I am want a short(cheap) shotgun for pigs in very tight cover, ranges won't exceed 10 or 15 yards.

My plan is to buy the cheapest SxS and cut the barrels down to about 20", at home, with a hacksaw.
Clean up the ends, solder or weld a bead on and go from there. Nothing fancy is required, shooting mostly buckshot mostly, maybe slugs if it will print them ok.

Can this be any harder than that? Am I overlooking something?

sounds like a plan to me.....go for it.

In the US there's a legal limit for shotgun barrel length...you might want to check the law there in Italy.

Should work. Some "coach guns" are made with short barrels. The Russian one goes for under $300 as I recall. Check your local laws on this modification. The certificate for your gun may specify a bbl. length.

Sounds like you want a Stoeger Coachgun in 12 ga...... I don't know how short the barrels are, but I believe they are 20" or less.

MKane160

Thanks, the gun is for back home in Australia, so I was just on the phone to the Firearms registry trying to get the minimum legal length. I recall it is 18" for some reason. The Boito(Baikal) coach gun has 20" barrels. The bloke at the cop shop said the minimum legal length is 65cm = 25" so I'll take that for what it's worth...

Why can't ANYONE holding a public office know anything about what they they are supposed to do on a daily basis??? For christs sake I should just call any gunshop and ask the poor fellah behind the counter.

But thaks for the advice. I didn't think it could be that problematic. I'll just go to an inch or so shy of the legal minimum.

Those Coach Guns are perfect for what you are talking about.

20" vs 18" is no big deal handling wise, so that will save you some time / money in cutting them down.

-Spencer

After you cut the barrels off, you should still have the top rib in place with any luck. To mount the front bead, just drill and tap a standard hole for the bead in the top rib about 3/4" back from the muzzle. Then screw the bead into the hole.

You can buy threaded beads, if need be, from Brownell''s here in yankee-land. I assume folks in most of your own states sell them as well.

It's a heck of a lot easier and neater to drill and tap the little hole than soldering or welding a bead on. The problem with applying heat to the barrels to attach the bead is that in doing that you very well may detach the rib(s) and or barrels from each other in the process. (Many, if not most, ribs and barrels are soldered together.)

You are forgetting that if you cut the barrels back there will be a space between them at the muzzle, the area between the upper and lower ribs is hollow.

You will have to fill in that space with solder and do it carefully enough to avoid loosening the ribs.

Rob

I have two old STevens double 12s which I hacksawed down to 18 1/2" for house guns. Did this forty years ago, very easy. Did not bother with sights.

I did this years ago with an old double. Get longer barrels and cut them off an inch or so at a time until it groups as you want it to. I ended up with 21" bbls that would put two slugs into a playing card at 50 yards. Drilled and tapped a front ramp and adjustable rear sight onto the rib and filled the gap between the barrels with JB Weld. Not real pretty but the first time I took it to a deer hunt and let one of the guys shoot it I had 3 or 4 offers to buy it.

quote:

Originally posted by Recoil Rob:
You are forgetting that if you cut the barrels back there will be a space between them at the muzzle, the area between the upper and lower ribs is hollow.

You will have to fill in that space with solder and do it carefully enough to avoid loosening the ribs.

Rob

It is a better looking job if the space is filled with something, but I don't think iit is actually vital to do so.

If I was going to recommend to an inexperienced person how to do it, I'd suggest exactly what another poster here did....fill it with JB Weld or some other epoxy...Devcon A would likely be even better because of its ferrous content.

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:

It is a better looking job if the space is filled with something, but I don't think iit is actually vital to do so.

I respectfully disagree. The barrels should an integral unit at the muzzle, to prevent them from moving apart, to keep the ribs from separating. This is especially important if you cut the barrels back enough so they're no longer touching each other, and if you're going to be shooting heavy loads. That gap can also let water and dirt in allowing the barrel/rib joint to corrode from the inside. There's not much holding barrels together to begin with.

MTCW.

