So You Want A Shotgun?
Enough has been written about shotguns to fill several books, yet there are still plenty of people who misunderstand what the shotgun does and why. These are constant issues since there are new gun people coming into the self-defense fold and bluntly, even a lot of old gun people do not understand the shotgun completely. So let us address some of the more subtle issues (this is not to say I have all the answers, but then again I do know some of the questions).
The shotgun is legal just about everywhere in the United States, and if you live where you can’t own a shotgun, you need to move—seriously. The barrel has to be 18″ long with an overall length of 26″. In some states the shotgun cannot have a detachable magazine, box-type or drum. In some jurisdictions and hunting applications there is a shell capacity issue.
The shotgun is a bit longer than a handgun. In short-barreled versions, often called riot guns, the 18″ barrel even at full overall length is not much longer than a handgun held and shot properly. The big thing with a shotgun is to practice the manipulation of the gun in the environment you plan on applying it in, whether it’s your home or vehicle or elsewhere. Whether a shotgun is better than a handgun is a moot point. If the door opened now and a guy stepped in the room coming at you with a knife, would you rather shoot him once with a pistol or once with a shotgun? Question answered. The shotgun will, in a proper place and time, physically remove bone and meat, which makes for quite a fight changer if not a fight stopper.
Thinking back, I remember as a cop personally seeing four different people shot at close range with a shotgun. One had a missing leg, one had a missing lower jaw and the other two had missing heads… the gun at close range seems, in my limited experience with it, to be modestly effective.
Distance
The distance to the target is a big salient point with the shotgun. Based on the fact the gun throws inconsistent patterns at varying distances, it is helpful to know the load and the choking of the gun being used. Measure the distances inside your place of potential application, such as your bedroom hallway, and then replicate that distance at the range and shoot your selected choice of ammunition to see how it patterns. Shotguns inside homes are often more like rifles than you might imagine, and the pattern of projectiles and their spread is smaller than the shooter often thinks. Most often the shotgun needs to be aimed in one form or another to place even part of the projectile pattern on the target.
Pattern & Chokes
You can get all kinds of magic choke things installed in your shotgun barrel. For every custom-choked gun, there are hundreds of shotguns without one, so don’t outsmart yourself. If you want a custom screw-in choke, buy it, but make sure it is screwed all the way into the gun. I have seen many screw-in chokes go sailing downrange with a load of shot. Keep ’em tight.
All of the choke in factory shotgun barrels is in the last nominal 2″ or so of the barrel, so if you cut a 30″ full-choke barrel off to make it “handy,” you also made it a cylinder bore, or in technical terms a “friggin’ straight pipe.” It will be OK inside your house, but don’t count on it much for passing overhead duck hunting gigs.
As always buy good ammunition. Reduced load shotgun ammunition is a godsend to all of us interested in self-defense. The old 3″, 12-gauge 00-Buck magnum loads ruined a lot of people to shotgun shooting, so pass on it at every chance. Shoot your ammo type selection on paper and at varying distances to confirm pattern size. Don’t blow off birdshot. (Note to the forum “experts” saying birdshot is for birds: You don’t want to take a load of No. 6 shot in the face down a hallway.) I didn’t say birdshot was my first choice, I said don’t blow it off as ineffective. Your choice, but would you rather go down the hallway with a baseball bat, or wait for the bad guy to come to you and shoot him with a No. 7-1/2 skeet load in the crotch?
Gun Types
These are pretty well defined: single barrel, double barrel, pump action and semi-auto of either recoil or gas operation. Single barrels can be shot well. You just need to practice loading. Double barrels can be shot twice as well, but you still need to practice loading.
Pump actions need to be cycled with the pump elbow under the gun to confirm positive cycling of the action, and again you need to practice loading.
Semis of gas or recoil types unload pretty fast if you like shooting fast. They need to be watched if fighting from the ground to confirm proper reciprocation of the action due to lack of operator resistance behind the gun. And you need to practice loading.
A consistent theme appears to be you need to practice loading. It has been since the beginning of shotguns.
SRM 1216
So if the loading thing bothers you, here is a thought. Based on where you live, and give or take a duck hunt, for personal defense consider the SRM 1216. I tested the prototypes and the production guns having been shipping for some time now. It is an odd duck, sort of. The 1216 is a semi-automatic 12-gauge shotgun. It can shoot either 2-3/4″ or 3″ (we covered the 3″ thing earlier) shotgun ammunition. The trick part is the gun uses a detachable magazine that is not allowed in California and other weirdo places. It has four separate, but attached tubes, with each tube holding four shells, hence 1216—a 12 gauge with four tubes times four shells equals 16.
The gun is a delayed roller blowback semi-automatic. The trick part is after the fourth round is fired, the bolt holds back. The shooter pushes a forward-mounted lever and the shooter’s hand rotates a new 4-round tube into alignment, the action closes and the fight is on. Repeat as required for two more times. Total 16, and if you shoot all 16 rounds of 12-gauge ammo, you have gotten yourself into a big fight, or you need to shoot better.
Should it be a big fight, it is scary quick and easy for the now empty magazine to be quickly lowered out and replaced with a new fully-loaded tube. The gun is completely ambidextrous in set up. The SRM 1216 is not cheap, but it works and holds 16 rounds of 12-gauge ammunition.
I have a Remington 870 because I have had it for 40 years. I have a Mossberg 500 because it is way functional and way affordable. The SRM 1216 shotgun holds more ammunition than both of those two guns put together. If you want a shotgun for home defense and you are in a quandary about loading a shotgun, there might be a new chapter in the continuing saga of the defensive shotgun—chapter SRM 1216.
SRM 1216
Maker: SRM Arms, Inc.
4375A W. McMillan Rd.
Meridian, ID 83646
(888) 269-1885
srm-arms.com
Action: Semi-auto, roller-locked delayed blowback, Caliber: 12 gauge, 2-3/4″ and 3″, Capacity: 16, Barrel length: 18.5″, Overall Length: 34.5″, Height: 8″, Weight: 6.5 pounds w/o magazine, 7.5 w/ magazine
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