It's a fairly dead nuts copy of the 1878 Colt coach gun. A good gun but their downfall is the hammer springs seem not to hold their temper well and you get light strikes. Cimarron also produces the same gun with a box lock action, no external hammers but the same looks, specs and the box lock doesn't suffer the weak hammer springs of the external hammered model. My thought is folks with weak hammer springs tend to keep/store the gun with the hammers cocked, which I don't.
We should start a thread about cheap, but reliable over/under, side-by-side and single shot shotguns. I have a Browning O/U and a Beretta semiauto for Trap/Skeet and hunting, but they are not cheap.
I saw a guy at a match wit a Kel-Tek shotgun TRY to use those. He spent more time clearing malfunctions than he did shooting.
So my OPSol adapters arrived and after a very easy installation into my Mossberg 500 12 gauge, I decided to give it a try and see whether or not it was worth the cost. In my experience, I tried the Aguila 1 3/4 shells with 7 1/2 shot in them first, and I also had some slugs which I tried after. After the 20 second install of the rubber adapter, I loaded the gun with 8 rounds in the gun and 9 with 1 in the chamber. I was very pleased at the pattern of the 7 1/2 shot at 25 ft. I then moved back to 15 yards and still a decent pattern.. I had some balloons blown up and took them with me to see how well the shells shot. I killed all 5 balloons with the shot shells. There are a few things to consider, 1.This gun was brand new and never shot before these were shot through them 2 I had never shot this gun before bet have shot others 3 I was not running them through as fast as I could 4. It took a few shots to get the feeling of it in my hands. With more shooting I will progress. My opinion of the 1 3/4 shells is yes, not as many bb's but still enough to kill birds and squirrels etc. I would not suggest for ducks, geese or turkeys as I don't think the killing power is there for them unless closer, which is expected. I also don't think the slugs, which ran flawless would be great for deer etc. unless close. They also shot a decent group, but the shooter sure needs more practice.. Both the shot shell and slugs cycled without absolutely no issues, misfires, or not chambering at all. After I was done shooting these shells, I tried some reloaded AA 2 3/4 as well as some new 3 inch in the gun, Again, NO issue at all. The rubber plug fits firmly in my gun and takes a little effort to simply push out below using a thumb. I think these would be a good HD loads but since my gun has a 28 inch barrel it would be to clumsy to use it as a self defense weapon anyways. The shells shot great and recoil was noticeably less than the 2 3/4-3 inch shells as expected. Overall, I'll buy more of these to practice target shooting with and play around with. Since I don't hunt, Targets will be my goal.
My son really likes the mini shells. He uses them in an 870. He says they run well in that gun. I have a double barrel Coach gun. I keep it as backup to my 870. I really like the Coach gun but I want more rounds for HD. If the 870 ever fails, which is very unlikely, and I have 12ga shells remaining the Coach gun will be used.
I have never had a hiccup with the opsol adapter and mini shells,shot or slugs.easy to install and uninstall.how come I didn't think of it.