The Firearm Blog

The much hyped "World’s Lightest Shotgun" was unveiled at SHOT Show. It is a Benelli Legacy scaled down to the 28 gauge cartridge and named the Legacy 28. The low weight has been achieved mainly because of the scaled-down action but also by the use of a low capacity magazine (2+1 compared with the Legacy standard 4+1) and use of a carbon fiber rib.

Engraving

Chuck Hawks has the skinny on the 28 gauge ...

The 28 gauge is the little shell that could. It can dominate small bore skeet, it's effective on upland birds, and it makes a light yet low recoiling gun for beginner or expert alike. All it lacks is the public acceptance that would bring with it a larger assortment of guns and ammunition at reasonable prices, and that may be coming.

It is sold as part of a four gun match set. The set sells for $420,000! It is made by Italian firm Perazzi. I am pretty sure this was the most expensive production consumer gun at SHOT Show.

I guess this is for competition shooters.

Designed to work with all Model 870 shotguns, the Trigger Fix allows the user to have a clean, smooth, fully adjustable trigger pull. Every Timney 870 Trigger Fix is packaged with a sear, 3 pull weight springs and a hex head wrench. Simply choose a spring (light, medium, or heavy) and then fine tune the pull weight with the hex head wrench for a precise setting.

Price is $89.95.

*[ Many thanks to the reader who email me the info. ]

UPDATE:

Shooting Illustrated has reviewed the trigger upgrade ...

Similarly, the 870 platform is just as versatile for law enforcement, those interested in home defense and three-gun competitors. Whether you employ your 870 for one or all these tasks, and no matter how your 870 is configured, Timney’s new drop-in unit will fit and eliminate the weak link of an otherwise exceptional firearm.

Slow motion 12 gauge Browning shotgun.

[ Many thanks to Jeremiah for emailing me the link. ]

This article was published in the June 1934 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine (via. Modern Mechanix) ...

Weighing 150 pounds and resembling a cannon more than a firearm, a huge, brass-barreled, portable field piece has been recovered from the sea, where a pirate lost it, and added to a collection of ancient guns in Pasadena, Calif. The gun was one of those used by the pirate, Hippolyte de Bouchard, when he and 400 followers sacked Monterey in 1818. In returning to their ship, the men lost this gun when a small boat overturned. In later years it was recovered by fishermen who saw it on the ocean floor at low tide. Another firearm almost as remarkable is a gun with a very long barrel used by Spanish settlers in hunting. They believed that the longer the barrel, the further the ball would carry, and so used long-barreled guns to kill game at long range. The long gun has an over-all length of about ten feet.

That pirate gun is almost certainty a Punt Gun. While nifty, they are not uncommon.

What is more interesting, at least to me, is the very long Spanish "sniper" rifle. That barrel would probably have decreased velocity, not helped it, but the long length and weight would have it easier to hit a moving target, much like how shotgunners use longer barrels today.

[ Many thanks to Sven (Defense and Freedom) for emailing me the the info. ]

The above shotgun is currently being auctioned at Guns America.

This year, the Remington Arms Company stands honored to roll out the 10,000,000th Model 870 shotgun, and would like to thank the millions of shooters and hunters, and great men and women who serve our country in military and law enforcement for making this proud moment possible. For the past 51+ years, you and the industry we serve have helped make the Model 870 the most trusted shotgun ever produced.

You can register to win one of ten commemorative edition shotguns over at Remington's "10,000,000" website.

Guy Sagi has just blogged about an interesting shotgun. The TriStar Cobra Force incorporates a spring-loaded fore end to speed up cycling the action ...

Enter the TriStar Cobra Force shotgun with a spring-loaded fore-end that, quite literally, assists a shooter in bringing the shotgun back into battery. According to Garrett Bader, of TriStar sporting Arms, “You can fire this gun almost as fast as a semi-auto.”

The gun, which is manufactured in Turkey by Armsan, comes with a formidable looking flash hider that can be replaced with Beretta/Benelli-style choke tubes. The receiver has a Picatinny rail already mounted, the fore-end has another rail, and up front a fiber-optic sight provides quick target acquisition in low light and operates well as a post in virtually no light.

It gets exhaustive testing in the January issue of Shooting Illustrated magazine that's available on newsstands today, and there were some surprises uncovered, including its unusually crisp trigger with a consistent 5-pound let-off weight.

