Shotguns and You! (Or, pick Gunny's brain)

[One Of None]

No question - just bragging about my toy.

Remington 870 police magnum worked over by VangComp with LPA tritiium sights, 18" VCS ported barrel, +2 shot mag extension, stainless steel follower, VCS big dome safety, Hogue overmolded stock, Surefire 618FGA forend (w/ 9V modification for 200 lumen output) and refinished to matte black.

It's not bragging without a pic. 8)

[Rush2112]

Ok, I've got an old JC Higgins Model 20 with what looks like a 24'' barrel...whatever the length, it's long. I haven't actually measured it. How safe/legal is it for me to just lop off a portion till it's short enough for home defense but still legal (I think it's 18'' here in NH)? I mean, obviously I'd deburr the cut edges and stuff. Plus, my dad's a machinist of 20+ years so it's not like it'd be amateur night with a hacksaw.

[XD]

18" barrel 26" overall

[Rush2112]

18" barrel 26" overall

So there's no drawbacks to cutting it off as opposed to replacing it? I'm not familiar with how shotgun barrels work. There doesn't seem to be any taper or anything in the barrel, but I don't really know how that works.

[ultra magnus]

I was thinking about a cheap gauge adaptor. I've got some 20ga ammo and no gun to shoot it out of, rather than trading/selling it was thinking about a gauge reducer for my 12ga, but I can't find anything cheaper than $60 or so. Is that as cheap as they get?

[rainbow_pact]

Ultra Magnus -

I suggest you, simply stated, buy a remington 870. They're reliable, easily to mod/fix, cheap, and accurate. Ones can be had for about $260 BRAND NEW. This way, you have a backup shotgun for when, if, the zombies ever hit. Or, you might pickup a wanderer/girlfriend/wife, then, they could have something to shoot.

- Rainbow Pact

[XD]

Rush,

Does the shotgun have screw in chokes? If not it should have the internal choke type stamped on the barrel. Let us know what it is.

It will effect the gun, your patterns will open up more.

[XD]

Ultra the gauge reducers are not even worth the price of the shell you put in them... You'd be better off buying an old shotty for that money. I've gotten Ithica 37's for under 100... you get an extra gun and your shot will actually pattern.

[dascoyne]

No question - just bragging about my toy.

Remington 870 police magnum worked over by VangComp with LPA tritiium sights, 18" VCS ported barrel, +2 shot mag extension, stainless steel follower, VCS big dome safety, Hogue overmolded stock, Surefire 618FGA forend (w/ 9V modification for 200 lumen output) and refinished to matte black.

It's not bragging without a pic. 8)

very well.

[One Of None]

No question - just bragging about my toy.

Remington 870 police magnum worked over by VangComp with LPA tritiium sights, 18" VCS ported barrel, +2 shot mag extension, stainless steel follower, VCS big dome safety, Hogue overmolded stock, Surefire 618FGA forend (w/ 9V modification for 200 lumen output) and refinished to matte black.

It's not bragging without a pic. 8)

very well.

That is fucking nice.

[One Of None]

I gotta ask another off the wall question.
I was surfing around (can't find the damn link now....) and I came upon a website that had load data for a mixed shotshell load consisting of 3/4 or 7/8 ounce of large birdshot (#2 or #BB) mixed with a large size buckshot ( I beleive it was #0 or #1) to equal out to a normal buckshot load weight. It went on to say that it is used in South Africa and also by the English (in WW1 or 2, not sure) because if the buckshot didn't kill you the birdshot would encourage infection.
Do you think that such a load would be worth loading?
I got a 25 pound bag of #2 birdshot for pretty much nothing and don't know what to use it for.

[chitown2k]

My intention isn't to dig up an old thread

Ok, maybe a silly question, but I have 0 experience with Shotguns, only with .22's as long arms and a smattering of pistols and revolvers that I rent and shoot at the range. My range does not allow shotgun firing, so I can't even rent one to play...

So to my question: Will any standard shotgun, Moss 500 or Rem 870 with the standard barrel fire both a slug and a shot shell out of the same barrel? Do you need to have 2 barrels to shoot either type of round? Is this a silly question?

Help me understand what I could shoot if I bought this http://www.remington.com/products/firea ... -round.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Could it be used for defense and hunting?

[muscleman_coffeemesto]

I shoot rifled slugs and shot from the same barrel. You'd switch out to a rifled barrel if you shoot sabot loads, or at least I would. If you're shooting birds or doing some serious hunting, you might go for a longer barrel. The smooth bore barrel is your "standard" barrel though. You can shoot anything out of it.

[Jeriah]

Question:

If I wanted to use a shotgun as an "airbrush" to create an image (made of holes) in fresh pig's skin (not on a pig), what's the smallest shot that would make holes in pigskin? And, what's the thinnest plywood that would reliably stop that shot?

