Show Me Your Shorties

18 and a half or 20 inch barrel?

Seems like a dumbass question figuring what in all hells can an inch and a half mean. Plenty maybe if your also thinking about shortening the furniture a tad.

We all know that a shotgun must have a barrel equal to or exceeding 18", BUT the overall length of the weapon cannot be less than 26"...and thank you police chiefs and crooked politicians across the country for helping to draft this idiotic standard.

Reason this is important to me is I'm throwing together a shotgun from various Mossberg parts and have finally...at least until I find another shorty stock that strikes the old fancy...hit upon the most comfortable barrel/stock combo that complies with what my masters will allow me to own. The 18.5" barrel and pistol grip stock is working out to a hair over 28" so I've still some room to play with so its probably off to the pawn shops to see who'll let me swap out one piece or another. If I DO happen to find a shorter grip/stock thats okay too because I've a 20" barrel set aside just in case.

Part of the reason for slimming down is the fact that its damned difficult to be fiddling with a long ass barrel in the thicker brush, and the finished product will most likely be a home defense gun too.

If anyone out there has any comments or suggestions I'd be most obliged, but one of the considerations is that it can't be all that expensive because I lose too many guns in the swamp.

I've also got a long list of ammunition to try out...hey, somebody's gotta do it...since the recoil will be more difficult to tame and this is a weapon I want Lisa to use as well. Some of the "reduced recoil" buckshots have arrived, as well as various slugs but one thing I'll never do is download to birdshot for anything larger than, well, a bird.