[Terry_Maiden]

Now before you all start on how a Polychoke on the end of a barrel looks awful, ruins the "swing" of a gun and destroys the resale value I want answers to this question. In the old days all the skeet "champs" used guns with Cutts Compensators with the "Spreader" non-choke installed. This produced more open patterns and long shot strings. They also made the gun look even worse than a Polychoke would. Can a Polychoke be set to throw shot patterns like a Cutts with the Spreader installed? I need something that will get me a few more skeet targets than I am getting now. Thanks, I'll get me some popcorn now.

Signed, Reggie Blake

 

[skeet_man]

A Cutts, or Cutts-like pattern is not going to solve your problems, or buy you a few more birds.

The primary benefit of the Cutts was that it put the weight out on the end of the barrel, and smoothed your swing out. It also reduced recoil (partially because of the weight).

With modern chokes and porting, there isn't much if anything that a Cutts can do that a screw choked barrel can't.

 

[halfmile]

Kolar Cutts devices are good, but unwieldy for some. I have a Magna Ported 1100 skeet barrel that has the forcing cone done and it shoots better than my Cutts.

But The Tula choke in the S & W Super Skeet is also IMO one of the best.

All in all I consider all 3 equal.

HM

 

[skeet_man]

I think a lot of the magic in the Kolar comp barrels was due to the fact that at least some of them were backbored and had the forcing cones lengthened as well. They also do a phenomenal job at reducing muzzle jump (due to the weight and porting @ 2 o'clock and 7 o'clock instead of 12 and 6 like the lyman cutts).

I've seen kolar comp barrels chip and chunk, and I've seen them roll smoke. The absolutely hardest hits I've ever seen on a skeet field came out of a Beretta 391 w/ mobile chokes.

 

[Brad Korando]

I have a few Cutts guns that I shoot for fun and also some tubed guns with Kolar AAA and Briley UL tube sets. I shoot 7/8oz 12g loads and 3/4oz 20g loads. The Cutts guns are all vintage M12's and are hard to compare to the modern O/U guns they're worlds apart. I will say that the benefit of the Cutts 'Spreader' choke is not that it hits hard or smokes targets. Instead a typical Cutts break looks more like a starburst. Most often the center portion of the target remains a circular disk with anywhere from 6-12 smaller pieces breaking away from the center. The typical Cutts break looks like fireworks. I've patterned all of my guns at +/-22 yards and the Cutts Spreader pattern is remarkably even with little to no hot core. The Kolar AAA's have a little bit of a hot core and the Briley U/L's are pretty close to the Kolar.

I also have a Cutts Adjustable choke and think that it is much more like the Polychoke since it is more of a "Dial a Choke". I have not yet patterned the Cutts Adjustable, but can tell you from visually comparing the breaks; it does not produce the typical Cutts starburst breaks like the Spreader. Instead it breaks targets with more of a hot core I think. It other words, it will smoke targets when you center the pattern on the target. The Cutts Spreader will rarely smoke a target. I don't have a Polychoke so I can't say that they will be the same as the Cutts Adjustable, but it seems like they would be to me.

I really enjoy shooting my Cutts guns. They aren't competition guns by today's standards, but they were at one time and that's the fun in it for me.

Regards,
Brad

 

[bigbore613]

Look around for a barrel with one already installed, over the years they have been put on everything. Its not the answer to your problem, more practice with better shooters is. Jeff

 

[EdSy]

As has been mentioned, the Beretta mobil "skeet" choke does a nice job of shaping an even pellet distribution at around 22 yards +/-. I also have a fixed choke 390 barrel marked "SKEET" that has a form of Tula choke and it too does a great job. -Ed

 

[Birddogfella]

I also shoot scatterguns with Cutts spreader, Cutts IC, Poly Choke, Screw in and fixed factory chokes.
BRAD gives a knowledgable description in his post, I think.
I am 69 and no longer can tell much difference in any of them anymore, FWIW.
If I had to choose ONE skeet gun, it would have a Cutts IC installed.
My Trap gun would probably (FLAMER ALERT!!!) be my A5 w/32" fixed full choke, built-up comb.
my $0.02
ML Johnson

 

[Zoom.Golly]

Cutts popularity peaked during the paper shell, cork/fiber wads era. Two gremlins haunting the shooters of that era were 'blown patterns' and 'doughnut patterns'. The conventional wisdom was that a Cutts would slay these gremlins. I don't know if there are, or ever were such things as 'blown patterns' and 'donut patterns', but many felt a Cutts patterned "better" with that era's ammo. Maybe.

