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MX5 Autoloading Shotgun

PostPosted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 9:17 am
by John A.
After a friend of mine got one last week, and for the price they are being sold for, I had to have one.

Being under $200 brand new, they're worth it.

Naturally, you're not getting a $600 gun and there are some shortcuts with the gun (plastic trigger housing and follower to name two), but I'm going to like it for a field gun. Especially if I can figure out what chokes they take so I can get a full choke for hunting with it since that was my main goal for the gun in the first place.

Box says it takes Mobil chokes. It don't. So, I'm taking measurements and emailing back and forth with carlsons to figure out what in the world it is. If it turns out to not be an old style Franchoke, I'll have to fire off an email to the importer. Which insisted it was a mobil choke yesterday in the first place, so I doubt that I'll do any better asking again today.

The choke on the left is the factory choke, the one on the right is a mobile choke.

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Anyway, the gun has an 20" barrel. The gun is light. I think in the low 6 lb. territory. Despite being so light, recoil isn't terrible either.

Holds 4+1 out of the box. Has the mag plug to limit it to 2+1 for those like me that have hunting restrictions.

The barrel is chrome lined, and makes cleaning a snap. Even much of the trigger components and hammer is chromed.

And they went another step better and chromed the inside/outside of the magazine tube, the gas piston and even the action/slide arms which I thought was a really nice touch considering that directly relates to how well the gun functions.

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It only has one extractor and I really wish it had two, but it doesn't appear to be a MIM part. So, I'm glad that they didn't skimp on that.

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You can ask anyone that knows me, but I hate plastic followers. I've never had one break on me, but I usually don't give them the opportunity to.

So, I made one from 6061 Aluminum on my lathe.

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Painted the front of it bright yellow to make it a little easier to tell at a glance if there is another shell in the tube.

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Out of curiosity, I got a few guns out of my safe that have magazine extensions and the +3 Remington 870 has the correct screw threads. After I put it in place, there was a slight gap where the extension isn't threaded as deeply as the aluminum Emporer cap.

I saw one video on youtube where a guy sawed off some of the magazine tube so he could add the extension.

I wanted to go about that a lot less aggressively. So, I made a simple shim from aluminum on my lathe. I would paint it flat black if I kept the extension on the gun, but there was no hacksawing involved.

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And I believe the last thing I was looking at yesterday was the big blade sight on the front.

It worked well. But last night, I modified it a little and put in a green fiber tube. Not because the gun really needed it, but because the light gathering fiber sights make hunting a little easier to do. Especially in early morning or late evening shots.

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If I can find a full choke, and if the pattern is way off from the point of aim, I may drill and tap the receiver for a scope rail and add a red dot sight. But first thing is finding a choke that fits it.

Re: Emporer Firearms MX5 Autoloading Shotgun

PostPosted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 8:49 pm
by John A.
I've been in contact with the importer today, and they told me that some of the barrels (obviously mine) came in with the (pre-1998) Franchi (Franchoke) threads instead of the advertised mobil chokes.

Which the franchoke being out of production for 2 decades, makes finding them available is a challenge.

Carlson chokes still make them. Prices range from $30 to about $50 each choke unfortunately.

The importer told me they would order a couple of sets if I was willing to wait about 15-30 days for them to get them.

Told me the price of the chokes would be $15 a piece, which is more along the lines of what I'd be willing to pay for them.

I told them I wanted a Full and a modified choke to go with the cylinder choke that came with the gun and they said they'd let me know when they came in. That should take care of the majority of the ways that I would be hunting with the gun.

So, I'm going to keep my fingers crossed.

I'm still going to be keeping my eye out for used chokes just in case that falls through. And who knows. With any luck, maybe I'll be able to find them for even less.

Re: Emporer Firearms MX5 Autoloading Shotgun

PostPosted: Thu Mar 01, 2018 5:00 pm
by John A.
Did some more testing and shooting today. The fiber bead was a lot easier for my eye to pick up on.

I went up to the range to blow off a little steam and only took a box of shells. On the drive up, it started raining. I didn't let that stop me since it's not the first time I've been wet.

I must say, that getting the barrel hot watching the raindrops flash steam off, and seeing the smoke drifting up from the barrel after each mag dump was a welcome sight.

The gun just kept chugging right along.

This gun is definitely a keeper.

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Re: Emporer Firearms MX5 Autoloading Shotgun

PostPosted: Fri Mar 02, 2018 8:59 am
by ripjack13
Nice....I like the mods. Although I would have used blaze orange instead of yellow.
I like the charging handle too....

Re: Emporer Firearms MX5 Autoloading Shotgun

PostPosted: Fri Mar 02, 2018 10:38 am
by John A.
Thanks ripjack.

I think it's going to be a good gun. It's turning out to be so far. I'm really surprised at how well it's doing. Especially for what they cost. I'm not going to lie, you can tell that it's not a Benelli M4, but it's also about fifteen hundred dollars less than one too :lol:

I only had red and yellow'ish green fiber rods. And the yellow shows up better than the red to my eyes, so that's why I used it. I admit that I've never used the orange or white/clear. Do you like using them better?

I still have a few more little things that I'm rolling around in my head that I may do to it.

Threading and tapping the receiver to be able to add a scope rail maybe. That way I can dial in precisely to get the point of aim/impact dead on. But I'm waiting until I get a full or extra full choke to see how it shoots with the blade sight first.

For now, it's dead nuts with a slug so I may not really need to do that.

