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The Hunting shotgun rethought (part 2)

In the previous article we covered features of the traditional hunting shotgun and proposed some changes to increase the handiness of the weapon system and maybe make it more multifunctional.

In this article we’re going to illustrate a build of a shotgun that incorporates some of those features. In the upcoming article we’re going to do some testing to see how the end result performs.

Please keep in mind this is not a scientific research article by a ”shotgun expert”, but more of a game of trial and error by someone who just can’t leave anything unmodified.

The Build

The goal of this build was a shotgun that could be used in all kinds of small game hunting. A secondary goal was for the gun to be able to be used in big game hunting using slugs. The gun should also be fully compatible with lead-free ammo for the upcoming EU-wide lead ban.

We wanted the gun to be as lightweight as possible, but still be durable for high round count range practice. The end result should be as field repairable as possible and spare parts should be readily available in Finland.

The quality of manufacturing was also a thing we were looking for. Previously the feeling of going from driving a high end sedan to being beat up in a piece of farm equipment has been unavoidable when transitioning from a rifle to a shotgun hunt.

We looked for a host gun that comes with synthetic stocks or has them available as aftermarket accessories. This and the slug requirement pretty much ruled out the double barreled actions. The choice narrowed between a semi-auto and a pump action. Because there are game animal specific magazine capacity restrictions and some additional paperwork required for semi-automatic hunting weapons here in Finland, we decided to go with a pump action. This was also due to familiarity, since the previous iterations of this gun have all but one been pump actions for much of the same reasons.

The problem with this choice was that there were few to none quality pump action guns to build on. Most of the pump action guns in the Finnish market were ”Walmart spec” guns or Turkish copies of them. This was until 2021 Benelli released their competition pump gun they called the Nova Speed. This was developed in cooperation with Team Benelli practical shotgun shooters and world champions Jaakko Viitala and Kim Leppänen. The resulting gun is based on the semi-automatic M2-model, which makes it a really high quality firearm. The race gun pedigree means the gun would have to be modified for our purposes, but it also means that the gun could handle high round counts and have spare parts available, since the competition shooters shoot a lot more than our project gun would ever be shot. The decision to move forward with this platform was finalized (Yes, the action is that smooth.) when we had a chance to handle the pre-production version at the Finnish importer of Benelli, so we ordered a Benelli Nova Speed with a 24″ (609,6 mm) barrel as a starting point for the build.

Modifications

On the previous shotguns we had tried a number of barrel lengths. On a Winchester 1300 we went from 22″ (558,8 mm) to 18″ (457,2 mm) to 12.5″. With the 12.5″ (317,5 mm) being too short for this application, we went with 16″ (406,4 mm) on a later Remington 870 build. The 16″ seemed to do everything we wanted with flying colors, so naturally we were thinking, could a 14″ (355,6 mm) barrel do the same? That’s how we ended up trying a 14″ barrel on this Benelli.

Teräsjänne Oy did the barrel work. They cut the barrel to 14″ and re-threaded it for the choke tubes. There was additional work involved with the chokes, since the barrel is thinner in the part it was cut than the part at the end of the barrel in the factory configuration. This meant we had to change the type of choke to the older ”Mobilchoke” tubes, and the threads needed to be reinforced with a metal collar that was installed on the outside of the barrel. No big deal. This turned out great.

The gun comes from the factory with a long magazine extension, since it’s designed as a competition gun. The extension needed to go for this project. Luckily we found a magazine cap with a QD sling attachment from Innovatac to replace the extension tube. What was great about the magazine cap is that it solved the front sling attachment issue at the same time. There is still the option of adding a short magazine extension if there would be a need for maximizing the magazine capacity. There are also some longer choke tubes available that would enable even longer magazine tubes to be installed, since this setup is used primarily for hunting, the 4 + 1 is plenty.

We used a kit from Innovatac to shorten the buttstock to a more manageable length of pull and installed a SHU recoil pad. The rear sling attachment came as a QD socket kit from Benelli for their Argo-rifle. Excellent tips from Jaakko Viitala made short work of the buttstock modifications.

Accessories

The gun is currently wearing the 2-point sling by Varusteleka. This is one of the few slings that’s made from a webbing that slides easily on top of clothing. For this application that is a desirable feature, since you want the sling to slide freely to allow for fast presentation of the gun from the high ready position when slinged up. Being a ”VTAC” -style sling it allows for a longer range of adjustment than the ”VCAS” -style slings.

