Repair or Preventative Reinforcement

[Johnm11]

I'm reposting some of the pictures form this thread viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9189&start=15 where I wondered, not very clearly, if the stock pins were installed on this 20 gauge Sterlingworth in response to damage or were installed as a preventative measure by the factory. We're pretty sure that the stock staple was a factory installation. But there is little evidence of damage that was repaired by the stock pins/plugs. There is one indication of a separation in the 5th photo of the tang area but there are no signs of a crack on the exterior that was repaired. I do know that there are some very good woodworkers that can do amazing things when repairing wood. So I'm on board if we think that the repair was done well enough so no outward signs are evident other than the stock pins/plugs. The stock is very petite. I am 5'-7" and have small hands. I can wrap my thumb/index finger around the smallest part of the wrist and the thumb/index finger overlap by almost 1/2 of the distance to the first knuckle on both the thumb and index finder. That's right at 2" in diameter. In the first and third photos below I have pointed out two smaller plugs that I hadn't noticed.

I realize we are all just guessing, but I'd like to know your opinion. The specific question - were the stock pins/plugs put in to make a repair after it left the factory or were the pins/plugs installed at the factory due to the 'pettiness' of the stock?

[vaturkey]

IMO that's not factory work.

[Johnm11]

Thanks vaturkey,

It really is more trivia than anything else.

[Brian Dudley]

It isn't a matter of opinion. The stock was damaged extensively and then repaired very poorly (from a cosmetic standpoint) using pins and dowels.
Too bad.

[Johnm11]

Ah, OK.