I have a 16 GA JP Sauer shotgun that has a 22 mag insert in the left barrel. It is pretty accurate with the insert as there is a folding rear sight in the rib, along with a tiny front bead. I have a lifetime supply of Brenneke 2.5” 16GA slugs and it would be nice to have the Sauer regulated for them. Would I need to have the barrels shortened to make enough space between the muzzles for a wedge? Right now the barrels touch at the muzzles. Who could/would do the work?

You didn't say where the two barrels are hitting; vertical or horizontal; makes a difference in the approach. In any case, it cost a lot of money to try to regulate shotgun barrels, even if possible. If the difference is horizontal, there might or might not be enough space to move the muzzles when cut off. If the difference is vertical, no need to cut anyway.
However, here is the solution; move the insert; many of them are made to be adjusted in the bores with some sort of eccentric cam arrangement. Or make an offset muzzle bushing. Or bend it. That is the way to go in any case. Move the insert, not the shotgun.

He wants the gun regulated for the Brenneke slugs.

quote:

Originally posted by Vol717:
I have a 16 GA JP Sauer shotgun that has a 22 mag insert in the left barrel. It is pretty accurate with the insert as there is a folding rear sight in the rib, along with a tiny front bead. I have a lifetime supply of Brenneke 2.5” 16GA slugs and it would be nice to have the Sauer regulated for them. Would I need to have the barrels shortened to make enough space between the muzzles for a wedge? Right now the barrels touch at the muzzles. Who could/would do the work?

I actually did this with a inexpensive 12 GA Stoeger side by side. It started out with 26 or 28 inch barrels. I fired it to determine where the slugs impacted from a center line. Then simply trimmed the length in 1/2 inch increments to determine if it would move the point of impact. It turns out that it did, and it brought them together after a little more than 2 1/2 inches was trimmed off. That worked fairly well with any smooth bore slug I fired in it. In retrospect I would have been better off to have it cut for screw chokes and found a rifled choke for sabots and just learned to shoot it as is.

I have done about a dozen of them and one almost always has to spread the muzzles to regulate with brennekes or any other slug. There is no reason to cut them, doing so just makes the gun useless as a shotgun. The regulation usually IMPROVES the patterning of the shotgun barrels, many of which don't shoot anywhere near the bead. This does call for some work on the sights both front and back and the barrels usually need to be reblacked afterward.

I am speaking of soft soldered barrels. I stay away from brazed barrels.

Ken Owen will tell you the same thing, he has probably done more than everyone else in the country put together. Although I think I may have sold more sxs slug guns than him.

This is not an advertisement. I don't work on other people's guns.

Ok, I read that wrong.
Here is a true story; when I was stationed in Korea, our Rod and Gun Club had some guns that they auctioned off; one of them I got was a Savage 12 ga side by side. They were used for duck and pheasant hunting on post. (Pheasants are native there; they aren't from the US, contrary to popular belief)
I brought it back, and sold it to a friend. He cut the barrels off at 20 inches, and shot only slugs through it; it would pile slugs into a two inch group at 50 yards all day long. Pure luck of course.

Instead of re-regulating the barrels, you could make yourself some sights that would fix the problem. PM me, Vol717, and I'll direct you to my expired patent on how to do it.

Wanting to pretend I was bwana from 1930s, I bought an old beat up Webley and Scott 12 bore SXS. The action was off face and some hack had punched burs along the hooks to tighten it. The barrels did not ring true either but were clean and had the chokes opened out.

I got a bunch of round balls and reloaded some no 4s with the balls. I also bought a packet of Sellier & Bellote slugs.

At 25 yards I tried them and was surprised that I was very close to the bull and great groups. No v sight mind you. I was just using the bead and the rib!

Can’t you adjust the insert barrels so it shoots to same point of impact as the slugs and adjust the sights.

the point about the insert barrel is that the gun already has sights. I want to shoot slugs from each barrel and have them hit to the same point of impact. The sights can be adjusted until they align with the slugs. Then the insert can be adjusted to align with the sights.

I'd try as Naki did there first.
You may be surprised.
I'd think that if the results are as promising as his expeience, then shortening the barrels to your liking wouldn't effect the regulation much.