Macchina
Member
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2006
- Messages
- 998
Most all of us mourned the loss of NEF single shot shotguns, I had 1 that had a bent barrel and sold it a decade ago. I wanted a compact shotgun for my cabin and went down the rabbit hole of these hyper-folding single shots. No less than 6 companies make a few variations but after researching them all I found the Iver Johnsons to not have a safety (most of these guns have a huge safety lever on the side), fold by pulling back the triggerguard (a really cool mechanism) and available in wood (all the metal is ceracoated). I went with a 20 gauge.
They were advertised as full-choke but after measuring the muzzle I found it was somewhere between improved choke and open choke! After messaging back and fourth with Iver Johnson they said unfortunately they just measured their inventory and they all came in as open choke. Aside from that the gun is decently well made and has a great design even if execution is a bit off. The open choke actually fits my use better (mostly rabbit and woodcock) and I've found the Federal Flite-control rounds (Prairie Storm) shoot an excellent full-choke style pattern out of this gun, I have much better shotguns for heavy shooting but it's nice to have a few in my vest for high-up squirrels or racoon hunting.
I set out to fix a few issues:
I modified the trigger guard by cutting away the extra metal and opened the hole on the front handguard so the gun actually folds completely in half (from the factory it folds about 3/4 of the way). I also cut the front handguard down about 3" in length to get that last bit of folding nice and tight.
I polished the chamber to a near-mirror for much better ejection, especially with slugs which would jam in the chamber. It ejects everything I've shot since.
I added a rear peep sight. The front sight is quite tall (it's a rifle style front sight) and would shoot about a foot low at 15 yards if you shot slugs with it. I made a throw-away sight first and shot 5 slugs to get an idea of the elevation I needed. I then machined a shoulder bolt into what you see here after calculating the correct height needed. I drilled and tapped the receiver for the sight and loctited it in place. I'm right on at 50 yards now with 3/4" lead slugs! It actually prints a decent 3" group at that range!
The gun, a molle case of 20 rounds, and a folding game bag all fit perfectly into a 29" Ace Case. The gun weighs less than 5 pounds and is a perfect backpacking gun. I bring it along on most group hunts as a loner, with the tiny case taking up almost no room but it carries the gun and all the ammo needed if someone's shotgun goes down. I wouldn't hesitate to take it out for deer if it was all I had. The peep sight and large yellow front sight are surprisingly fast and accurate with slugs.
What it looks like from the factory.
Notice the length of the front handguard prevents full folding:
The walnut is actually quite a bit nicer on mine than the stock pictures. Notice the mods to get it to fold in half completely:
Even with a 24" barrel it's really compact. Glad I didn't go with the 18.5" barrel (they are way too loud in the field):
Rear peep sight:
29" Ace Case designed for large format pistols:
They were advertised as full-choke but after measuring the muzzle I found it was somewhere between improved choke and open choke! After messaging back and fourth with Iver Johnson they said unfortunately they just measured their inventory and they all came in as open choke. Aside from that the gun is decently well made and has a great design even if execution is a bit off. The open choke actually fits my use better (mostly rabbit and woodcock) and I've found the Federal Flite-control rounds (Prairie Storm) shoot an excellent full-choke style pattern out of this gun, I have much better shotguns for heavy shooting but it's nice to have a few in my vest for high-up squirrels or racoon hunting.
I set out to fix a few issues:
I modified the trigger guard by cutting away the extra metal and opened the hole on the front handguard so the gun actually folds completely in half (from the factory it folds about 3/4 of the way). I also cut the front handguard down about 3" in length to get that last bit of folding nice and tight.
I polished the chamber to a near-mirror for much better ejection, especially with slugs which would jam in the chamber. It ejects everything I've shot since.
I added a rear peep sight. The front sight is quite tall (it's a rifle style front sight) and would shoot about a foot low at 15 yards if you shot slugs with it. I made a throw-away sight first and shot 5 slugs to get an idea of the elevation I needed. I then machined a shoulder bolt into what you see here after calculating the correct height needed. I drilled and tapped the receiver for the sight and loctited it in place. I'm right on at 50 yards now with 3/4" lead slugs! It actually prints a decent 3" group at that range!
The gun, a molle case of 20 rounds, and a folding game bag all fit perfectly into a 29" Ace Case. The gun weighs less than 5 pounds and is a perfect backpacking gun. I bring it along on most group hunts as a loner, with the tiny case taking up almost no room but it carries the gun and all the ammo needed if someone's shotgun goes down. I wouldn't hesitate to take it out for deer if it was all I had. The peep sight and large yellow front sight are surprisingly fast and accurate with slugs.
What it looks like from the factory.
Notice the length of the front handguard prevents full folding:
The walnut is actually quite a bit nicer on mine than the stock pictures. Notice the mods to get it to fold in half completely:
Even with a 24" barrel it's really compact. Glad I didn't go with the 18.5" barrel (they are way too loud in the field):
Rear peep sight:
29" Ace Case designed for large format pistols:
Same for the .40 cal insert. Makes it much more versatile. 
