I heard four words on the radio this morning thanks to today’s release that four years and probably forty lawsuits never managed to do by themselves. Those four words were “long-form birth certificate”.
All as a result of a third-rate presidential candidate.
Oh sh!t, when the US government says you have a compound, usually the end is nigh. Tanks with incendiary tear gas (because we need to save the infants and children), full-auto fire rained down from helicopters, predator drones, SWAT teams, etc.
At the very least it’s a series of buses to take the women and kids away from their polygamy accused husbands.
While writing up the post on “cut loads”, I had a sick idea. What would happen if you did this with either the much maligned Taurus “Judge” or a M6 survival rifle? Both of these take the .410 sized shotgun shell, which is marginal for self-defense as is. I don’t expect the load to be a bear killer, but it might be something to try in desperate times.
I don’t own a Judge, but I’d be interested in seeing someone try this. (Viewing from a safe distance, of course!)
The load would be jumping the gap between the cylinder and the barrel, and that worries me. I’m also unaware if the judge has a forcing cone in the revolving cylinder. The whole deal might actually engage the Judge’s rifling, so the results might be pretty interesting.
Of course, someone had my same sick idea first. He didn’t try it either. He’s worried about the gap and the forcing cone too, and afraid there would be a barrel obstruction. But every non-muzzle-loading shotgun since before the Great Depression has a forcing cone and if it caused all sorts of issues with cut shells, I think we’d see a lot more broken guns.
If I can ever get a Judge in good shape south of $150 or so and can round up a high speed camera or two and a very long string, you will be sure to see the results published. Just don’t hold your breath.
a/k/a “cut shells” or “ringed load” or “ringers”.
Apparently this was an old Depression era trick one could do in the field to convert a birdshot load into a slug. It’s easy to do outdoors with a pocket knife and has historically been used to poach deer during waterfowl season. When a shell is cut in this way the upper part of the hull keeps the wad and shot all together from the barrel to the target. The drawback, besides the safety issues, is that the you need to load these as a single shot. Also, waterfowl are generally hunted nowadays with steel shot. There’s plenty of skeet loads still on the market, though.
This is something I’m glad to know about, but not too eager to try. Still, I’ve highlighted this video by Iraqveteran8888 because it’s about the clearest demonstration I’ve seen from something I’ve only heard rumors and hearsay about.
The lost art of “Cut Shells” 3:53 min.
Click here to view the video in a pop-up window | Direct link
As a commenter stated over on the youtube page, “There ain’t no school like old school.”
Here’s another vid from the same source about improvised slugs made from shotshells. The improvised brenneke slug made with a drywall screw and a fishing sinker is cool, but I’m not sure I’d try it.
Lost Arts Part 2- Improvised Shotgun Slugs 4:23 min.
Click here to view the video in a pop-up window | Direct link
Here are a few more links I managed to search-fu up from around the web about “cut shells”. None of them are as good as the videos above though.
http://www.go2gbo.com/forums/index.php/topic,178695.30.html…
http://thehunterslife.com/forums/printthread.php?t=627
This last one is a copy of an article about cut shells in an NRA publication1. E. H. Harrison found that the practice actually reduced chamber pressure, but please note that the shells used were all paper hulled – none of which are on the market today. Nowadays our litigious society, not to mention backlash from advertisers, would make an updated version of this article impossible in mass-market media. Too bad, as I’d really like to see the results with modern barrel pressure measurements and various choke settings.
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/003175.jpg
Be cautious with plastic shotgun shells. All the reloading manuals caution against working up your own recipes, unlike when reloading the metallics. I’ve always assumed that this is because the plastic hulls do not show the same signs of over-pressure like brass does. It would be easy to get into trouble, even using factory loaded shells, by say dumping out 3/4 ounce of lead shot and then gluing in a 1.25 oz. sinker.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t note the tremendous price difference between mass-marketed skeet loads and hunting slugs, but please don’t do this to save money. In fact, don’t do this.
1 Unknown issue month and year. If you know, please leave a comment.
Maybe I don’t understand the question. What exactly would a totemic gadget be? A crucifix with a utility blade and nail file? A jar of earth from your home country that you also use to crack walnuts? A purple heart (slash) beer bottle opener?
This comes from some guy named John Biggs that must be living in an alternative universe. The question he asks is, “Has The Age Of Totemic Gadgets Passed?”
That alternative universe is apparently called “Brooklyn”. In it, no one hunts, no one fixes or adjusts items, everyone’s food arrives already sporkable, and it never gets dark enough to really need portable illumination.
An iPhone (which is apparently not a “totemic gadget”) a credit card, and a house-key is all one needs for day to day living in John’s universe.
I can live and let live with people with such strange customs, but inevitably they never seem to be able to reciprocate. Always mucking around where their realm overlaps flyover country.
