My New Truck Gun - Lakefield Mossberg 400G

Gormley Green

Gormley Green

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So I stopped by Epps on my way to Gravenhurst on Wednesday. I'd been reading about the Lakefield Mossberg 400G I found on their website. Had to get it once I got there, as if I was kidding myself into thinking I wouldn't...

Came in good shape, nicely worn. 30" barrel, which I shortened to 19". I left a bit of extra, as it was my first time attempting this. I wanted to make sure if I messed it up, someone would have enough barrel to fix it. Anyways, I did a pretty good job and I think it looks great. The LOP is too long for me, so next I'll shorten the butt stock, and sand and refinish all the wood as I'm not keen on the colour or scratches.

Enough of that...here's some pics.

She's been over oiled and not well cleaned in a long time!
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Made in my favourite country, Canada!
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With freshly shortened barrel
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Close up of the cut and finished muzzle
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Buttstock that will have to be shortened
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Anyone want to buy an 11" barrel? ;)
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While I'm at it. Has anyone cut a buttstock? How did you refit the recoil pad. Due to the taper in the stock, the pad will be too tall when I refit it... I assume you'd cut it with a really sharp knife or something?

Thanks for reading.
 
pretty neat... nice job facing the barrel.
whats the difference between a 400 and 500?

Gormley Green said:
While I'm at it. Has anyone cut a buttstock? How did you refit the recoil pad. Due to the taper in the stock, the pad will be too tall when I refit it... I assume you'd cut it with a really sharp knife or something?

Thanks for reading.
Click to expand...

after you cut the wood, youll need to remount the pad. you can use a marking knife to score the front face of the pad (the hard plastic part) with the new outline of the stock.

then remove the pad, and on a grinder with (preferably) a fine grinding wheel you grind the pad to the new contour. go easy, because the grinder takes off a LOT and if you take too much off the pad its not gonna grow back :)
i highly recommend you bring your grinder outside to do this, and wear a dust mask or respirator since it makes a huge mess.

shorty2.jpg
 
Awesome, thanks. Good advice.

As far as I know, the 400G was made under license from Mossberg in Canada. Parts are interchangeable with the 500. Though I'm a Remington guy with no Mossies, so I can't find out personally until I need a new part.
 
just remember to go EASY with the grinder. it takes off the material very quickly, even with a fine grinding wheel.

take a bit off, then fit the pad to the butt of the gun and check how much more you need to remove, etc. remember that the bottom of the pad needs to be finished at an angle.
if you remove a LOT of the stock like i did on that Grizzly i posted a pic of, then you will need to angle the bottom pad screw upwards at a ~30 degree angle -- there is not enough wood in the stock to accomodate the screw at 90 degrees. last thing you want is the screw cracking the stock. if you do change the angle of the screw, pre-drill a pilot hole the diameter of the non-threaded part of the screw.

some people, to get a perfect pad/butt fit, will refinish the entire thing with a palm sander. i found this was unneccessary since you can get it to fit 99% by just patiently eyeing it with the grinder. the fine grinding wheel of the grinder left a nice matte, even finish on the rubber with no grinder marks at all, so there was no need for further smoothing of the pad. just go slow, and remember to do it outside as it will make a huge mess with black rubber dust everywhere.
 
04rubicon said:
How'd you cut the bbl? Will you replace the bead?
Click to expand...

I used a hacksaw! :D

I put a hose clamp at the point I'd measured (twice, so I only had to cut once). Tightened it up well. Lined the saw blade up, a very fine toothed hacksaw blade. Sliced right through. Used a flat file to get the burrs off and make sure it was true, than used 150 grit sand paper and my thumb to smooth it all out. It worked quite well, but I certainly use caution when doing this.
 
Most aftermarket recoil pad manufacturers actually recommend you use a belt sander, not a grinder. I just installed a limbsaver on my 45-70 yesterday, so I have the instructions handy. Sims' recommends 60-80 grit for rough shaping the pad and 120-240 for the final fitting. I used 120 for the whole job.

BTW: Are you planning on re-installing the Mossberg hockey puck, or are you going to put a proper recoil pad on it? I have a kick-eez on my Mossberg 500 slug gun and its a huge improvement over the factory pad.

Jim
 
Another good point. I am not really thrilled with the stock pad, so maybe I'll just pick up a better one and fit it. I'm attempting to go pretty cheap on this gun, as it's a backseat low maintenance kind of thing. But I guess a recoil pad isn't a huge expense.

Thanks.
 
x2 on the belt sander and doing it outside. You obviously haven't bought a name brand recoil pad lately:(, probably a good chunk of the price of your gun.
Kim
 
The Limbsaver I just put on the 45-70 was $50 at Epps, but they have less expensive ones as well. I bought the kick-eez there as well last summer and I believe it was around $30.

Jim
 
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