"Cut Shells" - The poor man's shotgun slug

[DirtyDigz 1,812]

Fascinating - doubt they'd work in a pump or semi shotgun though unless you placed each one by hand in the chamber. Apparently he's firing them through a modified choke without a problem.

 

Also known as "Cut Slugs", these effective yet surprisingly simple alternative shotgun munitions were once used in the early 1900's when deer stopping loads were needed but not always available. You can turn a simple bird shot load into a man or game stopping "slug" with a quick turn of a knife.

 

 

[vjf915 456]

Wow....very creative, and sounds like it could come handy in a pinch.

[MrP 81]

Brilliant.

[Pew Pew Plates 358]

I wouldnt do that...although I've heard of this alot. The OD of the hull is much greater than the ID of the bore . I wonder what that would do on gellatin though, since the "slug" has a plastic coating basically.

[Parker 213]

Pumpkin balls were notoriously inaccurate, as they did not fill up the bore and rattled their way down the barrel. Cut shells were done with paper shells, in the early 1900's, before the invention of plastics and certainly before the Power Piston wad. (Winchester I believe was the first to introduce plastic to a shotshell, and it was a plastic collar wrapped around the shot load.) Early adventurers would have been cutting paper shells, and forward of the Nitro card or "over powder" card in the paper shell. Various paper and fiber wads were used to build up the wad column over the powder and before the shot charge. Another trick was to open the crimp and pour wax into the loose shot, solidifying the mass, then re-crimp.

 

Today's plastic shotshell outside diameters vary in size from .780" to .795" for a 12 ga. Pushing that mass through a bore and choke that varies from .740" at the forcing cone on down to the choke are which could be .690" or less in diameter (I.E. full choke in a 12 ga. is typically .690) is an exercise that could be debated on its safety merits, or lack of. It was not uncommon in those days for the paper hull to remain stuck in the muzzle, having the interior pass through and out the barrel. The next round through the same barrel was probably a most interesting experience.

[Bob B 103]

^^^ +1 You could end up with a barrel obstruction and the next round would blow up your shotgun. Boom!

[robot_hell 72]

You can totally trust that guy, I mean just look at that beard!

 

I don't think I will be trying this, though.

[Guest schutzen-jager]

not SAFE - very conducive to dangerous over pressure - nra did experiments on this + turned one shotgun into a grenade + bulged chokes + barrels on others - condition is worse with plastic cases , it seems that the old paper cased ones compressed more in forcing cone + choke -

[david8613 69]

that's some cool mcgyver stuff!

[mipafox 438]

That's pretty interesting, thanks!

[Old School 611]

I wouldnt do that...although I've heard of this alot. The OD of the hull is much greater than the ID of the bore . I wonder what that would do on gellatin though, since the "slug" has a plastic coating basically.

 

Glenn you are absolutely correct. You stand a decent chance of blowing up your A$$ and a perfectly good shot gun.