The thought hit me in early December that the Mooselette could stand a full-sized grown-up turkey gun. I had not finished my first cup of coffee before I found a swinging deal on a Mossberg 535 that was receiving no bids. Bang! I had it. It was on the way to the FFL. I’d scored!
The fact that this is titled “A New Gunsmith” should tell you this wasn’t as hot a deal as it seemed. Cosmetically, it was just fine. However, when I attempted to remove the included choke tube, it was a no-go. No problem. I knew what to do.
. . . or so I thought. I tried Kerosene and ATF. I tried Acetone. I tried penetrating oil. NADA. All I got was a bent choke tube wrench. By this time, it was January. I wanted this done by Mooselette’s birthday in February. I was going to be dealing with my eye surgeries in January. I pulled the emergency cord and started looking for gunsmiths.
I found Brian Ross over in Pleasant Ridge close to the golf course.
I did not have much to go on besides his website. However, it said in the bio that he was a Marine, and the buddy that got me into shooting originally was a Jarhead, so I knew they could turn out decent armorers. I called. The fellow sounded competent, so I went with him. I dropped the barrel off in mid-January while KYHillChick was riding me around for eye appointments. Brian said he could have it done before February and we left it at that.
He contacted me at the end of the month. It had been tougher than he expected, and he was ordering a tool. We were going to miss Mooselette’s birthday, but I was not bummed. There was a foot of snow on the ground and nobody was going out shooting. I presented her with some boxes of turkey ammo and the barrel-less receiver and basically said I’d make it up to her. She was cool with it.
A week later, Brian was back in touch with this pic to my phone.
I was over there yesterday to pick it up. Slam. Bang. Done. Brian gets 5 stars with peanut butter clusters and the Shamanic Seal of Approval.
I’ll let y’all know about the shotgun after I get it all put together for turkey season.
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