Recoil Rob-

I respectfully also disagree. I suspect the chances are far higher for the barrels to separate if a worker unskilled in that work applies heat to the muzzle ends of the barrels and ribs, in an effort to fill that gap with solder.

I have shot similarly shortened guns with the gap not filled, with no problems. On the other hand, the only shotgun I ever had the ribs/barrels separate on was an Ithaca Flues 12 which had NOT been shortened, but which some amateur had soldered a front sight onto prior to its coming into my possession. That actually allowed the solder joint several inches back from the muzzle to disappear completely, but it didn't show until after a few years of hunting when everything up front started to come apart.

So, I'd still recomend the "Devcon A" approach.

Perhaps I should have qualified my remark by saying the gap should be filled the proper way, with solder, by someone who knows what they're doing. This would the first ( and my only) choice.

If it's a choice between Devcon and a hack job of soldering then I agree, Devcon would be better.

Rob

quote:

Originally posted by Recoil Rob:
Perhaps I should have qualified my remark by saying the gap should be filled the proper way, with solder, by someone who knows what they're doing. This would the first ( and my only) choice.

If it's a choice between Devcon and a hack job of soldering then I agree, Devcon would be better.

Rob

Thanks Rob. I think we pretty much agree. I would prefer it if done right too, that is, professionally. If a non-pro is doing it, I just don't want to suggest they try any more than they absolutely have to...

Another way to fill the gap left from cutting is to take a piece of soft lead, I use a pure lead round ball, apply a little epoxy to it and swage it into place. When it sets up, finish it off with a file and emory cloth. It's just a seal, it doesn't hold anything in place.

Thanks for so much helpful input. I hadn't considered the resulting gap at all...

I particularly like the comment from 50 Calshtr, the idea of cutting in stages and installing a ramp and rear sight.
Can anyone suggest (point out where I could buy) a good set of sights to use for this job?

Am am very meticulous when I do something but I don't have any smith qualifactions. Would it be out of my league to try and drill, tap and mount the sights? I can't see it as beeing too hard but, but ther isn't must room on the rib for mounting a rear sight, is there?

Also an onling source for JB Weld or Devcon A would be appreciated, no one here has ever heard of JB and I won't have time once I get home to go looking for materials.

To find JB Weld or Devcon A at the best prices online, I'd suggest googling up the url for biz.com or some comparative shopping site such as that. biz.com will probably get you there, but by googling biz com, you don't have to fill in all the http, etc.). You can also get there through Biz Rate but it make take an extra couple of screens. When you get there, there will lbe a blank for you to fill in the name of ewhatever it is you want to shop for. Then select "lowest to highest price " as the queuing option and have it do its comparative price search. It will then list all the on-line sites offering that product, starting with the lowest listed price it could find.

(Be careful to look at shipping costs on each of the lowest 3 or 4 sites before ordering. And be sure to buy only where the on-line payment system is SECURE.)

quote:

Originally posted by EXPRESS:
Am am very meticulous when I do something but I don't have any smith qualifactions. Would it be out of my league to try and drill, tap and mount the sights? I can't see it as beeing too hard but, but ther isn't must room on the rib for mounting a rear sight, is there?

Been thinking about your question (above) overnight. Please let me suggest something else for you to consider...

Why have a rear sight? This is not going to be a 1 MOA gun, likely not even a 3 MOA firearm when shooting at any range, with any sights.

If you want a rear reference point for your eye, why not put another bead on the rib about 8-10" in front of the standing breech? I assume you plan to use it in emergencies much the same as an experienced shotgunner uses a bird gun...that is, swinging rapidly, using the barrels as your sighting plane, and touching her off as she comes into position.

For that to work best, you don't want to get your head really, really low to the barrel(s) and try to take a "fine bead" like a person might do with an open sighted rifle.

(By the time you accomplish that, at shooting ranges of 15 feet, the hog will "have done et you".

If you do decide to go with two beads, You'll probably want to think about having the front bead a larger diameter one than the rear bead, so it isn't hidden by the rear bead when the barrel rib is properly aligned with the target.