Bartender , another round please .

Not to be a wet blanket on all this fun, but could the various methods to turn the load of shot into a solid projectile have adverse effects going through a full-choke barrel?:(

Shiver me timbers!
 
Bill , Bill techicalities . Where would we be if Ben Franklin decided it was too risky to fly a kite in wet weather ? What would have happened if the man who discovered gravity was scared to take an apple to the head ? We would all be floating around in the dark .
 
Kevin the grey said:
Bill , Bill techicalities . Where would we be if Ben Franklin decided it was too risky to fly a kite in wet weather ? What would have happened if the man who discovered gravity was scared to take an apple to the head ? We would all be floating around in the dark .
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And if it was not for Thomas Edison, we would all be watching our TVs by candle light! And without Bessemer, we would be driving cast iron automobiles and our cast iron khuks would break too easily!

But I wonder how many Ben Franklin wannabees got fried and never made it into the books?

The serious side of this is that I think that there are people who may read the comments above and make the mistake of trying them to their injury. 'Damn! I hate getting old and more cautious. I used to think I was immortal and invincible!
 
Bill Marsh said:
The serious side of this is that I think that there are people who may read the comments above and make the mistake of trying them to their injury. 'Damn! I hate getting old and more cautious. I used to think I was immortal and invincible!
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I have to agree Bill. When I was told about cutting the shot shells in two and the whole load going out the end of the barrel I was concerned as well.
I prepared a shell and then tied my old 20 gauge to a tree while aiming it at the base of another tree about twenty feet away or so.
Then to see how much penetration it had I placed the top of a 55 gallon barrel in front of where the projectile was supposed to hit. The necessity of leaning it against the tree so it would remain in place left a gap about 3 inches from the steel drum lid to the tree.
I had a lanyard prepared and in place around the trigger when I loaded the gun. Then I went and stood behind my car and gave the lanyard a pull. BOOM!!!!
There was a neat little round hole in the steel drum lid just a tad larger than the 20 gauge shell and a hole about 1-1/2" in diameter about an inch or so deep in the solid oak tree.
I figured that would be plenty of penetration for a little Okie deer.:cool: :D ;)
Only later did I find out it was illegal as hell to hunt with said bullets!!!! :eek:

So if someone just absolutely must do it be sure the gun is anchored securely, tie a lanyard to the trigger *Before* you load it and then stand behind decent cover when you pull the lanyard!!!!
That way if the gun goes *BOOM* at least you won't.:thumbup: :cool: :D
 
Bill Marsh said:
Not to be a wet blanket on all this fun, but could the various methods to turn the load of shot into a solid projectile have adverse effects going through a full-choke barrel?:(
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Dunno. We only ever did it through open-choked riot guns.

I'd BET (not know, BET) that it would be fine in a modern shotgun, as the pressures are low and the "projectile" in this case has quite a bit of give to it, much more than any solid projectile would.

I like the advice about the lanyard, however -- do the shooting remotely from cover and mic the barrel before and after. If the numbers change, replace the barrel and don't do it again. :)
 
Bill for some reason I,ve been involved with stopping peope from hurting themselves . (Harder than you might think .) From range officer to safety officer . The point you make is a valid one . I,d rather have a cool head voice a word of caution than a hot head losing theirs . As for a choked barrel And a full sized slug ? It doesn,t sound like a good idea to me . Better safe than gory .
 
Yvsa said:
I have to agree Bill. When I was told about cutting the shot shells in two and the whole load going out the end of the barrel I was concerned as well.
I prepared a shell and then tied my old 20 gauge to a tree while aiming it at the base of another tree about twenty feet away or so.
Then to see how much penetration it had I placed the top of a 55 gallon barrel in front of where the projectile was supposed to hit. The necessity of leaning it against the tree so it would remain in place left a gap about 3 inches from the steel drum lid to the tree.
I had a lanyard prepared and in place around the trigger when I loaded the gun. Then I went and stood behind my car and gave the lanyard a pull. BOOM!!!!
There was a neat little round hole in the steel drum lid just a tad larger than the 20 gauge shell and a hole about 1-1/2" in diameter about an inch or so deep in the solid oak tree.
I figured that would be plenty of penetration for a little Okie deer.:cool: :D ;)
Only later did I find out it was illegal as hell to hunt with said bullets!!!! :eek:

So if someone just absolutely must do it be sure the gun is anchored securely, tie a lanyard to the trigger *Before* you load it and then stand behind decent cover when you pull the lanyard!!!!
That way if the gun goes *BOOM* at least you won't.:thumbup: :cool: :D
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Did that 20 guage have a choke ? I think in hunting scenarios having it be illegal was the whole idea . People would hunt with shot for deer in game bird season and if the warden came along , look no slugs .
 
