ANother shotgun question

[MtGun44]

Any reason not to cut down a $100 "The New England" brand
hammer double 12 ga with steel 30" full choke barrels to 18"
for a home defense gun? Gun is tight and used but seems
decent.

I think it is a Meridian sold by Sears. No idea if this is some sort
of a travesty or just repurposing an old shotgun.


Bill

[Bullshop Junior]

I dont shoot much shot out of my shot guns. In fact the one I have now is rifled. I usually cut them back to 18 and 5/8 inch. That way I can take them through canada if I want to.

[evan price]

Those old Meridians are about like a Savage 311. Lots of them, no special value unless mint. Cut away.
I personally, and especially if this is the first time you've chopped a shotgun, would cut it to 19" or 19.5" instead of 18", reasons being 1. If you screw up your cut, you can still cut it again or grind back to a good muzzle and still be legal. Cut it to 18" and make a slip or go a bit crooked and you now have an unregistered short barrel shotgun. 2. I find that the extra inch doesn't make the gun less handy and makes it easier to break open.
I've got an old double cut to roughly 18.01" after polishing and crowning and while it is legal it is just a frog hair over the line to be legal, can't really complain because that was the safest place to cut it to remove the damaged part of the barrel from a mud-plug explosion long ago and it IS legal and now I can use what somebody else was junking. It is harder to break it open because no leverage to work the cocking piece to cock the hammers.

Good luck!

[Janoosh]

If you are the person doing the cutting and finishing, I would first cut to @24-26" and see if the shotgun is still easy to handle and function. Then make the cut to 20", again checking function. After that I believe the shotgun becomes harder to unload and cock the hammers as the barrel weight is used to assist in functioning.

[MtGun44]

Thanks for the comments and I think you are all on the right track on barrel cutting.

I can always cut more, hard to put it back!

Bill

[orangezuk]

And a key to measurement when approaching the 18'' area. A dowel or rod placed down the muzzle until it contacts the breach face, Mark the rod & measure. Lets just say I got the "pleasure" of being instructed/intruded by the ATF with my SBRs.

[cpileri]

If its a double, be careful cutting the mid rib. Unless its soldered all the eay along, you will want to cut just ahead of one of the solder/welds or else it will "peel" and might even throw off the barrel regulation.
C-

[dverna]

Hammered shotguns give you one more operation to get into ready mode. Plus the exposed hammers can snag at the most inopportune times.

I have a Baikal cut down to 18 1/4" and it is fast and slick (after it was tuned) but I do not even consider it for self-defense. I have two Mossberg 500's for bear or two legged varmints.

[MtGun44]

The shotgun I was looking at, and willing to pay MAYBE up to $150 is now at $340 and I am
WAY past any interest in it now.

Thanks for the info, not too up on shotguns, really.

Bill