Dedicated closet gun

Had a Winchester Model 1300 20 gauge that came with a standard 28" vent rib barrel with Winchoke tubes. Wanted to use it for upland game so I looked around online and found a new 22" vent rib barrel for a really great price. At the same time I also bought an 18" barrel so my wife could use it for home defense.

A Remington 870 12ga. Express with deer barrel lives in my closet. This closet dweller is loaded with #4 buckshot shells. Gun shoots slugs very well.

Boattale said:

Short standard weight 1100 20 gauge barrels are exceptionally difficult to find. If the gun ever wants another longer barrel for hunting, they are readily available.

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Well, now you had to go and make sense and ruin my good rant ... Anyway, I didn't know that, and it sounds like you made the right decision based on the facts. More power to you.

bannockburn said:

Had a Winchester Model 1300 20 gauge that came with a standard 28" vent rib barrel with Winchoke tubes. Wanted to use it for upland game so I looked around online and found a new 22" vent rib barrel for a really great price. At the same time I also bought an 18" barrel so my wife could use it for home defense.

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Nice Bannockburn. I am looking to do the same thing to my Beretta 1200. I do not shoot trap and no longer do anything but small game and deer/Turkey. And it would be a good defense gun. I bought it in the 80's and always loved this gun for the lightness, simplicity and reliability. I always keep it wrapped in the woods and is still in pristine shape. I really like short barrel guns for hunting. This is the 1200 Fa and later they came out with the 1201 for Military and Police.
And I did not pay a lot of Money for the gun brand new. I am sure the usual Gun snobs will come out in full force, but it has proven be a nice shooting gun for me. And I want to bring it new life and use it for hunting. It has been a old friend to me. I want to have the barrel cut it tapped and drilled for chokes as well. Thanks for the Post.
*still looking for a barrel replacement in 18".

Lightweight, first time I had bought a nylon stocked and like them ever since.


I wish now I had bought the 1201 after I found out how much I like the 1200.

Jeb Stuart

I really like short barrel guns for hunting.

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Me too! Since I hunted mainly upland game in some pretty heavy cover it really made a big difference in getting a shotgun into action with a short barrel. Typically I had a 26" barrel but if I could find something shorter then I went with that. The few times I used the original 28" barrel was for waterfowl and then I was hunting out of a duck blind. Have a 24" barrel on my dedicated Turkey gun, a Mossberg Model 9200, and I suppose if I wanted to I could use it for home defense as well.

Just saw this, of what I am talking about. Beretta 1200 with cut barrel.


Again, I really like the light weight for the kind of hunting I do and a cut barrel would make it Ideal.

As an 1100 owner, actually it’s turned over the youngest son now, I do like that gun. My own little story is I just finished installing an almost 2” thick recoil pad on an old double because some one in the past cut the stock to a 12” LOP. That 20 may well go thru the same cycle 50 years in the future.

Turned out very nice. Well done.
I'm a big fan of short 20ga guns, though I prefer pumps.

@Jeb Stuart

I have a 1201FP with the combination stock and it's a great home defense gun. Not sure you can find an 18" barrel for your 1200. My 1201FP is a 20" barrel (no chokes). All the 20" barrels I have seen aren't tapped for chokes and will only work on the FP models with the extended magazine.

You're best bet is probably to have yours cut and threaded by someone reputable if you want to keep that gun. Looks like these people could cut it and thread it. https://www.choketube.com/choke-tube-installation-R.php

Now go on eBay and look up leather buttstock shot shell holders for $25 from Ukraine or Russia. This is a classic look with a lace on attachment & a cheek rest. You could also do a modern Velcro shot card from SKD.

I’ve always thought a shorty 20 gauge would be a formidable gun in an HD situation. I would not discount them just because they aren’t a 12 gauge.

Good job, OP. Guns like this are meant to be used, and if tailoring to the user promotes better use of the tool, then that’s a good thing.