RIA USA VRF14 12 gauge firearm

[Big Frank]

I was looking at the picture I cobbled together on page 2 of this thread where I had a VRF14 modified to work like Knight's Armament Co. Masterkey, but with twice capacity. Instead of a standard 14" barrel I shortened the forend by one rail slot and cut the barrel down to 10" like the Masterkey. Then I measured how many pixels the 14" barrel on the original pic was compared to the 16" M4 barrel. The 14" barrel was a hair longer, so I cut that part of the picture down to 85% on the 10" barrel and reassembled it. When I was done, I realized the 12 gauge mag was now the same size as the 5.56mm mag. They're a lot closer in size IRL than you may think. The 3" 12 gauge mag is only about 1/4" longer, so if it was only for 2 3/4" shells instead, it would be roughly the same length as the 5.56/.223 mag. So I probably should have only cut the VRF14 down 90% instead of 85% to get the scale right. But this is still a whole lot closer to scale than the pic in post #18 where I was going by the size of the trigger guards, etc.

Here's how it would compare to the Masterkey that Knight's used to make. And here's a picture of a Ciener Ultimate Over/Under developed in 1989 by Jonathan Ciener as a competitor to the KAC Masterkey. It wasn't just a Hollywood movie gun. The Ciener Ultimate has allegedly been used by Delta Force, and the design's unique mounting system is mentioned in Mark Bowden's Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War. Paul Howe was using a "CAR-15, a black futuristic-looking weapon with a pump-action shotgun attached to the bayonet lug in front." The Ciener design was the only underbarrel shotgun to use the host weapon's bayonet lug as an attachment point at that time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciener_Ultimate_Over%2FUnder

[Big Frank]

I already took the red dot off and put it on my X-Fore golf ball launcher. And today, I took the folding backup sights off and put them on my Trek-22 rifle. While I was working on my guns and taking pics of my progress I was thinking I should put some kind of front sight on it. Then I noticed my old First Samco FAS-3 Light Mount lying there and had an idea. I could stick it on the front of the gun like a front sight hood without a sight inside it, or like a giant ghost ring on the wrong end of the gun. These flashlight mounts were made by Fobus and Mission First Tactical and I don't know who else, before they were discontinued. They were made for Streamlight Scorpions like I used to have, and other flashlights up to 15/16" in diameter. I cut a piece of (3/4"?) copper tubing that was small enough to fit inside it, just a little bit longer than the mount. I used my plastic mallet to pound on my 8-ounce ball-peen hammer until I flared out both ends of the tube with the peen. It seemed to fit as it was, but I clamped it in place and put blue Loctite on the screw of the clamp. Then I filed both ends of the copper pipe flush and sanded it down. It only took a matter of seconds to sand it down. Then I sanded the inside with an old sanding sponge that was falling apart. Now it shines like the Twilight Aperture from Williams Gun Sights I have on one of my rifles.  

Some of the camo tape isn't sticking very well and I'll eventually take it all off and have a solid black gun, except for the gold aftermarket bolt handle and front sight. I have another flashlight mount of a different design, but about the same height. I could mount it to the very back of the rail if I wanted to. I could even run a piece of tubing through both mounts and have it look like an old-timey brass rifle scope. But I won't. This is good the way it is. When I hold the gun at arms length and point it across the room, there's about a 3" circle of the wall inside the aperture. It should work quite well, and it didn't cost me anything. Who needs a brass shotgun bead when you have a big brass ring? In the picture of the new sight, the left side is what's facing me, and the right side is facing away. There's a wide taper in the slot that makes it a lot easier to slide one end over a Pic rail. That's why that end is facing me. 

[Big Frank]

I have a cheap piece of crap laser that looks like it's just the right height to shine through the middle of the front sight ring if I mounted it at the back of the rail on the receiver. But I won't because it's a cheap piece of crap, and the batteries die faster than I want to replace them. It would be an interesting set-up, though.

[Big Frank]

I couldn't stand that humongous, overgrown VFG, so I shortened it. I wrapped an inch wide piece of masking tape around the bottom, and sawed it off right against the tape with a crosscut saw, so it's just over an inch shorter. I ground, filed, trimmed with knives, sanded, and flame-roasted it. This is what I ended up with, and I like it a lot better now. It's still not as good as one of my good grips, but better than it was. I lost the onboard storage for a pair of CR123A batteries, but I'm not likely to kill the batteries at one time. I check the light occasionally to make sure it works, but haven't put it to use yet. The batteries should be good for awhile, and I keep 4 spares in the car, plus a dozen or so at home, and some rechargeable lithium batteries, too.