The Bubba Slugger

[Michael Tinker Pearce]

Last year I found myself hunting deer in 'shotgun only' areas, and also last year someone gave me an ancient, rusty single shot Stevens 12-gauge with a 30" barrel that needed a lot of work, including a new fore-arm. I got to thinking about it and decided to turn the old Stevens into a light-weight slug gun. It took considerable work to just get the gun apart, and there was much rust-removal. I had to hone the chamber to get it to eject spent casings. I shortened the barrel, made a barrel-band for the front sight from a piece of the cut off barrel and mounted a modified Mini-14 front sight. I polished the barrel and finished it with much Oxpho Blue. I stripped stock then hand-sanded it and the new fore-stock to 1500-grit then stained and lacquered them. I made the shell carry from some scrap leather. I coated the back with beeswax and melted it into the leather with a heat gun; this gives it traction to keep the shell-holder from slipping against the wood.

I still need to mount a rear sight. I might adapt an adjustable pistol-sight or perhaps fabricate a Ghost Ring rear sight; I haven't decided. In it's present form the gun weighs 5.5 lbs. Not being a total masochist I'm using 1 oz. mini-slugs' the Brenneke slugs I was using last year have absolutely brutal recoil in my much heavier pump shotgun. Not even going to try them in this one!

My wife dubbed this 'The Bubba Slugger.'

 

[sparkyv]

Nice save!

Most apropos:

My wife dubbed this 'The Bubba Slugger.'

 

[dh1633pm]

I like all your work. Thanks for sharing. You made Bubba proud on this one.

 

[defjon]

I like your style, dude.

 

[American_Fusilier]

Nice! Looks like you put a lot of hard work in to that. I always like project guns.

 

[1KPerDay]

Love it. The mannlicher-esque forend particularly.

 

[FL-NC]

Was that taken from the pirates of the caribean prop room?

 

[22250Rem]

Nice project; let us know how it shoots. I have no idea about using those mini slugs for deer. Just wondering what kind of power they produce if used in deer hunting. I know those old single shot 12 gauge guns are notorious kickers when using things like deer slugs or turkey loads. I once put a couple 2 & 3/4" 12 ga. slugs through an old H&R (IIRC) single shot and that was it for me. I would bet your project needs some sort of aperture (peep) rear sight; they really help out, accuracy wise. Is that recoil pad in good shape? I had an old 12 ga. Stevens 820B pump gun that had an old aftermarket pad on it that had lost all of its flexibility and did nothing to absorb recoil and had become nothing more than a length of pull extension. That Mannlicher inspired forend is a very nice touch, and overall, the whole gun just looks cool. It's a very interesting project and hopefully we will see updates on your progress. Best of luck with it.

 

[Michael Tinker Pearce]

Nice project; let us know how it shoots. I have no idea about using those mini slugs for deer. Just wondering what kind of power they produce if used in deer hunting. I know those old single shot 12 gauge guns are notorious kickers when using things like deer slugs or turkey loads. I once put a couple 2 & 3/4" 12 ga. slugs through an old H&R (IIRC) single shot and that was it for me. I would bet your project needs some sort of aperture (peep) rear sight; they really help out, accuracy wise. Is that recoil pad in good shape? I had an old 12 ga. Stevens 820B pump gun that had an old aftermarket pad on it that had lost all of its flexibility and did nothing to absorb recoil and had become nothing more than a length of pull extension. That Mannlicher inspired forend is a very nice touch, and overall, the whole gun just looks cool. It's a very interesting project and hopefully we will see updates on your progress. Best of luck with it.

Local deer are not particularly large and my casual testing indicates they'll be OK. I wouldn't want to try them on an elk or moose, though! Fortunately I don't hunt those. I'm considering a ghost ring rear sight; on a 75-yard gun that or a blade rear sight should be adequate, though I cam contemplating ways to mount a red dot, but that's as much as an intellectual and fabrication exercise as out of any perceived need. Unexpectedly the recoil pad remains supple, though the base did require some repair and new screws. It's an aftermarket piece from Montgomery Ward Western Field; there's no telling when it was mounted but odds are it was many decades ago.