Dominion Arms - Grizzly - First Impressions

Hope you don't mind--I re-paragraphed your message. Thanks for the detailed report--I'm thinking of a Grizzly myself.

lmar said:
So I finally broke down and purchased a Dominion Arms 12.5" 870 Clone (bead sight) for $299 (including delivery). With GST and PST it came out to $334.00 to my door. Ordered on the 11th, processed on the 12th, shipped on the 16th and picked up on the 18th. Note - if you track your order via Canada Post you can actually see when it was delivered to your local outlet and show up to claim it. This will save you the day or so of getting the notice in your mail box.

I wasn't expecting too much from this purchase as it is an R&D platform for a couple of ideas I've been kicking around for a while. I was actually quite surprised on the quality of the workmanship.

Straight out of the box -
  1. It appears to be a substantial piece of metal. While subjective, it appears to weigh in closer to a Wingmaster than a Express
  2. Stocks look like garbage.
  3. It was based on the 870 Express design (complete with magazine tube detent and spring retainer).
  4. Surprised at the lack of tooling marks on the exterior of the gun.
  5. Trigger has a lot of take up and is pretty spongy.
  6. Magazine follower (like Remington's) is garbage.
  7. Magazine spring feels kinda weak.
  8. Unlike the express - the top reciever grooves are machined in like Wingmaster.
  9. Top of receiver is drilled and tapped for rail.
After initial cleaning and inspection.....
  1. Front bead sight wasn't turned in all of the way. I could unscrew it with my fingers. Appears to be bottoming out on the choke.
  2. Choke unscrewed readily by just sticking finger down the barrel - "crooking" - my finger - and unscrewing the choke.
  3. Barrel is loose and magagazine spring cap doesn't appear to be able to tighten down enough to eliminate barrel play.
  4. Front magazine cap has a brighter finish than the rest of the gun (matt).
  5. Fit and external finish is actually pretty good. Again lack of any servious tool marks (dremel grinder, oops machining etc....
  6. Action is pretty rough out of the box but starts to smooth out with continous dry cycle (did this without lube and metal-on-metal) to speed things up.
  7. Shell lifter appears to be blued.
  8. Shell lifter doesn't have the Flexitab cut-out.
  9. Not too sure what will fit the receiver top as the tapped holes on the receiver are not evenly spaced - perhaps the mounts for the ghost ring sights? there are 3 holes on the receiver top. The back two are closer together.
  10. The only thing that gave this gun away that it was "Chinese" was the horrible rear sling swivel that came with the gun. Looked like something somebody made in their basement with a hammer, chisle, couple of files, and a whole lot of melted paperclips.
  11. Trigger group aligns pretty good with receiver holes. Pins dropped into holes with no problem and required very little force to position correctly.
  12. Internal finish isn't really any worse than an Express but is definitely not a Wingmaster.
After I played with it......
  1. Pulled out magazine shell follower and replaced it with a scattergun technology follower I modified years ago (with two slots) to clear the detents in the magazine tube.
  2. Left the original spring alone to see how it behaves at the range.
  3. Went and tightened up the front bead so that the base was flush with the barrel.
  4. Discovered I was no longer able to unscrew the Choke with my finger. Backed out bead - choke was removed easily with just my finger again. Will have to shorten bead thread so it doesn't bottom out on choke when tightened.
  5. Had a set of Express wood kicking around and replaced factory plastic stocks with them. Rear butt stock bolted up with no problems and matches receiver as well as an Express. Front fore arm was another thing all together.Chinese OD of fore arm assembly is larger (1/32") - doesn't fit factory remington forearm. Had to take a wooden dowl and clue some 60 grit sandpaper to it. Needed to work the wood a fair amount to get it to fit.It was worth the effort as the darker sport stock looks pretty nice when finally installed.
  6. Discovered either the distance between barrel/magazine tube is narrower or the diameter of the magazine tube/barrel is greater than Remington products. Could not get any of my GG&G slings adapters to work properly (tried two other manufactures and I get the same problem).
  7. In order to tighten the barrel I ended up removing the magazine tube spring retainer/lock and tried tightening up by hand. NO JOY.... ended up finding a burr as the thread runs out on the magazine tube. Removed burr and was "just......" able to tighten up barrel enough to prevent movement.
  8. Remington magazine endcap does not work. You get a 1/8 to 3/32 gap between cap and barrel lug. (that is why I tried to use the sling adapter as a "filler").
  9. Angle between hammer sear and trigger appear to be steeper than Remington. Might account for the large amount of take up before hammer is tripped. Might play with it latter but for now I don't want to mess with it. Will probably stone mating faces to smooth things out. I WILL NOT ATTEMPT TO CHANGE ANGLES. Don't need a accidental discharge.

Conclusion:On preliminary inspection and cleaning I'd rate this as a very good. I'd give it an excellent if it wasn't for the ugly stocks.Short barrel, installed choke, tapped receiver..... nice features for the price.L
 
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There are these things that you can use at the end of some of your sentences. It is the Enter key at the right of your keyboard. It breaks up the your sentences into groups and it make things much easier to read.

Not to be critical but you have a very good review here but it is quite hard to spend much time on it because of the difficulty reading it.

Keep up the good work.


See, so much better.
 
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Sorry!

I formatted my review correctly.

When I previewed my review it showed correct formatting.

When I posted my review the formatting was "butchered".

I think I have to review my setting to see why things appear fine on my web browser but are reformatted on posting.

Again, sorry.

L
 
Here's my first attempt at linking a picture.
lmar_007
 
wow you guys are paying a fair price for your 870 knockoffs ..

