what is the point of sawing the barrel off a shotgun?

Answer 1

The shorter barrel allows the buck shot to disperse more, clearing a larger area.

There is a reason why it is sometimes called a street sweeper.

Answer 2

The opening of a shotgun barrel narrows slightly at the end to produce a narrower spread of the shot when the shotgun is fired. This referred to as the "choke". (A very few shotguns have an external choke. Mostly, they are integrated into the barrel.)

Sawing off the end of the barrel removes the choke (or at least a portion of it) and broadens the spread of the shot. This is why a sawed-off shotgun is sometimes referred to as a scatter gun.

A sawed-off shotgun is nearly useless for hunting, but can be useful in close combat -- the house-to-house, room-to-room kind where you need to get people on the ground and may not have time to aim as well as you'd like.

Answer 3

Sawing the barrel off of a shotgun does to things:
1. The weapon is shorter and thus easier to conceal
2. More damage. Shotgun ammunition consists of a shell with several tiny pellets inside. When the shot is fired, these pellets start to spread out as they get further away from the shooter. Shorter barrel means that the shot will begin to spread sooner, and cause a lot more damage to a target close up.

Answer 4

Makes the weapon easier to conceal and causes the pellets to scatter much faster.

With a shorter barrel, the pellets spread apart much faster, this means that if you are standing
say 10 feet away from the barrel the pellets will spread the same as it would 50 feet
away with a regular shotgun.

A shotgun with a barrel shorter than 18 inches is illegal in all states unless it is registered with the federal government.

Answer 5

obviously the people answering this have been watching alot of movies. the reason for shortening a shotgun is to make it more COMPACT. that is the reason law enforcement uses them. the shorter the barrel the faster the shot pattern opens up making the effective range decrease. federal law mandates a minium 18" barrel AND a 271/2" overall length for civialian use. In close quarters, such as in a house or car the shorter barrel is much easier to handle.

Answer 6

To make it concealable; kind of hard to walk naturally when you've got a three and a half foot long thing shoved down your pants leg. It's still an effective close-quarters weapon, since accuracy isn't as important at point blank range, but it's why you can't do the same trick with a rifle -- a single bullet needs the long barrel to produce the proper spin or rifling that keeps it flying straight and true, but a big spray of buckshot just has to be aimed in the general direction of your target.

Answer 7

If a shotgun is sawed off, the shot has a huge radious, about the size of oh... a human body? Used by criminals to literally rip people apart.

Answer 8

It spreads the shot out sooner. In close combat this causes maximim damage is a short amount of time.

Answer 9

It makes it easier to hide under clothing and anywhere you could choose, but I believe it also may make it easier to explode on the party that is carrying it. Not an unproven fact, either.

Answer 10

I'm pro sportsman. But a sawed off shotty has criminal intention written all over it!