cutting down a shotgun barrel

[RelicHound]

is there more to it than taking a hack saw and cutting it down and making sure its square?

Ive got a nova I thought about messing around with and trying to make a new turkey gun,its got either a 28" or 30" barrel{Id have to measure as I cant remember off hand} but I want to cut it down to 20" and thread it for rem chokes,main reason I want to thread it for rem chokes is because I have several very expensive turkey chokes for my 870 and 870 super mag and dont want to sink a ton of money in this. is it possible to do this? or am I messing with different bore diameters? also what about angle porting? is there a science behind it or can I pattern it off my super mag which has been ported?
I know this sounds a bit silly and seems easier to just go out and buy a new barrel but benelli barrels arent cheap{if I bought a new barrel and a hand full of turkey chokes to see which shoots the best Id be looking at $300-400 if Im lucky} and I think I can do this project for under $100 if I do most of the work myself and have a family friend who is a gun smith do the threading for the chokes. last time I had a barrel choked he charged me $75 but if I let him do all the work{chop off the barrel,port and add front bead} Ill be over the $100 I want to spend. I could just ask him all these questions but I wanted to get some input before I look into this any further.

 

[Rlee]

Interested also.

I'm always seeing these long barreled 870's and 500's but hate to go barrel hunting so I pass them up. Simply marking a barrel and cutting it would be an easy, cheap solution. A bead sight or something similar would be fine with me as this would be a HD shotgun anyways.

 

[RelicHound]

as far as the site goes I wont have to really worry about that. tru glow makes a nice "clamp" on fiber optic sight since this will be hunting gun in my situation I will be using a fixed power shotgun scope or red dot.

 

[Rlee]

as far as the site goes I wont have to really worry about that. tru glow makes a nice "clamp" on fiber optic sight since this will be hunting gun in my situation I will be using a fixed power shotgun scope or red dot.

A laser unfortunely would be my route proably as a back up option.

 

[dice dealer]

Here is my BABY i cut it down and poerted it myself ,
I cut it down with a pipe cutter , worked perfectly ,
to port it i used a drill press .
As far as angle on the porting I did alot of searching on the net and asking of a couple local smiths and none of witch could i find any real advantage to doing an angled cut so i just marked a decent design of ports and went to town .
having shot it before and after porting i can say the ports do help somewhat , nothing mayjor but it is a help ..

I put the heatshield on Just for the ghost ring sights , a cheap way to have sights installed back on it , and it is suprisingly accurate .
as far as threading the barrel for choke tubes id say you better take it to a gunsmith for that .

Good luck

 

[2ADMNLOVER]

looks good .

 

[Disposable Heart]

The only issues are the sight being removed (detailed already) and the now lack of choke (unless cylinder bore is okay, and it is in many situations).

I have cut down barrels myself (at my last work, we had the tools to do so when I was on lunch break). One could drill and tap a new sight hole (and they make tritinum front beads on sale at Midway for only 30 bucks, something VERY useful if one doesnt have a light). As for the choke, someone putting a choke in could very well put the cost over that of a new barrel. The cylinder bore now created is good enough for buck or slug (for HD or similar), but probably not the best for clay, turkey or game loads. The one I cut down was horrible with any sort of sporting load in regards to the pattern (it simply threw the shot everywhere), where the buck was okay.

For shorter barrels, trying to find one (as everyone seems to want a few barrels for different purposes) is hard, everyone wants to keep theirs! Cutting an existing or just searching searching searching for a good deal seem like the only two good ideas.

 

[RelicHound]

thanks for all the comments folks. can I have rem chokes put in a benelli barrel? I would assume that it wouldnt be an issue. the last gun I had threaded for choke tubes was a browning A-5 but I had it threaded for browning chokes. I can have it done for $75 maybe less since it wont include choke tubes. I think he normally charges like $150 but that includes 3 choke tubes as well and being a family friend he usually does my work at half the cost since I help him on his farm quit a bit.
cylinder bore wont cut it for turkey hunting,I like a shotgun/choke and load setup that will hold 60%{or better} of the pattern in a paper plate sized target at 40yrds so Im shooting turkey specific choke tubes {I think most of them I have are .675 constriction}
the reason behind the angle porting is that it will slow down the wad as it leaves the barrel so the wad can not interfere with the shot{pushing the shot and breaking up the pattern} sounds good in theory anyway? plus it reduces recoil slightly which is nice when your pounding out 3.5" turkey loads at the range.

 

[Dryden]

dice dealer:
Damn fine looking work on your shotgun!!! The flames on the barrel are a nice touch.

 

[Para45]

Sweet scattergun!! I wish I was that talented...

