8.5 Inch Grizzly Shotgun... Pattern / Practicality Question

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Ok, ok, ok,

I accept (tongue in cheek) the 'almighty & absolute wisdom' of the Canadian Firearms czars in government that say an 8.5" Grizzly pump action shotgun is non-restricted, while all Benelli 5 shot semi-auto shotguns < 18" are restricted. ;)

Admittedly, I don't know if the Grizzly can shoot 3" loads, or slugs, or anything else...

But in such a short barrel, have Grizzly 8.5" owners patterned the gun? My guess is that such a short shotgun doesn't do much more than throw whatever ammo is in the chamber all over hell's half acre... I doubt there is much utility for the gun over 10 feet, let alone 50 yards.

However, I have no info about how the gun shoots.... so this is more an educational 'call for papers' on how the short 8.5 inch Grizzly performs.

Personally, I made my decision.... I have an 18.5" Benelli M4 en route to my home courtesy the fine sales experience @ Wolverine Supplies. It is a premium semi-auto that can venture into the Great White North, and be very effective.... either as a bear deterrant on a hunt, or a critical defense option with some of that crazy Winchester PDX1 ammo... where the load has three "00"-buck pellets -AND- a one ounce slug all in a 2 3/4" shell.

Cheers, I appreciate some honest pattern info on the 8.5 inch Grizzly.
 
I'd like to know as well.


Would the recoil be huge with an 8.5?
Would a 3" group @ 35yards with slugs be possible with the right sights?

Thanks!
 
I got my 12.5 not long ago and pattern is ridiculously huge even at 15 feet, so im going to assume, that its even worse with the 8.5. That being said i remember reading some stuff on here about it not being the barrel length so much but more of a choke thing.

If your into slugs she's probably all good, but anything buck is all over.
 
I kept my 12.5 grizz because I can change out chokes for any application. Cant do that with the 8.5 so I cant bring myself to buy one. Besides 4 inches isnt that much shorter.
 
I got my 12.5 not long ago and pattern is ridiculously huge even at 15 feet, so im going to assume, that its even worse with the 8.5. That being said i remember reading some stuff on here about it not being the barrel length so much but more of a choke thing.

If your into slugs she's probably all good, but anything buck is all over.

Try the Hornady loadings with the Versa-Tite wad, or the Federal loadings with the Flight Control wad.
 
I have a Grizzly 8.5, barrel threaded for any choke when I want to control pattern. Eats any ammo I feed it. But my main loads are all slug I bought it for a camping slug gun and love it.
 
hey beaner im assuming you had your barrel threaded? was thinking about doin that to mine then putting the rem 870 tactical breacher thingy on it when not using any chokes
 
If you'd like to see how a Dom Arms shotgun patterns after ......18k, yes 18 THOUSAND+ rounds then watch this. MY choke is absolutely useless and so many slugs have just made it part of the barrel.

Target is at approx 12-15 yards.

Load is Winchester super x buckshot 2 3/4".

[youtube]cWjqQQIGC-0[/youtube]

Excellent performance from a $300+tax shotgun.
 
I was under the impression Chinese barrels weren't thick enough to be threaded.
Are the Dominion/Grizzly thicker than the Norinco?
I could be wrong, or some gunsmith could thread them anyway... I'm pretty sure I remember TacOrd not threading them for that reason.
 
IIRC Casey chose not to venture into doing the Levang mod to the chinese barrels due to unknown steel or something like that. Not worth the risk was the basic reasoning. As for pattern, the cyl bore is its biggest problem. If spending about $550 all in to have chokes on an 8.5 is ok by you then you can make it pattern pretty well Id say. Hornady buckshot performs very well and should still be pushing over 1200 fps if Caramel's 8.5 chronys 1 oz 1600 fps slugs at 1250 fps. It will be very loud of course as there is still tons of pressure at 8.5" but thats the price you pay for such a short barrel.
 
so Casey was talking about the vangcomp not the threading for chokes gotcha... my mistake.
well, I'm still glad I went with a Dlask than, I might vangcomp it eventually.
 
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