Thinking about turning my Paps SxS into an SBS

[Screendmon]

I inherited my Pap J Stevens model 335 SxS shotgun from 1909, I want to convert it into a legal Short barrel shotgun with pistol grip.

Is this a bad idea?

Was just thinking of making it usable, since I don't hunt. Wanted to make it a HD shotgun. It currently has a 30 in barrel.

 

[oneounceload]

$200 tax stamp before proceeding, once approved - have at it

Personally, if it was MY dad's gun, this wouldn't be happening - there are too many cheap guns out there to do that to without destroying a family heirloom - but that is just MY opinion - YMMV

 

[Screendmon]

I see what you're saying about the heirloom, but my take on it is I can either hang it on the wall and never shoot it, shoot it as is for no reason at a range, or use it as an HD weapon in the house and take it to the range if I want.
Still remembering my grandfather when I see it.
As is "sentimental" is the only value this gun has. It/s not pretty, but can be cleaned up. Not worth much these days.

 

[Schofield3]

i'll throw my vote towards leaving it original, with added work of modifing the shotgun and going thru the paperwork and tax stamp to make it sbs, there are so many other hd options that make more sense

 

[bushmaster1313]

It's your gun but I would not do it either.

Instead I would clean it, grease it and put it away for someone in the future who would appreciate a gun that belonged to your grandfather.

ALSO: WARNING. Old Damascus steel barrels were not made for modern high power loads and the chambers could be too short for modern 2 3/4" shells

 

[Frozen North]

I think you will shoot it less once you hack it up

The thing about old guns that get handed down is that someone always trades them for car parts, pawns them, or hacks them up. It may not mean anything to you, but it may mean allot more to someone else. Check with cousins and uncles before you wreck it.

My dumb stupid stupid stupid cousin traded my Grandpa's 10 gauge goose gun with a mile long barrel for a set of bald mud tires after my uncle (his dad) passed. We could have killed him on the spot. Anyone would have paid him 2x the value of the gun just to keep it in the family, but he traded for junk. I would have bought him a NEW set of mud tires for the dang thing.

SxS pistol grip sawd' off skatterguns are only cool in the movies.

 

[Screendmon]

See this is the info I'm looking for. Guess you guys are right.
I'll leave it original, and mess up a different shotgun for fun.

 

[LibShooter]

I have my Dad's Stevens 311... who got it from his father. The thought of taking a hacksaw to the barrels or the stock makes want to weep.

My grandfather and father hunted birds and shot clays with that shotgun for decades. They held that stock in their hands and against their cheeks, squeezed that trigger. They looked at thousands of targets over the bead on the end of that barrel. That makes that cheap shotgun an authentic part of our family's history.

I still shoot it. Not as much as Dad and Grandpa, but when I can. It's in the closet right now with a cuff of buckshot ready if its needed. I wouldn't mutilate it.