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Staying with the same theme of a quiet approach/stealth mode, the latest addition is a fully moderated over and under shotgun.






Its a basic Italian Investarm 20ga, single trigger, with fixed chokes at 1/2 and 3/4.
The fully moderated barrel makes it quieter than the Mossberg moderated pump, especially with subsonic cartridges.
With a barrel length of 30", it is much smaller than the Mossberg .
It also has a much closer "point of aim", so the front heavy allowance is almost minimal.

This shows the "internals" of the moderator.

The moderator is a 360 adonised metal tube with about 1" of thread at the bottom, that screws on to this male threaded flange on the gun (sorry about the excess grease blob) .
A grub screw is used to "secure" it.



This is the gun with the moderator removed.
You can see the set of six holes drilled through the original barrel.



Finally, the two pieces side by side.
The moderator is hollow until the end of the original barrels, then the extra length is taken up by baffles inside the moderator.




I will keep the Mossberg for evening rabbits and walking around the barns, etc., but I found the pump action movement in the hide/blind was spooking additional incoming birds.
The extra length in the hide was also difficult on occasions.

Its quite surprising how many avenues the quieter approach is opening up for me.
I shot 45 pigeons in 2 hours around a grain store, that I would not have been allowed to shoot with a normal 12 ga, due to nearby housing and noise nuisance.
I have also been asked to clear out the crows from a large pig farm, which has a Hospital within 400 yards and there are a few more opportunities in the pipeline.
I don't want too many crow shooting offers as I can't sell them and 20ga cartridges are at $395 per 1000, with the subsonics at $480 per 1000.

Fortunately, I still have lots of land where the unmodified 12ga can be used with impunity and good effect.
There is no doubt I shoot better with my "standard" guns, but I am also enjoying the novelty of the latest additions.

That is one wild setup!

Any specs on how much velocity is lost with the barrel holes?

Dubble

Beautiful gun!

Thanks for sharing with us Cran. How much did you have to cut out the rack in you gun cabinet? I'll bet that rascal makes a low note when you blow through the barrels ta call the dogs in.

Thanks for your question Dubble...that's exactly what I was wondering as well.

That is awesome! How loud is it? Pellet rifle loud? Hammer on wood loud?
Just curious. I wonder if its legal here??

bman wrote:That is awesome! How loud is it? Pellet rifle loud? Hammer on wood loud?
Just curious. I wonder if its legal here??

Not without waiting 6 or so months and getting a federal $200 tax stamp.

We had a local representative (John Bulloch) here in Georgia try to enact legislation to make silencers legal. It flopped.


I just hate the Feds. They are Sooooooo stupid. How does a silencer make a gun more dangerous?


You get a ticket if your car does not have a muffler, but you get jail if your gun does.....Bureaucrats...


Dubble

I don't have any technical specification ballistics information, but I will contact the Gunsmiths who do the conversion and see if that information is available.
From a practical point of view, there appears to be no loss of effectiveness caused by the moderation.
In fact, with the tight chokes, I can consistently kill crows out to 45 yards, using 1oz loads, No6 shot .

It doesn't sound like a gun shot and the noise is difficult to describe, its like a flat hand clap (cup your hands and clap slowly).
I do not own a video camera, but I will set up a demonstration of the shot noise comparisons and post it on here.

This gun fits into my cabinet nicely, as it has the equivalent of a 30inch barrel, but I have to remove the moderator from the Mossberg to get it into the cabinet.

Cranfield wrote:I don't have any technical specification ballistics information, but I will contact the Gunsmiths who do the conversion and see if that information is available.
From a practical point of view, there appears to be no loss of effectiveness caused by the moderation.
In fact, with the tight chokes, I can consistently kill crows out to 45 yards, using 1oz loads, No6 shot .

It doesn't sound like a gun shot and the noise is difficult to describe, its like a flat hand clap (cup your hands and clap slowly).
I do not own a video camera, but I will set up a demonstration of the shot noise comparisons and post it on here.

This gun fits into my cabinet nicely, as it has the equivalent of a 30inch barrel, but I have to remove the moderator from the Mossberg to get it into the cabinet.

This made me think of another question. Once modified, the gun can not be fired with out the moderator on, right?

Dubble

I spoke to the Gunsmith today and he said that the velocity drop is minimal, because all the pressure is contained within the moderator tube.
Each gun has to be proofed and stamped by the Birmingham Proof House and they have made no variation on the stamp.

I asked him about firing the gun without the moderator, having first explained the question wasn't from me, but from my cousin, who we consider a bit simple.
He said it was a bit like driving a car with your eyes shut, you can do it, you might even emerge unscathed, but you shouldn't really try it.

Cranfield wrote:I spoke to the Gunsmith today and he said that the velocity drop is minimal, because all the pressure is contained within the moderator tube.
Each gun has to be proofed and stamped by the Birmingham Proof House and they have made no variation on the stamp.

I asked him about firing the gun without the moderator, having first explained the question wasn't from me, but from my cousin, who we consider a bit simple.
He said it was a bit like driving a car with your eyes shut, you can do it, you might even emerge unscathed, but you shouldn't really try it.

Yeh, But imagine the light show it would be at night!

"Here, hold my beer and watch THIS!"

"simple" Dubble