why swap the barrel?
if the problem is just a protruding screw in the front sight, just chop the last couple inches off and recrown, should be less than $100.
depending on the caliber and barrel length, of course. if its already a short barrel, or a magnum, barrel replacement might be a better idea. but if its the usual 22" barrel, chopping 1.5-2" isnt going to hurt anything. hell, it might make it even more accurate with a little stiffer barrel and new crown.
so if you offer him $200-250, and he takes it, you can get it cut and recrowned and have it out the door for around $300-350.
the only thing that makes me suspicious about it all is that the gunsmith hasnt already offered to do this, or bought it for himself. they dont pass up really good deals like this, especially if a half hour in the shop can make them several hundred dollars. look it over
really well - there may be something else wrong with it. ie: if the screw is protruding into the barrel maybe it was
fired like that and the barrel is severely damaged and needs to be replaced?
if you buy it in a nonfiring condition like that and later on find some other problem, or the barrel is #%@$ed, you wont be able to bring it back. the answer will be
'well, you knew it was bubba'd when you bought it'.
how do we know this? depending on how much is protruding the barrel might not catastrophically split apart from it being fired, the damage could be more subtle. what makes me suspect that something else might be wrong is that if it were just a matter of drilling the front sight too far into the barrel, an
honest gunsmith would have just recommended the cheap cut/crown, and a
dishonest one would have bought it/traded it in from the guy for peanuts and did it himself. that fact that neither happened is a bit suspicious. if its such a great deal why doesnt the gunsmith take it? yes i know that theyre usually limited in time, but its getting into the slow season now and they dont just let amazing deals slip through their fingers.
