I Made A Cruiser..........

[pietro]

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Last week, I ran across a 20ga Mossberg 500CC, in pretty decent shape, for chump change.

   





It took a week for the accessories I ordered to arrive: a Shockwave Technologies Raptor grip & a Houge rubber forend.

It took 15 mins of measuring & 2 mins cutting, to shorten the bbl to 18-1/4":






NOW, I have the Whippet gun I wanted for HD.......


This is the top/dark area view.......





A fiber-optic front bead over a strip of (replaceable) 1/2" white surgical tape.




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[top dog]

Pietro,
Now that looks super nice.
Let us know how it does on the range!!

                                              TOP DOG

[To Old To Run]

 That's what I bought my son for his first shot gun, plain barrel though. Shoots slugs real well, along with bird shot.  He shot a lot of deer with it and still uses it today.
I kind of cringed when I saw what you did with it, but can understand what you had in mind when you bought it,.  I've never had one problem with his, they're good shooters.

[pietro]

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FWIW, I've since drilled a 1/4" hole, crosswise through the rear grip, and attached a long loop of paracord, so I could carry it slung under my arm (to act as a "whippit" gun ), or hung from a coat peg in my quarters -  for fast/easy SD/HD access in an emergency.

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[top dog]

Pietro,
Looks like you have a nice set up there. Handy,compact and efficient.

                                                                                 Top Dog

[pietro]

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Thanks for all your kind words, folks !

I appreciate it.

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[Hero]

What was your technique for trimming the barrel down?

Settled on a favorite load for it? Find anything in reduced recoil?

[OV-1D]

 Very interesting there Pietro nice to be faster on target , gotta try that and that bead is a must .

[dbrn]

Great job!   

[pietro]

What was your technique for trimming the barrel down?

Settled on a favorite load for it? Find anything in reduced recoil?

The most difficult part was multiple measurings of the barrel for the cut, to ensure that I wouldn't inadvertently cut it shorter than the US Federal minimum 18" for smoothbores not originally manufactured as Pistol-Grip-Only (PGO) guns - which PGO's can legally use a shorter barrel as long as the OAL is 26" or more.

To determine the length I wanted after the cut, I first dropped a wooden dowel downbore, against the face of tge closed breechbolt, then marked the dowel at the existing muzzle.

I then withdrew the dowel from the bore, and made a mark exactly 18" from the end that was against the face of the breechbolt.

When the dowel had both marks on it, I laid it alongside the barrel with the "muzzle" mark at the muzzle, then marks the barrel at the 18" mark on the dowel.

Once I was comfortable with where on the barrel I placed the 18" (from the face of the closed breechbolt) mark, I saw that if I cut the barrel there, the cut would leave an in-supported section of the ventilated rib over the new muzzle, and so moved my cut mark as close to the front of the rib support that would be just to the rear of the new/cut muzzle, yet still be over the 18" minimum length.

That cut resulted in the more forward portion of the VR & it's forward post about 3/8" aft of the new muzzle.

I then simply chucked the barrel into padded bench vise jaws, so the cut would be made very close to the edge of the supporting vise jaws - which cut was made with a hand-powered hacksaw  with a fine-tooth blade, then trued up & finished with files before cold-bluing the cut. (I had to use Aluma-Black on the rib front edge, but a black Sharpie would also work)

FWIW, I de-greased the top of the VR to ensure the medical cloth tape would adhere for awhile - but expect to replace the tape if/when/as it looses purchase with the rib, or becomes soiled & in-usably as a sighting reference.

The only 20ga buckshot & slugs that I could find locally were 3" magnum loads, so I decided to "bite the bullet" & try shooting them...............

Due to the more horizontal angle of the Shockwave Raptor grip (compared to the vertical factory PG's), I found the recoil to be MUCH less than I expected - a piece of cake, in fact.


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