Another go-to accessory on the gun is the Hill People Gear -ammo cuff on the stock. We rarely run it full of ammo, but use it for just one or two rounds of a different ammo type than what’s in the gun, or store the round removed from the chamber for transporting the gun. The ammo cuff also has a transparent ”dope card” pocket for your trajectory / pattern information. The cuff is made out of hypalon (the stuff they make rubber boats out of), which has a nice feeling to it. For this project the cuff was modified slightly to allow the rear sling attachment to be unobstructed.

What next?

We’re really happy with how the gun turned out. There will probably not be any other major modifications to it for a while. The gun will probably get Ceracoted to a more earth tone color. We’ve had good experiences with Cerakote in the past iterations of this concept.

Another thing we would love to try is a shotgun specific red dot sight, or more specifically the Aimpoint S1 (Aimpoint, can you hear us?), since we run Aimpoint RDS (Red Dot Sight) on almost exclusively on everything with great success. There is a disadvantage with the shorter sight radius on this gun for shooting slugs. The RDS would take the slug shooting to a new level and it would be interesting to see how it would effect the clay- and wingshooting.

Speaking of which, it’s going to take a lot of training to learn to shoot this gun and that’s exactly what’s going to have to happen in the coming summer before the new hunting season. We’d love to take training classes from different shooting schools with the gun, since training is always beneficial.

The learning curve is something that could be an interesting topic for another article, since it might well be that it is ”impossible to hit anything with” a 14″ barreled gun. That’s a claim you hear a lot about the 16″-21″ guns as well. It’s a self fulfilling prophesy until you go to the range and work until the clays turn into dust. It will not be as easy as it is with a 28″ barreled clay gun, but few good things in life are easy to achieve.

Final words

Everything in this article was paid for with our own money. We worked in co-operation with some of the companies and got special pricing on some of the products. There was no obligation for us to write favorably about any of the products. We represent Hill People Gear in Finland.

Feel free to check out these companies if you’re building a similar gun or something else. They are all good people and will help you out:

On the next part of this article series we’ll show you some of the results of the testing we did with the project gun. If you’re a manufacturer or an importer of an ammo brand and would like to see your ammo tested in this gun, please don’t hesitate to contact us:)

Part 3

Part 1

The Hunting shotgun rethought (part 1)

Tradition

The configuration of a shotgun traditionally used for hunting in Finland is a wood stocked double barreled or a semi-automatic with 26″ (660,4 mm) to 30″ (762 mm) barrel(s).

How did we end up with this kind of configuration? The barrel length must be dictated by the excellent wing shooting characteristics. After all the long barreled guns are used even in the sporting clays events at the olympics. The longer barrel must be advantageous for maximizing the ballistic properties of the projectile(s).

The wood stocks are probably dictated mostly by aesthetics, since no one can’t deny that a hand made wood stock is a breathtaking feat of artisanship. There is also a practical advantage to wood as a material. It’s warm to the touch in a cold climate.

It’s also about traditions and beliefs that have been passed on for generations.

Rethinking the concept

While there has been some progress made with general purpose rifles, there has been very little of that with the shotgun. Is the traditional concept perfect? Could we divert from the traditional setup without degrading it’s good qualities, or by degrading them less in relation to what is gained. Could we still preserve the ability to effectively hunt with the gun? As an added bonus the resulting shotgun could be a more general purpose firearm you could hunt small and large game with, shoot some clays at the range and maybe even take it to the occasional 3-gun match.

On the military and law enforcement weapon systems we have seen the move toward more compact systems. The driver for the change in addition to the easier handling has been the development made by the cartridge industry.

That same concept could make sense for hunting use as well. Especially when hunting in thick foliage like a forest or when the hunt requires the hunter to cover a lot of ground in difficult terrain.

One would think the advantages of a handier tool would be unquestionable, but what about the down sides? Does the accuracy or terminal ballistics get worse in the process of making the gun handier?

That’s what we’re trying to find out.

Methods of hunting

For a hunter who hunts mainly from a blind or shooting upland birds on a plain field there is really no need to change anything on the shotgun. Same goes for a hunter who only moves short distances from a motor vehicle to a shooting blind and back. Black grouse hunting in the thick woods or stalking rabbits and other small game in uneven terrain or in deep snow are forms of hunting that might benefit from a more handy tool for the job.

