I may have become infamous for posts that involve "many years ago" but at my age, it's pretty much unavoidable. So here goes.
Many years ago, when I was about 15 or 16, a friend of mine came over toting an LC Smith field grade side by side double gun. He'd scrounged it from somewhere in his neighborhood. The barrel was way too long for us, we took it out to my dad's garage and with a hack saw removed enough barrel to get it down to about 18-1/2 inches. Somehow, even as young turds we knew this much about the law.
I've since regretted my involvement in that act. That was a nice old double, made I think as it turned out around 1916. We lowered the value of the piece about 75%.
After lead shot was banned for hunting waterfowl, 20 gauge shotgun values plummeted around here. One time about 15 years ago, I bought an early Remington 870 in 20 gauge, plain bbl. I cut it back to 18-1/2 inches for a house gun. I even put a new bead sight on it. Turned out to be a fairly sano job. But the gun wasn't very valuable.
In this case, I vote against cutting the barrel. I endorse getting an accessory barrel. Like a 20 inch with rifle sights, easy to acquire a target picture. Before you buy an 870 barrel, check what version you have because not all 870 barrels work interchangeably.
Many years ago, when I was about 15 or 16, a friend of mine came over toting an LC Smith field grade side by side double gun. He'd scrounged it from somewhere in his neighborhood. The barrel was way too long for us, we took it out to my dad's garage and with a hack saw removed enough barrel to get it down to about 18-1/2 inches. Somehow, even as young turds we knew this much about the law.
I've since regretted my involvement in that act. That was a nice old double, made I think as it turned out around 1916. We lowered the value of the piece about 75%.
After lead shot was banned for hunting waterfowl, 20 gauge shotgun values plummeted around here. One time about 15 years ago, I bought an early Remington 870 in 20 gauge, plain bbl. I cut it back to 18-1/2 inches for a house gun. I even put a new bead sight on it. Turned out to be a fairly sano job. But the gun wasn't very valuable.
In this case, I vote against cutting the barrel. I endorse getting an accessory barrel. Like a 20 inch with rifle sights, easy to acquire a target picture. Before you buy an 870 barrel, check what version you have because not all 870 barrels work interchangeably.