Cut it to 17", ground/sanded the muzzle, and used an emery bit from a Dremel to get rid of the burr and edge of the rifling. The crowning tool I borrowed was next to useless, it was so dull. Came out pretty good. Shot where I wanted at 25 yards, but gonna take it to 100 yards and see how it groups. Left an inch for work with proper tools, in case I messed up with the home-grown method.
Point of this post is to say that there was no flash, no real recoil increase (recoil is sharper, but not painful by any means), and hardly even a noticeable noise increase when shooting Remington 180gr factory ammo. Has a little more of a "pop" sound, compared to my 111 with 22" barrel. Whoever said it'll blast the chrome off a car 20 years away is wrong. It's not even remotely unpleasant to shoot.
Need to get a chronograph, see where the velocity is on the 180 grainers, check groupings to ensure the crown is acceptable, and then I'll go from there as far as handloads go.