Sawed Off?

[Pig_sticka]

My grandpa has a 12 gauge that is sawed off but is still long enough to be legal. He was talking about maybe letting me use it but he said it probably wouldn't be any good because the pattern is larger now.

Is this gun good for anything? Maybe it would be good if you were shooting into a whole mess of pheasants or something

Is it worth using the gun for target practice or is it better left in the gun case or disposal?

[Moose-Hunter]

When you say "sawed off"... Just how long is the barrel now? Typically, a shortened barrel with no choke (cylinder bore) will have a pattern way too wide to be very effective except at very close ranges. Personally, I have one barrel cut down to 22.5" on a Rem 1100. Great tactical gun. And with the proper choke tube, it makes for a very fast swinging gun in tight cover.

I'm no expert, so take this for what its worth.

[leechlake]

Moose, I can't help it. "great tactical gun." I can picture you patrolling your property at night with all Ninja black on and then about 2am I picture you sleeping against a tree, tactical gun in your lap, burglars sneaking by.

[Moose-Hunter]

Hey Leech...

You're not that far off...

[cyberamish]

Depending on what you want to spend you could take it to a gunsmith and have them tap it for screw in tubes. Had one of mine done a couple years ago at Gander in MG, cost me like $100.00 and took about a week during the off season.

[Ruttin' Buck]

Grouse...

I carry an 870 Express I bought an extra used barrel for and sawed off at 18.175". It's nice because you can just throw up and pull the trigger.

You have to be so quick with grouse that it helps quite a bit in the thick areas you can find them in. Also, when they're close it doesn't just blow them to shreds when you hit them.

If you have a flushing dog it's not a good choice. I use this gun for creeping along in the woods slowly and quietly. Comes in nice when you hit that jackpot covey now and again.

It used to be that the minimum barrel length was 18". Come to think I should check again to make sure I'm still okay so don't take my word on that length just yet.

[charliepete2]

I use a cylinder bore for grouse and woodcock in tight cover over pointing and flushing dogs and it works great. One thing to think about is that it's a lot easier to trip and fall and blow you're head off with a short gun than it is a longer one. If you look at statistics on gun accidents it's always the short carbines that are killers. Not that you shouldn't use the gun, but I'd keep it in mind and be careful. There also a bit louder when you hunt because the muzzle is closer to you're head.

[WAG416]

Ruttin' Buck is right on-

I have a mossberg 500 with a 20 inch barrel and I wont use anything else in the woods.(unless I'm hunting woodcocks) The magazine can also hold 7 shots. So I dont need to bring alot of amo with.

WAG

[rappin jack]

It would make a great road hunting gun! (EASY TO GET OUT THE WINDOW)

[WAG416]

Quote:

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It would make a great road hunting gun! (EASY TO GET OUT THE WINDOW)

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Carefull R-Jack...........That comment may receive a few frowns.

WAG

[Cooter]

Am thinking of sawing off an old 28ga single shot and trying to fit a pistol grip on it for my ultimate road hunting rig. I get out of the vehicle though - usually

[Muddog]

Slugs!

Use it as a slug gun. The pattern will only be as big as the slug.

[45acpshooter]

Unless it's really something special, you could spend $100.00 putting in tubes and it still wouldn't be worth $100.00. You would be much better off spending that money on a used Remington 870 Express or something similar. Also, in spite of what others may say, guns with overly short barrels swing for crap. 34" barrels are pretty standard on trap guns and 28"-30" on skeet guns. If shorter were better target shooters would have caught on to this by now. It doesn't matter how fast a gun is if you can't hit anything with it. Just my 2 cents.

[Ruttin' Buck]

I elected to shorten a barrel just for grouse and woodcock. Grouse and woodcock are not clay pidgeons and they don't plant you in a pile of prickly ash at the range when they fire their grouse targets.

With a short barrel, I don't care if my swing is bad...there is no 'swinging'. I just need to get in rough proximity in the mere second or so that you have to get a shot and pull the trigger. The pattern I get out of the short barrel is huge so I just need to be close and because it's so large, those common 10-15 yard shots don't mangle the bird.

If the birds travel 10 yards after taking off they're likely no longer visible in the thick stuff we find them in...so we don't have time to 'swing'. It takes a little getting used to but I don't miss many birds so it does work.

Way easier to throw a short gun up and through brambles and wait-a-minute bushes to get a shot than it is to try and toss up 28" of barrel...not to mention just toting a gun through it.

I'd never use the short barrel on the range or for any other bird but for grouse and woodcock I'll take the Pepsi challenge any day.

[uffdapete]

I'll second Muddog's suggestion. A few years ago I bought an old JC Higgins pump with a 20" barrel and open bore. I installed a set of Williams sights that attach to the rib and it's a very accurate slug gun for a smoothbore. Slug diameters vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and Winchesters have one the largest diameter rifled slugs so they work well in an open bore.

[lunker651]

The gun is no good at shooting shells. LIke they said you can use it as a slug gun. you just have to know where it's hitting though. I used to have a remington, I tripped and fell and the gun barrel hit a rock, at the end of the barrel had a big ding on it, so my dad cut it off to 20" and it was a great slug gun. You can also buy a used barrel on ebay, they have alot of barrels up for auction.