I want to cut down my Pardner single shot with a long barrel to a short 18.5" barrel. The local gunsmith shop wants $45 to do it and to reinstall the bead. I think that's a little high...
It's not. It's an hour job to cut the barrel, then square and clean up the crown, plus reinstall the bead. Considering a threaded bead, and considering most smiths are $20-50 per hole for D&T jobs, you're talking about a
VERY reasonable price at $45.
and doesn't make sense for a $150 shotgun.
That's up to you. If you want it shorter, it's a good price. If you don't want to spend money on the shotgun, that's your choice. I personally wouldn't agree with the sentiment it doesn't make sense - if you want it shorter, $45 is a good price, and the purchase price of the shotgun isn't relevant. Should it cost more to cut down a $1500 shotgun than one which cost $150? So the $45 is either worth it to you to have it how you want it, or not. That's so cheap, I'd certainly have them do the job.
I'm guessing it's a 26" or 28" barrel, so cutting it down to 18.5" will be a marked difference in handling, well worth that price.
PERSONALLY - I'd pay to have it threaded for chokes at the same time as well. I have the Manson ream and tap set, which is about $300, plus bushings which are $16 each, unless you turn your own.
I'd like to do it myself to save money.
For $45, it's not worth it to do it yourself.
Yes, I've done several barrel bob jobs on rifles, shotguns, and handguns, and sight installs, from dovetails, thread shank beads, soldered shank beads, banded sights, screw on bases, solder on bases, soldered mill slot sights, etc.
What is the easiest way for a novice?
Same way as the professional - you need means to 1) cut the barrel, 2) square the muzzle, 3) treat the crown (debur and chamfer/round), 4) level the receiver, 5) indicate Top Dead Center on the barrel, 6) drill a blind hole in the barrel at TDC without penetrating clear through into the bore and leaving sufficient bore ceiling, then 7) bottom tap the hole. Personally, for barrel cut down jobs, I use a hacksaw and a hardened homemade muzzle square cutting jig, followed squaring up with a piloted muzzle facing cutter ($85 together), then kiss a slight chamfer with an 11* cutter on the pilot, and round the OD either rolling it in a fixture on a belt sander or with a radius cutter (but a guy could break it with a file and stone & sand). I then touch up with cold blue ($8+), most often. For installing the bead, I use a Forster sight drilling fixture ($450 current price), or a Williams Centering Jig ($130 current) mounted in a padded vise, and for shotguns, I either turn my drill/mill by hand ($1,200 used), or use a T-handle ($6+) on the appropriate size bit ($5) to give me control over depth. I tap with a T-handle, start with a taper, switch to a plug, then finish with a bottoming tap (cheapest of these will be $3-8, and you'll need at least the taper and bottoming taps), then use loctite to secure the bead in the threads ($6).
A guy can cut it off with a hacksaw, square(ish) with a belt sander, chamfer with a VLD case chamfer tool, radius with a file and stones, but there's a difference in job quality for the above manual method I described vs. doing it without at least piloted facing cutters.
Between the bit, T handle, and the taps, even if you were willing to eyeball it and risk coming up off center, you'll have enough cost in tools to make it not worth doing the sight install on your own, so I'd certainly pay him for that part. At $45 for the whole job, he can't be assigning more than $20-25 for cutting the barrel, so I'd recommend paying him for the work instead of tackling it yourself and recommend you mark yourself happy for getting a good deal.
I will probably have them reinstall a bead up front once I'm done as I don't want it to be crooked. How much is a fair price to install a bead sight on a shotgun barrel?
As I mentioned above - many smiths would charge $45 just to drill & tap then reinstall the bead. Just pay the guy. At best, I'd venture you'll get this done for $20-25. For $20 difference, again, I'd pay the guy to do the whole job.
