Poor mans 870 shotgun light mount prototyping : or : over-complicating simplicity

For awhile now I've been painfully aware of how handy a powerful light source can be on any firearm you may employ in defense of your self/home. About a year ago I invested in a Streamlight brand TLR-1 tactical weapons light. This was the first dedicated rail mount compact flashlight I've owned and I honestly couldn't be happier.  I have not been happy with the price points of mounts for various platforms that I wish to be able to install the light on so of course....I'll try my hand at making my own.

From the depths of the parts bins I came up with a picatinny rail section (Weaver 61A) that I happen to have a bunch of new in the bag that seem like they will work perfectly for the donor rail section for my little project. My goal was to make a standard magazine tube/barrel clamp mount. I started with a large chunk of aluminum and figured my cut spacing and went ahead and drilled the holes for 1/4" hardware. 

Block drilled for cross bolts but not yet cut in half or profiled for clamping surfaces.

Intended flashlight platform, brain on paper helps from making too many mistakes.

Using a woodruff key cutter I experimented with how the best way to cut the block for the tube reliefs. Needless to say this was a bit of trial and error. Somewhere my measurements migrated a bit and I was about 1/16" off relief spacing. This being the prototype it was mostly proof of concept and the future versions would be vastly improved ie thinner and closer fit. My cost is time and about 20 minutes of machine time and its all metal as opposed to the plastic jobs I'm seeing around. Only bad thing is it does not act as a barrel clamp

Rough clamp in place before test firing

Side view of light clamp.

Just a quick proof of concept project I wanted to knock out, next version should be a lot better.

TacStar sidesaddle upgrade/fix/modification for stripped out backplate

$12+shipping....that is what a replacement aluminum backplate will run you as I found out not too long ago. I had called TacStar who's parent company is Lyman to ask about some replacements for some equipment I needed to service and I was kind of taken aback at the parts cost. Especially when the sidesaddle cost me around $30 to get in the first place. I do realize that there are other companies out there that make similar sidesaddles however the TacStar is the most effective design I've seen so far as far as cost and utility.

$12+shipping might not seem like a lot to some of you but here is the problem. The backplate stripped out during "normal use". I did not over tighten the screws and so far as I know I did not abuse the back plate. it simply gave up the ghost under normal conditions. So if it strips out once getting a replacement for a shotgun I might have to bet my life on someday for a item that has already failed once is not really something I'm gonna put money down on. Instead we'll do our best to improve it.

Backplate shown on bottom

The idea to upgrade the backplate came to me after I got off the phone with the nice lady at lyman and looked at exactly how thick the plate was.  "Some kind of T-nut should work" I thought so I came up with the idea to modify the stripped out side saddle to accept a stainless steel bushing/nut that would still allow the use of the screws that came with the side saddle.

I'll test the upgrade extensively before I modify my other shotguns sidesaddles the same way but I doubt I'll run into any issues. I'm not sure yet if I'll epoxy the bushings in place. Taking the gun apart in the field and losing a busing would be a bad time for sure.  

The pictures below pretty much explain whats going on.

Note- this upgrade can probably be done (should be?) on all of the TacStar sidesaddles. The work on the side plate could all be done on a drill press but for the bushings you really want a lathe.

Stripped out screw hole for 1/4x20 screw

Bushing being turned out of 5/8 stainless 

First bushing being parted 

Next drill out previous hole to 9/32 this will be done with both holes

Test fit bushing prior to milling recess

Both receiver holes have been drilled 9/32 and then followed up with 1/2" bottom cutting end mill to about .065" deep, about half the thickness of the plate.

Bushings turned to final thickness and somewhat cleaned up. JB weld would be a good epoxy to cement them in place.

We'll see how well they hold up next weekend as I plan to put the shotgun this one will be mounted on through extensive testing as I've put a new barrel on it recently (20" smooth-bore with rifle sights) and want to get a good zero on it before I put it in the rotation.

First thing's second: ABC's of Reloading , Possibly your best place to start.

Wait why are we doing book reviews? If you are curious as to why I am doing book reviews I urge you to read at least the first paragraph of the post that preceded this one.

