There's a good thread on the 'fuge about Olt cut down calls. I remember my Grandpa had one and gave it to my uncle. I wasn't too upset at the time as I thought it sounded nothing like a duck or was broken.
What is it about the sound of the cut downs that works if it doesn't sound like a duck? Is it just louder than other calls and works in combat hunting situations like WMA's?
Any thoughts?

i have one. not sure what it is.

Tone.. It's all about tone

Listen to Rail.....................he used to be a duck.

anyone has a pic of one?

I've got one just like the call on the far right. I've had it for as long as I can remember.............so at least since yesterday.

The call on the far right is the newest and most plentiful out there.

The call second from the left is the oldest as is was produced before the registered trademark was stamped onto the call.

Hizzy; They look basically the same. Are they, or different guts?

It depends on when the call was manufactured. Some models were a "non-key holed" call. look at the insert end and see if the ole is completely round or if it has a slot cut into it. Also, some were made from plastic rather than hard rubber. The older D-2's were all made of hard rubber. Sniff yours and see if it smells like a burnt tire. I bet it doesn't.....if it doesn't then it is made from plastic not rubber.

Three of the calls I have in that picture have been modified. Two were modifed Ark. style and one was modified La. style. It is a process of shaving down the reed base or cutting it. It completely changes the way the call functions.

All I've got is a goose call and a "Perfect Duck Call" which I'm guessing is the noobie model of the real call. The goose call is hard to run. It's like you can't put any air through it or it locks up.
The goose call box was mailed to my Grandpa when he was stationed in Oklahoma in the late 30's or very early 40's. I'll have to ask Grandma. I know he resigned his commission as a LT so he could enlist and go fight in the Pacific. When he showed up at basic, they grabbed him and put him back as a LT and sent him to the Navy on loan. He was an engineer and they told him they needed his brains more than they neeeded his balls. I'm guessing if I did that, they'd have put my dumb ass on a boat to Iwo Jima.

The duck call you posted is not a D-2, The end picture of that goose call is what they called a "key hole", similar to the insert of a D-2......but I don't know anything about the goose calls. I've got that same duck call (in picture). I don't use it because it sounds like crap.

I thought it was a crow call at first.
I messed with it a little and got it sounding OK. Nothing like the D-2, that's for sure.

I may try a Grandpa hunt next season. Shoot his 16ga over his papier mache decoys and run the Olts. If I get a lottery draw on Elm Hill WMA next year I will do that. His ashes were scattered on that WMA.