The idea makes sense to me. I look forward to reading the review in the magazine.

From the WHQ Forum ...

"Both the SOW (Special Operations Weapon) and its magazine-fed Remington 870 predecessor (bottom) were products of mechanical wizard Carroll Childers, an engineer at the Naval Special Weapons Center. The 870 mod kit provided SEAL shotgunners with a quick-change magazine holding 20 rounds. The SOW was full-auto."

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/6861/sowg.jpg

Very interesting. It must have been a fun gun to shoot!

Thanks much to Sven for emailing me the info.

UPDATE: Daniel found the patent for the SOW. Worth reading if you are interesting how it worked.

This video, produced by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, shows how different shotgun rounds impact ballistic gel. They show standard rounds as well as specialty flare and breaching rounds and the exotic bolo, flatteche and dragons breath shell.

Flare rounds look nasty. They do not look like they would kill, but they have enough energy to embed themselves in soft tissue and burn inside the body.

Hat Tip: Migs at MP.net

Benelli and Beretta seem to be competing with each other to produce the lightest shotgun autoloading shotgun. Earlier this year Benelli introduced the Vinci, which they claimed was one of the lighest autoloading shotguns available. Beretta recently responded with the Beretta Xplor, which is even lighter than the Vinci.

Benelli now claim they have designed the lightest autoloader in the world and will unveil it at SHOT Show.

This competition would make sense if they were separate companies but since 2000 Benelli has been owned by Beretta.

Next year Winchester Ammunition will introduce a line of self defense shotshell ammunition called Supreme Elite PDX1.

.410 Gauge Bonded PDX1

The PDX1 2.5" .410 gauge round is optimized for use with the Taurus Judge revolver. The reduced recoil round is loaded with three 000 Buckshot sized discs backed by 12 BB sized pellets.

A buckshot / slug combo is utilized in the 2.75" PDX1 12 gauge round. A 1 oz. Targeting Ranger Slug is pushed at 1200 fps and is backed by three 00 buckshot pellets. It too uses a reduced recoil load.

The .410 and 12 gauge rounds will be available in February and March respectively.

It is good to see more self defense specific shotgun ammunition being developed. I wonder if the ammunition being developed in response to more Americans choosing shotguns for defense, or is being developed in the hope that people will see the ammunition and buy a shotgun to use it ... a chicken and egg problem.

[ I recently posted a request for advice on behalf of Y-Man. He listened to the advice and made the following modifications to his shotgun. You can read the previous article in The Saga of the Nigerian Shotgun series here. This is a guest post was written by Y-Man. ]

If you have been reading the blog over the past year you will have seen the incredible ingenuity he has demonstrated in Nigeria, where there exist severe restrictions on guns and ammunition. His previous exploits include Turning Birdshot into Slugs for Self-Defense and Fabricating a Shotgun Stock. ]

I ended up just going back to the basics: and worked on the Pistol-grip. I did not know it was made of a thick plastic that could be drilled, sawed, filed and even melted in some parts to fit.

1. I simplified everything: I just drilled a through hole in the pistol-grip, and filed the edges.

1. Through-hole was about 5mm in diameter.

2. I then got a strong “Y” Bracket made: out of strong but springy steel. I had nuts welded to hold the stock.

1. See the fitting of the bracket to the pistol grip: aligned with the through hole.

1. I put a bolt through to hold bracket, and used spring- washers to hold it. Then fastened grip to Shotgun.

1. Screw Stock to nut onto Y bracket. Note the lower bolt is on nut welded to the regular bolt that comes with the shotgun: the one that fixes the pistol grip (Or stock) to the receiver. I put a bolt there so that the Y-Bracket rests on top, and using a Zip tie: stops the Y-bracket (And Stock) from swinging or flexing upwards.

2. “Perfect” fit. Stock fits. Will later need a reduction in LOP: it’s about 15” right now.

1. Y-man’s “Top folder” below (Just kidding: I definitely would NEVER fire it like this: I would get a mouthful of felt!)

Thanks, ALL of you who guided me there: I will update you when I do some firing this weekend.

