I have a Remington 11-87 that's my do-it-all shotgun, which means I use it for deer hunting here in IL with a rifled barrel. I use a saddle-mount rail to attach a red dot to it, which means I have to add a cheek pad to compensate for the sight being higher.

For some weird reason I only happened to notice yesterday after getting it home from sighting in that the receiver is not tapped to add a section of rail. This got me thinking if it would be a good idea to get it drilled/tapped so I wouldn't have to deal with the higher sight and cheek pad every year for deer season.

First, are semi-autos usually not tapped for a rail due to tolerance issues compared to pump actions? Second, if it would be ok to get my shotgun drilled/tapped, should I even do it if I already have a saddle mount for it (and a cheek pad on order, which I forgot to order after last season, lol).

Thanks.