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The only reason that I think I might have to, the cylinder choke spreads out the birdshot so much that it's too hard to tell what it's doing, so I'm going to hold off on that mod for the time being until I'm able to get a more suitable choke for that and then shoot some to see how it does and cross that bridge when I come to it. If I need to add a rail and optic, I will, if I don't, that's fine too. I prefer if I don't actually.

Depending on how the political situation goes with all the ban talk, I may be getting a +3 mag extension for it before I do anything else even though last week that was the last thing on my list of things to do to it.

I lived through that BS before and I know how that ends. Unless you have a govt/agency letterhead, you won't order one at any cost. :evil: Just like regular capacity magazines.

Right now, the extension that is on it is just a loaner that came off my 870. I only robbed it to test it on this gun and to satisfy my curiosity and so I can measure everything to make the necessary shim to be able to make them compatible with each other.

I can't hunt with more than 2+1, but I only hunt a few months a year. The rest of the year, would be used much differently. Especially when out riding the ATV through the woods and checking my trail cameras and stuff. No pun intended, but I'm always loaded for bear for that. Being ate alive by a pack of wild predators doesn't appeal to anyone.

And I guess the fourth thing, may eventually be a camo job. This one would be easier and have less parts to do than a pump because less parts are exposed. Especially with all those parts hidden underneath of the handguard and stuff.

It'll be a work in progress for a while, but for the time being, I'm just enjoying shooting it.

Re: Emporer Firearms MX5 Autoloading Shotgun

PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 5:39 pm
by John A.
I decided that the straight black just wasn't going to work where I hunt, so I took a couple of hours last night and today to do something about it.

For the sake of posterity, I used satin nutmeg rustoleum for the base coat, brown boots krylon for the orangish accents and the streaks are satin expresso rustoleum and all of that is underneath of matte clear rustoleum.

The base coat was solid and everything else was done with a sea sponge.

This is the first time that I've done much using spray paint and I like the way it turned out. While I usually use the water immersion film, I think this is just as good for anyone that has patience to do it.

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The only way I could get the orabgish accents to show up on camera was an extreme closeup in direct sun.

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I just noticed on kygunco's website, they're now showing out of stock.

Re: Emporer Firearms MX5 Autoloading Shotgun

PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 11:42 pm
by Scorpion8
Groovy. Loving this project. I wonder how their O/U's are?

Re: Emporer Firearms MX5 Autoloading Shotgun

PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 11:54 pm
by John A.
I can't speak of theirs because this is my first experience with them.

However, I have a tristar over and under that was imported from Turkey that my wife gave me for Christmas a few years ago and it's really nice.

I'm 99% positive that it's the same manufacturer that makes the Mossberg Silver Reserve II.

https://i.imgur.com/lXljbLI.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/8ptotaQ.jpg?1

Re: Emporer Firearms MX5 Autoloading Shotgun

PostPosted: Mon Mar 05, 2018 3:23 pm
by Scorpion8
Not to thread hijack, but the TriStar's create such wide opinions on either side that it's hard to know where the truth lies with Turkish products. The TT-15 Trap guns get wide acclaim, but everyone disparages the lower end Setters and Hunters (at least if you try to use them for Trap). I seriously doubt that their quality drops off so far from one line to another, and I've thought of getting a Hunter myself.

Re: Emporer Firearms MX5 Autoloading Shotgun

PostPosted: Mon Mar 05, 2018 4:16 pm
by John A.
It is a different subject, but I don't mind giving you my opinion of the one I have.

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The wood is a little proud if that bothers you. It doesn't me. I actually think it looks really pretty.

The gun is a little stiff at first. After a couple of boxes of shells, not so bad.

Mine doesn't have ejectors. You have to pull the shells by hand. That does and doesn't bother me. It's good since I reload. Though for hunting, that does get on my nerves.

With the choke combination that I have in the gun, it shoots really great patterns. And to me, is the main thing where I am concerned.

Blueing is nice dark and deep.

Checkering and engraving is done by laser. While I appreciate hand craftsmanship, don't expect it at the $350 price mark. The laser engraving looks nice. And there's really no problem with it. But maybe you understand what I mean. It's just more, how to say it? assembly line'ish.

As I mentioned earlier it's a little on the heavy side. And you will want to have a slip on butt pad or padded shooting vest. It's got some kick to it.

You can flip the lever and shoot top or bottom barrel first depending one where you put it. (I like shooting the top barrel first because it's closest to the front bead and I just am more used to that).

Re: MX5 Autoloading Shotgun

PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2018 7:44 pm
by John A.
I have a Carlsons extra full (.680) choke ordered that should be here tomorrow morning according to the tracking number.

I am seriously looking forward to trying the gun out with it and seeing how it does with regular shot sizes.

I already know that it does good with slugs and buck with the cylinder choke.

I have a handful of shells loaded up with different wads and velocities to see if the gun has a clear preference of one over another.

Stay tuned for some shot patterning. I don't even care that it's been snowing on and off since yesterday and we're under a winter weather advisory.

Re: MX5 Autoloading Shotgun

PostPosted: Thu Mar 15, 2018 12:40 pm
by John A.
The choke finally arrived today.

Was able to do some testing. On all the loads that I tested, they all were shooting a little left to the point of aim. I will likely get an optic so I can dial it in a little better.

The best patterning load was the 1-1/4oz #6 with the DRA-12 Winchester style wad. I expected that it would have been the hornady, but that wasn't the case.

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The hornady wad didn't do badly by any stretch of the imagination either. But the DRA12 wad above did have a tighter pattern in this shotgun for all the shots that I did with it. Hornady pattern below.

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