Arriving late to the scene of a train wreck, I implore you dear readers NOT to try the above described shell cutting to "improve" your shells by incising below the shot column!! Guys, the outside diameter of a shot shell is substantially larger than the bore diameter of whatever guage you are working with. A shotgun works properly at 10,000 to 11,000 psi pressure, way, way less than a pistol, let alone a rifle....that's why the barrel walls are so much thinner. When you cut a shell, the outside wall of the shell must squeeze way in, crushing the shot together EVEN IN AN OPEN CHOKE. In 12 guage think of a package .85 " squeezing down to .72"... HUGE PRESSURE INCREASE. Just because a few of youse guys got away with it once or twice, would you go hunting with factory proof loads? Would you subject your favorite gun to a steady diet of overloads!!???? SWEET JEDUS!!
 
Nice to see you post , I agree with you and just cause you can doesn,t mean you should . I,m almost sorry I started this and am glad safety has been stressed . We are a fairly inteligent bunch of guys here . I have seen a modern shotgun with the barrel welded shut . All that happened was the plug was blown out . I would never except in dire emergency think of over stressing my shotguns . Not only are they the only ones I am likely to have . I am the only one I am likely to have . Brain transplants notwithstanding .
 
Solid jacketed projectile =/= a bunch of soft lead balls in a plastic sleeve sliding down a smooth bore. If you were to cut this section off of a shotshell and attempt to squeeze it by hand you'd find that it's not difficult. Also note that both ends are "open," or nearly so, leaving at least two escape paths for the innards in response to a constricted bore.

If in doubt, don't do it. I see little utility in modifying a shotshell into a poor slug unless one is a bored serviceman with lots of buckshot that needs expending or an aspiring poacher. In the poacher's case, I wouldn't expect such a "slug" to have an effective range much further than buckshot through a proper choke anyway. Our accuracy at 25 yards wasn't awe-inspiring.

I should also add that pretty much everything else that I mentioned is not a good idea either. They say that if it's stupid and it works, it's not stupid, but sometimes it's still pretty dumb regardless.
 
Bill Marsh said:
I think that there are people who may read the comments above and make the mistake of trying them to their injury. 'Damn! I hate getting old and more cautious. I used to think I was immortal and invincible!
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Hey, even though he is cautious, I still agree with Brother Marsh!
 
ya gotta slow down on the meds Bill . When you start agreeing with yourself its not too bad . Just don,t start disagreeing .
 
Kevin the grey said:
Did that 20 guage have a choke ? I think in hunting scenarios having it be illegal was the whole idea . People would hunt with shot for deer in game bird season and if the warden came along , look no slugs .
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Kevin it's like the one you have with the screw off choke. It's been over 35 years ago since I did that as later I either had access too a rifle and/or I could afford the slugs.
Poor people have poor ways and that's why some get hurt sometimes.:(
 
Kevin the grey said:
ya gotta slow down on the meds Bill . When you start agreeing with yourself its not too bad . Just don,t start disagreeing .
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But he is in my clique! :confused: At least usually he is! :eek: Well, sometimes I have to take him to task.
 
There's a link I found once to webpage that showed what happened to a guy who modified a civilian version of a military grenade launcher to fire exploding projectiles.....MESSY.

Was that link from this forum? I can't remember---anyone here remember that?
 
I don't know about that, exactly, but I do have a link to what happens when someone loads a 37mm round with a well-known binary explosive without a clear understanding of what they're doing. The shooter lived but lost his left hand.

Warning: this link leads to extremely graphic pictures. If you go ahead and click on it anyway, I don't want to hear any complaining about it afterwards. You have been warned.

http://www.freewebs.com/grog/safety1.htm

The pics are at the bottom of the page.

It's bad enough when smokeless powder goes awry without adding HE into the mix.
 
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