Anyone turn a Winchester 1400 MK 2 into a home defense gun.Cutting the 28 " barrel etc.

Cheap shotgun, has undoubtedly been cut up a lot. Let someone you don't much care for have the 1400 and go look for a better gun for yourself.

With all due respect, I will give an opposing opinion to Oldfarmer. I think the model 1400 if maintained as all guns need, will function just fine in a HD environment. Cut the barrel back to 19-20 inches and clean it up internally well and you should be GTG.

The lack of love for the model 1400 has to do with the cheaper materials and finishes as compared to those that came before it like the model 12. They do have some rather cheap stamped parts internally but so does the Remington model 1100!

However, the model 1400 works if given half a chance with some routine maintenance.

The last model 1400 I resurrected for a friend had been propped up in a corner of a workshop building for a minimum of 2 decades! It had the Hydrocoil stock and fixed IC choke so thought it would be of service to someone. I took a can of PB Blaster that was laying around and doused the gas system and a bit into the bolt/mechanism. Checked the barrel for mud daubers nest and then loaded it up. It fired 3 rounds as fast as I could pull the trigger! No problem. Don't know when or even if, that gun had ever been cleaned before!

Complete disassembly is a bit more tedious than other models but not too bad following a video. The gas relief valve portion in the magazine cap should also be freed up and kept clean enough to operate as intended by making sure the piston moves within it. The gas system is very close to the Remington Model 58 and may even be a copy.

Waynes Mays of NSSA Hall of Fame made everyone else competing with him into "Honorable Mentions" when he used his model 1400! No telling how many rounds were put through that gun. Good luck!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DZrwKrHXko

If you ever HAVE to use an HD gun, you are betting your life on it working. I'd eagerly bet $20 or maybe $50 on a 1400, but I'd NEVER bet my life on one. There are just too many better guns out there. If it lets you down on a duck hunt, no big deal. If it should let you down in a firefight, BIG DEAL! But it's not my life to gamble, so do what you want.

My concern would be the reliability of it ejecting and feeding shells if the barrel was cut down too much. There is a certain amount of gas needed to enter the ports over a certain amount of time for the action to work properly of which barrel length is a factor.

Slug guns have shorter barrels but some have different gas port sizes or fewer ports to compensate for the differences from field barrels. One would have to look at the shop manual to see the differences, if any.

For every rule there is an exception and Wayne was one. He could have set records with anything he touched but that would not mean that particular model is suited for the endeavor. He also had a trunk full of spare parts which would be the envy of any gunsmith as his stature in the shooting community gave him a couple legs up on everyone else with parts support from Winchester.

I liked my 1400 until the bolt release broke. One had to buy the whole assembly rather than the specific part. The same occurred with the trigger group though I sold the gun before anything else broke. Parts support was never important toWinchester, one reason the 1400 was inexpensive. That was a problem when I had my 1400 and they were still in production. Now, decades after they were discontinued, parts aren't any more common which is a big negative in my decision to buy a firearm.

I don't see how a barrel length that was shorter than factory but still longer than the gas ports, would have any effect on the gases necessary to operate the action. Sorry, but I don't see it and maybe you can explain to clarify.

As for long term reliability and parts replacement, my HD shotgun has had 50 shells fired in practice through it in 4 years!! Furthermore, I don't expect that round count to increase in the next 4-40 years.

If it is going to be used regularly, your comments about parts is correct. Although I am not a fan boy of the model 1400, the OP IMO has a reasonable objective with his. YMMV

There is not only a certain amount of gas needed to operate the gas system, there is also a certain amount of time needed for that gas to work upon the system. Too short of a run after the gas ports lessens that dwell time which is no different that opening the gas exhaust port early. It is one reason why some systems enlarge the gas ports on slug barrels compared to field barrels. The piston system is a pretty simple one in concept though it can be a little trickier in practice depending on design.

If you say so. Ports are normally 14 inches, minimum barrel length 18 inches. I will leave it at that as I don't want to hijack the OPs thread anymore than I already have.

How many cut down 18" barrels have you seen offered on gas operated shotguns? I know of one factory and one special made and they both had larger gas ports than the standard models. I played with one Remington 1100 that had been cut down to 18" and it did not run reliably with most ammo. Opening up the ports fixed the problem when using standard slug or buckshot loads by allowing in more gas to offset the dwell time.

I learned that after learning Remington opened up the ports on the 11-87 Sporting Clays or Competition model to make it more reliable with low recoil loads. Remington issued a warning not to use 1 1/4 oz loads due to the risk of damage from too much gas entering the cylinder for too long.

Since you have real world experiments with shorter barrels, I will acknowledge that you are right and I am wrong. Thanks for the education.