Help stop a Bubba!

[tuna]

I picked up a 12ga pump a couple weeks ago that I want to make into my own version of what a tactical shotgun should be. It is a "Ranger", or more precisely, a gun sold by Sears under thier own name for the Stevens 520.
This gun has a 29" barrel with polychoke, which I want to cut down to ~19" and add a large bead front sight.
Ideally, I would get a new barrel and cut that and leave the original alone, but I keep missing deals on finding barrels to cut down.

I've already got everything to cut this gun down, but I really don't want to cut an original gun apart, especially a gun that is close ot 90 years old. Even though this is a John Browning design, there is really no collector value in these guns, so I keep telling myself that I'm not ruining anything if I just go ahead and cut her down.

Anyone got any advice. Am I being silly in not wanting to destroy an old gun that has survived until it got in my hands? Or should I continue to try to find a barrel instead of ruining an otherwise good gun?

 

[seanc]

if it were me.. I'd leave your gun as is and pick up a used cheap moss 500 or 870 in the config you want. I would expect that would run in the $200-ish range.
Or if the stevens is not what you want it to be sell that to offset the costs. I can't imagine that you'd get out of buying and potentially modifying a barrel to fit and function for much less than the cost of buying one of these outright.

 

[pj150]

If you don't care so much for that sears gun then have at it. They made lots of them and just like you said, not much value in them even if it was 100%.
Although you can find a mossy pump for 150 or so and easy bolt on tacti-ninja items made especially for them.

 

[tuna]

I'm not a fan of Mossbergs, nothing against them, I'm an 870 guy.

The thing is, for my dream gun, neither the Mossberg or even the 870 fills the bill for what I want.

I'd thought about this for awhile, and the features that I really desired were: take down capability, solid design, less than 20" barrel, cheap, and pre-lawyer design (ie slam fire capability and good triggers). This narrowed my field to either the 520, M37s, M12 or M1897s - and with CHEAP being one of my factors, the 520 won.

I'm just terrified that as soon as I take a pipe cutter to the barrel, Guns&Ammo will run a feature about "the Lost Browning" and values will skyrocket and I'll be sitting on a turd. At least with the spare barrel I'll have an original. Plus, I'm kinda scared of screwing this up, and winding up with a mess on my hands and still needing to buy a barrel to salvage the mess.

I'm kind of looking for someone to talk me into waiting to find a barrel and leaving this as is. I'm just getting antsy to see my idea in wood and steel.

 

[AppleSeeds]

If I were you, I wouldn't hack up what you've got. Yeah, it might be worth something someday, or it might not but to me it sounds like a pretty neat piece of history and something that I think would be neat to hand down from generation to generation.

Shotguns are so relatively inexpensive, it seems silly to destroy what you've got.

 

[seanc]

you should be able to find an old ithaca. the slam fire types are generally not desirable for most, if you can find one that hasn't been "fixed" it shoul dbe cheap. maybe KTP?

 

[KMM696]

Cut it. They aren't rare, aren't collectible, but are fairly well made. I picked up a Stevens 720 for no better reason than wanting to see what the Auto-5 design was like to shoot, and I wouldn't hesitate to modify that if the whim struck. I would guess that it would be easier to find another 520 than a spare barrel at this point, and probably cheaper.

 

[ScottWFerguson]

experience with the "Ranger" shotgun

I have that exact shotgun with a cylinder bore factory barrel. When fired, it sounds off a loud booming echo because of the all solid steel parts! It's actually quite distinctive, maybe because of the cylinder bore. It is an excellent shotgun used by the armed forces of WW2. Don't cut it, as you could simply buy a parts shotgun like mine!

 

[whatluck]

The way you describe it I'd say you have a sentimental attachment to this shotgun. I would too. Even if it holds no collector's value, it's still neat as hell!

You should be able to get a parts shotgun for about $200. If you want an HD shotgun, I suggest you keep it very simple.

 

[tuna]

I think I'm going to leave the gun as is. I only have $106 invested in the gun right now ($100 for the shotgun and $6 for the new bead sight to install), so I can get a new barrel (or shotgun if it comes to that) to hack up and still have the gun in the cheap category. I know that there's no value in the gun or collector value in it now, but how many times do we see a bubba'd old milsurp and call it ruined, when at the time they weren't rare or collectible? I guess I can wait it out a couple more weeks to see what I can find.

 

[EddieCoyle]

Cut it, put the bead on it, and enjoy.

Then you can take your time and find a spare barrel for it in case you want to put it back in its original condition.

It's not like the barrels are serialized to the guns. What's the difference between getting a spare then modifying it, vs modifying the current barrel and then getting a spare?

Those aren't the kinds of guns you put in a safe and admire while wearing cotton gloves. There are millions of them. You should make yours useful to you now, and shoot it like you stole it. Later on, if you feel like getting weepy over the 'history' of the gun, get a replacement barrel for it and weep away.

Seriously folks - If the guy that put 100 of these together per day on an assembly line in the 1920's came back to life and saw some of these posts, he'd kick your ass.

 

[mac1911]

value @ 90 years old nil.......90 years from now it will be ilegal to own any precious metal.

 

[MARINE96]

Do it to it ,then post your handy work.

 

[depicts]

I have one also. Great old gun. Gramps kept mine in the hen house for about 20years. I'd rate it at about 95% (yeah, right)

It's got great wood on it with hand cut checkering. If they made this gun today it would cost way up there.

With so many of us having one here on the forum, maybe we should have a contest to see who can trick out their 90 year old gun the best!!!

 

[vellnueve]

I have one also. Great old gun. Gramps kept mine in the hen house for about 20years. I'd rate it at about 95% (yeah, right)

It's got great wood on it with hand cut checkering. If they made this gun today it would cost way up there.

With so many of us having one here on the forum, maybe we should have a contest to see who can trick out their 90 year old gun the best!!!

I think the Frankenmosin already won that one.

 

[depicts]

I think the Frankenmosin already won that one.

Sorry Vell, I forgot someone as "LITERAL" as you would interpret that as to ANY 90 year old gun.

I thought I specifically said "having one" (meaning: this shotgun).

Yes the FrankenMosin is pretty darn cool, but I'll bet my chicken coop special cut down to trench gun size, mounted with a bayonet and a laser and 12 GA 00 Buck would be quite a monster too!

(Side note: Vell, what's it like in your world??? *S* LOL) We see things so differently.

 

[tuna]

Just to follow up...

I did wind up winning a 32" barrel on gunbroker and cut a foot off. I went with 20" so that if I screw it up, I've still got room to cut again. No problem with cutting it down. Drilled the hole for the barrel no problem. I figured I'd mess this part up, but I left the drill bit in the hole and sighted down the gun and ..... absolutely perfect!
Tapped the hole to accept the threads for the bead, again, no problem.
Went to put the bead in, and dropped the #%$^^##%^ thing!!! I've been searching my basement floor for 3 days!

I knew I'd mess something up - just glad it is something so minor.


The gun is nice when it is broken down, though. It breaks down to two sections about 20" long each. This will be the ideal gun to keep for those moments when you remember that you left the shotgun sitting by the table as you're getting dressed in the field for hunting.

 

[pj150]