Cutting 22" barrel down to 19" - any tips?

[smithwr3 0]

I'm wanting to get my 22" barrel cut down to 19" by my local gunsmith. If he can do it and recrown the end of the barrel, is there anything else that needs to be done, specifically with the gas ports?

[dinzag 31]

I'm wanting to get my 22" barrel cut down to 19" by my local gunsmith. If he can do it and recrown the end of the barrel, is there anything else that needs to be done, specifically with the gas ports?

I did it myself with a 14" chop-saw. As for the ports, does it shoot ok now?

I'd suggest polish the hammer/carrier, lube it up, then try running some 3" ammo or slugs through it first - 100 rounds or so - then check it with light loads. My ports and any other S-20's I've worked on were all opened up to 3/32".

Edited July 7, 2006 by dinzag

[AegisDei 2]

I'm wanting to get my 22" barrel cut down to 19" by my local gunsmith. If he can do it and recrown the end of the barrel, is there anything else that needs to be done, specifically with the gas ports?

I did it myself with a 14" chop-saw. As for the ports, does it shoot ok now?

I'd suggest polish the hammer/carrier, lube it up, then try running some 3" ammo or slugs through it first - 100 rounds or so - then check it with light loads. My ports and any other S-20's I've worked on were all opened up to 3/32".

At 19" I bet you could make it work by switching to a lighter duty recoil spring with a few coils removed (.042-.044 spring minus 4 coils, I believe...check previous posts to be sure), a serious break in with 50-100 slugs on gas setting 2 (be sure to have buffer in and a shoulder pad of some kind), intense clean, lube and polish. Opening the ports is probably an overkill for a 19" gun.

[dinzag 31]

I'm wanting to get my 22" barrel cut down to 19" by my local gunsmith. If he can do it and recrown the end of the barrel, is there anything else that needs to be done, specifically with the gas ports?

I did it myself with a 14" chop-saw. As for the ports, does it shoot ok now?

I'd suggest polish the hammer/carrier, lube it up, then try running some 3" ammo or slugs through it first - 100 rounds or so - then check it with light loads. My ports and any other S-20's I've worked on were all opened up to 3/32".

At 19" I bet you could make it work by switching to a lighter duty recoil spring with a few coils removed (.042-.044 spring minus 4 coils, I believe...check previous posts to be sure), a serious break in with 50-100 slugs on gas setting 2 (be sure to have buffer in and a shoulder pad of some kind), intense clean, lube and polish. Opening the ports is probably an overkill for a 19" gun.

I'd say break it in first, then port if necessary. All 4 S-20's I've worked on were 19" and had to be/were ported, but now run great. My first one didn't get touched, but it was ported - supposedly "NIB". It was an EAA return. The 2nd one (my current) had one opened port. The other 2 were all small holes. I can run anything in mine or Craig's RPKS-20. Something else to note, the 2 that were pre-ported (mine) were vent rib 2002 models while the other 2 were pistol sighted '01 & '00 models.

 

That's my experience...

[smithwr3 0]

I've had the shotgun for about a year. It seemed like it worked fine with Estate game and target load 2 3/4" 9 shot with the 5 rounders. Seems like it started having problems after I converted it to a AKS-style side folder (Russian/Bulgarian stock of course) by not kicking the shell casing out and getting stuck between the right side of the bolt and the trunion. I've got an 8-rounder and it did the same. This could have been due to my leaving the manual BHO in. Consequently between removing the BHO and using high velocity 2 3/4" it seems to work fine with the 5-rounder, but I still have the problem with the 8-rounder.