I watched this video with some interest. I had heard of this but had always considered it either a myth, or dangerous.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3M46XVfVOU
It clearly is not a myth. But it might still be dangerous.
I rummaged around and got some odd n ends of 12 ga ammo (birdshot) and took some of my inexpensive shotguns and tried some cut shells at 30 yards.
All the ammo was 2 3/4", 1 1/8 oz, 3 1/4 dram. the #5 shot was brown box Canadian Tire, the #4 was RedLine and the #8 was Remington.
The guns were:
A Russian S X S with hammers. Barrel is 20" (cut down from 28"). No choke.
Winchester 1300 with a cut down barrel of 24". No choke.
J.C. Higgens bolt action. 24" cut down barrel. No choke.
Remington 870 with 20" slug barrel with sights. Smooth bore.
All shooting was from the standing position at 30 yards. I aimed at the bottom of the black aiming mark. Two shots with each gun. 3 of the guns went quite high. All grouped well.
Several targets showed a few stray pellets. Only one shot blew through the crimp and acted as a regular shot shell.
because of the adjustable sights, this gun could be set up as intended, as an accurate slug gun shooting cut shells. Why would one want to do this? For slug practice. They seem to load through the mag just fine, they shoot well and the recoil is quite mild compared to a real slug load. With a sharp knife I can convert cheap bird shot to accurate plinking slugs.
The rounds cycle through the semi very well. One of them shot as a regular shotshell. the only "failure" in the test.
This is one shot with each barrel. I giggle each time I shoot this gun. I bought it cheap because the owner was complaining that one barrel printed way off to the side. I cut 6" off the barrels and the two shots were much closer together. I cut off another 6" and it was perfect. A great cowboy gun for $200!!
This is an ugly bolt action, but it loads 5 rounds into the mag and cycles perfectly. It was given to me by a fellow moving from a house to a condo who decided he did not need it. At some point a adjustable choke had been removed from it. I had the barrel cut off to tidy up the muzzle and a brass bead installed. Today was the first time I have shot it. It behaved perfectly.
Conclusions: No idea how safe these loads are. There was no sign of an extraction issue suggesting high pressures. recoil was mild and accuracy was outstanding. I have never shot a test like this with regular slugs, so I don't know how well slugs usually shoot in a smoothbore.
Here is how I made the cut slugs. I made two cuts around the shell, about 1" above the rim. This is where the "legs" of the plastic wad column is. Each cut is about 60% of the way around the case. One cut on each side of the case, with one being about 1/10" above the other. In this way there is a little overlap tab holding the case together on each side of the case, so it does not go banana shaped. My theory was that this would help the cases feed better through the magazine.
I put a dab of 5 min epoxy on the crimp of each shell, to help guarantee it did not open. I have no idea of this does anything or not.
I would not hesitate to use these for slug practice or cowboy shooting, where a mild recoil slug is needed. If I found myself in the field, with my slugs accidently left at home, I would certainly cut some birdshot cases for an expedient slug for hunting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3M46XVfVOU
It clearly is not a myth. But it might still be dangerous.
I rummaged around and got some odd n ends of 12 ga ammo (birdshot) and took some of my inexpensive shotguns and tried some cut shells at 30 yards.
All the ammo was 2 3/4", 1 1/8 oz, 3 1/4 dram. the #5 shot was brown box Canadian Tire, the #4 was RedLine and the #8 was Remington.
The guns were:
A Russian S X S with hammers. Barrel is 20" (cut down from 28"). No choke.
Winchester 1300 with a cut down barrel of 24". No choke.
J.C. Higgens bolt action. 24" cut down barrel. No choke.
Remington 870 with 20" slug barrel with sights. Smooth bore.
All shooting was from the standing position at 30 yards. I aimed at the bottom of the black aiming mark. Two shots with each gun. 3 of the guns went quite high. All grouped well.
Several targets showed a few stray pellets. Only one shot blew through the crimp and acted as a regular shot shell.
because of the adjustable sights, this gun could be set up as intended, as an accurate slug gun shooting cut shells. Why would one want to do this? For slug practice. They seem to load through the mag just fine, they shoot well and the recoil is quite mild compared to a real slug load. With a sharp knife I can convert cheap bird shot to accurate plinking slugs.
The rounds cycle through the semi very well. One of them shot as a regular shotshell. the only "failure" in the test.
This is one shot with each barrel. I giggle each time I shoot this gun. I bought it cheap because the owner was complaining that one barrel printed way off to the side. I cut 6" off the barrels and the two shots were much closer together. I cut off another 6" and it was perfect. A great cowboy gun for $200!!
This is an ugly bolt action, but it loads 5 rounds into the mag and cycles perfectly. It was given to me by a fellow moving from a house to a condo who decided he did not need it. At some point a adjustable choke had been removed from it. I had the barrel cut off to tidy up the muzzle and a brass bead installed. Today was the first time I have shot it. It behaved perfectly.
Conclusions: No idea how safe these loads are. There was no sign of an extraction issue suggesting high pressures. recoil was mild and accuracy was outstanding. I have never shot a test like this with regular slugs, so I don't know how well slugs usually shoot in a smoothbore.
Here is how I made the cut slugs. I made two cuts around the shell, about 1" above the rim. This is where the "legs" of the plastic wad column is. Each cut is about 60% of the way around the case. One cut on each side of the case, with one being about 1/10" above the other. In this way there is a little overlap tab holding the case together on each side of the case, so it does not go banana shaped. My theory was that this would help the cases feed better through the magazine.
I put a dab of 5 min epoxy on the crimp of each shell, to help guarantee it did not open. I have no idea of this does anything or not.
I would not hesitate to use these for slug practice or cowboy shooting, where a mild recoil slug is needed. If I found myself in the field, with my slugs accidently left at home, I would certainly cut some birdshot cases for an expedient slug for hunting.
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