Single loading a shot shell in a HD situation

Single loading is pretty simple. Just watch the Cowboy Shooters using Model 97 Winchesters.

In your scenario, the best path would be to feed that slug into the magazine, then it's the next round to be chambered. It's just a simple matter of racking the slide to get the slug into the chamber and you won't be fumbling around with doing something you're not familiar with while under stress.

Hope this helps.

Fred

That is one feature I love on my HK 121M you can jack the round out of the chamber and it won't release one from the mag tube unless the trigger has been pulled, makes single loading very easy.

It is a slightly impractical situation... namely because I see no point to use slugs in an HD scenario. I have a 6rd carrier on my HD 870 and I just load it with more 00 buck.

You are not supposed to rack the slide all the way back. Try it with some snap caps.
1. Hold your shotgun pointed down range and simply rotate it so that the ejection port is facing up.
2. Rack the slide back enough so you can see the entire shell that was previously in the chamber. At this point, the extractor still has a hold on the shell, but the elevator has cleared the shell and has just began moving down to grab the shell in the magazine tube.
3. Don't rack the slide back enough to grab the shell in the magazine tube.
4. Reach in the ejection port with your fingers and grab the shell that was in the chamber.
5. Insert new shell in the chamber through the ejection port and rack the slide all the way forward.

Hooray! Now you have a new shell in there and the shells in the magazine tube haven't moved.

Now, I can't really think of a good reason why I would ever want to perform this under stress. I'm just gonna keep rackin and shootin.

If you feel like you really must have the capability to switch to slugs, leave your magazine down one. That way you can put a slug from the sidesaddle in the mag tube, and rack the slide to send it to the chamber (either firing whatever shell was in the chamber, or ejecting it unfired as the situation dictates).

I know the Benelli Nova has a button that shuts down the magazine so you can eject the round in the chamber without altering what's in the tube.

There are lots of ways to do slug change overs or whatever you want to call it and it generally depends on the type of shotgun how you do it. With a Mossberg the fastest way is going to be to surf the round released out of the mag tube and then insert the slug through the ejection port. If you have already expended a few rounds and don't have a full magazine tube just insert the slug into the magazine tube and rack as normal.

More important though is knowing when it is appropriate to use a slug and when it isn't. Slugs are used to give the shotgun more range over buckshot. Slug change overs are typically done at distance beyond the effective or practical range of buckshot, behind some sort of cover. In a HD situation as already mentioned unless you have some good distance shots in your house there shouldn't be a reason to switch to a slug.

I certainly understand the effectiveness of a 1oz lead slug for ruining a BG's day, but I'm struggling with how to perform this action. I've got a Mossberg 500, and by the time the shell in the chamber is ejected, the mag has fed the next shell onto the elevator. Can't hand load then because it seems a sure way to jam up the gun with two shells in the action, right?

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No it will not work that way. There are multiple ways to do slug change overs. One way is described in the quotations below. I have added my thoughts on those methods. At the end I provide another method.

In your scenario, the best path would be to feed that slug into the magazine, then it's the next round to be chambered. It's just a simple matter of racking the slide to get the slug into the chamber and you won't be fumbling around with doing something you're not familiar with while under stress.

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This presumes the gun does not have a full tube. See below. If the the tube is down a round this can be a viable method. If you have fired already and not fed the gun then this technique is a possibility

If you feel like you really must have the capability to switch to slugs, leave your magazine down one.

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I prefer not to down load. I would rather have the extra round in the gun, shotguns are already limited in capacity. This would particularly be true if I had a gun that had a relatively smaller capacity to begin with. Also for a HD context the likely hood of needed a slug change over in HD is not that great (of course the likely hood of more than a few rounds might not be either). Others might see things differently and that is their decision.

If one has fired and not fed the gun they are in essence downloaded.

If I have a full tube and need to load a slug then I do as follows on a 500 (different makes/models can be done differently):

1: Rack the slide back

2: Now there is a shell on the lifter that would be fed. As you noted above if you load a shell through the ejection port there will be a problem. You need to get rid of that round. I "surf" it out. In sum, I turn the gun and flip that round out.

