Sharps40
Old Mossy Horns
My go to shot gun is way too long, especially with winter clothing on. Shooting in the winter its hard to mount consistently in heavy clothing and I often miss the front trigger and wind up pulling the rear trigger. If i hit close, it tears up the small birds since rear trigger is always my tight choke. If I miss, I either loose opportunity for the second shot trying to find the front trigger or wind up making a long shot with the loose choke.
I decided to fix the issue by shortening the stock, a compromise length for T Shirts in the summer and jackets in the winter. A quick measurement shows the front trigger a long 14 1/2 inches from the butt plate, longer with a jacket on!
Some tape and a scribe line 5/8" in from the steel butt plate (my tape was crap so I scribed through the finish down to the wood. First cuts are heel and toe to prevent chipping at the last of the cut. Then with an 18 tooth per inch saw, carefully cut just outside the scribed line. If you don't push down on the blade, letting the weight of the saw do the work, the cuts will be chip free.
After the cut, drum sanding, hand sanding and finally the curved steel butt plate fits back to the new cut. Drill the pilot holes deeper, grease the screw threads and run them in and out a few times. Mounted the butt plate and carefully ground it back to just above the surface of the wood. Removed the butt plate and ground the edges smooth on a really fine belt and touched up the edges with bluing.
I decided to fix the issue by shortening the stock, a compromise length for T Shirts in the summer and jackets in the winter. A quick measurement shows the front trigger a long 14 1/2 inches from the butt plate, longer with a jacket on!
Some tape and a scribe line 5/8" in from the steel butt plate (my tape was crap so I scribed through the finish down to the wood. First cuts are heel and toe to prevent chipping at the last of the cut. Then with an 18 tooth per inch saw, carefully cut just outside the scribed line. If you don't push down on the blade, letting the weight of the saw do the work, the cuts will be chip free.
After the cut, drum sanding, hand sanding and finally the curved steel butt plate fits back to the new cut. Drill the pilot holes deeper, grease the screw threads and run them in and out a few times. Mounted the butt plate and carefully ground it back to just above the surface of the wood. Removed the butt plate and ground the edges smooth on a really fine belt and touched up the edges with bluing.
