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I had never heard of such a thing before seeing this video.

http://theshrug.net/the-lost-art-of-cut-shells/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Great vid! Very interesting! Never seen that done before. And I like his hammer gun!

I'm surprised that when the outer casing is forced into the barred that extreme chamber pressures don't cause bad things to happen.

It is a dangerous somehow, the barrel has less diameter than the shell.What if someone had a very restricting choke, he might have a bad day.

I don't see a problem with the wider chokes, but might think twice about pushing it through a full. Remember the Barry said this was done prior to 1931, and note that shotgun shells in that era were paper or brass, and did not have "power piston" technology. I have fired "old fashioned" paper shells with wads that I have cut similarly and recoil wasn't even that much worse, so I suspect that pressures were not that bad.

No reason to do this.

AndyC wrote:This comes up every few years - maybe I'm getting old, but I'm always amazed how many people have never heard of cutting or "ringing" a shell.

Not old, well travelled and skilled...

My Grandfather used these for deer along with most people in the rural mountains of middle Tennessee. He bought his first high powered rifle (Model 70) in the 40's and that ended the cutting of shells for him. He also used dynamite to fish with. Not really fishing as much as gathering but times were hard back then. People didn't have much.

WOW! i'm all about learning from the old timers around me and i cant believe i've never heard of this before.

Learn something new every day. Interesting little tidbit to know.

Beiruty wrote:It is a dangerous somehow, the barrel has less diameter than the shell.What if someone had a very restricting choke, he might have a bad day.

Given the (relatively) low pressures of shotgun shells, combined with the construction of a shotgun shell, I would rather doubt there's much danger. I've seen people shoot slugs out of (fixed) full-choke bores with no ill effects to the gun (their shoulder was another matter!); the plastic of the shell is softer and more malleable than even lead, and it's wrapped around shot, instead of a slug, allowing the whole thing to compress more easily than one might think.

Where I would doubt the wisdom of firing cut shells is through an adjustable or replaceable full or turkey choke. I still doubt it would damage the firearm, but you might damage the choke, or "involuntarily remove" it altogether.

I wouldn't expect terribly much accuracy with a cut shell, but if that's all you have, then it's what you have.

I was taught this as a Boy , it allowed you to take a deer sized mammal using Bird or Duck loads . I was told they will mule kick the snot out of you in a full choke gun..