Was curious how much gunsmith charge to do on one of my old shotgun. Saw this online and didn't think about it till then.
Anyone know how much Gunsmith charge for lengthening force cone?
- Thread starter rav373
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Acera
Member
I've had a number of guns done. First by Briley out of Houston, the next ones were done by Mag-na-port. Not as much a PITA shipping the barrels as you might think. Pretty easy since it's just a part, no FFL issues or anything like that, but do cover the value in insurance. I used a fishing rod tube with lots of packing foam, worked out real good.
You can expect to pay about $70 a barrel. I had all mine done in conjunction with porting the barrels (which is extra).
Both of those outfits are top notch and have a good customer rating.
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You can expect to pay about $70 a barrel. I had all mine done in conjunction with porting the barrels (which is extra).
Both of those outfits are top notch and have a good customer rating.
.
Virginian
Member
Mike Orlen charges $55 to lengthen and polish. He does quality work.
entropy
Member
Not sure what he charges, but Pat Laib in Spicer, MN, does top notch work. If I can't fix it myself, I'd send it to him.
bangswitch
Member
What is your shotgun? First, I'd have the barrel mic'd to determine the length of your cone, to se if it's really necessary in the first place.
I have a trio of old (45 yrs+) Savage/Fox B doubles that I regularly shoot, especially the 12 gauge. The cones on these guns is fairly deep, more than the "normally less than an inch" shown in the article you linked. All three of mine only have 2-3/4 " chambers, so no magnums, but I can shoot 50-75 rounds on a clays course and my shoulder feels fine afterwards. I have no issues with accuracy, either, I usually do 20-22 average on a skeet course with a modified and full choke barrel combo.
I have a trio of old (45 yrs+) Savage/Fox B doubles that I regularly shoot, especially the 12 gauge. The cones on these guns is fairly deep, more than the "normally less than an inch" shown in the article you linked. All three of mine only have 2-3/4 " chambers, so no magnums, but I can shoot 50-75 rounds on a clays course and my shoulder feels fine afterwards. I have no issues with accuracy, either, I usually do 20-22 average on a skeet course with a modified and full choke barrel combo.
I've had one of my shotguns worked to lengthen the forcing cone. I think it improved the pattern, but I did not notice any difference in recoil. Perhaps if I'd paid careful attention before and after I might have noticed a difference, but it didn't stand out to me. I'd say the claim of noticebly reducing recoil sounds bogus to me.
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Virginian
Member
Some years back I had a lot of barrel work done. Lengthening the cone (with plated lead shot) was worth maybe 3% in pattern at long range. So was backboring. Both together were worth 3 to 4%.
In a blind test with 10 and 12 gauge heavy loads my buddy and I could pick the gun with the lengthened cone 94% of the time. BUT, I will not say it recoiled less, MAYBE a little less sharp, but it was definitely different. 94% is way beyond coincidence.
In a blind test with 10 and 12 gauge heavy loads my buddy and I could pick the gun with the lengthened cone 94% of the time. BUT, I will not say it recoiled less, MAYBE a little less sharp, but it was definitely different. 94% is way beyond coincidence.
farm23
Member
I hunt with 80+ old S/S's and do my own chamber and forcing cone work. I bought the dies from Brownells years ago and have found them to work great. I do not shoot magnum loads but probably could in my guns made after 1936 or so. I do find an improvement in the recoil and some in the pattern. It is not that hard to do and you have the convenience of not being dependent on someone's work schedule.
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