I did have an opportunity to talk to many shooters of that era and I asked them about why they used a Cutts. I heard most of the reasons noted in the earlier posts. But two other comments from Big Dogs those days that I did remember were:

a) It was fad just like tube-sets are a fad these days (this was when tube-sets were first becoming popular in skeet), and

b) We were much poorer then and most of us just shot 12 gauge. Adding a Cutts was a cheap way to turn your field gun into a combination field and skeet gun.

 

[halfmile]

The hot dogs of that era around here had Model 12's with 2 barrel/magazine setups.

One was full choke for trap and duck hunting, the other was Cutts equipped for skeet and bird hunting.

Once in a great while one of those combos turns up.

HM

 

[Zoom.Golly]

Here is an obscure story from the deep reaches of my memory. I believe I heard this from the guy that told me about using a Cutts to turn a field gun into a skeet gun.

As I remember the story, a lot of those guns then were ribless. Attaching a Cutts to them was a bit of a trick. It seems the huge glob of a Cutts on the end of a ribless barrel would result in a gun that shot low. I guess that would be like adding a higher front site to a rifle. So after the Cutts was attached it had to be bent up to make the gun shoot straight on. I guess they had a tool to do that, but I remember him saying some guys bent their Cutts using the slots between boards on the safety fence between skeet fields. He said some would even use the crotch between branches on a convenient tree.

I can't recollect that I have ever seen a ribless gun with a Cutts, but I have seen several ribless Poly-Choked guns.

 

[Terry_Maiden]

I just want to find a way out of "E" class! A few more targets per event would do it...

Signed,
Billy Whistle

 

[skeet_man]

Find a qualified instructor then.

 

[Jimmy Bowen]

Here are 4 original Factory Cutts Winchester Model 12's. All of them came from the factory with NO CHOKE MARKING and the Cutts Compensators installed. The 3rd one down has had a Simmons vent rib installed. That gun also has the aluminum Cutts on it.

Here is a better close up of the lug on the barrel on the factory Winchester guns.

Jimmy Bowen

 

[pufftarget]

The first 4x4 at skeet was shot by Ken Barnes using Cutts equipped model 12's and a 42. Watching a great shooter operate a pump and seeing the targets broken with the Cutts equipped guns was a thing to behold. Also, Grant Ilseng, one of the best skeet shooters of his era, shot a plain barreled model 12 I believe with a cuts. And didn't Wayne Mays' Blondie have a compensator?

Chuck

 

[pufftarget]

The first 4x4 at skeet was shot by Ken Barnes using Cutts equipped model 12's and a 42. Watching a great shooter operate a pump and seeing the targets broken with the Cutts equipped guns was a thing to behold. Also, Grant Ilseng, one of the best skeet shooters of his era, shot a plain barreled model 12 I believe with a cuts. And didn't Wayne Mays' Blondie have a compensator?

Chuck

 

[semperfi909]

I also have a factory Cutts (machined on adapter like the previous pic)with no rib and no choke marking. It is stamped "SKEET" on the action under the serial number.

 

[1oldtimer]

What did a cutts do for me? They gave me permanent hearing loss when the rabbit and pheasant hunters came out and shot some trap to get some practice in the 1950's. No one used ear plugs in those days. Standing next to one is nasty!

 

[halfmile]

The 3rd gun down in the picture looks like it has a "Power-Pac" which was a Cutts knockoff. I have seen many of these on the Manufrance pumps Wards used to sell. Whatever it is it has a definite difference in the vents.

HM

 

[skeet_man]

3rd gun down has an aluminum cutts. Slots were much larger and thus fewer.