Has anyone ported a sawed off shotgun? Porting has been around forever but I have never thought of it for a shortened (no choke) shotgun. My snake gun has a pretty poor pattern by the time it gets out to 20 feet so I'm wondering if porting would help even it out.

I met a guy in the gun store yesterday and he suggested porting/venting to help improve the pattern. He said that in such a short gun the wad is still accelerating as it leaves the barrel and pushes a hole in the shot screwing up the pattern. He said porting the barrel relieves the pressure at the muzzle so the heavy lead keeps going and the light wad slows down just a bit before leaving the barrel.


**Before anyone asks. Yes, the barrel is a full inch over the limit.**

 

Why not look into a choking device that will attach on to the end of your barrel? I think the Poly Choke people are still around.

 

porting will not help the pattern, if you already cut the barrel and are using for a snake gun, why not try duck billing the bbl.....heat that sucker up with MAPP gas till its cherry red and smack it with a 3 lbs sledge.....CAUTION ....you dont want to crimp the bbl, just hit it lightly till it bends in a slight oval shape, I did it to an old 12 ga last year, fired it in my buddys indoor range at work, it had 4 points ( shooting positions ) from 50 feet away, # 8 shot will hit a target in each lane.......really cool

p.s. I have been in the business for 12 years I have seen several of those poly chokes MISSING from peoples guns...meaning they probably shot them off

 

My Dad had one put on his shotgun by a gunsmith around 1975. I have the gun and the Poly Choke is still firmly attached. I think you have to know what you are doing when you put one on.
Only an inch away from a felony Pilot Dane doesn't have much leeway at the end of the barrel. That why I suggested an add on.

 

"Only an inch away from a felony..." Think of all the guns sold a few years ago with a 10 round magazine. That was exactly the line of the law. I don't recall anyone manufacturing 9 round clips back then.

 

I think every manufacturer makes a shotgun right at 18 inches "the legal min limit"....what was your point of saying within 1 inch ???

 

A gunsmith should be able to sleave it. I had one sleaved for turkey shoots for about $100 bucks. Don't know how well it will help a short barrel but it tightened up my grouping a lot.

 

All porting does is slightly reduce recoil.

 

Porting or hammering it into an oval could ruin the end of the barrel. You have very little excess to cut off.

Pilot Dane I forgot to ask, is the cut square and chamfered (crowned)?

 

The end of the barrel is cut square (not a crooked hack saw job) and radiused.

HISTORY: The gun had Harrington & Richardson 1908 stamped on the side of the receiver and it was found in an Ohio field by my father back in the 1950's. The end of the barrel had split cartoon style and he cut the bad end of the barrel off (hack saw). About 8 years ago I moved back to NC and the local community college has a gunsmithing program. I gave the gun to them for an overhaul. They cut the barrel properly radiusing and polished the end. Added a gold sight pin, did a swirly colorfull heat treatment to the receiver, re-blued everything else and gold plated the trigger. Then I hand rubbed about 30 coats of linseed oil into the wood. Many people sneer at sawed shotguns but it is a beautifull old work gun.

 

It sounds like you've put too much work into that gun to risk ruining the barrel. If it were mine, I would check back with the Junior College and see if they could put in a choke tube as mattison suggested. About the only other thing I can think of is to experiment with different loads/brands of shells and see if that improves your patten any.

 

Ask the guys at the college about lengthening the forcing cone. This is where the shot comes out of the shell and is cone shaped. I know trap shooters in my area do this to improve the pattern. The shot exits the shell and is forced into the cone before the barrel. Lengthening this will help keep the shot from colliding with each other as they travel toward the barrel and deforming. Like I said trap shooter use this, not sure if it would help you out with a short barrel....

 

One interesting way I saw to "choke" a sawed barrel came from G & A (Wiley Clapp)....he suggests jug-choking. Jug-choking is honing the barrel an inch or so before the muzzle (vision a "goose egg" internally)....claims it works but will take awhile if the barrel is chromed. He used a brake cylinder hone and the photos of the before and after patterns were impressive from a "junk" barrel. If you're interested, reply back and I'll get you the date of the issue.