Sawed-Off Shotgun: Difference between revisions

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If you're a [[Badass Longcoat]], and you want your firearm to represent how [[Badass]] you are, there's only one choice for you - the Hillbilly Dueling Pistol, AKA the sawed-off shotgun. It is a standard weapon for anyone in the middle of a [[Zombie Apocalypse]]. In the hands of a suitable badass, it can take out anyone in a single blast. The sound of chambering a round in a pump-action sawed-off is like a [[Catch Phrase]] showing how awesome you are—for extra badassitude, you hold it by the slide and sort of wave it in the air, allowing the weapon's own weight to do the chambering (this is a great way to ruin your shotgun in real life, FYI). And if you have a sawed-off double barrel shotgun with dual triggers, you have the option of either unloading one barrel at a time at an opponent, or "giving 'em both barrels," as it were (also an excellent way to destroy it).

 

This trope is prominent in British shows, where the sawn off shotgun remains the weapon of choice for the [[London Gangster]], or the villains in any police procedural, particularly if it involves an [[Armed Blag]]. This is mainly due to the difficulty of obtaining handguns in the UK, while shotguns are still legally available. Incidentally, British English prefers "sawn-off" (the past participle) and American English "sawed-off" (the past preterite, sounds like [[The Problem with Pen Island|something else]] to British ears - though it still works pretty well, considering the context), which is why the terms are used interchangeably here.

{{examples}}

* In ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'', Westernophile Kinzo has several sawed-off Winchester rifles (also known as a Mare's Leg) in his room. After the story gets going, the adults tend to start using them; Natsuhi in the first arc, Rosa in the second arc, and nearly everyone in the third.

* Similar to the previous example, in the ''[[Devilman]]'' manga, badass Ryo Asuka uses a sawed-off rifle to great effect, first scaring some bullies and later injuring Sirene.

* One of {{spoiler|Shogo Kawada's many victims in his first go-round}} is seen with one in the manga ''[[Battle Royale]]''.

 

* In the ''[[Batman]]'' comics, Detective (later Sheriff) Steve 'Shotgun' Smith carries one of these as his standard weapon.

* This was the weapon of choice for the Sineater, of 1980's ''[[Spider-Man]]''.

 

* A notorious [[David Gonterman]] fanfic features the [[God Mode Sue|hero]] Davey Crockett shooting Lord Zedd's throne with a sawn-off shotgun. Davey is on Earth at the time, and the throne is on the moon. [[Improbable Aiming Skills|And the throne is completely destroyed by the shot.]] [[Nigh Invulnerable|And Lord Zedd is unharmed despite having been sitting in the throne at the time.]]

 

* ''[[Mad Max]]'' used one as his main weapon.

** For that matter, he has it placed as his sidearm in the movie, akin to a police officer's pistol.

* The official reason the [[Big Bad]] of the [[Steven Seagal]] movie ''The Patriot'' is arrested is for sawing the barrel off of a shotgun. This was because the authorities didn't have the evidence needed to arrest him for the criminal actions of his 'militia group', and didn't know that he had stolen a biochemical weapon and was planning to use it, but ''did'' have concrete evidence that he had made an illegal modification to a firearm.

 

* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' novel ''Death Masks'', Karrin Murphy wields a sawed-off shotgun against the vampires and their Renfields.

** Not to mention, Harry has a sawed-off shotgun in the backseat of the Blue Beetle.

* In [[Andrew Vachss]]'s ''[[Burke]]'' books, the Prof favours one of these.

 

* In ''[[The Wire]]'', Omar Little uses a double-barreled sawed off shotgun.

* The Winchesters in ''[[Supernatural]]'' use sawn-off shotguns loaded with rock salt to fight ghosts.

* On ''[[Lost]]'', Caesar finds a sawed-off shotgun at the Hydra and takes it. But when he tries to use it, {{spoiler|Ben has already stolen it and shoots him}}.

* The [[Weapon of Choice]] for [[Bounty Hunter]] Jesse Colton in ''[[MacGyver]]''.

 

* Incredibly common in [[Tabletop Games|tabletop roleplaying games]].

