Forcing cone questions

[jmsj]

Hey Guys,
I have a Remington 870 smooth bore, 3" chamber 12 gauge shotgun that has a forcing cone that looks like it was cut with a horse shoeing rasp. I bought this gun brand new and I would imagine it is the standard short forcing cone.
I am using this particular shotgun to shoot buckshot, wad/slugs and have been thinking of trying Dixie Slugs "Triball" loads. I have noticed that the forcing cone gathers a lot of plastic fouling after just a few shots.
My question is would a lengthend forcing cone be better for this type of shooting or would I be better off to just polish up the standard forcing cone?
I have another 870 that I use for upland game that has a forcing cone that is smoother. I was wondering if those of you that shoot upland game think that lenghtening the forcing cone and polishing is worthwhile or just polishing up the standard forcing cone on this gun?
My last question is how difficult is reaming/polishing a forcing cone for the home gunsmith? How do you know when you have gone deep enough? I have built a couple of 1911's, do my own trigger/action jobs, bed actions, remove and cut down rifle barrels and most of my own little gunsmithing projects. I have never done any shotgun barrel work other than drilling and tapping a rib for a new bead.
Thanks, jmsj

[Erco]

Not much work or expertise to doing a forcing cone job on a 870. With my reamer I just run it in till the end of the flutes is flush with the end of the chamber. This basically gives it a "3 inch chamber and among forcing cone. I could stop sooner if I wanted to save time.
As for polishing I just use a regular barrel hone "dingle berry" type. A few strokes it doesn't take much I find.
Unless you plan to use the reamer enough to pay it off , you may just be better to have it done.
In my opinion i always feel it is performance enhancing to lengthen it out.

Regards

[SuperBlazingSabots]

Good morning Jms, how are you?
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee75/Dantebeowulf/DSC02712.jpg
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee75/Dantebeowulf/DSC02713.jpg
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee75/Dantebeowulf/DSC02714.jpg
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee75/Dantebeowulf/DSC02715.jpg
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee75/Dantebeowulf/DSC02716.jpg
For simple polishing!
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee75/Dantebeowulf/Topolishforcingconescopy.jpg
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee75/Dantebeowulf/DSC02711.jpg
For under $8 you can pick-up a brake cyl. honing tool at any auto parts store!
You all have a wonderful day!
Ajay
Video Memories
www.PreciousVideoMemories.Com

[SuperBlazingSabots]

Hello Jmsj, it is very important to have smooth forcing cone for a smoother launch!
Look at the first 5 pictures above and its very simple, just use a hand drill at the other end of the wooden dowel and polish, use 3/4 inch wide foam material from the shirts that you buy and fine sand paper to polish the forcing cones!
Hope it helps.
Ajay
Video Memories
www.PreciousVideoMemories.Com

[jmsj]

Erco,
Thanks for the reply and welcome to Castboolits. I think you'll like it here.

Ajay,
Great to hear from you again.
Thanks for the info on how to polish a forcing cone.

The main part of my question is which type of forcing cone is best for different types of shotgun loads or does it matter?
Thanks, jmsj

[SuperBlazingSabots]

Hello Jmsj, first do the simple polishing and you will notice minute improvement in accuracy,
recoil and velocity!
You'll be glad you did it.
Take the barrel out and lay it on the table and have some one hold it tight
against the table now you insert the 10 inch long wooden dowel into the chamber and as it enters the forcing cone you will notice the fiction, now from here on put the hand drill on and polish from this point to 1/2 to 3/4 inch deeper, back and forth!
You are done, have a wonderful day.
Is the coffee hot!
Ajay
Video Memories
www.PreciousVideoMemories.Com

[msinc]

I have all guage reamers to lengthen forcing cones and have played around alot with it. I have found that whatever you are doing with a shotgun you will do better with an extended and polished forcing cone. From better patterns with birdshot to more accurate slugs fired out of rifled barrels and everything in between. Dont forget the bonus reduced recoil...some guns really feel a lot less and some not so much. As suggested above, I wouldn't buy a reamer and hone to do one barrel. You really wont see or feel much difference by just polishing what is there. In your case you might get it to stop fouling up though.

[SuperBlazingSabots]

Hello MsInc, are you willing to share your 12 gauge reamer with your fellow shooters?
Ajay
Video Memories
www.PreciousVideoMemories.Com

[turbo1889]

Although it is not directly applicable to the OP's question I would like to politely but firmly point out that with rifled slug barrels many of us have discovered that the exact opposite of what msinc suggests to be a clear trend. Some of use, including Greg, Peter Nap, and myself have experimented with using custom cut or modified chambers that have extremely short forcing cones or no forcing cone whatsoever in rifled slug barrels and this has provided a significant and measurable improvement in the accuracy we have been able to obtain with rifled bore slug guns. In addition James of Dixie Slugs has commented on his knowledge and experience in this area more then once on this forum as well as the forum attached to his commercial slug ammo business indicating that his experience (which is extensive since he does this for a living and has done so for nearly his entire life) also is that long forcing cones in rifled slug barrels are the problem not the solution and that shorter is better.

With smooth bore guns and/or other loads besides slugs I offer no objections to what msinc has stated but for rifled bore slug guns I believe he is way off target, this is not a position that I am alone in, nor one that has not been backed up by real life experience and testing that has been done by multiple individuals. Most likely msinc has not experimented with forcing cone lengths that are shorter then the standard 5-degree forcing cones that are a 1/2+" long and thus has not explored the other alternative of using a shorter cone then factory and has only explored the option of extending it and thus his statement is based on an insufficient and lacking base of experience which explains the error in his conclusions.

As to polishing the forcing cone, I absolutely agree. Polishing is a great idea so long as care is taken to only polish and not remove excessive barrel metal since once it is removed it cannot be put back. Personally I prefer to use a hard-wood dowel that the end has been turned or carved to match the profile of the forcing cone and then spinning that with a cordless drill using Arm & Hammer Baking Soda Toothpaste as a polishing medium since it is a very light abrasive and you can do a whole lot of polishing this way before you come even close to changing the profile of the cone or removing any significant amount of metal and thus you are just polishing only.

[jmsj]

Thanks guys for the input,
For the slug/buckshot shotgun I'll try just polishing up the forcing cone first.
Thanks, jmsj