RIA USA VRF14 12 gauge firearm

[Big Frank]

Here it is with the VFG and the light back on it. And no sling loop on the back. Just a piece of foam rubber.

[Big Frank]

I didn't want to make a new thread just for this. While I was digging through a box of gun parts I pulled out the spare compensator like the one my VRF14. I was looking at it thinking it looked like it would fit on the exterior choke tubes of my mom's old bolt-action Mossberg 20 gauge. It slid partway on. Then I loosened all 6 clamping screws and it fits perfectly. The shoulder inside the compensator butts right up against the shoulder of the knurled part of the choke tube. That part is just long enough for all 6 screws to clamp it down. The end of the choke tube sicks out into the comp, even with the back of the second slot from the rear. The first slot  would only use whatever gas blew around the tapered choke tube, but the rest of it would work right. I wanted to mount a scope on this gun and use it for deer hunting, but haven't found a mount to fit it yet. The barrel is 28" long to the end of the choke tube which is way too long to swing around in the woods, and I would shorten to 18 1/2" or 20", something like that if I had a scope or red dot mounted. I have both to spare. It would be great if I found a scope mount and someone who could shorten the barrel and install a rifled choke tube. But I don't think it will ever happen. I bought a bunch of slugs and other ammo for it and don't have another 20 gauge, so I need to start shooting it. The Mossberg barrel alone is longer than the other whole gun by about 2".

[Big Frank]

I bought a left side folding stock adapter and put it on my gun. All I need now is a commercial spec stock tube adapter and a commercial spec M4-type collapsible stock. I found the stock tube adaptor for $9.20 and collapsible buttstock for commercial spec for $14.22 at ABCSportz. When I eventually apply to manufacture an SBS I'll be ready. They have the left side folding stock adapter for $11.64. I paid 23 bucks for mine and the cheapest I saw it until today was 22 bucks.

I drilled 2 holes about 3/16" diameter through the back of the shotgun grip adaptor end cap that I previously cut the sling loop off of and filed flat. I drilled a small hole horizontally through the plastic reinforcement rib on the inside where I indicated. That's for for the screw on the Samson Swivel Stud QD Adapter I put it on. Then I filled the holes and a large area inside the end cap with black hot glue and trimmed it with a knife. I was wondering how I could put a QD sling stud adaptor on the end cap then remembered I bought another pair of these.

https://www.ncstar.com/optics-acc/vg-series/20/1/3/

https://abcsportz.com/

https://www.samson-mfg.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=SS-QD-ADPT

[Big Frank]

Here are the stock and shotgun adaptor tube I ordered. It may be several years before I put them on. I have other things I need to spend money on besides ATF forms, and I need to take of them first. After I show the folding stock adaptor to my friends I might take it off and put the end cap back on. It's 4 extra ounces and about 2 inches I don't need on there, but it doesn't look like it will be a problem to leave it on. It depends mostly on how well it fits in the case, which I haven't tried yet.

[Big Frank]

With the compensator on the muzzle and the stock adaptor unfolded, the gun fits perfectly in the CAR-15 size Assault Systems Tactical Rifle Case that I bought many years ago. The owners manual is in the long pocket that was made to hold a gun cleaning kit and other small items. The 4 mag pouches contain the heavy load gas piston and a hex wrench to take the muzzle brake off, a single point bungee sling, the box from the tactical light with a changing cable and stuff in it, and a Taylor Freelance mag loader. I can't field strip the gun when the compensator is mounted because the forearm has to slide off the front before I can unscrew the nut that holds everything else together. Too bad the"magazine cap" doesn't hold the barrel on, like my Remington shotgun.

The AG3 Munitions mini loader I bought broke the first time I used it. After I see if it works since I epoxied it back together, I can pop it into the same pocket as the good mag loader. AG3 Munitions sells this POS for $10, and they also sell the MUCH better Taylor Freelance mag loader, which is only $9 on sale now. That's a no-brainer. They sell Taylor Freelance VR80 +3 Magazine Extensions separately, and the blue ones are on sale for $36 instead of $39.95. But Advanced Tactical sells Black, Red, and Gold Anodized, and Raw Aluminum ones for $29.99. They're all the old style smooth mag extensions, not the Mark II with the horizontal grasping grooves on the sides, and a dot matrix on the bottom so you can easily number them with a paint pen.

https://elitesurvival.com/collections/assault-systems-gear

https://a3gmunitions.com/

https://advancedtactical.com/

[Sponsor]

[Big Frank]

The Shotgun Grip Adapter and Collapsible Buttstock finally shipped Tuesday, 11 days after I ordered them.

