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Sunday, March 25, 2018

My budget auto shotgun project is almost done



So the idea was to put together a handy little shotgun. I already have a Mossberg  500 but I wanted something semi auto. As powerful, reliable and versatile as pump shotguns are, I’ve always seen the lack of immediate follow up shots with a trigger pull as a big handicap. Yes, pumps can be fast, very fast. But you still need to work both arms to operate and its one thing doing it in the range and another when someone is grabbing your with one hand and trying to bash your skull in with a hammer with the other.

So for starters I wanted a reliable semi auto shotgun. The obvious answer is to get a Benelli M4, but then again that’s two thousand bucks I wasn’t looking to spend. How about a good value, reliable autoloader? The first thing I thought of was the Turkish Hatsan Escort, which I had used in the past. Not all Turkish guns are junk and they certainly can put together a good shotgun. These are fairly popular across Europe and have a well-earned reputation of “cheap but goodie”, common in the field as a work shotgun.

For this project I just used some Krylon camo (sand) a cheap reflex sight, light and sling. I’ll just have to run a few more rounds to see how that sight holds. Tends to be a miss/hit deal with them.
All things considered I’m very happy with the results. The only thing I’m still considering is a pistol gripped stock.

FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sir, does the short barrel length have any effect on operation of the action ? I have read that the lack of gas from the cartridge when fired in some semi-automatics can cause reliabilty issues with ammunition. Not enough to push back the bolt.

It certainly appears to be a very handy length for vehicles and inside residences.

Anonymous said...

Consider using weights to balance out the rifle and use one handed as is.

Mike Yukon said...

That is a very nice, compact semi-auto shotgun. You've got me looking into one. Thanks for the postings.

Mike

FerFAL said...

Hi Anon, its been 100% reliable with +30gr shells. Any lighter than that and you feel the action not working with as much authority and you get failures to eject. I got 1 failure to eject in 50 rounds of 28gr. buckshot and slugs are generally rather heavy, over 30 gr.

Anonymous said...

Anon here - thank you for your response.

Anonymous said...

If you had the choice, would you choose an AR? the magazine capacity seems to me unbeatable.