Can you help me on a budget single shot?

The gun store near me has a cooey 840 so I'm going to go have a look. I figured out it's a 3" chamber. Is it fine to shoot slugs and 00 in this shotgun?

Yeah, plenty safe. They usually have a 30” full fixed choke barrel, so while it’s safe to shoot foster slugs and buckshot out of you may or may not get good accuracy or patterns. Plenty of deer have been killed with both out of a fixed full choke over the years, they kick like a mule in a light single shot 12g. I prefer to stick with 2 3/4” shells lol.
 
Yeah, plenty safe. They usually have a 30” full fixed choke barrel, so while it’s safe to shoot foster slugs and buckshot out of you may or may not get good accuracy or patterns. Plenty of deer have been killed with both out of a fixed full choke over the years, they kick like a mule in a light single shot 12g. I prefer to stick with 2 3/4” shells lol.

I only buy 2 3/4 shells just wanted to have a 3 inch in case. I'm a machinist so it would be losing a bit of barrel and choke anyhow. I like a 20 inch. For me a camp gun is carried alot and fired little. I've got projects on the go all over my property (about 18 acres) and I'm tired of carrying my new pump gun around.

I see bear alot and while they haven't bothered me, they are getting less shy and making me more nervous. I have been attacked by a wild dog. Got out of the camper one morning and a big dog charged me out of nowhere. I didn't even have a PAL at the time. I locked myself in the storage shed, got my chainsaw running and scared it off with that. Some 00 would have been handy at that time.
 
Just a heads up, if you cut the barrel down to 20” you’ll want some type of front/rear sights or tall front post at the least to correct the high point of impact you’ll have from a short barrel. I have a Cooey 84 with a 30” barrel and a cut 19” barrel, the 19” shoots high like most short barrels with just a bead sight, it will get a set of sights at some point and likely threaded for chokes.
 
Western Gun Parts sells the drill and tap sets and your choice of beads.
Ordered what I needed for this old Winchester single shot that was given to me a few years back.
Old lad cut the barrel with a pipe cutter then proceeded with a hacker saw.

The end of this barrel kept me entertained for a wee bit.
I managed to get the front bead on purrrrfectly.
 
Western Gun Parts sells the drill and tap sets and your choice of beads.
Ordered what I needed for this old Winchester single shot that was given to me a few years back.
Old lad cut the barrel with a pipe cutter then proceeded with a hacker saw.

The end of this barrel kept me entertained for a wee bit.
I managed to get the front bead on purrrrfectly.

It already has a bead on the short barrel, it needs a ramped front sight. I found a set of front and rear sight last year in a gun shop’s random parts bin on a work trip, just haven’t found the time to silver solder it on. I’ve done this once before on a 14” 870 barrel, the outcome was exactly what it needed to bring the poi down to where it needed to be.

A high pedestal front sight would probably work well also but I like a rifle sight I can adjust for windage and elevation on a short barrel.
 
^ I found the same issue with my security barrel, so I bought one of these to try. It raises the front sight up some and uses the old bead to center it on the barrel. I haven't shot it much so I don't have a lot to say about it other than it definitely raised the sight to something closer to where it would be if the barrel had a rib. It's not an adjustable rifle sight but at like $20 and a 2 second install might be worth looking into.

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https://www.truglo.com/Universal-Home-Defense-Shotgun-Front-Sight
 
Just a heads up, if you cut the barrel down to 20” you’ll want some type of front/rear sights or tall front post at the least to correct the high point of impact you’ll have from a short barrel. I have a Cooey 84 with a 30” barrel and a cut 19” barrel, the 19” shoots high like most short barrels with just a bead sight, it will get a set of sights at some point and likely threaded for chokes.

Oh for sure it will need a bead or sight. I have lots of metals here to pick from to make something. I mostly work in marine brass and titanium. Even if I make a fit around barrel type secured with a set screw. There are probably lots of ways to do it.
 
Oh for sure it will need a bead or sight. I have lots of metals here to pick from to make something. I mostly work in marine brass and titanium. Even if I make a fit around barrel type secured with a set screw. There are probably lots of ways to do it.

Last one I did was on the 14” barrel, I used a set of Rem ramped sights which I really liked on another 870 barrel. Have modified a Grizzly front sight from their ghost ring setup after I decided to delete the rear ghost ring, I cut the front ramp down and I made a new brass bead that I tapped and installed. Both work well but I prefer the Rem rifle sights for many reasons, have an identical front sight that will go on the Cooey paired with a simpler adjustable rear sliding sight.

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If you want a cheap shotgun buy a bolt action. Virtually all the cheap break actions are disposable guns. No one can make a good shotgun for 180$, and break open guns aren’t particularly cheap to make.
 
I wanted a cheaper camp shotgun to keep around camp and decided under 200 bucks felt right.

I don't know anything about either of these but the price is right and I imagine both are from turkey. Which would you pick or if you have another suggestion I'd love to hear it.

CHARLES DALY 101 SINGLE BARREL 12 GA $179.99 CAD

Revolution Armory SB2S 12 ga $159.99 CAD

Both fold up completely into small backpack friendly sizes. SB2S had a hammer to ####, the Daly has a forward of trigger mechanism.

