What's the difference between a sawn-off shotgun and a scattergun? ?

Question

Is there a difference? Or is one just a nickname of the other?

Answer 1

i'm pretty sure a scatter gun is a machine gun and the other is a hand held shot gun  

Answer 2

The barrel is shorter,it is cut to maybe half its length of a normal shotgun barrel,which in the uk is illegal

Answer 3

A scattergun is just another name for a shotgun.

The difference between a sawed off shotgun and regular shotgun is that a sawed off shotgun is shorter and therefore easier to maneuver and conceal.

Also, since its shorter, a sawed off shotgun is more effective at short range (although shotguns are pretty good at close range to begin with).