Shortening a single-shot shotgun barrel with just hand tools
Shortening a shotgun barrel is a project plenty of gun owners consider, and in a video from Iraqveteran8888, host Eric walks through doing it with nothing but hand tools on a single-shot New England Firearms Partner. He treats it as a demonstration that a hacksaw, a file and some patience can get the job done without a lathe or specialty cutting rig.
Snapshot
Eric clamps the barrel in a vise, using the flat edge of the gun's schnabel fore-end as a built-in guide for his hacksaw. He cuts the barrel down, then files and sands the muzzle smooth before touching up the bare metal with cold bluing. His point throughout is that this kind of work, especially on a single-shot, is well within reach of a patient hobbyist without a shop full of gunsmithing equipment.
Key points
- Vise setup matters: Eric pinches the fore-end's flat against the vise jaws to create a straight reference line for the hacksaw.
- Slow and square wins: he stresses taking time on the initial cut, since a clean, square cut means far less file work afterward.
- Single shots are simpler: Eric notes that single-barrel shotguns are easier to shorten than doubles, which he says he'll cover in a future video.
- Finishing the muzzle: after cutting, he files down the fore-end to blend it, then polishes the barrel with progressively finer emery cloth, 800-grit followed by 1500-grit.
- Cold bluing for touch-up: once the metal is polished and degreased, Eric applies cold blue to restore the finish at the new muzzle.
Quick take
This is a practical, unhurried walkthrough for anyone curious whether barrel work requires a full gunsmithing setup. Eric's answer, demonstrated step by step, is that careful hand-tool technique can produce a clean result on a basic single-shot build.
Watch the full video: Iraqveteran8888