So I bought this old sxs12 ga
 

I bought this old CIL 710 shotgun , as it says in the title it’s a sxs double . I bought it at a pretty reasonable price with the intentions of transforming from a set of 30” barrels to a set of 19” barrels . I assume it is a full choke gun but there are no markings to indicate this . It is a Made in the USA gun, it’s heavy and it’s in really nice condition.
My dilemma now is do I really want to chop a perfectly serviceable double barrel that seems to be pretty decent quality or should I leave it alone. I really don’t think it is the type of gun to ever be considered “collectable” or valuable in that sense. It locks up tight it’s not banged up the bores are excellent.


What to do what to do?

Jungleboy what you have there is a rebranded Savage 311.
Not aa high dollar gun, but you may be able to find an extra set of barrels from Western Gunparts for it.:)
Cat

try
 

Putting a dime in the muzzle.A FC will not accept it but a Mod will.It may be more open choked but I doubt it.

My very first gun was a CIL 710 Twelve Gauge... I still have it, although the stock cracked about 35 years ago, and I’ve been looking for one... was a great shotgun...

stock
 

Boyds or Numrich likely has one.

Thanks for the info gentleman. I will look for barrels perhaps , can’t convince myself to chop it otherwise. I did the dime trick and it appears to be full/ modified so that’s a plus . I will pattern it and shoot it some before I get too carried away .

You may want to consider just buying a short double or O/U. If they come from the factory that way you can buy ones with 12 or 14" barrels. I bought one that my brother now has made by Ricoh. 20 gauge O/U, screw in chokes, 14" barrels. They were about $450 and also came in 12 gauge, so probably about the same as a second set of fitted barrels. Very handy for grouse and for packing as bear medicine. If you cut the barrels you can't go under 18".

Personally I wouldn't bother tocut them, thee barrels BTWW are more than likely MOD/FULL.
Cat

New guns are so cheap, no sense chopping one and losing the choke in the process.

Grizz

Took her out and did some test firing with it today. She goes bang and hits where it’s supposed to .
I stepped on the the bathroom scale and then picked up the gun ... I gained 9 lbs when I picked it up 😳😀. I think I will leave her alone for now. 2020 has been crazy enough that cutting up a perfectly good gun might just bring more bad luck that I don’t need.

Doubles make nice wall hangers if nothing else.

Grizz

Ugh, at 9 lbs, it's a beast for a SxS.

Others have said it may have been originally chocked full and modified, which I believe. An older gun like yours, toss any choke markings out the window.

It's definitely not a collectable shotgun. I would not put much money into it.

I got a Stevens 311 w/30" M&F barrels and cracked buttplate a couple yrs ago. it was a "pig" to carry and shoot...the slowest handling shotgun "ever". I ended up taking the chop saw with a zip-cut blade installed to it....22" now. After dressing the barrel cuts with a big flat file and fine chain saw file, I unscrewed the bead and reinstalled it on the shortened rib. The plastic buttplate was pulled, the stock shortened about 1/2" on the chop saw and a surplus to my needs 1" thick KickEze pad fitted and ground to a "field" configuration. I did a bit of stock refinishing locally around a couple of dings. The metal was pretty good with a lot of the case coloring still intact.

I shot a couple rounds of skeet with it with the new cylinder choked (no choke) short barrels and the added recoil pad. It handled very quickly! I also carried it on the blood trail of an arrowed black bear with some slugs that came with the gun. Nice to carry and confidence inspiring in the thick. The bear was expired so no drama!

Also carried it when going back for the meat from my second bear...hung up and game bagged the evening before. Again the old Stevens was nice to have in hand as I was in good grizzly country and it was thick. Nothing had touched the meat over-night.

Summary...I turned a $100 shotgun that I'd never use as designed into a decent thick cover defense shotgun...all for a few hours of shop work including the installation of a spare recoil pad. Great project as far as I am concerned.