In all honesty we should have started with this book in our series of reviews as this is what the beginner (as well as the advanced re-loader) should be picking up to familiarize oneself with the process of reloading and please remember the internet is not always a good resource for these kinds of things where misinformation can cause serious injury or worse. Even though I consider myself an advanced re-loader I still pick up this book from time to time and re-read sections I am wanting to review. I learn something new most every time even though I have read it once or twice already (yeah I am thick headed like that). "The ABC's of reloading" is as its cover states a "definitive guide to cartridge and shotshell reloading" and for once the claim on the cover does not lie. My copy being a 7th edition (mother purchased it for me from B&N sometime in 2004) probably does not have some of the updates the newer editions surely have, but is still valid in all the set up and safety information contained within.

In depth as well as a wide range of topics makes this book a fine place to start if one wishes to learn more about reloading. 

Say you are at a book store (as rare as they in physical form) and you have picked up your monthly firearms magazine (the periodical type, not the USGI type) and you flash back to the last time you picked up a box of ammo for your CCW or off the shelf varmint rifle and the hurt of the price tag. You think to yourself "I should look in the sporting section for a book on reloading"....why gun stuff is in always in the "sports" section and not the "lifestyle" section is always beyond me. You wonder on over and spy a few books with some interesting titles. Ones pieced together from magazine articles others by possibly a bullet or powder company, you pick them up and see that they have a few pages of "instructions" and a lot of data but not really what you are looking for. You see a copy of "ABC's of reloading" and pick it up....you flip to the first section and you see it covers....Safety!....well that is a great place to start you think and you begin to read through the pages...you get a great (not just good) overview of differences in ammo types and a good many things to look out for. You look around and spot a empty plush chair at the end of the isle so you wonder over and take a seat, flipping to the next section on Cartridge cases ..."how much to them could there be?" you think to yourself. You read on in soaking up all the information before your eyes, "oh that is how they do that" is muttered a few times as you are pleased with the content of the book and what you have learned so far. You notice then you have been reading the book for almost 20 minutes....and at this point your wife or significant other has started to hunt around for you and finding you asks if you are ready to go. You decide to buy the book as your wife has a small stack of a new vampire series and you only have a single magazine.

Through the next few weeks you read a little at a time and really start to pick up momentum. "ABC's" lays a good foundation and slowly feeds advanced information in as you go. Proper terminology and vocabulary are thoroughly covered in the numerous illustrations and pictures. A section on powders gives good descriptions and uses of the myriad of powders a re-loader could use at his bench. Primers, bullets  casting, loading for accuracy the chapters continue to greater depth and skill level. Rifle, handgun and shotgun sections reveal nuances that are specific to reloading for the various case designs and purposes. Want to reload for a old few old black powder cartridge guns as well? that is covered.

Illustrations & instructions from lots of manufactures as well as lots of terminology defined lend to this book being a valuable resource.

Pretty much this book is what could be recommend as a great place to start if you were thinking about starting to reload or have been reloading for a number of years and may want to pick up a few tips and tricks. Advanced books do not always give safe advice and as we may sheepishly realize from time to time it really is the basics...the "ABC's" if you will that create a quality and safe end product.

Poly-Choke: A throttle for your scattergun

 Here is a brief introduction into the next project I will attempt to document on here. My problem is I do so much so fast sometimes the camera is often not thought of until the project is done and well, lets admit it a gun blog is boring without pictures.

 The following will show the installation and maybe pattern testing of a Poly-Choke device. "Poly" means many, (like polynomials for educated folks out there....or polygamy for those who like to count past 2 and don't mind factoring a "x" or two).....bad math joke sorry.  The poly-choke is designed to give you options in the pattern your shotgun disperses depending on the situation you find yourself in. Out rabbit hunting in close brush? Turn it down to Cylinder...rabbit jumps and you don't pick it up right away? Crank it up to full and let loose.

Shown below is a "stubbed" poly-choke. "Stubbed" refers to the section of barrel that remains installed in the choke, how its installed I am not sure. It can be sweated on with solder (or jb welded on if somebody got lazy) OR it could be threaded on.  The poly-choke was given to me by a gentleman from Texas who thought I could get more use out of it than he was. He did not know however how in fact the choke was previously installed. The point is this poly-choke was on a gun previously and removed, by cutting it off with a hacksaw with enough of the barrel sticking out so the next guy can remove it and reuse the choke which is what we plan to do.

Remove outside sleeve.

Choke collet  and barrel stub shown

At this point we are needing to firmly secure the choke in a barrel vice to remove the barrel stub. The steel pipe shown opposite the  choke will keep the clamping action from focusing on the center of the vice, it will instead focus it on the thick portion of the choke protecting the collet.

 With top vice sleeve in place the top bracket of the vice is replaced and secured.

