What could happen?

[bspillman]

A buddy of mine chopped the barrel of his maverick 88 12 gauge to 19 inches. He used a hack saw and it looked ok. When he was finished he didn't do any file work on the cut. Would not doing any file work cause any damage or affect the gun in any way? Or is file work not really necessary?

 

[Virginian]

How would not filing it hurt the gun? Depending on how good a cut he made, it may affect the patterns.

 

[ammo.crafter]

cut shop

I imagine there are a few burs around the end of the barrel.

Same will "grab" the wad causing it to open prematurely and effect the shot pattern.

 

[JWT]

'...cause any damage or affect the gun...' IMHO he's already done that.

 

[Corrections Cop]

Sandpaper works well for that as well, depending how the cut looks.

 

[44 AMP]

Chopping the barrel cuts off the choke. So, as long as the cut is smooth to the touch, its likely ok for a cylinder bore. On the other hand, a few minutes polishing the cut edge, giving it a slight radius won't hurt anything now, either.