My friend Marlon calls it Ghetto Engineering,but I know it as Redneck Engineering, and no Jeff Foxworthy jokes please.
By either term, the paradigm is....
Make it rather than buy it.
Use what's at hand rather than buy stuff.
Keep the cost down as much as possible, because money's tight but trash is free.
As pertaining to shotguns, here's a few examples.
A section of drainpipe, the sort that carries water from the gutters on a house to wherever you want it to go. The pipe was squeezed shut at one end by the simple expedient of driving a Ford Farmall tractor over it. It was secured to that tractor by baling wire and a rim of old garden hose,split and cut to fit, placed over that end to protect the finish of a 16 gauge H&R single shot. When things flushed in front of that tractor, I got pretty good at throwing it into neutral, grabbing the H&R, and making meat.
Some of us like a little weight up front, oft more than an extended choke tube may add. On repeaters, we can buy a weight that's attached to a mag cap, or we can make one.
A bought weight will set you back about $65. A 2.5" 1/4X28 bolt. nut, lock washer and enough donut washers to fill the shank will cost less than $5 and weigh about 3 oz. Use something like a 9/32" drill to make a hole and insert the bolt after using all the washers but one. Add that one on the inside, the lock washer and the nut, tighten up and install. A wrap of black electrical tape adds a certain panache.
Wonderful Wife is heavily into crafts. She bought a roll of material some time back that's like Neoprene, and has adhesive on both sides. About 1/8" thick, it was meant to back up rubber stamps attached to wood blocks. Cut into sections and placed under a pad or butt plate, it serves to lengthen the Pull and cushion the kick slightly. Use a sharp knife to trim.I added close to 3/8" to my 20 gauge SKB O/U this way.
Some folks,both for sporting and defensive purposes, like a very bright front sight. At hobby shops, Testor's enamel comes in little bottles for painting model airplanes,etc, and costs just a couple bucks. A dab of bright yellow makes the front sight on my HD 870 very visible in low light, and a dab of white on the front sight of my deer gun stands out nicely against Bambi's shoulder.
Golf shops sell a lead tape or little dots of same to add weight to a club.These have a self stick glue on one side. Some of this applied to the inside of a forearm on a break action gun can help the balance. Added at the tip, it can add inertia to the swing. Added to the rear of the forearm near the balance point, it just adds a bit of weight to aid precision and cut kick.
I could go on, but that's enough for now. What Redneck Engineers are reading this and how do YOU make things better to and with your shotguns?....
By either term, the paradigm is....
Make it rather than buy it.
Use what's at hand rather than buy stuff.
Keep the cost down as much as possible, because money's tight but trash is free.
As pertaining to shotguns, here's a few examples.
A section of drainpipe, the sort that carries water from the gutters on a house to wherever you want it to go. The pipe was squeezed shut at one end by the simple expedient of driving a Ford Farmall tractor over it. It was secured to that tractor by baling wire and a rim of old garden hose,split and cut to fit, placed over that end to protect the finish of a 16 gauge H&R single shot. When things flushed in front of that tractor, I got pretty good at throwing it into neutral, grabbing the H&R, and making meat.
Some of us like a little weight up front, oft more than an extended choke tube may add. On repeaters, we can buy a weight that's attached to a mag cap, or we can make one.
A bought weight will set you back about $65. A 2.5" 1/4X28 bolt. nut, lock washer and enough donut washers to fill the shank will cost less than $5 and weigh about 3 oz. Use something like a 9/32" drill to make a hole and insert the bolt after using all the washers but one. Add that one on the inside, the lock washer and the nut, tighten up and install. A wrap of black electrical tape adds a certain panache.
Wonderful Wife is heavily into crafts. She bought a roll of material some time back that's like Neoprene, and has adhesive on both sides. About 1/8" thick, it was meant to back up rubber stamps attached to wood blocks. Cut into sections and placed under a pad or butt plate, it serves to lengthen the Pull and cushion the kick slightly. Use a sharp knife to trim.I added close to 3/8" to my 20 gauge SKB O/U this way.
Some folks,both for sporting and defensive purposes, like a very bright front sight. At hobby shops, Testor's enamel comes in little bottles for painting model airplanes,etc, and costs just a couple bucks. A dab of bright yellow makes the front sight on my HD 870 very visible in low light, and a dab of white on the front sight of my deer gun stands out nicely against Bambi's shoulder.
Golf shops sell a lead tape or little dots of same to add weight to a club.These have a self stick glue on one side. Some of this applied to the inside of a forearm on a break action gun can help the balance. Added at the tip, it can add inertia to the swing. Added to the rear of the forearm near the balance point, it just adds a bit of weight to aid precision and cut kick.
I could go on, but that's enough for now. What Redneck Engineers are reading this and how do YOU make things better to and with your shotguns?....
