doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Start cutting them down boys ...

the horror...the absolute horror...

I cut down an 1882 Remington! It is for my bar, We call it the "Bar Sweeper"
Really it was a parts gun that Rick and I decided would fit into the bar decor, complete with our brand on the stock!
I had never handled a Sawed Off Shotgun before--it is an interesting change!
I then looked up some famous ones from the movies. Unforgiven, Tombstone, Billy the Kid......

There is nothing quite like a 10 gauge with barrels chopped to 20" with heavy loads of BP and shot. My cowboy load is 120 grains of either 1F or 2F, whichever is cheapest and 1 1/2 oz of shot and on some stages I'll pull both triggers at the same time.

I shot one that a guy who was in college with me had. It nearly jumped out of my hands!

The owner was a bit eccentric, to say the least. He had screwed a leather strap, as a shell holder, onto the interior of his Barracuda's driver door, to hold two extra shells.

Always wondered what he was doing in college anyway, as he seemed to have a promising career ahead of him at the "Greybar Hotel".

Eddie Lee Walker, a black man who worked for my family on the farm for almost his entire life used to say "Boss man, I can take one of those into a juke on a Saturday night and bring peace out of confusion".

Well my point was... if it hadn’t been chopped up would it have sold for that much???

Hacksaw work at its finest. Just wish they limited that type work to Crescents and other hardware guns. Maybe it’s the rail screwed onto the barrel for a flashlight that drove up the price. Bubba mostly uses duct tape or electrical tape if he can’t find the duct(duck) tape to attach the flashlight.

Back in the early '70's, Franklin's Gun Shop there in Athens, GA ordered in a batch of "factory sawed-offs". These were Spanish guns branded "Erbi" and manufactured with 18" cylinder bore barrels and 3" chambers. The gun wasn't beautiful or well balanced, but it was the darnedest killing machine I've ever owned; I just couldn't miss with that gun! Then there was the Saturday when my B-I-L went bunny hunting and got rained out, so we returned to the in-laws; and being young, bored, and stoopid began looking for something to occupy our time. As we wiped down our guns we remembered that the Erbi had 3" chambers, and that we just happened to have on hand a box of Win. max load 3" shells loaded with 2 oz. of #2 shot; so the dares began. Bet you won't shoot two of those at the same time; I will if you will; etc., and we did. So we stepped into the back yard and my bigger and stronger B-I-L went first. At the blast gun muzzles went straight up and recoil knocked him backwards about a half step; so it was my turn. Other than not being knocked flat no my back, all I remember is that my right shoulder was instantly numb at the shot and I lost the grip in my right hand which resulted in my fingers being skinned by the triggers as the gun twisted and fell. When feeling returned, I examined my little Erbi and noticed that the bottom side of the left barrel was swelled at the end of the chamber. God was watching over this fool that day.

When a shotgun seems to be nearing the end of it's useful lifespan, this was rather commonly encountered in the world I grew up in. It was largely confined to pump guns in that time (& perhaps still) but... I'm sure a few lesser doubles were on the receiving end of that "treatment" as well. Active and even retired law enforcement seemed to be common practitioners of the "art". It wasn't just the bad guys...

I fired a 12 ga gun that was cut off like that. It recoiled terribly and kicked up so hard it hit me it the forehead. Hope that one found its way to a dumpster...

I thought the front rail was a nice, thoughtful addition to it. Adding a forearm light/grip would do a lot to help with the kick.

I never had the cahones to shoot it, but a friend in AK had a cut down 10 ga with the 3.5 inch chambers that looked very similar to the one pictured in the GB ad. He'd pack it along as a boat gun when out fishing and running around. I guess he figured it would make a good gun for bear protectio for close range work with 00 buck or similar, it probably would have! It think it may have been a Spanish manufactured gun, with previous owner customization!

That auction just goes to prove that a fool and his money are soon parted.

That sawed off shotgun covers both the barrel length and overall length requirements to be legal. If you ever wanted one that one might be nice. As for short shotguns, I'll stick with my Taurus Judge 45 long colt/.410. That's all the kick I need and it'll kill any snake alive...Geo

Exactly! The same worn out Meriden shotgun, with uncut stock and barrels, would sell for $250.00 or less at most gun shows in my area. I have a 16 ga. L.C. Smith on my project pile that has a stock with a very short L.O.P. I was planning on using it to try doing a butt transplant. It might be a better idea to just chop it down and sell it on Gunbroker.

It wasn't just junkers this was done to, I once had a BHE Parker that had the same stock treatment and and the barrels cut in front of the forend. Had it mono-blocked by John Foster and restocked. Later discovered that it was originally a 34" gun, as it had no safety, deep floral and scroll engraving it was indeed very rare gun at one time.

Nothing like selling a NIB SKB model 200E and having the fellow saw the barrels down to 20" to use it as a Cowboy Action Gun. Yep, it was done.

I think you meant "Cajones" Senor- not "Cahones" In Spanish, especially Castilian dialect-the letter J is pronounced as if it were a H-- El Zorro

Have a sawed off Ithaca double and a Stevens SS, both 12ga. Someone put rifle sights on the latter!
Never have tried shooting my Navy Yard 10ga flare pistol with shotshells, but don't know why it would not be safe with some mild BP loads. Scary to think that 3 1/2" chamber nicely.

Wonder if the bidder sobered up and decided not to go through with the sale...

You are correct.....It is cajones! Not sure how I made that mistake.

I chased a Diana Grade Superposed at a police auction a few years ago. It was the O/U version of the gun in the OP.
It didn't go as cheaply as I was hoping.

In MACV SOG, some RT's cut an M-79 down and carried it on a lanyard around the neck with a flechette round in it. They called it an "ambush buster." I always thought it was kind of silly.

This is a small and undated image from the Fulton Historical Society, of an unknown location store front with a L.C. Smith display. The gun 2nd from the bottom looks to have a Jostam Anti-Flinch pad so the image would be after 1915-1916.
The top gun on the rack is clearly a Smith, with an Ithaca Auto & Burglar type grip. Barrel length can not be determined.





I've never seen the gun, nor any advertisements or catalog listings

I've handled an Ithaca 20ga Auto and Burglar. A friend I can't remember now had it, a family inheritance. No ticket he knew of. I wouldn't want to shoot it...Geo

I once cut a 20ga. single shot down to 18.5 for a guy, he kept it on his boat to the coup de grace to sharks before bringing onboard.

Upper of the 2 pictured is a later NID-earlier as the cocking pins are shown- the lower one is Flues series.. Wonder how many of these had stock cracking issues?? RWTF

In the movie Tombstone- ever notice the gunfight scene at the OK Corral- Val Kilmer as Doc Holiday, takes the double barrel hammer shotgun and fires 3-count 'em- 3 shots from that two-holer before he even breaks it open to reload- and he gets off his third shot w/o cocking back either of the 2 hammers-- Would have liked to be a Hollywood movie armorer- at least for a while. RWTF

For what it's worth, back in the 80s there were quite a few unfinished Parker barrels around. They had no marking as to type of steel, just the unfinished weight
stamped on the flats. I have no idea where they originated from but would assume they came from Remington. They were very raw, unchoked with lots of cleanup of solder.

Whoops! was supposed to be in another Thread.