"Shockwave" style guns = love or hate?

For me it’s like a derringer, a lot of fun at the range but like most of my guns more novelty and for fun than anything.

Have you pattern it with 00 buck at 25 yards? Not as maneuverable or concealable as a pistol. The fact that you are responsible for every bullet leaving your gun makes these not practical for public self defense. Most people hardly ever shoot buckshot, its a fun range toy that looks "mall ninja" I do not own one but have shot 2 at ranges of 15 yards with cheap buckshot, after everyone shot it 5 or 6 times it was put up.

Targa said:

For me it’s like a derringer, a lot of fun at the range but like most of my guns more novelty and for fun than anything.

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I agree and the recoil to my wrist is unpleasant

snowman357 said:

... The fact that you are responsible for every bullet leaving your gun makes these not practical for public self defense. ...

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That ... is my primary concern with them.

I do feel the pull to get one, though.

I have one. I keep it in trunk of my car. Plenty of videos showing and proving that they are accurate and manageable.

After bumpstocks, braces, and 80% lowers are banned, the ATF will simply change the definition of what the text of the law means, and everyone who spent $300-$600 on a Shockwave variant will either have to turn it in, destroy it, or register it via $200 tax stamp. Of course many of the same gun owners who thought bumpstocks, braces, and 80% lowers skirted the law and/or were useless gimmicks will sit by idly yet again while these are banned. If you don't already own one, I don't recommend wasting your time or money.

scaatylobo said:

I HIGHLY recommend you shoot the Aguala short shells.

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Yes... that's what I have loaded in my 18" Mossberg 500 next to the nightstand.

I guess much of it depends on your particular use, beyond just being a range gun. I don't see anywhere a Shockwave (et al) would be more beneficial in the role my Mossberg 500 has, nor any benefit... but that is just my personal position. Further, I don't have a AR next to the bed... it's too much for my particular situation, and I'm willing to acknowledge that.

I also agree with what Styx was saying... all these clever end-runs around BATFE regulations is just going to turn around and bite us on the butt... not that there is anything we can do about it... as an autonomous alphabet bureau, they get to say and do whatever they want with no accountability or responsibility to it's citizens. Change my mind.

I have one. A 20ga shockwave and I have to say I’m really not impressed by it. When I bought mine they could be found under $300 on occasion, I paid $269 for mine on sale from PSA but it’s been a while.

For a couple hundred bucks I’d probably buy it again but I honestly can’t find a use for it that I don’t have a better gun for, but I say that about my AR to, they both seem over rated to me.
To be honest part of the reason I bought it to support something that shows the pointlessness of the NFA, same thing with the bumpstock I had. If you make a gun related item I think gives the metaphorical finger to the anti gunners, or their infringements, its a good chance I’ll buy it so long as its legal and not overly expensive. Which reminds me, I need to build an pistol with a brace sometime, just because.

In short I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it.
It’s just Meh….. nothing special.


I will say I have a brother that LOVES his, though he constantly complains about it shooting high.

snowman357 said:

Have you pattern it with 00 buck at 25 yards? Not as maneuverable or concealable as a pistol. The fact that you are responsible for every bullet leaving your gun makes these not practical for public self defense. Most people hardly ever shoot buckshot, its a fun range toy that looks "mall ninja" I do not own one but have shot 2 at ranges of 15 yards with cheap buckshot, after everyone shot it 5 or 6 times it was put up.

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I own one and shoot it pretty regularly.

Its not a 25 yard gun, lets just get that out of the way. Could you learn to shoot it at that distance with slugs? Probably, but its not a 25 yard gun either way, at least as far as Im concerned. Put a stock on it, and thats a different discussion.

Its meant for close up work and 10-15 yards with buck is about where Id cut it off. And again, not that you cant make things work beyond that, I just dont see it being that type of gun.

Once you learn to shoot it using your body, like an aiming turret and shock absorber, its fast, accurate, and easily controllable and not at all unpleasant to shoot. I normally use 2-3/4" #1 Buck in mine when using standard shells. If you want to make it even more pleasant, use the mini shells.

I do find it a bit uncomfortable to shoot held high and "aiming" using the sights with it, but its not difficult to do that. I just dont shoot it much that way as I find it a bit awkward.

Even with the larger pellet load of the #1 Buck, at 15 yards, I have no trouble keeping all the pellets on target, with good, solid hits, where I was looking when the gun goes off. And as with most things, the closer you get, the easier it gets.