 

[Slow Hand]

I've cut down several barrel and had zero problems. these were for CAS and HD, though. So, Cyl Bore was fine. I bet that when your freind threads it for the choke tubes, he will have to touch up the squareness of the muzzle Eyeballing it probably isn't good enough. You are putting very fine threads in a thin piece of metal and they have to be perfect! I'm sure if you hacksawed it off, to a bit over length it would help him out a bit, but e'll still have to square it up. One other thing to think about is if you have a vent rib (I'm assuming you do) make sure your final length hits one of the posts that attaches the rib to the barrel. Not only will it look MUCH better it will also prevent leaves, etc. from getting hung up in yuor muzzle as you tromp through the woods.

No good suggestions for the porting but if you do it by hand (on a drill press) at an angle, you will need some short, stiff, sharp bits to start otherwise they will just track down the outside of the barrel.

Doug K

 

[andyrping]

I chopped an old break action H&R 12 gauge with nothing more than a hack saw and a file when I was 12 years old. Aside from kicking like a mule, the 18" bad boy did a fine job taking a lot of rabbits. Little tricky getting used to no bead though!

 

[RelicHound]

I've cut down several barrel and had zero problems. these were for CAS and HD, though. So, Cyl Bore was fine. I bet that when your freind threads it for the choke tubes, he will have to touch up the squareness of the muzzle Eyeballing it probably isn't good enough. You are putting very fine threads in a thin piece of metal and they have to be perfect! I'm sure if you hacksawed it off, to a bit over length it would help him out a bit, but e'll still have to square it up. One other thing to think about is if you have a vent rib (I'm assuming you do) make sure your final length hits one of the posts that attaches the rib to the barrel. Not only will it look MUCH better it will also prevent leaves, etc. from getting hung up in yuor muzzle as you tromp through the woods.

No good suggestions for the porting but if you do it by hand (on a drill press) at an angle, you will need some short, stiff, sharp bits to start otherwise they will just track down the outside of the barrel.

Doug K

great suggestions! I didnt even think about leaving a bit extra on for him to square off the muzzle. I figure about an inch will be enough for him to work with. most all of my choke tubes are 3" extended chokes,I was going through them today and realized that almost all of them are ported so I dont think Im going to port the barrel itself.

 

[Rlee]

Any update on this?

I'm looking at a Mav. 88 for a HD/SHTF hidden gun and it has a 28'' barrel on it now. Looking to keep it as cheap as possible.

 

[Unoid]

my 870 was rusted from cat **** I took a reciprocating saw with steel blade and took it to 18.5" (pistol grip too) then dremel sanded the end of the barrel to smooth it out.

 

[Rlee]

my 870 was rusted from cat **** I took a reciprocating saw with steel blade and took it.

So how'd the shotgun turn out?

JK I just don't like cats and wanted to edit the post to show what I would have done.

Anyone else have some insight?

 

[Dr Falken]

I have a 20" slug barrel(Mossberg) with sights on it, and I've wanted to get it tapped for chokes, as I thought that it would give me a great barrel, but I think that it might be cost prohibative. The impression that I got was that you have to have someone who really knows what their doing to tap it.

I think that there are some 20" Mossberg barrels that come with rifled sights and a rifled choke, but run about $154. The other thought that I had was, cut a section out of you 28" field barrel, and place a dowel in the barrel to line everything up, then reweld the choke end back on...wasn't real sure how that would work in regards to barrel temper etc. I think that a 20' choked barrel with rifled sights would be real hand for turkey and deer in the Indiana woods.

 

[andyrping]

my 870 was rusted from cat **** I took a reciprocating saw with steel blade and took it to 18.5" (pistol grip too) then dremel sanded the end of the barrel to smooth it out.

Did the shotgun get its chance to **** on the kitty after that?

 

[andyrping]

Any update on this?

I'm looking at a Mav. 88 for a HD/SHTF hidden gun and it has a 28'' barrel on it now. Looking to keep it as cheap as possible.

Hacksaw and a file. Very simple if an open choke is ok. Just make sure to file out the burrs inside as well, maybe use some emory cloth for that. Leave a little extra meat in case you need to square it up better. If the barrel isn't tapered at that section, you can use pretty much use any old square and eyeball and file to get it squared pretty darn close. It isn't arifle, so super precision isn't necessary.

 

[tcshooter]

I own a Remington 870 barrel that was cut down to 18 inches. The issue here is barrel thickness. The one I have has to have special chokes that have thinner walls to maintain the true choke diameter and actually fit the barrel properly without making the barrel walls too thin.

If it were me I would truly seek info from someone who has done this before and knows what they are talking about.

As a side note...I was told this...if you look at most barrels with choke tubes they have a very slight bulge at the muzzle where the barrel walls are thicker to accomodate the threading...so if you cut this part of the barrel off you lose this added thickness and have to make up for that with thinner walled chokes.

Not an expert by any measure...just repeating what I was told by guys who know a whole lot more than me.