[Big Frank]

It took until today for my package to leave Anaheim, CA. No package should ever sit there in one city for 18 days. It should get there and leave there the same day unless it gets there at night. Then it should leave the following morning. This is unacceptable and inexcusable. And that's why I still think the USPS sucks.

[Big Frank]

My package finally got here today but I haven't opened it yet. It took 24 days to get here since they didn't ship it until 11 days after I ordered it, then it spent 8 days setting there at the post office. It took 3 days to get here once it landed in Chicago, then Pontiac, and Detroit before heading to Flint. I think the pony express would have been faster.

[Big Frank]

Last night I measured what the length of pull would be if the new stock was on the gun. It had a LOP of 15" MINIMUM, and could extend a couple more inches from there. That was unacceptable, so here's what I did.

 1.  I took the M4 stock off my AR-15 and put the new stock on instead. And I put the M4 carbine stock on my MechTech CCU. That's one of the heaviest guns I own BTW, because it's blowback operated and the bolt is huge. Neither gun kicks bad enough to need a recoil pad, but the rubber pad stays planted on my shoulder better than solid plastic. Since the the buttplate of the CAR-15 is even smaller, a slip-on pad makes it more comfortable for me to shoulder it. Both sizes are available online if anyone wants one. If I had another CAR-15 stock I'd get a pad for it.

 2.  I took the CAR-15 stock that was on the CCU and...

 3. cut the front end with a coping saw just a hair in front of the 90 degree corner, and used a hacksaw to get through the steel insert. I didn't even know it was there until I took the stock off.

 4. I also cut the back off of the "buffer tube" stock adaptor. I cut less off of it than the stock and the with the stock collapsed, the 2 parts are so perfectly flush at the rear you'd think I knew what I was doing.

 .5  Here are the 2 pieces I cut off nested together. The new stock and tube are supposed to be commercial spec and everything else is all Mil-Spec, but it's all interchangeable with no looseness or binding. That seems to never happen to anyone else, but I got lucky.

 .6 This is when the "fun" really started. There was nothing left to keep the stock from coming off when you extend it. So I found a bolt that fit in the hole and stuck it in with green Loctite. I turned it with an Allen wrench and it felt like the threads grabbed onto the plastic in the bottom of the hole. After I cut the bolt head off, ground down the end, and filed it, I painted it black with a touch up pen. The 5 position stock was now down to 3 positions and it was still too long. I drilled a hole where the front hole should be, and not having access to a mill or any other proper tools, I had to extend the slot forward quite a bit. It already had a narrow slot in it to lighten it, so I drilled down into it, then as close to horizontal as I could with a cordless drill. That left a LOT of material that that I picked away with a utility knife until the slot was long enough, and wide enough to slide back and forth. I rounded it off at the end just for S&G and called it good.

[Big Frank]

 7.  Here's how the new stock compares to the one I modified. It's MUCH shorter now.

 .8  You can see that the stock moves fully forward when closed.

 .9  But it can slide back about 1/4" if you pull on it. It locks into the slot I made instead of fitting a hole just right. It's not enough to matter, except it's not exactly how I wanted it to turn out. Here's where the stock would attach if I put it on. I would just need to take the screw and plug out, then put the adaptor and screw in.

10.  The blue arrow shows how much the stock can move back, compared to setting flush 2 pics above this one. It looks like the minimum LOP would be shortened to 13 1/4", maybe 13 12", from a full 15" + a fraction. That'll work. It could be fully collasppsed and glued in theat poposition so there's no movement. I have the stock and the gun stored in 2 different rooms of my house, so I don't see them together and get tempted to commit a felony by combing them. If the AFT (Absolute F***ing Terrorists) come by, I hope that's good enough since I haven't combined the 2 parts, and won't if I don't get a Form 4, or whatever it is, approved to manufacture a SBS.  I suppose I could put a pistol brace on and see it having ir against my arm makes it more stable. It would give the gun a touch more weight at the rear if nothing else.

P.S. I need to see if I can find a QD sling mount that inserts into the hole in the hole on one side of the new stock and screws to the other half on the other side of the stock. Somebody makes them but I don't know who. I never paid attention because I never had a stock with a hole for QD sling cups, but nothing in the hole.