Ever hear of Cooey ??
Millions of them and even available via the EE.
 
The store couldnt find the one they supposedly had.

I found a guy liquidating a firearms collection and there is a perfect looking cooey 840 in it. Going to have a look. He was asking 250 but it sounds like he will negotiate.
 
If you want a cheap shotgun buy a bolt action. Virtually all the cheap break actions are disposable guns. No one can make a good shotgun for 180$, and break open guns aren’t particularly cheap to make.

I looked at the cheapo new guns at the store. The stock, and front bead looks like they are from the dollar store. The metal parts seems solid enough. I'm sure it would shoot but you'd have to make a better stock for it.
 
As stated above, the most practical course would be to buy a Maverick 88 or similar cheapie pump gun. But if you like single shots (I do!), that alone is a good enough reason to get one...or two...or...:)

Up until a couple years ago, the H&R singles would be the obvious answer, but since H&R shut down the existing ones apparently transformed into solid gold, so you'd need to be lucky to find one in your range. I have a Turkish single, one of the goofy folding ones, that comes threaded for chokes and it's a fun gun. A set of stick-on fibre optic front/rear sights, a tight full choke (I actually use a turkey choke in mine), some #9's and you have the ultimate backyard House Sparrow gun. And, of course, there are all those old Cooeys and Rangers and others on the EE.

I recently got a brand new Stevens 301 12-gauge hammer single and am pretty impressed with it for the money (about $300). Light, handy, threaded for Winchokes, tool-less takedown, very decent trigger. It's like a Chinese-made H&R, but with the addition of a manual stupidity...er, safety...on the left side. It's become my long-range backyard House Sparrow gun.

The 301 that I got has a little mini pic-rail mounted on it that makes mounting a red-dot easy, although sadly the rail is a bit out-of-spec and doesn't support all red dot mounts properly. But I got one on there, and the little single excels at allowing you to use all kinds of adaptors to shoot .410's, rimfires, handgun ammo, etc...another advantage of single shots. :)
 
As stated above, the most practical course would be to buy a Maverick 88 or similar cheapie pump gun. But if you like single shots (I do!), that alone is a good enough reason to get one...or two...or...:)

Up until a couple years ago, the H&R singles would be the obvious answer, but since H&R shut down the existing ones apparently transformed into solid gold, so you'd need to be lucky to find one in your range. I have a Turkish single, one of the goofy folding ones, that comes threaded for chokes and it's a fun gun. A set of stick-on fibre optic front/rear sights, a tight full choke (I actually use a turkey choke in mine), some #9's and you have the ultimate backyard House Sparrow gun. And, of course, there are all those old Cooeys and Rangers and others on the EE.

I recently got a brand new Stevens 301 12-gauge hammer single and am pretty impressed with it for the money (about $300). Light, handy, threaded for Winchokes, tool-less takedown, very decent trigger. It's like a Chinese-made H&R, but with the addition of a manual stupidity...er, safety...on the left side. It's become my long-range backyard House Sparrow gun.

The 301 that I got has a little mini pic-rail mounted on it that makes mounting a red-dot easy, although sadly the rail is a bit out-of-spec and doesn't support all red dot mounts properly. But I got one on there, and the little single excels at allowing you to use all kinds of adaptors to shoot .410's, rimfires, handgun ammo, etc...another advantage of single shots. :)

Ya it was a single I wanted. I have a winchester sxp defender for a pump and I've got zero complaints. I juts like singles.

Ivw sent out lots of feelers and messages to folks on EE here but no solid leads on a cooey 840 yet. I know I'm impatient so I'll just wait but I didn't hade the cheap folding turk I looked at. Lockup was good, the sites and stock was the crap part. But if I get bored one might end up here and turn into a project gun.

If it had better sites and some mass in the stock it woudl be good. I like the idea of epoxying tubes inside the stock to hold 12 gauge shells. It would add weight and be useful. I've even toyed with the idea of making my own wood furniture for it. I chainsaw milled 2 inch hardwood slabs last year and they are dry and ready to use for something.

Regardless singles seem to be aorund in quality used and cheap new varioso I may pick up a few.
 
Ya it was a single I wanted. I have a winchester sxp defender for a pump and I've got zero complaints. I juts like singles.

Ivw sent out lots of feelers and messages to folks on EE here but no solid leads on a cooey 840 yet. I know I'm impatient so I'll just wait but I didn't hade the cheap folding turk I looked at. Lockup was good, the sites and stock was the crap part. But if I get bored one might end up here and turn into a project gun.

If it had better sites and some mass in the stock it woudl be good. I like the idea of epoxying tubes inside the stock to hold 12 gauge shells. It would add weight and be useful. I've even toyed with the idea of making my own wood furniture for it. I chainsaw milled 2 inch hardwood slabs last year and they are dry and ready to use for something.

Regardless singles seem to be aorund in quality used and cheap new varioso I may pick up a few.

Other than the Cooeys, maybe take a look at the Baikal M18s. Some models have an ejector/extractor switch. Solid guns, in terms of built quality a step above the Cooeys.

Had a 20 ga. which I wish hadn't sold.
 
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