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-Short Attention Span Theater-
This is the only way I can think of to ask a question.
2015-07-19
What is a shutter gun? I see this mentioned often in Rantberg articles, but I have no clue what this is. Google, et al does not answer this question. Maybe one of the gun experts can post an article explaining this in some detail, mostly how it works and how it differ from a 'normal' gun.

This is not intended to be an actual post so I won't feel bad if this doesn't get posted! :) But I (and many others, I'm sure) would appreciate a good article on this subject matter!

Much thanks.
We wondered about that for years, until Dhaka's Daily Star published a picture. It's a single shot pistol that fires a .410 shotgun shell. I've actually held one, though I didn't fire it. It didn't look like it had ever been cleaned. it was WWII vintage, handed out to partisans against the Japanese. The one the Star showed was probably Indian manufacture for Bangla's war for independence from Pakistain.
Posted by:Seeking a cure for ignorance

#16  Hmm, I know Mr Pruitt said the gun in the photo fires .410 shells, but the shells somehow looks bigger than a .410 in the picture, so it's hard to be sure.
Posted by: Seeking a cure for ignorance    2015-07-19 23:29  

#15  Thank you Junkiron and trailing wife! The photo from Mr. Pruitt does appear to be a shutter gun according to Junkiron's description. There's what appears to be a lever on the side (next to the hammer) that release the barrel which then swivel on a point forward of the trigger under the barrel for unloading and loading what looks like shotgun shells (not sure what gauge, my guess is .410, but could be 12 gauge) in the barrel. Then the barrel gets 'shut'.

So my take away on this is that guns called "shutter gun" because it's "shut" closed and is actually a "break action" gun that can fire either shots or solid projectiles.

It's the "break action" part that makes it a "shuttle gun".

Thank you very much, a lamp has been lite inside my head!
Posted by: Seeking a cure for ignorance    2015-07-19 23:27  

#14  Still no photo to be found of its polished mahogany engraved velvet-lined fitted gun case (with slot for round of bullet).

I guess we might never know.
Posted by: Mullah Richard   2015-07-19 17:40  

#13  Thank you junkiron.

I came across the term Vacuum Missile the other day, and finally had to look it up after my mind came up with the Al-Cleavers in a typical kitchen. Daaaaad! Where are the potato mashers? Over on the barrel bomb son, but first go fetch the vacuum missile for your moms, and close the shutter gun, its too bright outside.

It is slang for thermobaric, which then made sense.
Posted by: swksvolFF   2015-07-19 16:19  

#12  Originally the term shutter gun referred a single shot breech loading shotgun that was hinged and broke-over (opened) in the middle.
The reason it was called a "shutter" was because to load the gun you slid a shell into the breech and then snapped it "shut".

Some people would cut off the stock at the pistol grip and shorten the barrel to make it into a pistol.
"Shutter gun" more recently became slang for a sawed off modified shotgun. Several companies began producing short barreled pistol grip shotguns which they advertised as shutter guns. Some of them were absolutely beautiful and very expensive. Some Italian models sold for many thousands of dollars.

Shutter guns were very popular in Pakistan during the British rule. There are still quite a few of them in circulation in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Plus a lot of cheap home made ones.

Short barreled shutter guns the last time I checked were still illegal in the U.S. and never were popular here.
In the U.S. Southern states a single shot breech loading long barreled shotgun is still called a shutter gun in some localities.
So now the mystery is solved. It's been fun. Sometimes it's more fun to be wondering than it is to be knowing.
Posted by: junkiron   2015-07-19 15:02  

#11  Seeking dear, the serious answer for the Rantburg context is the one from Mr. Pruitt in Post-It Note yellow with the photo, which was only discovered a few months ago. Until then we all were precisely as frustratedly ignorant as you were a moment ago. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife   2015-07-19 14:48  

#10  This is a serious question, I'm glad that most of you know what a shuttle gun is.

How about explaining to those of us who are clueless please?

The only explanation I got that remotely made sense came from a friend who explained that it's a single or double barreled gun/rifle where the barrel crack open and the ammo is removed and loaded manually (AKA 'Break action'). It differ from a shotgun in that it use solid bullets instead of shots. But this friend is not a gun expert so I'm not sure if the above is correct or not, which is why I'm asking for a knowledgeable person or expert explanation.
Posted by: Seeking a cure for ignorance    2015-07-19 12:53  

#9  And the KKK being considered Right Wing.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2015-07-19 11:35  

#8  The media and our indoctrination educational system anon. Repeat a lie often enough and all that.

Much like the Democrats taking credit for the Civil Rights Act.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2015-07-19 11:34  

#7  "Right wing" is "anything that is bad".

I remember when Soviet power was collapsing in the period 1989-1991, how unreconstructed Communists were referred to as "right wingers" or "conservatives".
Posted by: charger   2015-07-19 11:15  

#6  In Ask Anything Day - Why do people always refer to Nazis as "right wing" when they were socialists.

They were nationalist, and socialist. They made a pact with the internationalist bolsheviks (ribbentrop-molotov) but that then fell apart.

"Right wing" would be the capitalist USA and Britain that fought the Nazis. So how come every time there is anything nazi people say "far right" or "right wing"?
Posted by: anon1   2015-07-19 10:32  

#5  I have carefully analyzed the picture of the gun above and must respectfully submit that that gun does not qualify as a shutter gun.

The term "shutter gun" was very common in the U.S. during the civil war, especially in the South. Today the term has evolved to mean different things in different countries. And although it may be mislabeled by the Daily Star or maybe even designated as a shutter gun by the RAB the most obvious mechanical features of a shutter gun are obviously and completely missing from this gun's design.
Posted by: junkiron   2015-07-19 10:15  

#4  They know what you think---even if you don't.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2015-07-19 08:07  

#3  Dear Mr. Rabbit,

YES, and don't even think it!
Posted by: AlanC   2015-07-19 08:04  

#2  If a man is alone in the middle of the forest and he says something and there is no women around to hear is he still wrong?
Posted by: BrerRabbit   2015-07-19 06:33  

#1  Since it's ask Fred anything day, is Mosul really infested with Djinns?
Posted by: Shipman   2015-07-19 04:03  

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