Shotguns!

After building my Zombie defender, I wasn't really looking for another shotgun, but the $40 price was too good to pass up, this one also had trigger group issues, as in there was none! This was also a brand labeled gun, this time Sears, made by Winchester. A Winchester model 1200

After sourcing a mint trigger group from a great guy (Thanks Foothills Don!) I had to decide what to do about the finish. The receiver was pretty beat up and was made of aluminum, so rebluing was out. I wanted to keep it cheap and save it as an emergency shotgun, so I went with Olive Drab and flat black paint. I also cut the barrel down to 18" and added a side saddle carrier that I bought on a whim and didn't know what it fit, turns out it fit a Winchester! I filled the side saddle with US Military buckshot that matches the color of the gun

 I then found an extended magazine, which ended up being longer than my barrel. So I had a friend make a muzzle device

Shortly after buying the Winchester, I got wrangled into buying a brand new, never fired Mossberg 500 Persuader (8 shot mag). The $200 price was too good to pass up, it also came with 2 boxes of target rounds, a hand full of buckshot and a hard sided case:

I put the Zombie grips on it, a Mossberg heat shield and a tactical light

I had also purchased this JC Higgins Model 583 (Sears) bolt action shotgun ($80!!), the metal was so so, but due to some soldering on the action I cannot hot blue the metal, I did decide to blue the small parts and refinish the stock, someone had put an ugly varnish on it, this one has genuine walnut wood!

Here is another cheap shotgun that I bought with the intention of keeping it for a home defense gun, it was only a single shot, but I was going to put a sling on it that carried extra shells, I paid like $20 for this thing, with the guarantee that it would function. It was made in Brazil, the brand name was Kresege or something like that. The stock was made of a redwood or cedar.
Here is what it looked like when I got it:

I cut the barrel down and then cut the butt stock into a pistol, I added some grip tape to cover the bolt hole in the stock and for gription (didn't know that was a word, did ya?) it looked like something out of Mad Max

I ended up selling this gun, I didn't trust it, one it was very cheaply made, two it was made in Brazil (never had much luck with their stuff) and three I knew I could find something better. I took the money I made from selling it and bought this NEF Single shot 12 gauge

 The stock was beat to hell, and I wanted something short, so I cut the barrel on this one as well. One word of caution to anyone doing this, the 18" minimum barrel length is not the only requirement, you must also make sure the gun is 26" min over all lengthwise, both this one and the Kresege above had barrels longer than 18" to comply with the 26" requirement. Anyway, I added a side saddle (screwed to the wood fore end) a tri-rail with a light and a forward pistol grip.

I ended up selling this one to buy a pump shotgun, this one was a Sears JC Higgins model 20 (High Standard), the price was cheap ($60 if I remember correctly) because it had some issues. Someone had painted the gun (and got the paint inside the action), cut the barrel and added a pistol grip that was intended for a different gun, rather than modify the grip, they modified the aluminum trigger housing, they took away too much metal from the back of it where the hammer spring pin resides
Here is what it looked like when I brought it home:

 After fixing the hammer spring, cleaning up the action and adding a fore grip strap, I sold the gun, still searching for a reliable pump shotgun...

I bought this gun, just because of the age and collector value, again I paid $60, this gun was made around the turn of the century, not sure by whom  (guesses include Savage/Stevens, Crescent Arms, Diamond Arms and Victor Arms)
A hardware store in St.Louis that ran a catalog business to mercantiles in the western towns bought these kinds of guns from multiple manufacturers, some of them got no stampings. No name, no serial number, no made in USA, nothing.
 The only stampings on the gun are the words "Army Steel" on the barrel.
 I plan on refinishing the steel using the rust blue technique. The gun actually functions well and is in decent condition.