My first sawed off conversion

Dukkake

Dukkake

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EE Expired
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Location
Durham Region, Ontario
So I'm new to the whole shooting scene, just finally got my license recently and I've got a lot of catching up to do. Picked up a nice old school Lakefield Mossberg on the EE with HEAPS of personality, and an extra hacked up barrel as my first shotgun. Since I loved Lego as a kid I decided to see if I could tac it out on a budget. Fifty dollars and one hacksaw blade later I ended up with this bad boy:


20120528_002 by Dukkake, on Flickr

Still needs to be crowned but it's as square as can be, and at 19" I have a little room to play still. Got a great deal on the new furniture from a local CGNer, and considering how it started out this is a HUGE difference. Here's the original configuration beside my polish carbine Mosin. It's hard to see how much I actually cut off, but that's a 30" barrel, the front bead isn't even in the pic:

20120527_003 by Dukkake, on Flickr

So, how'd I do for a complete greenhorn? And anything else I should know before I make any more mods?
 
Not pointing fingers but I was under the strong impression that cutting a barrel no mather the lenght, made it proibited???????
 
Prohibited firearms include:

- rifles and shotguns that have been altered by sawing or other means so that their barrel length is less than 457 mm (about 18 inches) or their overall length is less than 660 mm (about 26 inches);
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You can cut it yourself to the 18" (most people go 18.5 or so to be on the safe side depending on the person measuring), any shorter and it becomes prohibited. Factory made barrels can be any length providing the OAL of the shotgun is 26" or greater (to keep it non-restricted), and that it is a manually operated shotgun (lever, bolt, pump) as opposed to a semi-automatic.
 
effschool said:
You can cut it yourself to the 18" (most people go 18.5 or so to be on the safe side depending on the person measuring), any shorter and it becomes prohibited. Factory made barrels can be any length providing the OAL of the shotgun is 26" or greater (to keep it non-restricted), and that it is a manually operated shotgun (lever, bolt, pump) as opposed to a semi-automatic.
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Hmmmm?
Time to delete the post.
 
rally guy said:
Not pointing fingers but I was under the strong impression that cutting a barrel no mather the lenght, made it proibited???????
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whoever made that impression on you needs to brush up on Canadian firearms laws. On a manually operated action you can cut the barrel to 457mm (17.99") anything shorter becomes prohibited. If the barrel was made shorter than 457mm then cutting it any shorter will make it prohibited.
 
supernova said:
whoever made that impression on you needs to brush up on Canadian firearms laws. On a manually operated action you can cut the barrel to 457mm (17.99") anything shorter becomes prohibited. If the barrel was made shorter than 457mm then cutting it any shorter will make it prohibited.
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Apologies.
My mistake also.

On a happier note, looks great. It's nice to see a man maker/breaker device. That's the shotgun you give to a newbie and throw 3" magnum slugs in it.

I wonder why I have no friends some days.;)
 
DARKSTANG said:
Apologies.
My mistake also.

On a happier note, looks great. It's nice to see a man maker/breaker device. That's the shotgun you give to a newbie and throw 3" magnum slugs in it.

I wonder why I have no friends some days.;)
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that's what you did with me and your old 870 the first time you took me shooting...

jerk.
 
ALLS London said:
that's what you did with me and your old 870 the first time you took me shooting...

jerk.
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Lol!
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

You have a good memory. But see, it created an interest in you that made you one of us.

That's right, job well done!

Pat me on the back.
 
I've heard of issues with a pipe cutter due to the method of applying pressure to the barrel to cut, it can supposedly warp or weaken the barrel, so I decided not to take the chance of ending up with the muzzle looking like a blunderbuss. Now that I think about it that might be kind of cool haha. Also, I was so restless after I installed the furniture I couldn't wait to finish the job. The way I achieved a square cut was pretty simple, I'll post a pic of it once I get my hands on a file and take down the burrs. All I did was wrap a piece of paper around it in such a way that it made a perfectly straight, square line at 19", taped it on with masking tape, and cut it a few strokes at a time, slowly rotating the barrel. The paper guide and progressive cuts helped keep it square, but I won't know HOW square till I clean it up.