[ This is a guest post is written by Y-Man. If you have been reading the blog over the past year you will have seen the incredible ingenuity he has demonstrated in Nigeria, where there exist severe restrictions on guns and ammunition. His previous exploits include Turning Birdshot into Slugs for Self-Defense and Fabricating a Shotgun Stock. ]

Remember I did some modifications to my shotgun, and later to the ammunition I could get? Well, I have gone a few more steps further. I have made three more major (In some ways: crude but safe) modifications to my shotgun: based on what is available here in my country and what I can get.

Firstly, I was in an accident in the 1990s, and lost some muscle tissue from my right arm. This has healed over the years, but my arm is not as strong as it should be. This affects my charging of the semi-auto shotgun: so much so sometimes I am forced to charge with both hands awkwardly. I then thought of getting and fixing a charging handle extension: obviously not easily available in my country, and not easy/ sensible to take the shotgun out to a welder to fabricate something (You most likely would get the welder and his apprentices run shrieking out of the workshop when you pull out the shotgun from the carry-bag...!)

So, I got a grip from an adjustment tab of an office chair, made out of plastic, and "JB-Welded" it to the charging handle. See pictures after the jump. I got some concerns from a few friends: wondering if the plastic adjustment tab would stand much firing/ shooting.

Well, I did me some shooting: a total of 25 rounds of my slugs, and tab is FIRM and helping me so well. I can charge my shotgun much more easily now. Very ugly, but functional!

Secondly, I have been shooting my own "brand of slugs" for some time now, and recently got quite uncomfortable with the lack of good sights on my shotgun. I had been using the bead sight, and on a good day, could get 3" groups at 35yards using the open bead sight. On some bad days, I can barely hit a barrel at 25 yards! I KNOW it doesn’t have to do with the consistency or otherwise of the slugs themselves: they are regular, Foster-type slugs that I cast myself, but the problem is my own aim. I am just not getting it right. The alignment of the bead is just too much for me sometimes. Sometimes, my shots go over, and sometimes into the ground in front of target.

So, I decided to make (Fabricate) or get some proper "rifle-like" sights. A "firearm-enthusiast" friend traveled home to Louisiana on vacation last month, and I asked him to get me some sights. After checking and researching online, I settled for the Truglo Xtreme Turkey Combo from Pro Bass, which is right around the corner from my friend's place in Baton Rouge. I asked him to get 2 sets, which he did.

I then asked him, when he was on his way back, to make sure he removed the parts from their packaging, so that some beady-eyed Customs Officer would not start asking questions. Well, luckily, no one even looked twice at the packages at the airports.

I excitedly worked on fitting them to my shotgun, and discovered that while the rear sight fit perfectly, the front sight had some seatings; none of which actually fit my shotgun accurately. I still persevered, and fit them: rear-sight was okay, and finally front-sight seemed to seat well, bolted to the bead hole, and with a little glue and pliers-manipulation. It seemed firm and I had HIGH hopes.

I went out shooting at the range the other day, and while I was hitting my 12" x 12" target (Half-inch thick steel plates.) quite well (Most shots out of twenty went into a 10" x 10" circle at 38 yards.), the front sight began to jiggle loose. At the end of the day: it was sliding from side to side, while the rear ghost ring remained strong and firm. I got home, and in my usual way, started thinking of ways to get this thing sorted...

Finally: I took a look at the unused second set of sights, which I had initially kept as a spare... Then a brainwave hit me: why don't I fit the SECOND Ghost Ring Sight on the FRONT of the barrel: where the bead used to be?! Then that way you have two rings. Align the two circles (Rear and front) against your target when aiming and you have a good aiming picture! Look through the two rings to your target, and you are ON TARGET!

See pictures...

Finally, I got tired of looking for a place to store my shotgun safely: it came originally as a PGO (Pistol Grip Only.) then I initially did some modification by creating a "wire-type" stock. See link...

This increased the length of the shotgun to about 42": quite unwieldy and difficult to conceal sometimes. (Like when driving to the range: even though I have all my legal permits, it is better to avoid too many questions at the Police checkpoints.) I have long thought about getting or fabricating a collapsible stock, or a folding one. Well, like you know: it is completely impossible to get such a thing in Nigeria, so my "creative-mind" went to work.

