I have a buddy who knows my love of store brand guns. He spotted a 16 gauge Hercules (Monkey Wards) brand double on Armslist at a local gunstore. I finally went there and it was gone, but they had a Spanish double 20 gauge there for $159. A deal was struck, and my new prize came home.

Its a Universal Firearms Corp gun of Spanish heritage, apparently knocked together by Zabala Hermanos, which my rudimentary Spanglish tells me is the Zabala Brothers. The made a pretty decent little shotgun.



28 inch barrels, 3" chambers, trim wood, beavertail fore-end, ok recoil pad, two triggers, tight lockup, and some cheesy engraving.





I didn't need another bird gun, but I have been on the lookout for a 20 gauge coach gun to keep in my ride. This one looked like a good candidate for a kitchen table chop job.





I broke out the mitre box and hacksaw. They have served me well on two previous amputations - a JC Higgins pump and an ancient Remington Model 11.

As logic would suggest, sawing through two barrels is twice as difficult as sawing through one. That rib was a bear, too. But I endeavored to persevere, and soon the deed was done. 18 1/2 inches of open-choked blued steel.



Oh my, what a difference. I unscrewed the bead from the stub, drilled a hole of approximately the right size with the old Black and Decker, and secured the bead in its new home with a combination of elbow grease, foul language, and Locktite. It seems secure.

I filled in the gap between the barrels with the redneck's friend - JB Weld.







A trip to the basement turned up this stout zippered bag of just the right size.





I'll find something to wrap the pieces in, stash a variety of 20 gauge loads in there, and this will be my traveling gun.

I realize this makes me a modern day bubba, but I don't think the Zabala Brothers would mind.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

Gotta get the stock down to about 12" length of pull, and it'll be perfect. Oh, and I would tap the hole for the sight. I have had epoxied sights go flying.

Oh, my, Goodness! 1968 has been resurrected!
The memories THAT brings back! Only difference is/was, mine is a Stevens 311 and the barrels are 19.25" - figgered it'd BE REAL HARD to mis-measure by an inch and a quarter!
Have had a lot of fun with that gun over the years; funny, EVERYONE that see's it wants one or mine!
You're gonna enjoy that shotgun!

WYT-P
Skyhunter

I had the little booger out to the range today. Shot great - here are two rounds of 2 3/4" Number 3 buck at 7 yards.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

I like it! Think shotguns make great truck guns. I have a Remington Model 870 with barrel cut to 20" and Poly-Choke installed as my truck gun.

That is nice

I need to find a 20ga in that price range to shorten up.

But why so long on the barrels?

11" or 12" cylinder choke barrels group about the same as 18" ones at 7 yards. Plus the shorter tubes handle much better in tight places.

That is hard to beat. I have a few double barreled shotguns. I am pretty fond of them. Nothing says go away better than the business end of one of them.

Because the National Firearms Law mandates that shotguns in the hands of private citizens have a barrel length over 18 inches and an overall length greater that 26 inches when assembled. Unless of course if that citizen has submitted the paperwork for a Tax Stamp, engraved the receiver with the mandated identification, and passed the background check and paid the required 200 dollar fee. Now that you've posted a picture of that shorty if you don't have the critical exemption I would suggest that you get out a vertical band saw, split both barrels for their full length and the cut the barrel halves into 1 inch long pieces.

How's that better than just chuckin' it in the river?

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Dick Burg

WOW, I presume that your instruction to destroy my firearm was meant to be tongue in cheek.

That 12 gauge SxS has been pictured on this Forum multiple times since I made it a year or so ago.

Just as I have never and would never violate the Gun Control Act of 1968, I have not and would not violate the National Firearms Act of 1929 as amended in 1934. It makes no difference if I agree with them or not, at the moment they are the law and I am a law abiding Citizen

Your knowledge of the law is not too far off of the facts. There is no Federal Law that forbids Citizens of the United States from possessing shotguns of any barrel length, which also means that there is no such thing as an exemption. There are simply two categories of firearms under the National Firearms Act of 1929 as amended in 1934. They are refereed to as Title I and Title II. They require different pieces of paperwork for the transfer of ownership. There are no fees, but there are taxes. There might be additional State or Local laws where you live that impose restrictions upon their Citizens that go beyond what Federal Law requires. Fortunately that is not an issue where I live

So many folks try and make it sound overly scary or complicated. I am not sure why they want to frighten the public away from ownership of Title II firearms

Secondly, I am not sure how your post answers the question of why the OP did not choose to make the barrels shorter. Is there another post of sigp220.45's where I missed his comments regarding the National Firearms Act of 1929 as amended in 1934? Has he objected to paying the making tax, but has no problems paying the excise tax on firearms?