3. Load the slug through the ejection port. (there are various ways to do that, for example going under versus going over the top)

4. Send the slide home

You may want to attend a shotgun course if you have the opportunity/means. Also the Magpul Art of the dynamic shotgun might be of interest to you. It covers a lot of these basic shotgun manipulations and shows them on various guns (because it often varies) including the Mossberg 500.

I'm also going to advocate loading the slug into the magazine and working the action.

It requires a lot less manual dexterity, it works on ALL tube fed shotguns regardless of all the subtle differences, while the slug-changeover methods are all model specific, and you don't really have to download the magazine to use it, just keep your HD shotgun with the chamber empty.

No, I'm not a proponent of the 'scary ka-chuk sound'. Shotguns just happen to be notoriously NOT drop-safe. Fumbling around with the weapon in the middle of the night, I don't want the chamber loaded until I have my hands firmly on it. So when I grab the weapon, chamber the first round, that leaves room in the magazine for a slug if I were to need that for some reason.

Three days at a defensive shotgun course with a quality Professional trainer will teach you more than three years of listening to opinions on the internet. Problem is, some of these folks clearly know what they are talking about, and many clearly don't. How do you know which is which? You don't.

One more vote from here for taking a class from a good instructor. Three days with a Louis Awerbuck, Randy Cain or the equivalent will give you more than years of trying to work things out on your own.

My suggestion FWIW is sticking to doing all loading through the magazine, as long as the magazine is functional of course (sometimes tubular magazines do go down- gotta be ready if that happens to you). It's easier to 'groove' one way of doing things into muscle memory for routine use, and using any other approach for emergencies when the 'routine' approach won't work.

The drill is usually called the "select slug" drill, and there are a number of ways to perform it, depending on circumstances. IMHO it doesn't really matter that much what particular method any given person uses, as long as that person can keep their feces coagulated when the pressure is on and do the drill smoothly. The good thing about taking a class is that you will put an enormous amount of pressure on yourself to perform in front of the instructor and your classmates, and learning to control your responses to the pressure and perform despite it is IMHO the biggest benefit to professional training.

I also prefer to keep slugs in the Sidesaddle and buckshot in the magazine with the chamber empty, with space left in the tube for one more round. That way if it's called for, a slug can be loaded into the magazine before the action is cycled, if a slug is needed first up. Keeping the magazine topped up is one of the primary skills in fighting with a shotgun IMO. Very few people can count rounds in a gunfight, and the biggest drawback to shotguns as a rule is limited magazine capacity. No matter how big the magazine is, it's going to go empty sooner or later and we have to learn to reload it.

The next most important skill is ammunition management, getting the round that's needed in the chamber when it's needed. One solution to that is to use only slugs in defensive shotguns, which is Louis Awerbuck's approach. He says he's not smart enough to use more than one kind of ammunition in a shotgun.

Well, I'm for sure not smarter than Louis is (bigger, yes, but not smarter ) but I prefer to use 00 when the target is unprotected. I do want slugs available if the range stretches out beyond what buckshot can handle, or if the target is hiding behind the refrigerator. I prefer buckshot that will pattern tightly, so I'm not using buckshot to make up for not being able to hit what I shoot at. And I use hard alloy slugs (Brenneke KOs) that will penetrate and not soft lead Foster type slugs that will flatten out and stop quickly.

fwiw,

lpl

My suggestion FWIW is sticking to doing all loading through the magazine,

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Are you including if one has shot the gun dry? Are you saying to do an "emergency reload" (or whatever appellation one wants to use) you would feed the tube and then work the slide. I'm not critiquing BTW just trying to understand if that was intended to be included in the set of all loading.

My defensive tube gun (I actually prefer my S12 for that role and at least one reason is the manual of arms is simpler and less bobble prove basically everything, emergency reloads, tactical reloads, slug change overs; is done simply by loading a new box mag and working the charging handle.) is set up is to have a side saddle with two slugs brass up and then 00 buck brass down. I also have a two shell holder just in front of the ejection port. If I were to shoot the gun dry I first load one through the port (which is open on my auto loader) hit the button to send it home and either fire if needed immediately or start feeding the tube. Shotguns take more work than a handgun or carbine to be proficient in running them IMHO, particularly if one wants to be able to take full advantage of its versatility.