A little heat to see if solder or anything else comes out....some good old fashion torque on the stub with some shocking action and presto! The barrel stub turned out to be threaded into the choke....this revelation will require me to gain some more information on the thread pitch (which I am pretty sure is 40 TPI but want to double check) max and min barrel diameters and some other factors that may have to be taken in to consideration for the next phase of this project. The idea is to restore a 870 barrel back to having a choke, the vent ribbed full choke barrel met its demise when a few inches of its previous 26" barrel were removed for home defense use via hacksaw. Making the barrel effectively a cylinder choked gun, useless if you already have a riot barrel and need a field barrel which is what I am lacking currently.

Stubbed portion of barrel shown un-threading from Poly-Choke.

Loading buckshot for $0.16 a round

I'm not sure how the idea got into my head, I'm not sure at what point in time I thought to myself I needed to start loading my own buckshot. It wasn't like I was shooting up 50 rounds of it every month at a match though I set out to load quality buckshot and I think I've come up with a decent answer to a problem that never really existed...except for not wanting to pay $1.00 a round for the stuff.

A buddy and I decided to go halves on a "00" (.33") buckshot mold, which stacks perfectly in a 12ga hull so long as petals on a trap wad don't get in the way. I choose to stay with regular trap hulls since the strength between a trap hull and a buckshot hull of the same manufacture and same internal structure (external brass height has nothing to do with hull strength) was the same.

The first load I started with was out of pure curiosity, 18gr of red dot, Win AA hull, Federal 209 primer and a WAA12 trap wad with the petals cut off and 9 balls of "00" stacked in layers of 3 capped with a fold crimp. The load patterned surprisingly well at 30 yards but out of the muzzle it only clocked 1000 FPS 6' in front of the muzzle, a little on the slow side for what I was trying to do (which I wasn't really sure what that was at the time) I messed with the red dot powder and different wads on and off for about a year and decided that I probably wasn't going to get anywhere with wads that were designed for shot and such a fast burning powder.

Around the time I decided to switch up powders I also made a move to obtain new hulls, up until this point I had been using old hulls I scrounged for out at the club. I purchased 1000 Winchester AA-HS 12ga hulls for about $0.04 each shipped and was back in business. Next was powder selection, I was using red dot and wasn't happy with any of the results I was getting speed wise I simply couldn't break out of that 1000fps without something else going to pot, I looked through the Lyman shotshell loading manual as well as the Ballistic Products Buckshot loading manual and gave careful consideration to Blue dot and Green Dot powder. Looking at the charge tables for both I came to the conclusion Green dot would be best for the money. After the hull and the powder I carefully considered the wad, after each test lot of buckshot I would look around for wads to see how they were performing. The WAA12 wads and the claybuster replacements had burns all up the sides of them and were so badly deformed I thought the performance of the wad inside the barrel was not doing me any favors. I read, reread and carefully considered all the factors going into the needs of a buckshot load. And came to the conclusion I needed a tighter fitting wad and something much stiffer to hold up to the rigors of pushing a 486gr payload that only had 3 points of contact to the wad, down the barrel and sealing up the barrel, keeping from loosing velocity.

I settled on A Ballistic product "Flex-seal" gas seal to replace the trap wad and added a 1/4" fiber wad on top to achieve the appropriate payload height for proper crimp. Working my way up from 19gr of Green dot I soon discovered the 1/4" fiber wad was causing the gas seal to tip into the new style Winchester base wad and causing at times a 50FPS variation in velocity so I quickly got rid of that, and reluctantly so because I believe the fiber wad acted as a cushion and helped patterns out. So after some very, VERY early morning range sessions and waiting for turkeys to clear the backstop I continued testing my way up the charge table and watching for any major changes in performance. I had taken my LEE Load-All II and a powder scale to the range for the on range loading and was glad I did because I ended up going back and trying some lower charged loads to confirm the thought that the tipped wad was giving me bad velocities.

The load I settled on gave me 1150 FPS which is about 86% of the velocity of factory loads and 75% of the kinetic energy. It is a low recoil load that feels about 1/2 that of factory in several guns I have tested it in so far. Final cost for each round came out to $0.16 each which is cheaper than shot loads as I making the buckshot for cost of my time, and FAR cheaper than factory buckshot. Translated I can load 6 rounds of my "00" buckshot for what a single round of factory buckshot would cost me. Which means more practice with my shotguns

My final recipe was as follows

AA hull

Cheddite 209 primer

21.5gr Green dot

12ga BP flex seal

9 pellets "00" buck

Source for buckshot mold
 http://buckshotmold.com/

As usual it works for me your results may vary, do not attempt if you do not understand how to work up loads or are not willing to be safe when doing so etc etc.


