Cut down barrel for shotty

[AlphaGenesys]

Gday all,

I was thinking about cutting down a single shot shotgun barrle to make it shorter and lighter.

Is this legal to do if it is still over 750mm, what would the way to go about it? Get a smith to do it?

And what would be the cons of doing this?

Regards,
Zak

[Chronos]

I looked at doing something similar a while back.

The problem is choking the new section of barrel. Generally the new crown will be too thin to thread for removable chokes and will therefor have no choke.

Best you speak to a gunsmith as the cost of what's involved may well be more than a used coach gun

Chronos

[Bourt]

I was thinking something along these lines recently but hit a road block when I found this...

WEAPONS ACT 1990 - SECT 61

61 Shortening firearms
A person must not, without reasonable excuse—

(a) shorten a firearm; or
(b) possess a firearm that has been shortened; or
(c) acquire or sell a firearm that has been shortened.

Not sure what constitutes a "reasonable excuse" at this point. As far as I can tell the weapons act doesn't provide examples of what's reasonable.

You need to speak with a shop I expect.

[Chronos]

I was thinking something along these lines recently but hit a road block when I found this...

WEAPONS ACT 1990 - SECT 61

61 Shortening firearms
A person must not, without reasonable excuse—

(a) shorten a firearm; or
(b) possess a firearm that has been shortened; or
(c) acquire or sell a firearm that has been shortened.

Not sure what constitutes a "reasonable excuse" at this point. As far as I can tell the weapons act doesn't provide examples of what's reasonable.

You need to speak with a shop I expect.

I think you'll find that "shortened" refers to a barrel that is shorter than the minimum barrel length 16.5" I think.

I spoke to my gunsmith about this question a while back and he said I could recrown my .22 no worries.

Chronos

[yoshie]

Western action guys do it all the time, as well as other mods, to make a coachguns. I think is has to be done by a gunsmith and there are minimum lengths etc. I've also heard of a double barrel 410 that was turned into a pistol, for CAS. So anythings possible, just make sure it's legal, best person to ask is a gunsmith, registry will just say no. Most of the shots at western action are quite close and chokes aren't really necessary. It's all about speed. You'll find it hard to sell a shortened single, and it won't be very accurate and the shorter barrel will be a lot noisier.

[Bourt]

I think you'll find that "shortened" refers to a barrel that is shorter than the minimum barrel length 16.5" I think.

I spoke to my gunsmith about this question a while back and he said I could recrown my .22 no worries.

You may well be right. I got as far as that and haven't been in a rush to get it done so the project went on the back burner.

[Seconds]

As far as cons go... You're shot pattern will change, chokes could be an issue like Chronos said, or neither of those things might matter at all to you.

It really depends on what you want to do with it?

What are you shooting? Or is it just for fun/experience in doing a little project shotty?

[AlphaGenesys]

As far as cons go... You're shot pattern will change, chokes could be an issue like Chronos said, or neither of those things might matter at all to you.

It really depends on what you want to do with it?

What are you shooting? Or is it just for fun/experience in doing a little project shotty?

Just something to experience. Bit of fun. Who said the yanks can have all the fun :p

[pucker]

There toys just shoot faster

[Seconds]

Just something to experience. Bit of fun. Who said the yanks can have all the fun :p

if that's the case I'd say go for it mate. (while confirming all legal requirements obviously...)

There's no substitute for first hand experience.

[Fujix]

There's no substitute for first hand experience.

What about reading it on the internet and then repeating it like you know what you're talking about?

[AlphaGenesys]

What about reading it on the internet and then repeating it like you know what you're talking about?

That will make you a internet commando. This will be a project that can be put on hold till I got my 30-30.

Thanks for the help guys.

[Seconds]

What about reading it on the internet and then repeating it like you know what you're talking about?

Yeah, my bad.

As you know everything on the net is completely 100% proven and just by reading it you can become an expert on all things. Feel free to do this then talk down to people for not knowing something you read yourself 5 seconds ago

First hand experience is a close second then