I did some more work on my Remington Sportsman 12 Auto

[Big Frank]

I did some more work on my Remington Sportsman 12 Auto today. This is Remington's unfinished low-budget version of the M1100. I put a cleaning rod down the formerly 28" long barrel and marked it with a permanent marker to get a measurement. As near as I'm able to figure, the barrel is 18 13/16" long. That's where it ended up when I cut however many spaces off the vent rib and left a little bit of the barrel sticking out past it, about 1/8" past the flat end of the rib like the it originally was.  I put a Samson Manufacturing Swivel Stud QD Adapter on the rear sling swivel today. I bought a pair of these and already put the other one on my 10/22. I have a Choate Remington 870/1100/1187/VersaMax 12ga 7 Shot Mag. Ext., Blued on it with a Nordic Components Standard Barrel Clamp, 12ga., with one of their Picatinny Rails for Barrel Clamps on each side. Next I put a Magpul RSA QD - Rail Sling Attachment QD on the right side and a free Harbor Freight flashlight on the left side. I had that light on my 12.7" AR temporarily, but it's a short-range light, better suited to a short-range firearm. I'm switching all of my long guns to QD slings, except my Winchester 94 Trapper. It's leather sling still has Q/R swivels, at least for now. The swivel is attached to the stub of the .44 Magnum's half-magazine tube.

I already had a Williams FireSight Ghost Ring on it and finally got around to putting a FireSight bead on the front today. But the bead is only .250" high and now that I see what a set of them looks like, I think should have bought a .375" high bead. I have the big Vang Comp Dome Head Safety switch that I can disengage when I put my finger on the trigger. And I'm still running the Choate fiberglass filled plastic forend, and matching pistol grip stock with the butt that looks like it belongs on an FAL. They quit making that stock a long time ago, when the skeletonized stock came out, I think, but still make the forend. I have a Choate High Visibility Hunter Orange Color Shell Follower, too. It has a no tilt tail that keeps you from compressing the spring too far if you try to load an extra shell. Not long ago I swapped out the Choate Remington Combat Bolt Handle 1100/1187 for a GG&G Steel Matte Enhanced Bolt Handle. The Choate bolt handle made it really easy to reach over the top and rack it with the side of my left hand, but I didn't like how tall it was.

I have an Adaptive tactical Receiver Mounted Shell Carrier for Remington shotguns that keeps six 12 gauge shells at the ready. I also have a TacStar Sidesaddle mount made for a Mossberg 930/935 that I'm going to screw to the right side of the stock so I'll have another 6 extra rounds on board. That will help balance out the hollow synthetic stock. I chose the Mossberg 930/935 Sidesaddle because it's rectangular and doesn't have the typical part extending off the back end of it. I think I'm going to cut a little bit of the lower front corner of the backing plate off before I screw it to the stock with drywall screws, or coarse thread exterior screws I have, then attach the intact shell holder to it. Once I do that and get some more QD swivels for the sling I think I'll be all set.

https://www.samson-mfg.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=SS-QD-ADPT

https://magpul.com/rsa-qd-rail-sling-attachment.html?mp_global_color=118

https://nordiccomp.com/categories/standard-barrel-clamp/

https://nordiccomp.com/categories/picatinny-rail-for-barrel-clamp/

https://shop.williamsgunsight.com/ecommerce/p/wgos--remington-pre-2003shotgun--rifle-ghost-ring-firesight-set-070916

https://vangcomp.com/product/vcs-remington-dome-head-safety/

https://adaptivetactical.com/collections/shotgun-accessories/products/receiver-mounted-shell-carrier-for-remington-shotguns

[Big Frank]

Too bad the Strike Shotgun Barrel Clamp for 12-Gauge shotguns wasn't around when I bought my first barrel clamp. At least I didn't know about it until years later. To take my barrel off to clean my gun, I have to take off the barrel clamp and unscrew the mag extension. No problem, except I have to take both Picatinny rails off to get to the screws, and I have to take the Magpul QD sling point off to get to the screw on one of the Picatinny rails. So, I have to take off 3 extra things before I can take the barrel clamp off. But I don't want to put $38.95 into another barrel clamp.

The Strike Shotgun Barrel Clamp for 12-Guage helps to add strength and rigidity to your feed tubs with the ability to add accessories and a sling point. One side of the barrel clamp features a Picatinny (Pic) rail to mount a weapon light or other accessory. On the other side you have a 360° free swivel quick detach (QD) socket for an easy sling attachment point. The user can pick which side you want the Pic rail or QD to be. Compatible with the most common 12-Guage barrels and feed tubes, this lightweight barrel clamp is machined from 6061-T6 aluminum. This Strike Shotgun Barrel Clamp for 12-Guage provides additional support for your magazine feed tubes with the bonus of having a QD sling point on one side and a Picatinny rail accessory on the other that is quick and easy to install. Available in anodized SI BLACKLINE, FDELINE or TITAN EDITION colors.