I didn't cut the barrels shorter because I didn't want the hassle of doing the requisite paperwork. This was meant to be a low-dollar project. I like it fine the way it came out.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

Also, if part of the reason for shortening the barrels is to make the arm easier to transport disassembled, exteme shortening is no aid. I have an O/U which I purchased shortened, and it was 20". It seemed obvious to me that it was taken to that length because that was the length of stock and action. Short enough.

My post WAS a bit tongue in cheek but also to provide a bit of a warning to any newbies seeing your post. Because violating the Gun Control Act carries some rather drastic penalties, IIRC just possessing a short barreled shotgun without the requisite paperwork means 20 years in a Federal Lockup.

I think this would leave a mark! OUCH!

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Possum—The other white meat!

O Man O Man,


Ya know I'm liken that one for sure!




.

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"IN GOD WE TRUST"

There was nothing "tongue in cheek"about it. And it's ten years, not twenty.

That range pic made me squirm OP. Nice job.

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Smith & Wesson beat four aces

It may just be me, but none of my guns will shoot around corners no matter how short the barrel is. But then mine were designed to put lead where the barrel is pointed. A short barrel may be easier to maneuver, but I never had a problem clearing buildings with the 870 dept shotgun.

My current LOL "Shorty Shotty" is a Mossberg 510 youth model ..... 20 gage, 18.5" barrel/OAL 34" ;12" LOP... with three in the tube...... 5lbs

This thread reopens an old idea...... I've got 2 O/Us; one is Spanish and one is Italian in the back of the safe...... I got both from gunsmiths/friends..... so they should be OK.....IIRC one has ejectors.................

anyway years ago thought it would be coool to cut one or both down to 18.something inches for the truck or side-by-side ATV.

Any thoughts or issues??????

I've always had a liking for short barrel doubles. I kinda like the "cheesy engraving". I think it adds to the whole homemade aesthetic you achieved by whacking off the barrels.

I think if I had that gun, I might get some little brass nails or tacks and do some sort of cheesy design on the stock. I mean...why not? Certainly wouldn't decrease the value any. Why not have some fun with it.

A friend of mine just bought a takedown Savage 99 that has a home-carved deer on one side of the stock and a naked lady on a flying trapeze on the other. I may go that route......

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

But why so long in the stock?

Just saw it all the way off and it gets even handier in tight places..

Nice job

I left the stock intact because I am not going to be be the most common user of that particular firearm

Also I am not a woodworker, but I would love to do that treatment to a 20GA SxS if I come across a good candidate

I have a pair of factory Remington 870WP shotguns for really tight quarters or carrying.

Howdah Doody!

Colt SAA--Have you ever had your hand slip forward while pumping the action? When I was reading the posts on the new Shockwave I was intrigued by the strap that is mounted on the forearm to keep the hand from sliding forward and in front of the muzzle. I don't guess it's a bad idea, I just never envisioned that being necessary with a pump shotgun. My hand has never slipped forward while firing pumps over the years (or maybe it has and I did not realize it because I have never fired any shotgun with less than an 18 inch barrel so my hand was not blown off!).

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Possum—The other white meat!

That is not a photo of my personal 870WP, it is from the IMFDB

All three of my shorty pumps (Rem & Moss) came from factories with the forend mounted straps. I just slip my hand through it without thinking otherwise

Now, that's FUNNY!!!

I have been told it is Number 3 Buck

Is that a typical 20 gauge cylinder Number 3 Buck spread?

I usually get much tighter with 12 gauge 00 Buck at 7 yards with a 20" Cylinder barrel

Not giving you a hard time
Just asking

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Buy American
Vote Responsibly

He said #3 Buck, not 00. #3 is almost .10 inch smaller in diameter-- a shell holds considerably more.

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Possum—The other white meat!

I'm not sure what would be typical. I was also surprised at the spread.

It was an indoor range and I ran the target down to the 7 yard marker and let fly with the the right then left barrel, and that is what I got.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

Here it is with its final Wal Mart refinements:



Butt sleeve - $4.88
Flashlight - $9.88
Inner tube - $3.88

I'll try it out to see how the light fares. It claims to have "shock resistant construction" put there by the fine folks at the Xing Wang Tractor and Flashlight Concern of Chow Yun Fat Province. We shall see. I've had good luck with this set up on other guns. The trick is to get an inner tube that requires near blasphemy levels of swearing to get over the light.



