I picked up a pair of mossberg shotgun stocks off the EE recently, with the intent of shortening them.
I got one polymer one, and one wood one. I started with the polymer one as my test subject, with the intent of using it to figure out what length is ideal for me, and then cutting the wood one to those final dimensions, and installing a grind-to-fit recoil pad on the wood stock once its done.
Shotgun in question is a Mossberg Maverick 88. The polymer stock is from a 590, and I believe the wood stock is an older one from a 500.
I Started by marking the stock with a pencil to trim 3cm off. I used a triangle to mark 3cm in two spots, then used a flexible plastic ruler to draw a line between the marks. After marking it, I decided I was going to start with cutting only 2cm, so I marked it again. Once I had my lines, I clamped it in my job mate and cut it with the hacksaw.
Here is a picture of the stock mid-cut.
My cut wasn't as straight as I would have wanted it, so I then taped some sand paper to my desk for a nice flat surface, and proceeded to sand the cut edge nice and flat. Took a while (20ish minutes) but it came out nice and flat.
Then I had to re-drill the holes for the recoil pad (the old holes were still there, but they were very shallow at this point) and reinstall the recoil pad.
Picture of the finished product compared to the original stock length.
I haven't decided if I am going to do anything about the overhanging recoil pad or not. I have used the recoil pad from the stock that came on my shotgun when I bought it, because the pads that came with my stocks off the EE were about as soft as a hockey puck. The whole reason I bought additional stocks is so I can return the shotgun to stock configuration if I ever wanted to sell it, so I dont really want to do anything to the recoil pad I am using right now. I took it out yesterday to try it, and I didn't find the recoil pad to be overly snaggy or anything, so we'll see.
I got one polymer one, and one wood one. I started with the polymer one as my test subject, with the intent of using it to figure out what length is ideal for me, and then cutting the wood one to those final dimensions, and installing a grind-to-fit recoil pad on the wood stock once its done.
Shotgun in question is a Mossberg Maverick 88. The polymer stock is from a 590, and I believe the wood stock is an older one from a 500.
I Started by marking the stock with a pencil to trim 3cm off. I used a triangle to mark 3cm in two spots, then used a flexible plastic ruler to draw a line between the marks. After marking it, I decided I was going to start with cutting only 2cm, so I marked it again. Once I had my lines, I clamped it in my job mate and cut it with the hacksaw.
Here is a picture of the stock mid-cut.
My cut wasn't as straight as I would have wanted it, so I then taped some sand paper to my desk for a nice flat surface, and proceeded to sand the cut edge nice and flat. Took a while (20ish minutes) but it came out nice and flat.
Then I had to re-drill the holes for the recoil pad (the old holes were still there, but they were very shallow at this point) and reinstall the recoil pad.
Picture of the finished product compared to the original stock length.
I haven't decided if I am going to do anything about the overhanging recoil pad or not. I have used the recoil pad from the stock that came on my shotgun when I bought it, because the pads that came with my stocks off the EE were about as soft as a hockey puck. The whole reason I bought additional stocks is so I can return the shotgun to stock configuration if I ever wanted to sell it, so I dont really want to do anything to the recoil pad I am using right now. I took it out yesterday to try it, and I didn't find the recoil pad to be overly snaggy or anything, so we'll see.