** In the first and second editions of White Wolf's ''[[Old World of Darkness]]'' games, the only difference between a sawed-off and a regular shotgun was that the former was easier to conceal.

* In ''[[GURPS]]'' sawed off shotguns are just slightly lighter and easier to use in close combat. The stock can also be sawed off but that just makes it hard to fire.

 

* The [[Nerf Brand|NERF N-Strike]] Barrel Break IX-2 is a reverse-plunger'd double-barreled breech-action short-barreled shotgun of a dart blaster. It even has a [[Gun Accessories|Tactical Rail-mounted dart rack]] to hold more ammo! Some modders merely shorten the barrel a little more, while others [[https://web.archive.org/web/20101230141341/http://nerfornothing.blogspot.com/2010/08/heavily-modified-barrel-break.html go [[Serial Escalation|farther and minimize it extensively]].

** Their competitor, Buzzbee, also has a Double Shot blaster, which is a slimmer double-barreled shotty with individual "shells" that you load the darts into before loading them up. While it is not sawn-off in its stock form, many modders will indeed saw off the barrels so they don't slow down the darts. (''Due to how plunger-driven dart blasters work, too long a barrel in some kinds of blasters will actually reduce their range and power!'')

 

* Even if he's prematurely aged into an old man, [[Metal Gear|Solid Snake]] is capable of shooting a sawed-off one-handed.

** Played more realistically in ''Snake Eater'', where the shotguns were shortened specifically for use in the jungle environments in which the game takes place.

* The ''[[Twisted Metal]]'' reboot has this as a sidearm and a bigger one as a weapon pickup. The former is near useless when not used in [[I Just Shot Marvin in the Face|extreme close range]] and can either unload both shells at once [[For Massive Damage]] or just one shell and use the other when appropriate. Did I mention that you have [[Bottomless Magazines|unlimited ammo]] for it? On the other, there's [[Boring but Practical|nothing special for the latter]], except being a lot stronger obviously. Both weapons are potentially among the strongest weapons in the game.

 

* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' referenced this trope in the "Sawn-off Schlockgun" arc, with Schlock sawing-down two multi-cannons and being told that they were now a danger to everyone around him, since he'd removed the regulators and cooling systems.

** When they were repaired he kept the look for sheer intimidation value, since just holding them made it obvious he was a maniac.

 

* A sawed off shotgun appears in version three of ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]''.

* Bruno, from the completed short-story serial ''[[Vatsy and Bruno]]'', wields a double-barreled variety of this.

 

* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' has a few instances where a character weilds a sawed-off shotgun.

** In the episode where Mr. Burns is trying to kill Grandpa to get the Hellfish Bonanza, an assassin bursts into the retirement home spraying machine gun bullets everywhere. A nurse retaliates with this weapon.

** When Mr. Burns takes on Bart as his heir, Homer tries to get him back. In a deleted scene, shown on a clip show special, instead of releasing the hounds (or the bees, or the hounds with bees in their mouths so when the bark they shoot bees at you) Burns chooses to release the Robotic Richard Simmons. It chases off Homer, but continues to antagonize Mr. Burns. Smithers attempts to take it out with a sawed-off shotgun blast to the face, but it reforms ''a la'' [[Terminator]] T-1000.

 

* Sawed-off shotguns were used extensively in trench warfare during the first World War by the United States.

** Aye, and much like the Australian example below, they were considered by the opposition to be illegal. The Germans, who deployed gas weapons and flamethrowers, considered shotguns to be too much.

** The US Supreme Court ruled this law was legal in 1939. Of course only the prosecution showed up as the defendant was too poor to show up, and was dead before the ruling came down. Also, the ruling was based upon faulty information.

* A sawed-off shotgun was the weapon of choice of Clyde Barrow. It hung from a strap around his shoulder so that he could easily conceal it under his coat, and quickly raise it up into a firing position.

* Both Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold carried sawed-off shotguns during the [[Columbine]] High School massacre.

* This isn't always a modification, the Ithaca Auto & Burglar (1922) was a known as a "factory-built sawed-off shotgun" and aimed at police forces. Er...make that ''sold to'' police forces.