Grizzly 8.5 - Looking for info & experience

mlehtovaara

mlehtovaara

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So I just ordered one of these, and just had a couple questions.......

How long is it in it's stock form? I assume that there is no way to ad a collapsible stock but do other 870 stocks fit?

Are these things reliable at all?

Has anyone tested accuracy and performance loss with slugs?

If you own one please chime in with your experience.

I am hoping this thing is gonna be the perfect pack/quad/bush gun.

Thanks,
M
 
Bolting on a collapsible stock is not a problem as long as it is over 26". Knoxx types stocks work fine(26 1/2" collapsed)
I think it was PC-9 who put a magpul 870 stock on his and it looked pretty nice.....a short hougue would work as well.
 
i have one, i bought it for basicly what it sounds like you want it for, it gets thrown in my truck and on the quad and has ridden with me on my sled a couple dozen times, i have had two different stocks on it both stock rem one a walnut one a rem tactical pistol grip both bolted up no problem, i have never shot slugs at a paper target to see how it really is but shooting it and shooting my buddys 870 with a 26 inch barrel it seemed just as acurate, however there was noticably less kick (and more noise and flames) than with the 26 inch, this sujests that there would be a loss in velocity, after about 5000 rounds (im guessing i dont keep track) i did have the leaf spring think that holds shells in the tube come unstaked, not a big deal as the trigger group holds it in it just falls out when you dissasemble, i love mine its my go to gun to ride in my truck and is a fun toy to let people try,
 
I cant comment on the 8.5" but I bought a 14" HP-9 this summer, then traded the 14" for a 12.5" barrel. I noticed a little increase in recoil with the swap, mostly with lighter loads. Surprisingly heavy 3" mags dont kick as hard as long barrelled shotguns of mine. Federal 3" 1 1/4 oz slugs were stout but not offensive. Made a cool mortar sound as they flew through the crisp cold air :) But as far as the actions go, they are hit or miss. Mostly hit but mine had some functional issues. I had to bend the non-staked shell stop to allow reliable feeding, otherwise I would have to slam the action open to feed a round. When firing heavy loads the action kicks open about halfway which didnt let me get enough momentum and I would have a FTF. Now it feeds nice, so I replaced the ejector spring with a cut down M1 Garand ejector spring. Now it doesnt just flop shells out, it kicks them out. I still have a little chamber work to do to get rid of the odd failure to extract which happens mostly with cheap aluminum shells and occasionaly with high brass mags. There has been some chrono work done with SBS' in the states showing some pretty promising results. With 1 particular load of Remington birdshot, max MV was at 18.5" to 19" @ around 1200 FPS. That same load was around 1050 FPS out of 12 and 14" barrels and not much less than that for 8". I think caramel chrono'd some Super X 1600 FPS slugs out of his 8.5 and saw around 1250 FPS IIRC.
 
i recall reading were velocity loss on dlask 8.5 inch guns runs 2oo to 300 ft. per second .i would think the grizzlys would be the same . i have a dlask 8.5 gun and i can put slugs on paper at 50 yards . i have not tried any farther but do not think there would be a problem . with shot they are realistically a twenty five yard gun as the pattern gets thin quickly beyond that . i also own a grizzly and one thing i noticed is the barrel does not seem to have a definite chamber ie. one smooth piece from back to front . i do not care for the forend as it whacks your hand in recoil . i also hated the dlask forend as the rails would bite . i replaced the dlask forend with a cut down remington and solved the problem . the grizzly follower is the thinnest piece of plastic ever but is holding up.the length and handiness of these guns can not be beat as a carry gun or anywhere space is at a premium.remember to wear ear plugs as these guns are super loud .i think you will enjoy the gun as i like mine other than the minor irritants .
 
I have the 8.5 and I found it difficult to hold onto shooting Fiochii slugs. Later on with wax slugs and regular target loads it was fine. I don't have any problem with my Mossberg shooting slugs.
 
i tossed a el-cheapo 50$ aimpoint TI ripoff on mine and it shoots slugs really damn good. Ive beaten the crap out of mine and it still works everytime, IMHO just as reliable as a 870.
 
Farmer, my 18.5" cyl. bores have a similar useful range with birdshot. 30 yds is getting a little too thin for my liking. Interesting that 10" less barrel doesnt change the pattern much. I really should pick one up and do a good chrono review with 8.5", 12.5" and 18.5" 12 ga. Ive always got more slugs than I need anyways heh :) So if anyone wants to donate or lend me one for testing purposes Id be happy to make it happen. I could do chrono results with various bird, buck and slugs as well as some patterning to help give an idea of whats going on with these short barrels.
 
boots- said:
i have one, i bought it for basicly what it sounds like you want it for, it gets thrown in my truck and on the quad and has ridden with me on my sled a couple dozen times, i have had two different stocks on it both stock rem one a walnut one a rem tactical pistol grip both bolted up no problem, i have never shot slugs at a paper target to see how it really is but shooting it and shooting my buddys 870 with a 26 inch barrel it seemed just as acurate, however there was noticably less kick (and more noise and flames) than with the 26 inch, this sujests that there would be a loss in velocity, after about 5000 rounds (im guessing i dont keep track) i did have the leaf spring think that holds shells in the tube come unstaked, not a big deal as the trigger group holds it in it just falls out when you dissasemble, i love mine its my go to gun to ride in my truck and is a fun toy to let people try,
Click to expand...

I have the same issue with my 8.5" with the spring coming unstaked. Bit of a pain in the ass to get back in but not the end of the world. Otherwise it has been reliable and I've carried it quite a bit now in the bush without babying it. Got a cheap red dot recently but haven't had a chance to see what kind of accuracy I can achieve with slugs with it, I'll try to post up when I do.
 
On the topic of velocity, Although these numbers might not be exactly what you're looking for they'll give you an idea.
The first number is velocity with a 28" barrel, second is with a 12" barrel. I chronographed these myself. I did shoot winchester 1 oz 3" mags, but I lost my footage. I seem to recall they were about as fast in the short barrel as the 2 3/4 1oz out of the long barrel, in the upper 1500s. In the long barrel they did 1814fps.

birdshot 1 1/8 oz: 1160fps / 1043fps
game load 1 1/8: 1279fps / 1167fps
1oz winchester slug 2 3/4: 1570fps / 1363fps
1 1/4 oz federal slug 2 3/4: 1563fps / 1323fps
1 1/4 oz federal slug 3": 1707fps / 1443fps

Hope that helps you out.
 
With a TRS-25 up top on the 8.5 I've been able to put 5 out of 6 rounds on a 4" target at 50 yards. I could never seem to get 6/6, which ticked me off to no end.

Seemed pretty good to me from an accuracy perspective, I didn't try for more than 50 yards though.
 
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