I ended up with a stock that can be tightened onto the shotgun for shoulder-firing usage, or off for storage: leaving a much shorter shotgun in Pistol Grip only configuration. I know it takes "forever" to screw on the stock to use it or to screw off the stock to store it: crude and ugly but it works!

UPDATE:

Actually NOT on target! I went to the range to do a test with my “double Ghost-ring sights” and did absolutely the WORST shooting of my LIFE! The two ghost rings aligned okay, but obviously not correctly. At one point: I fired TWICE at a crow, using one of my “slugs” at less than 10 yards, and MISSED both times! ALL shots at my steel 12” x 12” target at 30 yards, and 50 yards MISSED EVERY TIME.

Then to close the day with the WORST news: the firing pin on my shotgun broke! Now my nice Turkish EFE shotgun was wrecked! I don’t think it has to do with my modifications: either to the gun or to the ammo: I really believe it has more to do with the quality of the parts of the gun. Would you believe that the firing pin assembly was of a brittle cast-iron metal and NOT steel!? The Plastic bits for the trigger assembly are weak, brittle PLASTIC!

Well, my EFE Magnum shotgun is useless now: it is not possible to repair it: by myself or a gunsmith (Archeologists discovered the fossils of the extinct Nigerian Gunsmith a few months back! ) The Shotgun makes a good club though: and when used right: a great hammer! (No ammo loaded, of course…) Just kidding!

At least: I have a “happy” ending to my story: I met the supplier of my Turkish Shotgun (A licensed firearms dealer…) and complained to him about how strange it was that my shotgun would spoil in less than one year, not with any really heavy shooting… He was more worried that I could tell the large number of clients I already have showing interest in buying from him: so we came up with a deal:

• I returned the EFE Magnum Shotgun to the dealer (He says he can get it repaired ... Good luck to him!)

• He brought me (At my choosing) a Mossberg 500A PGO 18.5” 7+1 Pump-action Shotgun. I like VERY MUCH! As soon as I travel/ have someone travelling: I will get me some tactical sights (Mossy’s already drilled and tapped!), a sling and a stock. I hope to try some shooting this weekend...

• I paid him a little something extra to cover his costs: About $200. (Y’all would be SHOCKED to know I paid about $1,000 for the Turkish Shotgun originally! You don’t know what you guys are enjoying in the US: buying firearms legitimately for as low as $100!

Phew! All’s well that ends well, I guess… I’m now the proud owner of a more reliable Mossberg 500A pump-action shotgun! I fabricated a “Y-Man” Steel target too! This is just perfect for plinking: you hear the slug ring loud and clear! Half-inch thick steel, a steel rod, a discarded car spring, and voila! It is fixed on a spring to reduce the impact of slugs hitting it, and to reduce/ eliminate the risk of ricochets. The steel plate is painted white: so the impact of slug-hits can be seen using Binoculars.

See below:

Our Nigerian friend needs some advice (If you have not read his latest guest blog post, it is here) ...

I need your advice; and maybe you could ask a few friends. Remember that Mossberg 500A 12-gauge I got? Well, it came PGO (Again! Do they have something against regular stocks in Nigeria?!) Well, you know me: I have a restless mind, and restless hands (And some money to burn occasionally!) so I did some fabrication/ modification.

I kept it simple this time: I welded an “L-shaped” wire-type stock (Made out of a strong, springy steel rod derived from a screwdriver.) to the steel bolt that fastens the grip to the receiver. Once I tightened the bolt as normal to the shotgun grip: it was good to go. (See picture attached.)

My worry is this: I’m no engineer, but wouldn’t this put some stress on the bolt-hole of the receiver? Might repeated firing cause the Shotgun receiver to possibly fracture and even crack? Normally: the stress of recoil/ impact of firing taken by the stock (Or PG) is spread on the flat end of the receiver (Where the stock or PG contacts the receiver.) but my modification puts all the impact at the point where the bolt screws in.

• I haven’t tested my modification yet, but am I setting myself up for a cracked receiver? (Or worse?)

• Is my angle of the stock okay? It is straight along the “line of recoil”, it should be okay... What do you think?

• LOP is about 11 inches: and this is comfortable. But is it okay?

• No cheek-weld at all. I guess I’ll have to live with that.

Anyone know if the stress on the receiver during recoil could cause problems?

I am sure the length of pull will be fine as long as it is comfortable.