Here's what's going on: my wife and I are doing an art project, more hers than mine, really. And we're going to be using pig skins as our "canvas" and projectiles as our "brush." The result is going to be a pig skin with holes in it that, hopefully, look like something. If they come out good we'll have them tanned and show them like paintings.

One option, obviously, is to do a line drawing with a scoped .22. We're going to do that. But I also want to try doing a stencil drawing, where I make a sihlouette of something, cut it out of, say, 3/4" plywood, and then hose it with birdshot, so the plywood stops the birdshot except where the image is going to be. But if I use buck, it'll prob. just go through the wood. Will birdshot make holes in raw pigskin, or no?

[ZombieCleaner]

Jeriah, how thick is the pig's skin? In addition to the size of the shot being used, the right choke is what's really going to make a difference. Depending on the choke tube being used, you'll either end up with one big ass hole and a few stray holes, or if you're just using a cylinder bore (no choke) barrel the shot pattern will be more spread out.

I'm sure Gunny or someone else will elaborate on which choke to use.

[Jeriah]

Jeriah, how thick is the pig's skin? In addition to the size of the shot being used, the right choke is what's really going to make a difference. Depending on the choke tube being used, you'll either end up with one big ass hole and a few stray holes, or if you're just using a cylinder bore (no choke) barrel the shot pattern will be more spread out.

I'm sure Gunny or someone else will elaborate on which choke to use.

I have two barrels, an 18" cylinder bore and a longer (26"?) adjustable choke. This is out of a 12 gauge Mossy 500, BTW. I definitely want a pattern, not one big hole. I'll do some test shots on paper I guess.

As far as the thickness, I don't know. We're going to pick up the skin from a butcher right before we go out. So, it's as thick as the skin of a regular domestic pig?

[muscleman_coffeemesto]

My girlfriend and I have already used my shotgun for an art project. We used 7.5 shot. The results weren't very inspiring. The size of the shot won't be your biggest problem, it'll be the size of the hole created by the wad when it hits the skin.

[chitown2k]

I shoot rifled slugs and shot from the same barrel. You'd switch out to a rifled barrel if you shoot sabot loads, or at least I would. If you're shooting birds or doing some serious hunting, you might go for a longer barrel. The smooth bore barrel is your "standard" barrel though. You can shoot anything out of it.

Thank you! That's a great answer.

So the cylinder bore is the standard do all barrel which can shoot anything from it, although a rifled barrel would be more suitable for hunting non birds/larger stuff - is that somewhat correct?

[TheLastRifleMan]

I think you got the idea, chitown. Although the cylinder bore is really set up for buckshot, slugs and short range stuff. If you want to do any pheasant, squirrel or waterfowl hunting, you will need different chokes.

[Jeriah]

My girlfriend and I have already used my shotgun for an art project. We used 7.5 shot. The results weren't very inspiring. The size of the shot won't be your biggest problem, it'll be the size of the hole created by the wad when it hits the skin.

You think the wad will go through?

I could cover the skin with hardware cloth, open enough that the pellets will go through, tight enough to deflect the wad?

[muscleman_coffeemesto]

I'd practice on paper first and see how far you'll have to be from your pigskin to get an acceptable pattern. The wad might not go through if you're far enough, but it might cut or otherwise mark it.
When my girlfriend and I shot up some of her paintings, we tried the shotgun and pretty much obliterated the piece. The wad tore a huge chunk out of it. Of course, pigskin should be tougher than canvas.
Edit: The cloth might work, or maybe even cardboard?

[Jeriah]

I'd practice on paper first and see how far you'll have to be from your pigskin to get an acceptable pattern. The wad might not go through if you're far enough, but it might cut or otherwise mark it.
When my girlfriend and I shot up some of her paintings, we tried the shotgun and pretty much obliterated the piece. The wad tore a huge chunk out of it. Of course, pigskin should be tougher than canvas.
Edit: The cloth might work, or maybe even cardboard?

Hardware "cloth" is metal mesh. Think tiny chickenwire or jumbo, galvanized steel window screening. But cardboard might work. My concern about something like cardboard is that it will slow down the pellets a little as well as stopping the wad, and I'm going to use marginal pellets so I don't penetrate the stencil...

[muscleman_coffeemesto]

Sounds like you have some "Range Time" to put in. Get extra skins if you can and conduct experiments to see if the wad will penetrate or otherwise mar the surface. Post it on the "Art" portion and I'll keep an eye out for it.
Aside from that, I think your wire mesh stuff will keep the wad from hitting the skin.
Ah, the things we talk about on this board...

[Jeriah]

Sounds like you have some "Range Time" to put in. Get extra skins if you can and conduct experiments to see if the wad will penetrate or otherwise mar the surface. Post it on the "Art" portion and I'll keep an eye out for it.
Aside from that, I think your wire mesh stuff will keep the wad from hitting the skin.
Ah, the things we talk about on this board...

Skins are cheap, only about $12 or so. Getting them tanned, which we will do AFTER, is the expensive part.