Sawed off Shotgun

**swanewa2** · 05-01-2011, 20:15

A friend of mine mentioned the other day that his ultimate firearm would be a sawed off shotgun (side by side) for home defence and for keeping ready in the car while driving. (He works in telecommunication construction and travels the whole of the old Transvaal region on a regular basis)
I have no background on this weapon, all I know is that America specify a minimum barrel lenght of 18" and overall of 26". This was restricted in the 20's due to gangsters making use of this type of weapon. Don't know if it is restricted/unlawful in our country? What are you guys' view on this type of weapon? I'm adding a pic I found on the web.

**BigT** · 05-01-2011, 20:18

No good as a handgun and no good as a shotgun.

One is far better served with a proper handgun or a proper shotgun.

**Socrates** · 05-01-2011, 20:20

Originally Posted by swanewa2

What are you guys' view on this type of weapon? I'm adding a pic I found on the web.

Very very very bad idea. May be nice for the shits & giggles, but as a serious SD firearm, not such a good idea.

**swanewa2** · 05-01-2011, 20:21

Thanks T, looks nice though, but I would agree that practicality would suck. New Glock 19 or CZ probably still the best choice :-)

**Scuba Steve** · 05-01-2011, 21:57

As cool as it looks and with the Ramance that goes with walking into a room thinking you're Antonio Banderas and shooting some poor Mexican dude that he flies across a 40 foot room...I believe it serves little purpose.

The shotgun side is now ineffective as you have messed with barrel lengths so shot pattern would be sketchy at best I assume, plus it will be very uncomfortable and I would expect very painful to actually shoot. Plus you only have two rounds (sure antonio never needed two, but come on, there's only one Antonio). It's crude, sure mabye it has a place somewhere, would I want one? Hell yes! Would I waste a license on it? Not in a million years.

**ikor** · 06-01-2011, 01:13

Only time I ever had a use for something like that was when we did armed robbery stakeouts at restaurants for a couple years running long time ago. You could have the shotgun in your lap and covered while you drank gallons of coffee and pretended to be interested in your buddy's BS. 10-15ft away from the cashier? Yeah...it'll do the job. Otherwise? no...don't want one. Pretty much useless as any sort of non-specialist shotgun.

BTW...patterns with #00 usually ran about 3-6in at 10-15ft. We never shot anyone with them although we had five in service.

Actually pretty gentle to shoot.

**farmer-el** · 06-01-2011, 06:31

Don't know if this qualifies as a sawn off shotgun, but has always appealed to me since I saw a similar one in a Scattergun Technologies brochures about 20 years ago....if only our gun laws were different.....

**Ross** · 06-01-2011, 16:20

They are not known as whippit's and thumb breakers for nothing!

**swanewa2** · 06-01-2011, 17:57

Originally Posted by farmer-el

Don't know if this qualifies as a sawn off shotgun, but has always appealed to me since I saw a similar one in a Scattergun Technologies brochures about 20 years ago....if only our gun laws were different.....

They do, i've seen that same pic in one of the internet articles i've browsed regarding sawed off shotguns. I think if i remember correct it can take two in the mag and one in the chamber = 3 rounds total

**swanewa2** · 06-01-2011, 18:10

The attached pic was the one that only takes two in the mag and one in the chamber.

My friend argues that due to the severe scattering effect this gun would be perfect for home invasion where you would fire at a BG at range 2m - 10m in darkness ( the scattering would allow for better probability to hit a target while your eyes are still full of sleepy sand (klaasvakie se skuld) and you're still a bit groggy etc.) We have posts here for what kind of torch we keep next to the bed to assist with aiming?
He also argues that in a hijacking situation etc the BG would be +- 1m away, the gun would again work superbly, also, due to the scattering, the effective range is approx 15m, therefore limiting the range where innocent bystanders can be hit in the crossfire.

This is just a 'what if' scenario. He intends to buy a CZ the last time I checked. But i find it interesting to speculate on the merits of such a weapon. Thanks for all the inputs so far from you guys.