NEW PICTURES ADDED!

Standard trap hull and a 12ga Flex seal that works as an effective gas seal for buckshot loads.

Seated like a normal wad so it sits on top of internal base wad, the charge of green dot is just about level with the top of the base wad. 

Here we see where the gas seal comes in handy, no petals to cut off the trap wads!

Here we see the top stack of "00" buckshot peeking out, 9 pellets total this payload is a good combination of components that all work together to achieve the desired goal.  A utilitarian buckshot load.

Before you know it you'll have 500 rounds of buckshot loaded up!

Part 3: HD shotguns-last word

The shotgun we have focused on in the last two articles is at the bottom of the picture. Middle is a 870 wingmaster built as a home defense shotgun, and top is a Chinese copy of the Winchester 1893 shotgun Browning designed and later revised for use as a trench shotgun (1897). These are great examples of what could be used for a home defense shotgun though I recommend you use what you have or what your comfortable with(or can afford). If all you have is a single shot pardner in 20 gauge you got for your birthday when you were 17 then use it. But whatever you do practice with the it so using it is 2nd nature. I would just as soon use the 93 as the 870 the bump in the night can't tell the difference when you rack the slide anyways. For now I'm done with the 870 build as I did it way under budget and I don't feel the need to add too much more to it. A shell holder adds width, but its handy to have 6 extra rounds on the gun if you need to grab it and run. you can get up to 17 or 18 rounds on/in the gun if you add a stock shell carrier as well but again width is added and the use of a sling becomes uncomfortable. If I wanted to recover some of my costs I could sell the take off parts like the stock set and end cap but I think I'll save those for future projects or acquisitions. A surefire tactical light would be nice practical add on without getting too far into tacticool in my opinion. It keeps you from having to rely on the lights in the house and the surefire is a fairly blinding flashlight if your on the recieving end of one.

Below we see two folding stock versions of HD shotguns.
Great for tight hiding places and rafters. 870 and a Moss 500

Part 2: From Doves to Defense-Finishing Touches

"Subject to change without notice" is something I always keep in mind when told something or giving information to others. I had talked of chopping the full vent rib barrel down to use for this project but I managed to acquire a factory 18" 870 combat barrel from a gentleman at the local gun show. I got a straight up trade on the 18" barrel for my 28" field barrel which would need a new bead after the chop. So I'm sorry to say you wont get to see pictures of 10" getting hacked off of the field barrel. I simply took the 870 in the gun show with me to see what kind of things I could find to help my project along. Taking the gun to the show when you are looking for parts for it is a good idea as in the majority of the cases you can make sure its the right part before you leave the table. And in some cases especially if it is a "Jesus part" (the word uttered as it springs across the room never to be found again) the person selling the part can install it properly for you for little or no cost.
Now we have something that looks a little more like a combat style shotgun we have a shorter barrel that will be handy in tight spaces and a stock that keeps the thumb out of the way from bashing the nose. The next few things are not needed but since I have access to the equipment I figured I should refinish the receiver in a parkerized finish. Parkerizing helps protect steel from corrosion and wear and is pleasing to the eye as you will see in the following pictures.

870 Receiver before being sand blasted and parkerized.

After being sandblasted and parkerized.

We see just how much better the receiver looks with just about an hours worth of effort put into the gun. The cheap painted on finish would not have lasted very long with the rugged storage conditions and use the gun will see. The gun appears to be a new off the shelf police or military model. But in fact little over $200 has been invested into the gun so far. I understand that not everybody has the access to equipment to do these kinds of things but I feel that anybody resourceful enough can come up with ways to do a durable finish such as this. I did not bother to parkerize the barrel as it had minimal wear but I did refinish the bolt and forearm/rails. The trigger pack/guard is aluminum and does not take the parkerized finish. Along with the 870 I also parkerized the RPK a friend and I built over the summer. The key to getting a uniform finish on the gun when you parkerize it is making sure you use a good quality brake cleaner after you've bead blasted to remove all the oils and dirt. Although I took my time in doing all the prep work the right way that did not prevent somebody else from putting a part on top of my receiver while it was in the park tank. A small blem is the result but it will not harm anything in the long run.