I'm already waiting on an order from them. I remember liking their Gunpowder Soap so I ordered a few bars of that too. It's shaped like a Reuleaux triangle that's a constant width in any direction, not like their logo that I just made "gunpowder" color. The triangle shape was easy for me to hang onto, which is always a plus, even if you shower alone. You know what I mean. The box it's in looks kind of like an ammo box, but despite the name, there's no gunpowder in it.

https://www.strikeindustries.com/si-sg-bcl-12.html

https://www.strikeindustries.com/si-gpsoap.html

[Big Frank]

Here are some pics of what I've got so far. I put the UTG (Under The Gun) Detachable Swivel With Picatinny Mounting Base that was on the CCU on the right front rail temporarily, just until I get the Strike Industries barrel extension clamp. I'm putting the front of the sling on the right side of all my weapons that have side-mounted lights on them, so I can use my left thumb to turn them on and off. One or two came with pressure switches, but I'm not running wires and switches just to go from one side to the other. If I was going from closer to the muzzle back, I would use one. Since this will be used for short range if I use it at all at night, I only have the free 9 LED Harbor Freight flashlight mounted, and have good lights on longer range weapons and my VRF14, which I'm more likely to use at night. I'll probably put the NcSTAR VISM tactical light back on whenever I get it fixed. I think it's half as many lumens as my Streamlight, which will go on my shortest AR. On the two WMLs that are bottom mounted, it doesn't matter what side I put the sling on.

[Big Frank]

I put the Strike Industries barrel clamp on, then put the Nordic Components barrel clamp back on in front on it, without the Picatinny rails. I put a layer of Gorilla Tape on the Strike Industries barrel clamp so I don't have metal on metal contact, but didn't bother when I put the Nordic Components barrel clamp on. I'm not sure I'm leaving it on. That one is so tall it has to go between the base of the ribs, which put it flush with the end of the mag extension. If I ever need to bop someone on the head with my shotgun, I'm not worried about bending my mag extension now.   There's 1" of muzzle protruding beyond that. I put the Harbor Freight flashlight on that I accidentally crushed in the Magpul mount before. The flashlight that was in the mount will be going back in my Mechanix Wear bag in the car.

I know I need to clean my barrel, but maybe I'll wait until I zero in the sights with the Brenneke slugs I have a bunch of.

[Big Frank]

I couldn't stand looking at that dirty shotgun anymore. Everything except the forend, receiver/stock, and mag clamps is in the bucket. Not everyone has a bucket of gun cleaning solvent in their kitchen, but I'm not everyone.   I soaked one end of the barrel, and action bar with sleeve, overnight then flipped them over. I'll flip them over again when I get up in the afternoon/at night, whenever, after I get some sleep. Then maybe again the next day, and clean everything the day after that. I'm going to put Gorilla tape on the second pair of mag clamps too. And if I get a bug up my @$$ about how the barrel looks, I just might spray paint the whole thing, minus the front sight bead. The small round thing in the pho-toe is a plastic strainer I got from my mom's housse. It's made to fit over the end of cans of vegetables and such, but it works well for holding small parts. I usually throw parts in the bucket and swirl them around with my hand, rather than put them in the strainer, but I have used it to drain them .

[Sponsor]

[Big Frank]

The magazine tube got into the act now. Everyone into the pool! Uh, bucket. It fits halfway in, and although it doesn't need any help getting clean, I figured why not, I can't put the lid on with the barrel and action bar sticking out anyway. I put the mag extension, spring, and follower in yesterday. I did some light sanding on the blaze orange follower a couple weeks ago and smoothed it right out.

[Big Frank]

I finally got my gun cleaned, lubed, and reassembled, with Gorilla Tape on the old mag extension clamp. The tape sets it far enough away from the vent rib that it no longer hits the rib supports. It was only hitting on the right side, maybe because the barrel and forend can rotate slightly before they're clamped down. I moved this second mag extension clamp back a hair from its previous position.

I had a hard time getting the gun apart, which is usually extremely easy. You have to reach into the bottom of the receiver and depress the end of the Feed Latch to take the bolt out and to put it back in. The shell lifter moves out of the way so it's easy to reach. The feed latch is a long flat piece of spring steel with a "hook" on the front, that's staked into the right side of the receiver at the rear. But it moved forward a little bit. I slid it back in place and use one of the sidesaddle 2 piece screws to hold it in place to stake it. This is one of those jobs where you need a special staking tool with a big U-notch to go around the other side of the receiver and back inside so you can pound it straight down.. But I don't have one and used a center punch to stake it. The angle was so extreme, it was barely able to get into the steel of the receiver without sliding away. And the rough texture on the side of center punch chewed up the edge of the receiver on the left side. It looked like it was attacked with a rasp. I didn't even try to hammer the metal down in place before I started filing it down. It looks bad but everything is back in working order. A Sharpie Fine Point permanent marker helps disguise this and other scratches, etc.

The TacStar Mossberg 930 Sidesaddle is mounted to the right side of the stock, just ahead of the butt pad, which only extends 1/8" into the stock. I measured the spacing of the 2 holes meant for the screws that replace the Mossberg trigger group pins, and added 2 more with the same spacing, and 4 with the same spacing on the other side. The spacing of the 1st and last hole from the end on both sides was different, but the top and bottom mirrored each other by 180 degrees of rotation. Then I made 3 more holes down the middle, halfway between the other holes. It ended up being 3 diagonal rows of 3 holes, plus 2 holes in opposite corners. I counter sunk all 11 holes and used 1" drywall screws to fasten the aluminum backing plate to the stock. I had to leave 2 screws out because they were hitting the recoils spring tube inside the stock. I stripped 1 or 2 screws but there are still 7 or 8 holding solidly. I ran out of blue Loctite a few days ago, and used a little bit of Permatex high strength RED threadlocker. I hope I never have to take it off, because I'll need to apply heat, and the shell holder is molded from plastic.

I have 6 spare rounds of buckshot on the left side of the receiver, and 6 Brenneke slugs on the right side of the stock in the pics. It really helps balance the gun out, because the hollow stock makes it even more muzzle heavy than the wood stock. I put the slugs away and but the 00 Buck in the shell holder on the stock and it feels so much better that way, I'll probably always carry extra shells there, even if I take the shell holder off the receiver.