forindooruseonly
Member
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2009
- Messages
- 1,076
I've always wanted an Auto-Burglar, but I just can't justify the price right now. So, after losing out on the last one I saw at auction I decided I'd just try and build something similar and make a sawn-off shotgun.
What I didn't want to do was just hack down an old shotgun without really thinking about it or putting much thought into it - I definitely didn't want some piece that looked like it came from the evidence locker after a botched hold-up. I set out to build something nice, as ridiculous as that sounds, so I set some ground rules. I definitely wanted a gun without a through-bolt in the stock, just because I didn't want to deal with the hole and how I'd have to shape the stock around it. Second, I wanted an older gun with a nice patina to it rather than a newer gun. I also wanted a splinter foregrip and checkering. After considering all that, I found that many of the cheap doubles out there were unsuitable for what I wanted. Ithacas seemed to fit my wants, and while the 20 ga. guns - which I originally wanted - commanded a premium, the 12 ga. versions were relatively cheap and plentiful.
Here's the another issue I came up against that I didn't expect until I started seriously looking to cut down a shotgun; I found I didn't want to butcher a perfectly nice older American shotgun. The guns I found were in two camps: generally in disrepair, or very nice and not deserving of the axe. The quest became not to find a nice shotgun, but one that I wouldn't feel guilty about butchering. I looked for one already bubba'd for Cowboy Action, or one that had been damaged in a way that left the core good enough. This is harder than it sounds. After a year of looking, I found an Ithaca Flues that had some monster dents midway down the barrels. I don't know what in the heck happened to it, but it certainly got whacked. The stock had been "refinished" at one point. I'd found my gun.
I filed my Form 1 and waited. Around six months later, bored and wanting a project, I went ahead and sawed the stock off. We used a power saw to get rid of the bulk of it, then whittled the rest down to a shape I wanted and finished it off with sandpaper. We scuffed the foregrip, restained both pieces, and sealed the wood with a clear. Another month later, my stamp showed up, and I took the barrels to a local smith who chopped them to 11 inches, reinstalled the bead and filled the gap between the barrels. The goal was still to make something as nice as possible, with a vintage look to it. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out!
What I didn't want to do was just hack down an old shotgun without really thinking about it or putting much thought into it - I definitely didn't want some piece that looked like it came from the evidence locker after a botched hold-up. I set out to build something nice, as ridiculous as that sounds, so I set some ground rules. I definitely wanted a gun without a through-bolt in the stock, just because I didn't want to deal with the hole and how I'd have to shape the stock around it. Second, I wanted an older gun with a nice patina to it rather than a newer gun. I also wanted a splinter foregrip and checkering. After considering all that, I found that many of the cheap doubles out there were unsuitable for what I wanted. Ithacas seemed to fit my wants, and while the 20 ga. guns - which I originally wanted - commanded a premium, the 12 ga. versions were relatively cheap and plentiful.
Here's the another issue I came up against that I didn't expect until I started seriously looking to cut down a shotgun; I found I didn't want to butcher a perfectly nice older American shotgun. The guns I found were in two camps: generally in disrepair, or very nice and not deserving of the axe. The quest became not to find a nice shotgun, but one that I wouldn't feel guilty about butchering. I looked for one already bubba'd for Cowboy Action, or one that had been damaged in a way that left the core good enough. This is harder than it sounds. After a year of looking, I found an Ithaca Flues that had some monster dents midway down the barrels. I don't know what in the heck happened to it, but it certainly got whacked. The stock had been "refinished" at one point. I'd found my gun.
I filed my Form 1 and waited. Around six months later, bored and wanting a project, I went ahead and sawed the stock off. We used a power saw to get rid of the bulk of it, then whittled the rest down to a shape I wanted and finished it off with sandpaper. We scuffed the foregrip, restained both pieces, and sealed the wood with a clear. Another month later, my stamp showed up, and I took the barrels to a local smith who chopped them to 11 inches, reinstalled the bead and filled the gap between the barrels. The goal was still to make something as nice as possible, with a vintage look to it. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out!