Also yeah I had been under the impression that cutting a barrel was a no no, but after I read into it I couldn't find any such law. Only the aforementioned length restriction, and the loophole that allows factory barrels to be significantly shorter. Glad I went ahead with it though, it's like having 2 completely different shotguns for $250 total! Glad you guys like it, I've seen a lot of great looking guns of all sorts on here since I signed up, figured I'd take a shot at contributing to the collection!
 
Dukkake said:
I've heard of issues with a pipe cutter due to the method of applying pressure to the barrel to cut, it can supposedly warp or weaken the barrel, so I decided not to take the chance of ending up with the muzzle looking like a blunderbuss. Now that I think about it that might be kind of cool haha. Also, I was so restless after I installed the furniture I couldn't wait to finish the job. The way I achieved a square cut was pretty simple, I'll post a pic of it once I get my hands on a file and take down the burrs. All I did was wrap a piece of paper around it in such a way that it made a perfectly straight, square line at 19", taped it on with masking tape, and cut it a few strokes at a time, slowly rotating the barrel. The paper guide and progressive cuts helped keep it square, but I won't know HOW square till I clean it up.

Also yeah I had been under the impression that cutting a barrel was a no no, but after I read into it I couldn't find any such law. Only the aforementioned length restriction, and the loophole that allows factory barrels to be significantly shorter. Glad I went ahead with it though, it's like having 2 completely different shotguns for $250 total! Glad you guys like it, I've seen a lot of great looking guns of all sorts on here since I signed up, figured I'd take a shot at contributing to the collection!
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I must say you have done a fine job. More pics as you go would be great.
 
Pipecutters just require a little experience, knowing how tight to set them as you turn. They can crush tubing if you crank them hard enough but that is way beyond the pressure needed for them to cut properly. A wraparound is always a good way to make a straight cut, I use them occasionally at work if I dont have access to a chop saw or band saw. If your wraparound was reasonably square (edges of each wrap flush with each other) then you are gtg. It looks good and reminds me of my old Maverick 88. Tons of fun with remington reduced recoil slugs and manageable with winchester 1600 fps slugs. 3" were doable but not comfortable. A little tip for aiming: hold it out infront until your support arm is almost locked at the elbow, making sure youve got some good space between your face and the back of the shotgun. Grip it firmly and brace both arms to spread the recoil out. This will let you sight down the barrel without knocking your teeth out and spreading 50% of the recoil to your support arm takes 50% off your trigger hand. Padded mechanics gloves and squeezing the grip firmly (same concept as pulling a rifle into your shoulder) helps mitigate alot of the pain in your hand. Try this first with light field or trap loads to get a feel for it, you'll be using muscles youve probably never used for shooting before but after a few rounds you'll start to get a feel for it. Just remember to keep some space between your face and the gun, otherwise you'll be in one of those youtube videos titled something like "pistol grip f**k up" :p :rockOn:

Dukkake said:
I've heard of issues with a pipe cutter due to the method of applying pressure to the barrel to cut, it can supposedly warp or weaken the barrel, so I decided not to take the chance of ending up with the muzzle looking like a blunderbuss. Now that I think about it that might be kind of cool haha. Also, I was so restless after I installed the furniture I couldn't wait to finish the job. The way I achieved a square cut was pretty simple, I'll post a pic of it once I get my hands on a file and take down the burrs. All I did was wrap a piece of paper around it in such a way that it made a perfectly straight, square line at 19", taped it on with masking tape, and cut it a few strokes at a time, slowly rotating the barrel. The paper guide and progressive cuts helped keep it square, but I won't know HOW square till I clean it up.

Also yeah I had been under the impression that cutting a barrel was a no no, but after I read into it I couldn't find any such law. Only the aforementioned length restriction, and the loophole that allows factory barrels to be significantly shorter. Glad I went ahead with it though, it's like having 2 completely different shotguns for $250 total! Glad you guys like it, I've seen a lot of great looking guns of all sorts on here since I signed up, figured I'd take a shot at contributing to the collection!
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Great tips supernova, as it happens I just picked up a 250 of Winchester Super Target which will be the first rounds I put through this baby. I figured the issues with the pipecutter were mostly people who were too impatient to do it properly, if I take it down further I may take a crack at it for a little more precision. Grabbed a file and some gun blue so I should have a better idea of how good the cut was very soon.
 
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