The muzzles look brown because I couldn't find any liquid blue in my junk drawer, but there was a bottle of Birchwood Casey Plum Brown Barrel Finish left over from a muzzleloader kit build. Live and learn. I'll either sand if off, or just forget about it. Most likely the latter.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

Ninth grade and the only firearm I own is a really ratty single shot 12 gauge break-open hammer gun. I'm reading Outdoor Life or Field and Stream or some such and I see the new Thompson/Center Contender. A light (okay, a very dim light) goes off in my head and I decide to turn my shotgun into an ersatz Contender.

I talk to my shop teacher. He knows nothing about firearms and their laws, being the same teacher who assisted me in my Magnum crossbow project earlier in the year. I show him the Contender article. He says, "Sure, why not?!"

I am aware of the possible reaction of some folks if they see "that BUFF kid" wandering the halls of the school with a shotgun, so I take in just the barrel first. 12 inches seems to look about right with the wood forearm, so I hacksaw off the excess then put it in a lathe or mill or whatever it was and true up the muzzle. I drill and tap a hole for the bead sight and then break the bead away from the threaded portion removing it from the stub. Not knowing about places like Brownells back then, I lean on the shop teacher for a little assistance and we make a post sort of a ramp kinda front sight blade with a thicker threaded base. I made the barrel hole a bit bigger so the threaded post could be bigger and stronger and might stay on longer. Neatly done.

My father was a finish carpenter and cabinet maker and his shop in the garage was better equipped than the junior high's wood shop. I decided to make a new pistol grip/buttstock replacement out of a nice scrap block of walnut, as the old buttstock didn't have much of a pistol grip and had a couple of cracks in it. It took a while to get everything to fit, I only had to start the pistol grip over twice. I finished up by sanding down the old forend and giving both wood pieces a couple of coats of stain and then three or four coats of tung oil.

I was as pleased with my handiwork as a 15 year old idiot can be.

The shop teacher told me to bring it in and show him and it would serve as my graded project for the semester. Bring in a 12 gauge sawed-off shotgun to school!!! !!!

Taken down, it fit in my gym bag. The shop teacher seemed pleased and I got an A for the project.

My parents knew little to nothing about guns or shooting. One of my neighbors was an avid outdoorsman and I took it over to show him and ask for advice about ammunition. Good old Ed's eyeballs about fell out of their sockets when I handed it to him. Then he started laughing. He knew me well enough to believe me when I told him I had no idea how many laws I was breaking after he explained them to me, and why it was such a good idea to beat the barrel flat and throw the whole mess in the local river.

After a while, he asked, "Shoot it yet, BUFF?"

"Nope. That's part of what I wanted to ask you about."

"Well, all the choke was in the end of the barrel you cut off. I doubt you could hit anything from the width of the basement here. I'd try these low brass nines, (as he handed me a half dozen shotshells), but be advised that even with those, that's gonna kick bad, really bad. Try a couple of these double oughts. Try a couple of these slugs, too. And don't let anybody see you with that thing." He grinned. Ed understood teenage boys.

Not having a license or access to a car, it was a year or so before I could venture afield with it and took a couple of buddies rabbit hunting. They were amazed. We set up some cans as targets. Nobody wanted to shoot it twice. So, off through the sagebrush in search of the wily jackrabbits we went.

There's some kind of small bird native to the western deserts. About sparrow or starling size, they fly in swarms. A small swarm made a mistake by landing in/on/around/all over a juniper bush just in front of us. I holstered the .22 revolver I had been shooting at the rabbits and drew the 12 gauge felony. It had a low brass nine shell in it. I thumb-cocked the hammer, pointed my deluxe custom front sight into the middle of the juniper, squinted and fired.

Most of the little birds flew off. We counted about twenty something dead ones that didn't.

Yes, it was educational, but I still feel a bit guilty for killing those harmless little birds.

The shot also tore open the web of my hand between the thumb and trigger finger.

Two or three years later, as I was preparing to leave home for a few years, I realized that if my little brother ever found the gat, his judgment might be even worse than mine, so I took the shotgun apart and put different pieces in different spots. My dad ran across the barrel while I was gone and not knowing what it was, threw it away. I tossed the rest. It was all for the better, after all.

I like you folks' short doubles. I may have to hunt one down myself.

Looks good.

I never met a long barrel shotgun I didn't want to cut down to just over 18". Here's a single shot 16 gauge Westernfield I picked-up in a trade. It started life with a longer barrel. I've since ditched the hi-viz for a brass bead. Definitely has some wallop when you shoot slugs.

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Watch & Pray