Shotguns are interesting and complicated because they vary one to the next more significantly than other types of weapons. Some times what works well on one will not on another. I agree full with Lee that the exact methods used are often not critical so long as one understands why they are doing what they are doing and has drilled them enough to be able to perform them under stress.

+++ on attending a professionaly taught training school.

However in the situation asked about, loading a slug in the middle (apparently) of a deadly confrontation, I have only one question, why? We are discussing a tactical operation that most professionals say NOT to attempt, even by a highly trained pro. The reason is simple, it introduces an additional element of potential complication into an already complicated situation.
If you are in a personal defense situation, the only possible reason for changing to a slug is that the range is opening, and if the range is opening your danger is decreasing and almost everywhere in the US the state law is that if the danger is decreasing a private person's use of deadly force is becoming more limited. The idea that you can use deadly force to protect yourself, others and your home(in some states). If that threat is decreasing (or becoming mitigated in legalspeak), you must take that into consideration in your using deadly force. In most states a private person cannot shoot a person who is retreating from the scene of the attempted (or completed) crime.
Legal considerations aside, I am trying to visualize a situation that would require a change of ammunition from buck to slugs. If one did present itself, I would be inclined to empty the magazine the way the manufacturer intended-crank them all off, and then reload with the desired ammo. It would be so much simpler with an empty mag and an open action.
I am a long time professional in the use and carrying of arms. And subsequent to just about every encounter I have remembered something that I was trained to do, but didn't, either because I was busy doing something else, or was cowering behind cover trying to think of what to do next.
Even multiple professional schools/training courses will not make a skilled professional out of someone, only extremely concentrated and repetetive training will do that. Most of the schools will teach you how to survive the average defensive encounter, and most of us hope we do not have the experience of using that training.
Stick another type of round into the weapon during an armed encounter? I wouldn't, unless I needed it to go on the offensive-which a citizen in a defense situation should NOT do, the term is self defense, home defense, but always defense.

My default position is to load through the magazine, as long as it is functioning properly. If shooting the gun empty, default is load two shoot one, followed by load one shoot one thereafter until time allows topping up the magazine. When I took the class, Louis Awerbuck was teaching students to press check the magazine and to press check the chamber to determine status of each without looking at the gun, according to what was going on and what time was available.

Far as I know, most professional shotgun trainers still teach the select slug drill, though course outlines usually refer to "ammunition selection." While it is highly unlikely that actually performing a select slug IRL will ever be necessary, it's a worthwhile addition to the shotgun skillset IMHO.

AFAIK there is no "one true path" for anything regarding defensive shotgun technique, save that safety always comes first. I'm not saying that there is, not do I profess to be the be all and end all of defensive shotgunning. Please don't misunderstand anything I say in that regard- I do what I have trained and practiced to do, that doesn't mean my way is right for anyone else.

lpl

Okay, I have only rarely loaded more than one shell at a time (pretty much have only used the gun for trap), but it seems like the simpler I can make my actions the better, and as long as my mag is functioning, I'm loading the mag from the shell holder. All one type of shell as well, though.

My mag holds 4(?) plus 5 on the stock, so if something happens in my little half of the duplex, I seriously doubt I need more than 9 rounds. And if I do, I have a couple extra boxes of shells stashed in a couple places.

My default position is to load through the magazine, as long as it is functioning properly.

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Again I'm not trying to say this is wrong in any way. I just wanted to use it as an example of needing to know how one's own shotgun works since various guns have their own quirks.

On a mossberg 930, for example, one cannot feed the tube with the bolt back. Thus one would need to hit the release button first to feed it through the tube then charge the gun. Might as well put a shell in through the port since you would then have a round chambered. As opposed to having to hit the button then load the tube then charge the weapon. On the other hand my browning has "speed loading" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioSF3B4Y0UM) so it is very different in that respect. One feeds the tube and it chambers that round automatically.

Just an example of how very different two shotguns can be and how it might affect how the shooter wants to run that gun.