I like guns despite their obvious flaws

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Nope, there was this whole debate for a while about the most efficient configuration for high powered rifle rounds, with the argument being made that shorter, wider cases were more efficient because they exposed more surface area of the powder so that it could burn more quickly and thus develop higher pressures with less powder, and some people took the theory to the extreme with their reloading. I can't remember exactly how it turned out, it was going on when I was in gunsmithing school, so we're talking 04-05 here, when the short action magnums where all the rage.

Probably not photoshopped but something made out of brass stock on a lathe. If it were for real, something that held that much powder and such a small bullet would push a bullet so fast it would disintegrate in flight. Even the .220 Swift which isn't nearly as rad as that thing in the picture has a reputation for having bullets disintegrate in flight if loaded to high enough velocities and using bullets with jackets that weren't thick enough. I have an old reloading manual or gun book somewhere with a picture of that round or one that looks just like it. It is labeled as a gag reflecting off the wall efforts of creating "wildcat" cartridges.

Last edited by Raptor on 18 Aug 2014, 8:46 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Great photo, thanks a bunch.

It reminds me of the time after WWII when I saw an ad for an anti tank rifle in a comic book
and the caption in the ad was "STOP THAT CHARGING WOODCHUCK IN HIS TRACKS" LOL.
I don't even remember if they were de-miled or not, probably, all though I remember rounds were very pricy.

This was around '53-54.

The ones you saw in the comic book were most likely not demilled but fully operational semi-automatic 20mm anti-tank rifles. They used to sell them mail order in the backs of magazines and you could order the ammo, too. I'm doing this off of memory but I believe they could legally be shipped directly to someone's home. The Gun Control Act of 1968 took all the fun out of that and made them destructive devices controlled under the national firearms act (NFA) . The rounds were bigger and more potent than the ones for the current M61 20mm Vulcan cannon. The one in the pic is a Finnish Lahti L39. There was another one made in Switzerland, the Solothurn S18/1000 that were also imported into the US as surplus in the 1950-60's. I've only seen one of each, an L39 in a gun shop and an SA18/10000 at a gun show. I think they were both over $10K. The ammo (both take the same round) is hard to find and expensive, too. I'd love to have either one.

Here's a video of the L39. Since you were around back then you'll probably wish you'd saved up and bought one.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvsfT1_W6TE[/youtube]

Isn't it rough on the barrel to shoot slugs thru a shotgun?

Here's a pic of my gopher-gettter:

Most shotgun sabots are made out of plastic, and that's the only thing that touches the barrel.

^that looks really nice and expensive. How do you know if you hit it, when there is nothing left of it?

Oops. I mean that nice .50 cal in the next pic up.

Last edited by yournamehere on 18 Aug 2014, 8:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Slugs are bad if you put them in a shotgun with a choke. It kicks like a mule, and can break the barrel, or blow the choke open. I knew a guy who did that with a shotgun unpurpose. Now that he wrecked the barrel, he actually thinks it works better that way? He deer hunts with it. We use shotgun only in the suburbs here, because of the low range. They only go so far, than they drop like a rock. Sabots are a newer technology, and work better than a slug I think. There are rifled slugs people use in smooth bores, but I really think sabots work better.

I thought slugs were supposed to be used with a choke. Shows how little I know about guns.

Yeah, not the best idea to run solid projectiles through a constricted barrel, bad things can happen...

So what are chokes used for? I'm guessing it's to control the spread of your shots.

Got it in one, it's just a constriction at the muzzle of the barrel to tighten up the spread to various degrees, there's a whole system for it, modified, full, open, etc, along with some adjustable numbers that have slots cut in the barrel and a threaded nut to clamp them tighter or looser. Cylinder, or open, choke, is used for slugs, or in the old days, riot guns that were designed to throw very small lead shot in a wide pattern to be ricocheted off the ground into the shins of angry mobs. There's also some weird stuff out there, like duck bill spreaders designed to throw the shot in a flat arc, but they aren't widely used and I can't testify to their efficacy. Someone's also launching a shotgun silencer that screws on like a choke tube and makes the gun massively unwieldy, but might be kinda useful for waterfowl hunting where you don't have to move much.

However, in the case of "Rob's" poor boy, back yard, redneck, reverse engineering.
Rather than getting a bullet to fit the gun, he got the gun to fit the bullet! he liked it soo much, he swears by doing it again?

Here's some poor boy, back yard, redneck engineering from an earlier time.
The lost art of "cut-shells" that I never knew existed until I saw this video.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3M46XVfVOU[/youtube]

^^^ I am going to have to try that the next time I go out. I won't tell anyone what or why I'm doing it either. I will just let them watch me do it. For the effect. Don't think that would be a good idea in a loader. I will use a fox model B.