[aandabooks]

FIL gave me a shotgun he picked up on a Black Friday sale several years ago at Dunham's for just under $100. He has never liked it and I have never shot it. It is a Chinese knockoff of an Ithaca 37. Has a screw-in choke and the barrel says not to shoot steel out of it.

I don't need it but he insisted that I take it. I was thinking about chopping it up and turning it into a short barrel pistol grip pump. Anything I would do to it would stay on the legal side. Would I be ok to cut down the barrel with it saying lead only and losing the choke? Would the barrel be likely to split?

Or, should I take it to my LGS and use it as trade fodder towards my next gun that I want?

[Blueguns]

As long as you keep the barrel at a legal length you should be okay. I'm not sure about Illinois gun laws, but I'm from California so our laws should be similar.

As far as I know pistol grip shotguns are legal in IL.

[Blueguns]

So I found out that the overall length of the gun must be 26" and the barrel length must be 18". The pistol grip should be fine. I would double check me though, just be sure.

[BillDeShivs]

Think long and hard before you cut the stock to a pistol grip. You can't put it back. If you cut the stock, you will have to deal with the stock bolt-which will be too long for the pg, and will have to be shortened and rethreaded. Then, you will have a large hole in the grip.
The barrel will be fine with lead shot.

[primer1]

I would keep the stock too. I've never shot a pistol grip, but people that have say it isn't too pleasant. The stock with the short barrel would be almost carbine like, imho.

[Chainfire]

I put a pistol grip on my HD shotgun. It did not stay on there very long before I replaced the wood. The recoil of a shotgun begs for a shoulder to rest it on. I found that the trade in size was not worth the lack of ability to aim.

[Underdog]

I would use it towards a trade for something you do want. A PGO shotgun is fun for all of 5 minutes, it will hurt you. They are cool to look at but no fun to shoot.

[HOSSFLY]

Trade it in-
Even a cheepo full shotgun is better than a cut up POS

[therewolf]

Originally Posted by HOSSFLY

Trade it in-
Even a cheepo full shotgun is better than a cut up POS

Please don't bubba another gun for us to wade through at the hock shop.

Those cut-downs all look great in the movies, but the recoil is punishing,

and, in the end, you pretty much have a useless gun.

[hiwall]

The guys above have sound advise. If you cut the barrel and dress it up nice, it will not effect trade-in value. Most(even in gun shop) would not know it was cut(or care as short barreled shotguns sell good).