NZ largest gun store had their stamp put on some 870 knock offs .. so i picked up a gun city 870 , 5+1 shot with 3" shells, 18" barrel with bead sight.. cos me $299 NZ shipped to me
.. usually our stuff is twice as expensive ...
on top of that , the quality is excellent , have had none of the issues that seem to arise with your guys knock offs, and the manual that came in the box said "HP9 series shotgun owners manual" .. leading me to believe that ive got myself a norinco HP9 for a very respectable price ..

and with 150 rounds down the tube, if anything, the unit is functioning better , nothing has rattled loose, even the mag cap is now tighter than when i reassembled the shotty after initial cleaning

sorry not to hijack the post, just making a comparison to what we have in NZ
 
And they say you can't teach an old dog new tricks.....

Thanks for the crash course in posting pictures directly......

L
 
Hmmmm, to be honest it sounds like the gun is pretty rough. Would you have bought it before if you knew all this?

In your opinion, would this make a good "outdoors woman prospecting gun"? My girlfriend is getting her PAL and will be doing prospecting/surveying in the Northern interior next year and wants to take a shotgun. Think this one's a good choice? (she can handle guns, I just don't know much about shotguns to give her advice)
 
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I think these are great guns to take prospecting. After a pile of rounds the smooth out quite well. However, unless travelling though thick brush, I don't think this gun has much of an advantage over anything 18 or 20" or less of a barrel lengthed 870
 
H Wally said:
Hmmmm, to be honest it sounds like the gun is pretty rough. Would you have bought it before if you knew all this?

In your opinion, would this make a good "outdoors woman prospecting gun"? My girlfriend is getting her PAL and will be doing prospecting/surveying in the Northern interior next year and wants to take a shotgun. Think this one's a good choice? (she can handle guns, I just don't know much about shotguns to give her advice)
Click to expand...


I did extensive research on the web prior to purchasing it. I had a pretty good idea of what to expect. The fact it was better than I was expecting was a bonus. Rough doesn't mean much to me as fixing things up is a hobby of mine.


As for the question of would it make a good prospecting gun I would say yes with the following conditions being met:

1. Make sure she has put at least 3-400 rounds through it to ensure she knows how to use it without having to think about what to do. Most people have it in cruiser ready which is racked slide on empty chamber. She should know by instinct to hit the slide release to quickly chamber a round and/or remove the safety. Also, the 300 rounds will tell you if there are any reliability issues that need to be corrected before venturing out into the wild.

2. Put at least 75-100 rounds of her "bear" loads through it so she gets used to the recoil and pattern/point of aim. Pattern test the shotgun at different "encounter" distances so that the capabilities of the shotgun can be determined. Each one shoots differently.

3. Make sure the stock fits her correctly. Most shotgun stocks are too long for small statured men and most women. A sure sign of this condition is the user is leaning way back to "balance" the weight of the gun. They should be able to "lean" forward into the gun.

4. Get a good wide sling. Going to be carrying it all day means spreading the load of the gun over a wider portion of the shoulder.

5. D.A. Grizzly appears to weigh more than an express. Half a pound over the course of days/weeks/months might add up - especially in rugged terrain. Difference between 12.5" and 18" is extra weight and greater inertia. That includes shotgun swinging from sling while traversing rough ground.

6. Expect to have to wipe down the gun at least twice a day (especially if wet or foggy). Finish is basic "utility" which means it doesnt' offer much rust protection.

7 Cover the muzzle with black party balloons to keep foreign objects out. If you want to be the butt of a lot of jokes use a condom. "Prelubed types" - one might argue is for rust prevention. I use "finger" cots which I obtain from a previous employer when they went out of business.

8. I find the shorter barrel more instinctive to handle than my longer 18" Express. But that is just me.


If maintenance is an issue and money isn't an object I'd go with a marine model.

Best bet would be to find someone in the area and see if you could try the different types to find out which one she'd be the most comfortable with.

My .02. Its free so take it for what it is worth.

L

P.S. I use to carry a 12 ga. LEO folding stock shotgun for bear protection on the north coast of BC in the 80's. I was traveling by canoe a lot so it was always on top of the gear. Didn't venture very far into the bush as it was too thick and terrain too steep. Hence I didn't need to lug it around too much.
 
Grizzly

canucklehead said:
Lmar - EXCELLENT opinion and write up! Can't say I disagree with any of your points.
Click to expand...


Yes, well done with the review. I've been sitting on the fence about buying one and have the spare parts to convert it ( wood, barrel etc. ) so believe I'll now place the order.

Do I need one - no:D but will it be a blast at the range - absolutley:shotgun:
 
WATCH OUT FOR THE SHARP EDGES ON THE BOTTOM OF THE RECEIVER.

I had the opportunity to load the gun up with a bunch of Remington "Dummy" rounds last night that I had purchased for function testing.

While I didn't slice my thumb open while loading the shells into the magazine it wasn't from lack of trying. There was no secondary de-burring operation performed on the receiver prior to finishing the gun.

OPEN SUGGESTION TO CANADAAMMO: Have a factory worker de-burr the edges of the receiver bottom. IT IS BLOODY SHARP!!! Ejection port would be a nice touch but not as critical as fingers are not being jammed into it with considerable force.

Ended up taking a screwdriver and "burnishing" the edges so I wouldn't slice my thumb open.

I burnished it with a matt black industrial screwdriver as I didn't want the stark contrast between the black finished receiver and the plain metal "melded edges" if I'd used a file.

Plan on refinishing the shotgun anyway (I have some leftover Duracoat paint) and I'll properly de-burr the receiver at that time.

L
 
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