PGO shotgun with 14" barrel

[hardcase]

Just for the sake of having another defensive gun hid around our house, I've thought about getting a gunsmith to convert an older 12 ga safe queen I have to one of these. I think if I read the NFA right, since mine was originally manufactured as a shoulder shotgun, converting to a pistol grip would be illegal.
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=mo ... ORM=IQFRBA

The ATF sure can come out with some confusing rulings.

[AR-300]

That's right.
Has to be born a pg or firearm
to be legal less than 18 inch barrel

[DutchV]

You could add a pistol grip to yours but not cut the barrel below 18". It'd be simpler to go buy a Mossberg or Remington that is already set up as a non-NFA shorty from the factory.

[John A.]

If I were determined to have a small shotgun, for the cost, I would spend the $200 and form 1 a short barrel shotgun before I bought a new shotgun.

That would keep it shouldered fired and shorter barrel too.

[RWA007]

I did a bunch of mechanic work for an old friend once back in the 80's and he gave me a field grade New Haven with a 30" barrel (Mossberg 500 basically) to settle up the bill. I was into Pheasant Hunting pretty heavily back then and used it for years as a back up to my Remington 1100. When I purchased an 1187 as my primary shotgun, the 1100 got moved to the backup position and the Mossberg got put in the safe. I bought a "Blackhawk Commando" kit for it, which was basically a pistol grip with a stock and a new forearm and had the barrel cut down to 18.5" by a gunsmith.

I hated it.

That pistol grip on a shotgun with or without the stock attached (the kit allowed you to use the pistol grip with or without the stock attached) made that gun un-handy and pretty much un-usable. (To me...I'm sure sure some people like them ) The pistol grip alone with the 18" barrel was not at all comfortable for me to use and I don't think I would like the pistol grip even with a shorter barrel (14" or so) as it is just not very handy or stable to me.

I ended up keeping the synthetic forearm on it as I liked that better than the wood, and then bought a SpeedFeed stock for it (which is like the factory wood stock except that it is black sythetic and you can store 4 rounds in it) and rotated it into my home defense closet. I took it out often and practiced with it and liked it a lot. The 18 1/2" barrel is a pretty good handy size. I recently took it out and did some practicing with it and noticed that the speedfeed stock now seems really LONG to me...maybe I've shrunk in the last 20 years or something. I went out and started reading up and it's got a 14 1/2" pull, which is on the longer end of most stocks, and works out great for bird hunting but not so much for HD. So I recently ordered the Hogue youth model stock and forearm kit (from Optics Planet, about $60 or so). The stock only has a 12.5" pull and the forearm is a little slimmer than the old synthetic one I have. I haven't received it yet but I'm pretty excited to get it as even taking the pad off the speedfeed stock (more than an inch) made it VERY comfortable for me to shoulder quickly.
I also put a sidesaddle on it years ago and recently put a rail on for a flashlight also. Hoping to get it all assembled within the next week or so as soon as the stock kit gets here.

I have to agree with the JohnA above who said he would spend the $200 and form 1 the shotgun if one were to want a shorter barrel.
The stock is where it's at with a shotgun as far as I'm concerned and these days the form1 is not much more than the cost of a short barrel (tip...the gunsmith used a pipecutter to cut my original 30" barrel down to 18.5" and it works GREAT!) or even a quality stock kit.

If I could go back in time...I would have KEPT the original wood furniture, cut the STOCK down to a 12.5" pull, stained or spray painted the stock and forearm black, had the barrel cut down to 18.5", install the side saddle and light on it and and call it a day. If your safe queen is a pump shotgun, shortening the barrel is cheap and easy and causes no cycling issues, and by cutting down the stock and spray painting it black, that $200 tax stamp for the 14" barrel would yield you an AWESOME HD shotgun! If you can, go try out a shotgun WITH a pistol grip to see how you like it before you decide to go that way. I think the results will surprise you. Maybe I was just used to a standard shotgun stock setup but I absolutely HATED the pistol grip on any shotgun. At first I thought it was just me, but I'm finding more and more people feel that way also. Keep the barrel at least 18.5" unless you form 1 it and get that stamp before cutting it down shorter than that.

Edit: I just looked at my shotgun...If I ever form 1 it, I can only cut another 3 inches off my barrel making it 15.5". Otherwise I'd have to buy a shorter barrel and a shorter magazine tube....now I'm thinking about doing a Form 1 for my own shotgun and whacking off that extra 3 inches!

Hope this helps! Sorry for rambling...