Stevens 94 20 ga turkey mods

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msalm
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Stevens 94 20 ga turkey mods

Post by msalm »

So I wanted to make an old 20ga single shot more suitable for turkey, which meant to me either swaging the muzzle tighter and tuning for tss loads, or adding choke tubes. Looking at the options and having a lathe I figured the mobile choke would be the easiest to machine without buying a special (expensive) tap for a one off job. Barrel bore was .630, OD .740-.750 and the OD of the Beretta choke tube threads was just too close to the barrel OD for my liking. Sooo, I made a swage to expand the choke portion of the barrel and leave enough ID to just clean up with the boring bar and then thread muzzle end for the 30 TPI threads. Still have boring and threading to go, but it looks like this will work! Whatdaya think?
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This included cutting the barrel from 28 to 25 1/2” as that was the shortest I could fit through the headstock.

Hopefully have it done this week and sweat on some rifle sights and see what I end up with.
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Hognutz
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Re: Stevens 94 20 ga turkey mods

Post by Hognutz »

Sounds like a fun project. I hope it works out for you! Good luck!
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msalm
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Re: Stevens 94 20 ga turkey mods

Post by msalm »

Thank you. Something about a simple sub 5lb single shot appeals to me. Handy might be the proper term and if I can get patterns like many posted on here I will be pretty pleased. I also ordered a honing kit to smooth and polish the bore...might as well go all out. I believe I paid all of $85 for the gun 10+ years ago but it’s really in great shape. I also found 410 barrels for it so that could very well turn into another project too.
msalm
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Re: Stevens 94 20 ga turkey mods

Post by msalm »

I should mention I also made a piloted forcing cone reamer out of O1 and reamed out the chamber for 3” shells along with extending the forcing cone.
msalm
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Re: Stevens 94 20 ga turkey mods

Post by msalm »

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Well, the Mobile choke wasn’t an option as my lathe doesn’t cut 30 TPI and the square thread would have been a pain, SO since the bore slugged .630” which is basically an Invector Plus backbored dimension and I had just picked up an SX4 20 gauge along with a few choke tubes I decided to single point cut that thread pattern (23/32nds by 32 TPI). Had to make some tooling to reach deeper into the bore. I had already swaged the barrel to .006-8” under the minor dimension of the choke tube so I dialed it back in the lathe and then bored out the OAL of the choke portion. Then I single point threaded the entire length of the bored cylinder until the choke tubes threaded in easily. After that I relieved enough threads, boring the forward portion for an easy fit of the body of the choke and took one more clean up pass of the threading tool to clean any burrs in the thread start. Dang if it didn’t work. I normally just do precision rifle work and this was an enjoyable exercise outside my comfort zone, but it did work. I have a few different chokes and it looks like the factory Winchester may be a good start as it’s .565”, and I may hone it out some more. Otherwise the IC .555 may get opened up to .570-5 or so as thanks to the info on this board it seems TSS responds better to the more open chokes with the larger bores.

Still need to either sweat on a ghost ring sight setup or figure out a base arrangement I can mount a low red dot/RMR type sight along with cutting the stock down and installing a 1” Decelerator pad. Hope it patterns!!
Chrmayo
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Re: Stevens 94 20 ga turkey mods

Post by Chrmayo »

Very interesting. Going to be a sweet little rig.
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Re: Stevens 94 20 ga turkey mods

Post by Hoobilly »

Looking forward to seeing the finished gun!
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msalm
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Re: Stevens 94 20 ga turkey mods

Post by msalm »

Thanks for the comments, not sure if I’ll get it done this weekend as I have a pile of rifle barrels to thread for brakes, but I’m going to at least see if there’s hope on the pattern board!
toypar
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Re: Stevens 94 20 ga turkey mods

Post by toypar »

I have a 20 gauge 94 that I got when I was young. It is in great shape. I shot some tss out of it to see what it would do. But every time I shot it with the tss the forearm came off. Didn’t want to hurt the gun so forgot the ideal of making it a turkey gun. Any suggestions


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Re: Stevens 94 20 ga turkey mods

Post by quavodus »

That ought to be a sweet little gun. Might pattern really good.
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Re: Stevens 94 20 ga turkey mods

Post by dawei »

toypar wrote: April 29th, 2021, 7:28 amI have a 20 gauge 94 that I got when I was young. It is in great shape. I shot some tss out of it to see what it would do. But every time I shot it with the tss the forearm came off. Didn’t want to hurt the gun so forgot the idea of making it a turkey gun. Any suggestions


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Try the gun with lead (Pb) loads such as Winchester® Longbeard™ XR, or DoubleX®...

https://winchester.com/Products/Ammunit ... R/STLB2035
https://winchester.com/Products/Ammunit ... R/STLB2036
https://winchester.com/Products/Ammunit ... -X/STH2034
https://winchester.com/Products/Ammunit ... -X/STH2035
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crow
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Re: Stevens 94 20 ga turkey mods

Post by crow »

toypar wrote: April 29th, 2021, 7:28 am I have a 20 gauge 94 that I got when I was young. It is in great shape. I shot some tss out of it to see what it would do. But every time I shot it with the tss the forearm came off. Didn’t want to hurt the gun so forgot the ideal of making it a turkey gun. Any suggestions


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Get some camo Vet wrap from Tractor supply, wrap it snug around the forearm and barrel, forearm will not come off.

if you want to shoot tss and are concerned about pressures, get a low pressure load from Hal or Tommy, or see if Foxtrot will load you some
LockStock&Arrow
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Re: Stevens 94 20 ga turkey mods

Post by LockStock&Arrow »

How did this project turn out?
msalm
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Re: Stevens 94 20 ga turkey mods

Post by msalm »

Well, all in all it worked, still have some playing around to do with it for loads as patterns were respectable but not inspiring. I ended up reaming the chamber/forcing cone a little deeper an didn’t get back to the pattern board with it. I got side tracked with collecting all the supplies to load for it including wads, hulls, roll crimper, some tss and all the same stuff for a 28 ga Benelli UL…and then I saw something shiny in the distance and it was set aside! I’m guessing I’ll revisit this project about 1-2 months before turkey season next spring…I hope!
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aclawrence
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Stevens 94 20 ga turkey mods

Post by aclawrence »

I have a sweet little Stevens 94. I think it’s a youth model because the stock and barrel are pretty short. I like a youth gun length of pull because I’m short but this stock is even a little too short for me. It’s missing a trigger guard right now which is a bummer. I don’t know what happened to it but my brothers must have lost or broken it over the years. I’ve thought about getting it out and shooting it with some turkey loads to see what it would do. I thinking would kick like a mule so a slip over recoil pad will probably in order. It would be a dream to carry and would have that sentimental thing going to as it was the first gun I ever shot. I killed my first squirrels with it to.


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LockStock&Arrow
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Re: Stevens 94 20 ga turkey mods

Post by LockStock&Arrow »

I have my great grandfather’s 94/94B in 20 gauge that I was thinking about taking out of the safe and putting to practical use. Along with yourself, GLS has a nice collection of 220B’s that he uses for turkeys, which is the next version model of this lineage.

I should revisit this shotgun and fire some shells, see how she does and decide if I want to cut and choke her as you did. Very motivating thread for me, thank you as it has bee. something I have been mentally kicking around for about 15 years too long unfortunately.
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