The last two pictures also show the right side of the receiver of before and after. From this point on we are pretty much finished with the project that I had set out to do. A magazine tube extension is optional to add a few additional rounds to the gun. I happened to have a factory magazine tube on order that is only adding $20 to the whole project cost. $225 is the total investment after the tube extension shows up. Not bad when you look back at what we started with. A 3 point sling might be made but only used in combat matches where switching from the shotgun to another weapon may be required. The 3 point sling will not be on the gun for its home defense role as it has no role on a gun you might grab at 3am unless you are putting on a whole battle outfit with sidearm (rolls eyes).

Part 1: From Doves to Defense! Shotgun Alteration.

There are few reasons these days why an off the shelf shotgun with a mid length barrel and 3 or 4 round magazine would not suffice for a home defense shotgun for the average home owner or apartment dweller ( Ammo choices need to be kept within reasonable limits as over penetration can be a factor in thin walled apartments). For the average gun enthusiast an off the shelf HD shotgun would work....however we are not the average gun enthusiasts that simply purchases a ready made HD shotgun off the shelf. Now I'm not talking super tacticool with quad picatinny rails and a GPS unit with the newest bottle opener that whatever tactical unit deployed somewhere your not supposed to know where they are, but somehow you do because you have "friends", uses and swears by and as such every other armchair warrior will discuss at length as to why its better than the same tactical bottle opener made by Mall Ninja gear outfitters inc. I'm talking about something that is practical as a defense shotgun recycled out of a field shotgun that maybe has seen some better days, or something you simply picked up at a gun show or pawnshop for a song. In this case my "seen better days shotgun" is an 870 Remington Express Magnum, This version was built with a cheap finish and cheap wood or synthetic stock depending on what the customer wanted. From what I can tell it was built to compete with the Mossberg 500 line of shotguns.
Although its the Remington brand "economy version" to be honest looking over the shotgun it looks and feels like its a well built operational shotgun that just got a cheaper exterior finish and slightly rough internal workings as working the slide some things will need smoothed out! I picked up this full vent ribbed 28" barreled Express magnum 870 at a gun show for around $150 which I thought was a nice price even though cosmetically it was rough. I've owned a old Westernfield (Sears brand) Mossberg 500 clone (One of the better ones) for a few years now as a combat shotgun and have owned other true Mossberg field guns but have sold them as I've gotten away from shotgun's for occasions other than social emergency's. Any field hunting I would do would now be with a double barreled side by side that was gifted to me while I was in High School.

Here we see the painted stock and barrel and get an idea
of the overall condition of what we're starting with!

I couldn't help but pick this 870 up with the idea to resurrect it as a Defense shotgun for a easy project. Wanting to keep the conversion as cheap as I could but using components I know have been proven I first decided to change the stock and forearm out. I hunted around online stores and auction sites for a set of Choate (Choate machine and tool) stock and forearm as I know their older version fits me well as my dads combat shotguns sports their stocks. They are slim and the length of pull fits me well. I picked up a set of Choate's older version of their pistol grip stock and forearm for around $55 after shipping. Installation was easy but did require a little tool to install the forearm nut. Now the gun fits me better and the pistol grip keeps my thumb away from my nose, Buck shot and Slugs had beaten my nose up in the past with the shorter pull of traditional stocks and the subsequent placement of my thumb. ( pics of stock set up to follow in part 2 as I've deleted all the pictures from my camera at this time on accident.)
We have a nice start dressing the gun up for slightly more social occasions other than the old dates it used to keep with turkeys and dove. The next step in the project is to smooth out the action as it still seems rough like it came from the factory and seeing the lack of wear on all the internal parts this would lead me to believe that the gun might have been carried for a decade in the truck but only a few boxes of shot have gone through it. There are several ways to go about honing the internals to smooth out the workings of the Remington 870 but my method was a bit course yet very effective. Using the finest sand paper I could get my hands on (from my tool box) I rubbed the abrasive off into the action and worked it several times. Yes it wears the finish down but we're going to refinish the whole thing so no worries there. I was careful not to take things too far with this process as it does not take much. After I had done this a few times I took the entire gun apart and gave it another good cleaning. Even before I applied a light coat of oil the gun cycles much smoother and did not require as much force to pump forward as the bolt used to stick towards the rear. After this process is complete I made sure to get all the remaining grit out of the action and trigger pack as long term damage can result from it being left in.The next step will be to alter the barrel and get the gun ready for a Parkerized finish which will include sand blasting the whole works.