There is also a growing number of people who combine hunting with other activities. Someone who does hiking, photography, bike packing or something similar in conjunction with hunting is surely going to appreciate a shorter gun and a smarter carry system. Carrying a long hunting shotgun does not necessarily enable one to combine different activities or have fun doing it.

What to change?

The Stock

The stocks on most of the shotguns on the market are too long. You can do just fine with a long stock if the type of hunting you do allows you to get the same shooting stance you get on the clay range and wear similar clothing. However if you’re on a mobile hunt, you are frequently surprised by a fleeing game animal mid-stride. Often far from an optimal range shooting stance. This is where the shorter stock comes in handy. The same issue arises when we are wearing heavier winter clothing or carrying a backpack.

As a material the synthetics are more durable, weigh less and are easier to maintain than wood. For example the event of a slip and fall on an icy surface while landing on your shotgun would more than likely break a wood stock, when a synthetic one would be just fine.

The Barrel

There is no denying the longer barrels are easier to wing shoot than the shorter ones. By shortening the barrel you increase the comfort of handling and carrying the gun. Jeff Cooper called this quality ”handiness” in describing his Scout Rifle concept. We are talking about a hunting gun, so how large percentage of its use while hunting is being carried versus how much it’s shot?

The Sling

The traditional sling for a shotgun is just a carrying strap that attaches via fixed loops to the underside of the buttstock on the rear and under the barrels in the front. This kind of sling is really only meant to help you carry the shotgun on one shoulder and you have to hold on to the sling or the gun with your hand to prevent the sling from falling off the shoulder or to prevent the gun from going horizontal. Some old school shotgunners don’t want to see slings on shotguns at all. There is some merit to this, since you’re more likely to be ready for the shot with the gun in your hands. The problem with it is the moment you need your hands free to do something.

While the author is not a huge proponent of military equipment to be used in hunting, it is a fact that the military industrial complex is driving the innovation in the field of firearms and accessory development. One fruit of this labor is the adjustable two point sling pioneered by Viking Tactics with their VTAC-sling and Blue Force Gear with their VCAS-sling. Since the introduction of these slings there have been numerous companies bringing variations of them available to consumers.

These modern slings are attached to the sides of the weapon usually with quick detachable socket- or hook-type loops. This type of sling allows you to carry the gun across your upper body with the barrel pointing up or down in a 45 degree angle. The slings have a mechanism to allow you to loosen or tighten the gun on you. In the loosest position you can shoot freely from any position and in the tightest you can have the gun snugly against your body to free up your hands to do other things.

The Sights

The sighting system of a shotgun is typically a vent rib barrel with some kind of a bead at the muzzle. We’ve been told by a lot more knowledgeable shotgunners that shotguns are aimed with the buttstock. So you are supposed to be focused on the moving target with your eyes and the well fitting stock of the gun will make sure you are pointing the muzzle in the correct position the shot breaks. It’s a pretty hard concept to learn especially if you have been shooting more with rifles and pistols. The idea of not knowing where you missed is frustrating. Could a red dot sight make any difference? At least for use on big game with slugs the optical sight would make a world of difference.

The Disadvantages

When you shorten a barrel of any firearm, there is usually some muzzle velocity lost in the process compared to a longer barrel. How much is lost and can it be affected with ammo selection? Does the amount the barrel is shortened make a difference? On rifles the shortening of the barrel has a more linear effect on the muzzle velocity, since rifle cartridges use slower burning powders. The noise and pressure levels have a tendency to increase near the muzzle on shorter barreled firearms. With shorter barrels it’s harder to shoot moving targets, since the mass of the longer barrels isn’t there to help the shooter to maintain momentum of the barrels when following a moving target.

Then there is the ”hate factor”. The short guns look different that the classic hunting shotguns do and that brings up all kinds of weird reactions when interacting with more traditionally minded individuals. Sometimes it’s the guy on a clay range that comes raging at you that it’s forbidden to shoot with that kind of ”bank robber gun” and sometimes it’s the instructor of a shotgun shooting school that refuses to teach you, because you have a ”too short gun” that ”you can’t do s**t with”. Most of the time it turns into curiosity after they see the shooter acting politely, exhibiting safe gun handling and hitting some targets with the strange looking boomstick.

Whether or not the concept makes sense or not is up to the hunter to decide. There are a lot of questions in this article. To some of them we have answers and to some we are still looking for them. In this first article we cover the concept. In the following articles we’ll present some results and answers.

Thank you for reading this far. If you liked this content, please consider following us on social media and stay tuned for more.

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