One thing Ive noticed is, many people seem to think the way youre supposed to shoot them, is you hold it low and off to the side at your hip to shoot it. Basing things on shooting like that, especially with no experience with them, its easy to see why people say they are a novelty and not a practical gun. If all youve shot out of them is 5 or 6 rounds, you really have no idea of what you have and what its capable of.

I dont see them as a novelty, but they are a niche type gun, and one of those guns you "add" to the inventory as needed, and not chosen as a primary.

I have tried them and find the club grip to be awkward and clumsy. 12 ga was pretty brutal for me because of the awkwardness. 20ga wasn’t bad but I was not shooting stout shells either so I suspect serious duty type ammo would creep back up to the unpleasant level. The 410 a friend bought for his daughter to take when she went to college was a lot of fun, but it’s a 410 so it’s not the most effective thing out there. If I were serious about getting one I think I would go 20ga and load my own shells so that I could dial in on that magical line between marginal and adequate while also dialing in on the line between painful and peppy. The grip design just doesn’t work for me, so I would be looking at other options that may work better. The ones I tried were all too linear on the butt. It slipped around and did a number on my trigger finger and middle finger.

trackskippy said:

I do find it a bit uncomfortable to shoot held high and "aiming" using the sights with it, but its not difficult to do that.

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I saw a guy try that with an earlier pistol grip 18" Mossberg. He couldn't hit shooting from the hip, so he held it up to aim. Then he was looking for his missing tooth to see if it could be reimplanted.

Meet @BrobeeBiter who hunts with his.

Jim Watson said:

I saw a guy try that with an earlier pistol grip 18" Mossberg. He couldn't hit shooting from the hip, so he held it up to aim. Then he was looking for his missing tooth to see if it could be reimplanted.

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Hip shooting like all shooting in general takes practice. I am a decent hip shooter. Can hit what I’m pointing at. At close distances. Anything past 15 yards is a no go for me.

I haven't messed with the 12 Gauge Shockwave but I do have the 410 version and it does quite well when loaded with 3" triple 000 buckshot shells holding 5 pellets.I get tight patterns out to 15 yards and all pellets are still within a 12" circle at 25 yards. I also get good penetration too.

The Shockwave and similar were never meant to be shot from the hip. The proper way to shoot them is holding it at arms length using the push/pull method. That is how we were taught to use short stockless shotguns.

See are the results with 3" 000 buckshot out of my Shockwave and Mossberg 500 with 18.5" barrel

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/410-mossberg-shockwave-range-results.870140/

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/more-410-fun-mossberg-500-range-results.872726/

I think there is some cornfusion going on in this thread; the discussion is about "Shockwave"-type firearms, NOT PGO shotguns or AOW's. A PGO shotgun held up high can cause lost teeth, a Shockwave or Tac-14 (or Tac-13) held high shouldn't, unless you are an idiot. 12Bravo20 is correct, they are held high pushing the forearm, pulling the Raptor grip.
Here is the correct way to shoot a Shockwave-type weapon:



BrobeeBiter's videos on it are instructive also.

Love or hate? I love 'em.

Neither love nor hate. Just not my thing.

The idea of hip firing a 12ga with deformed pistol grip doesn't really appeal to me. But just maybe the 20ga model does.

Well, it's not designed to be hip-fired........

entropy said:

Well, it's not designed to be hip-fired........

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Yeah, they put the chainsaw handle on it to make it more controllable in front of your face, I’d love to see someone try that with some slugs in there.

That's the Mossberg "Chainsaw", which is a PGO shotgun, not a Raptor gripped- 'firearm', (specifically the Shockwave) which is the subject of this thread.

See posts #15 and #16 for clarification.

Sorry, see Mossberg’s website

https://www.mossberg.com/product/shockwave-shock-n-saw-50647/

DeepSouth said:

Sorry, see Mossberg’s website

https://www.mossberg.com/product/shockwave-shock-n-saw-50647/

View attachment 1006369
https://www.mossberg.com/category/series/590-shockwave/

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That is for the guys that want to look cool at the range while rapid firing from the hip but not really hitting anything.

My earlier post along with Entropy's post explains the proper way to shoot short barrel guns with a birds head grip. The proper way is held up at eye level and at arms length using the push/pull method. The push/pull method is pushing forward with your support hand while pulling back with your firing hand. The push/pull method is how the military and federal agents are taught to shoot with these type of firearms. When shot correctly these can be very accurate.

Had one, liked it a lot. I had one really really early into production, so it caught a lot of attention on the range and a lot of folks offered to let me try cool stuff they had to try it. So I had positive experiences with it.