- Grambo's Guns

Why I'm here.

I grew up in a somewhat liberal, extremely pacifist household in the equally liberal Washington state. I had some good friends who introduced me to the errors of my upbringing. Guns (any weapons really) were a forbidden topic in my house, so when I was first introduced to shooting sports I fell in love- kind of a forbidden fruit thing I think. My mother still wonders where she went so wrong.

Because of my upbringing, and my poverty in college, I am not your average gun guy. Most “gun people” buy a gun and it stays in the family, passed on through generations when the owner goes to their heavenly reward. I, on the other hand, go through guns like they were work pants. I get bored, or I look too close, or I shoot them till I don’t like them anymore. Over the past five years I have bought, shot, and sold or traded More than 50 firearms. Along the way I have learned TONS, established opinions, and had a great time. Now some will ask, “Why” ? It all comes down to a deal I made with my incredibly beautiful, and patient wife. When we were first engaged we talked about lots of important things in great detail, and one of those was firearms. She knew I liked guns and enjoyed shooting (though at the time neither of us had any idea how big this would become). She was worried about having hundreds of guns strewn everywhere around the house. We set a four gun limit at any given time. Over the years that deal has been revisited and modified, but the rule made me sell a gun before I could get a new one. It also has led me to play with a ton of platforms and a ton of accessories. This review blog is based on the experience gathered along the way. I have also figured out how to self-fund my gun addiction. In our house “gun money” is a separate entity, though I have on occasion used it to spoil my wife. “Gun money” is money made from a gun sale that is used for buying another gun or ammo. (Gun money also magically accumulates when I let my wife pick our sons names). Guns have become a real investment to mee, they hold their value very well. I have made a lot of additional “gun money” along the way. My addiction started with a $550 initial investment and has grown to around $15,000 in guns, and around $8000 in ammo (though little of that is left) in the course of five years.

Remington 1100 (12 ga)

My quest for the perfect shotgun was ongoing, but I thought a semi auto might be the next stop so I found an old beat up hunting 1100 for a great price and set out to tactilize it and make it more functional. I got an 18.5 inch barrel with great sights and a tapco skeletinized stock set. Then I installed a 9+1 mag tube and a side saddle. Then I got a speed loader load gate and spent three nights installing it (lots of filing, and a tough install). But in the end I had a competition worthy black shotty, the problem was I didn’t intend to build a competition only shot gun; I wanted a Swiss army knife. The mag tube made the gun over 4 feet long, it was way to useless for an all a rounder (though I did win two turkey shoots with it) I used it in one three gun match and then I sold it to a fellow competitor, who could have a quiver of guns. There were many things I really liked about the gun though, and the pistol style sights were on the top of the list for sure.

THE GOOD:

The tapco stock set was nice and comfy, but they don’t make it anymore, so good luck finding one.

the speed gate replaces the dumb little locking button and makes loading much faster, I would put one on a 1100 but I would pay a gunsmith to install it, that thing was a bugger.

THE BAD:

With the extended mag tube it was more than 4.5 feet long

The 1100 platform is very strong, but not as easy to disassemble at the Mossberg 930

FINAL THOUGHTS:

I liked a lot about the 1100, but it still didn’t do everything I wanted, so

The quest continued for the perfect shot gun.