights. With the front on the barrel and the rear as part of the rail assembly on the receiver. The regular Defender is just a bead sight. So if you put an Extreme Defender barrel on a regular Defender, it will fit and fire, but you would have no way to use the sights since your Defender receiver is missing the rear sight.
I'm assuming the rep probably doesn't personally know much about these guns and is simply reading off a standard chart, and the chart is telling him they are not interchangeable because of the sight differences.

Customer service is not typically encouraged to start muddying the waters with in-depth technical explanations so they just play it safe and say "No", so you don't order the barrel and then start bad mouthing them online because they didn't tell you that the sights won't work.
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20g
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 27, 2016 7:28 am
Hello Nickel Plated! welcome back.

I can see your point. Unhappy customers can become unstable and going with a barrel with an unexpected problem out-of-the-box would trigger a negative brain tsunami.
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