Poor mans slug or "cut shells"

They might be useful if you're in a real pinch I suppose. However I would think there is potential for some pretty high pressure spikes since obviously the bore diameter isn't exactly made such to fire a piece of the hull down it.
 
Just my opinion......I won't put them through a production gun barrel without pressure data.

You see shotgun shells are in a narrow range between too little pressure to burn and expell the round reliably and building pressure so fast the split the barrel.

Shotshells use a lot of powder and a magical array of wads, cards, filler, crimp and shot to maintain a usable pressure on an expanding pressure vessel. It is really not that similar to metallic cartridge reloading.
 
When I was in high school, there was a classmate who did this with a 10 ga. Goose gun. It was an impressive way to vandalize a stop sign. Riding around, you could see his handiwork everywhere.
 
What's cheaper, real actual slugs, or replacement fingers, eyeballs, and shotguns?

I'd imagine that it is slightly less unsafe with old fashioned paper shells and felt wads. Modern plastic shells and wads are much tougher, so I'd imagine pressures are much higher. Putting cut steel shot through a full choke could be very exciting.

It's a foolish and unsafe thing to do. Outside of complete desperation, you shouldn't do it, and maybe not even then.
 
"...outside of complete desperation, you shouldn't do it..."

More than 30 years ago now, my old boss told me of a man who lived alone out south of town, at the base of the Big Horn Mountains. The story went that he moved out West from Chicago, because he got into some trouble there...

He built a field stone dwelling (one simple room with a doorway and a couple of windows), and as he cleared all the rock from his yard area, he piled it up as an ongoing fence around the place. He also had a 16 ga., single-shot, break-open shotgun.

My boss told me that he used that shotgun all the time (don't know the make). He'd shoot birds and small game with it, or, after making a strategically placed, deep score around the shell with a knife, he'd shoot deer with it whenever he needed the meat. That man lived out there for quite a spell, and the story goes that he died digging a well on his place; he was found down the hole. This all occurred back in the late 20's, pre- WWII era. So, it was paper shells back then.

Can't help to think that the method probably wasn't too uncommon back when necessity was mutha, and money was tight. You can still see his place out there on the Canyon Road, a couple of miles short of Crazy Woman Canyon, up on the mesa.
 
Necessity is the mother of invention.
Cut shells will work, but probably safer with paper shells, as reinert said.
A guy would have to be desperate not be able to buy a pack of slugs - and mighty hungry.
There's plenty of online videos proving it's not as dangerous as imagined, though.
If birdshot is all ya' got, and a slug is what ya' need, whatcha' going to do?
 
If I were desperate I would open it and fill the shots with hot wax and let cool.
Click to expand...

A squirt of Super glue was what we used when we were dumb kids. It sort of works. No where near as effective as a slug. Eventually the shotgun will become an open choke one if it wasn't already.
 
A safer cheap alternative to buying slugs, would to buy a mold and cast your own slugs.

I have a Lee, 1 oz slug mold I load using AA wads and Hulls, and the same powder charge I use for 1 oz of shot.

Its accurate and what's more SAFE.

You "might" get by with using cut shells, but you also run the risk of launching the shell into the barrel, the shot exiting leaving all or part of the cut shell in the barrel creating pressure problems for the next round.

I don't see the cost savings, when you risk, having to replace the barrel, or gun, and or doctor bills.

I'm all for reducing the cost of shooting. But there are safe, economical, proven methods to do it.

SAFE, being the key word here. Its not economical if it isn't safe.
 
Engineering wise, there are so many issues here.
From jamming the loading of the shell to misalignment to potential barrel bulging.

Please take videos if you do.
We'd like to nominate a Darwin Award in your honor.
 
I seems that cut-shells were used during the desperate times of the Great Depression here in Michigan. My father told me about them and when I was a kid, it must have been a concern of the Department of Natural Resources because they referred to them (illegal to possess during small game season) in the DNR rules pamphlet that came with the hunting licenses back then.
 
I would not do it.As has been mentioned,slug molds designed to use with AA wads are available.And 5 round boxes of slugs are not a huge investment.

I recall reading in many different sources that it is unsafe to shoot 3 in shells in 2 3/4 in chambers.Why is that?

The bore diameter of the shotgun is smaller than the OD of the shotshell.
From the chamber mouth to the bore is a tapered transition called the forcing cone.

A 3 in shell will drop into a 2 3/4 in chamber.The danger,the increased pressure,comes from the case mouth material that unfolds from the crimp,choking down the forcing cone.This constriction increases pressure.

A cut shell is a similar problem,only worse.

Imagine the difference in resistance pushing the shotcup and shot through the bore,versus pounding the whole shell through.

Shotguns don't always blow when abused.They just get the life beat out of them.That nice old H+R or IVER Johnson or Win 37 single barrel will loosen up and start to rattle.You junked it,for what?
A side by side? Don't even think of abusing one.

Acting out youtube stunts with firearms.....is just a wrong approach

Build a muzzle loader.You will have fun
 
Please take videos if you do.
We'd like to nominate a Darwin Award in your honor.
Click to expand...

Were I to do that I agree that I would deserve the Darwin award.:o
But I assure you I am not that DUMB!
My real point to the question was that they did it like it was a normal thing to do, everyone dose it, and that kind of shocked me.
I agree that it will increase pressure when it separated but the weight difference shouldn't be that much.
My big issue is if it doesn't separate evenly,, well then you can have a real issue.
I'm surprised they even worked. Cut a little less and its a shot shell with part of the plastic shell left in the barrel. Cut to much and the upper portion of the shell might move forward when loading and leaving a gap between the wad and the powder. NOT GOOD
 
Now they make 1.5" 12-guage slugs. That seems like a cool idea for reduced recoil and more capacity, but how effective can they be?
 
I have done it when I was young and dumb. I really suggest you don't do it. They are way too tight of a fit in the barrel.

Just for fun go ahead and cut a shell off so the wad stays with the end of the shell. now drop the shell in the barrel. Try to push the cut off shell with a dowel rod. Hard ain't it? But go ahead and force it in the barrel. Push it all the way down to the choke. Now its really tight. Now hammer on it until you force it through the choke, if you can. That experiment should make it clear why you shouldn't do this. Buy the proper ammo for your gun.

If you see a deer and have time to swap out a birdshot load to a cut shell load you have the same amount of time to insert a proper slug load.
 
I doubt I can hit that dowel with 11,000 psi. And if I could it would come loose way before that.

Don't get me wrong it is still a bad idea, but your example is not great.
 
To start with, the brenekke was available long before the depression. There have been buckshot loads used since the 1700s iirc. Buckshot is a whole lot smarter. A wad of shot wrapped up in a plastic tube is not a slug, it's a wad of loose shot that will pop open and won't penetrate worth crap. It's a terrible copy of a glazer slug.

The fact that he is unaware of the true age of the slug, along with other statements leads me to doubt everything he has to say on the subject, combine that with the idea that he want's to shove an oversized projectile down the bore makes me believe that he's careless, and passing information like this on to the public is just as stupid as can be.
 
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