Reading this thread, I thought I'd chime in but I gotta say I'm nowhere near as knowledgeable about shotguns as many here. I have had a couple of different short-barrelled coach guns and would offer a couple of my observations. In addition to only having two shots, I would not want to trust having a loaded coach gun relying on the safety to prevent firing because a) it doesn't seem safe to me and b) it would rely on having the action cocked and springs constantly under stress. A pump with a full or partially full magazine and an empty chamber with hammer down seems faster, safer, and the only spring "stressed" is the magazine spring. I had a Stoeger coach gun with which it was possible (with care) to open the action enough to load two shells and close it without cocking the action resulting in a loaded but uncocked shotgun, stressing no springs. This, however, still resulted in having to quickly break the gun open to cock it in order to bring it to bear, no better than racking the slide of a pump, more likely to spill the shells, and still leaving only two rounds at immediate disposal. My current coach gun, Turkish-made, cannot be opened enough to load shells without cocking the action meaning it must be either left empty, loaded and relying on the safety, or shells in the chamber but broken open.If kept broken open but "loaded' it still seems at little more advantage than racking a pump since it has to be closed and safety de-activated, and the leaf springs which power the hammers are under constant stress. Now that may not be a problem at all but I have always read that leaf springs are more prone to stress than coil springs. As much as I like the SxS coach guns, I just gotta believe the pump is superior in nearly every way including safety. I tried a Norinco coach gun and let me just say it was not satisfying and leave it at that. I would like to try a Baikal coach gun, the new one with real hammers, just for grins but still believe an 870 or a 1300 or any of several other pump guns is a far superior choice for HD. That's the decision I've come to and I'm comfortable with it.