Dave McCracken
Moderator In Memoriam
We all have a strong urge to tinker and modify our tools and even our toys.
With shotguns,this urge often manifests as a desire to have a short barreled shotgun rather than one with barrels in the 24-30" range.
Short barreled shotguns definitely have their uses. Turkey hunting, defense, CAS, and just because.
I hunted for a while with an 870 equipped with a 21" barrel. It worked OK for geese with BBB and T shot, but blast in a 3 man pit blind did strain a few friendships. The year after I bought that barrel, then 28" and had it cut down and threaded for chokes, Remington brought out their 21" turkey barrel. I could have bought that for less than I had in mine.A lesson there.
BTW, that 870 serves for geese to this day, but now it wears longer barrels. Another lesson.
I have bobbed a few barrels here and there, with quite mixed results. A bolt action Mossberg with a 28" barrel and a Dial A Choke got turned into an 18" barreled slug shooter that harvested the 9 point over the mantle.
A family gun, a Ranger marked Stevens 311, got 3 inches off the barrels and turned it into a more responsive and good handling SxS. One of my myriad cousins has it now and loves it. He shoots a little skeet with it now and then.
I got lucky with that one. Often double guns are regulated at the muzzle and lopping off a couple inches ruins the alignment.This can cause patterns to shoot to vastly different points.
Also, I had a great desire around 1980 for a defensive shotgun. I had an 870, my first one, with a 30" Full choke barrel and little use at the time for a goose gun. That barrel got shortened to 18", a longer forcing cone reamed and a front sight and base installed that mated up to a peep. It works well, but I could have bought a slug barrel off the shelf for about the same money and still had the barrel Pop gave me in good condition.
There's been a few horror stories.....
Around 1981 I was instructing a class of rookie Correctional Officers and one brought his house gun. It had been in the family a couple generations. A mid level LC Smith 16 gauge with nice wood and engraving, he had hacksawed the barrels off slightly more than the 18" the law requires. I looked it over as he stood proudly by and then lost the look as I talked. I explained he had taken a fine old gun worth a couple grand and turned it into a commonplace defense gun worth a couple hundred.Had he just sold it, he could have bought a new riot gun for every adult in his house and still had plenty of money.
A close call happened to a smith buddy. He had a customer drop off a Trap Grade Model 97 in near new condition,a Black Diamond model., The owner wanted him to cut the barrel to 20" and install a rail. He talked the guy into swapping it for a Benelli tactical shotgun instead and shoots trap with the 97.
A loose rule here might be to cut only after knowing what you have and whether or not the gun has much collector value. A beater 97 may not be what collector's hearts beat faster about now, but in 20 years that may change. You're probably safe shortening a clone, though.
And a 97 with a long barrel is still a fine field gun.
As for the legalities, the Feds measure from the bolt face to the part of the muzzle closest to the breech. It has to more than 18". Overall length has to be more than 26".
I'd not bob anything made before WWII and/or designed by John Moses Browning unless in really worn condition. It hurts a little to say that because a Model 11 "Whippet" has been on my bucket list for decades.
Repros and clones, why not? Another gun on that list is a Muzzleloading SxS small gauge shortened to about 16" in memory of a former Rebel soldier that donated some DNA to yrs truely. I certainly wouldn't do it to an original.
Thoughts, comments?
With shotguns,this urge often manifests as a desire to have a short barreled shotgun rather than one with barrels in the 24-30" range.
Short barreled shotguns definitely have their uses. Turkey hunting, defense, CAS, and just because.
I hunted for a while with an 870 equipped with a 21" barrel. It worked OK for geese with BBB and T shot, but blast in a 3 man pit blind did strain a few friendships. The year after I bought that barrel, then 28" and had it cut down and threaded for chokes, Remington brought out their 21" turkey barrel. I could have bought that for less than I had in mine.A lesson there.
BTW, that 870 serves for geese to this day, but now it wears longer barrels. Another lesson.
I have bobbed a few barrels here and there, with quite mixed results. A bolt action Mossberg with a 28" barrel and a Dial A Choke got turned into an 18" barreled slug shooter that harvested the 9 point over the mantle.
A family gun, a Ranger marked Stevens 311, got 3 inches off the barrels and turned it into a more responsive and good handling SxS. One of my myriad cousins has it now and loves it. He shoots a little skeet with it now and then.
I got lucky with that one. Often double guns are regulated at the muzzle and lopping off a couple inches ruins the alignment.This can cause patterns to shoot to vastly different points.
Also, I had a great desire around 1980 for a defensive shotgun. I had an 870, my first one, with a 30" Full choke barrel and little use at the time for a goose gun. That barrel got shortened to 18", a longer forcing cone reamed and a front sight and base installed that mated up to a peep. It works well, but I could have bought a slug barrel off the shelf for about the same money and still had the barrel Pop gave me in good condition.
There's been a few horror stories.....
Around 1981 I was instructing a class of rookie Correctional Officers and one brought his house gun. It had been in the family a couple generations. A mid level LC Smith 16 gauge with nice wood and engraving, he had hacksawed the barrels off slightly more than the 18" the law requires. I looked it over as he stood proudly by and then lost the look as I talked. I explained he had taken a fine old gun worth a couple grand and turned it into a commonplace defense gun worth a couple hundred.Had he just sold it, he could have bought a new riot gun for every adult in his house and still had plenty of money.
A close call happened to a smith buddy. He had a customer drop off a Trap Grade Model 97 in near new condition,a Black Diamond model., The owner wanted him to cut the barrel to 20" and install a rail. He talked the guy into swapping it for a Benelli tactical shotgun instead and shoots trap with the 97.
A loose rule here might be to cut only after knowing what you have and whether or not the gun has much collector value. A beater 97 may not be what collector's hearts beat faster about now, but in 20 years that may change. You're probably safe shortening a clone, though.
And a 97 with a long barrel is still a fine field gun.
As for the legalities, the Feds measure from the bolt face to the part of the muzzle closest to the breech. It has to more than 18". Overall length has to be more than 26".
I'd not bob anything made before WWII and/or designed by John Moses Browning unless in really worn condition. It hurts a little to say that because a Model 11 "Whippet" has been on my bucket list for decades.
Repros and clones, why not? Another gun on that list is a Muzzleloading SxS small gauge shortened to about 16" in memory of a former Rebel soldier that donated some DNA to yrs truely. I certainly wouldn't do it to an original.
Thoughts, comments?
