How do you load your HD/SD shotgun?

[NotSoFast]

I was wondering. I've heard/read that some load both 00 buck and slugs in their gun. One or two others have gone with different mixes as well. So I got to thinking about what I would want loaded in mine.

I am picking up a Mossberg Field/Security combo tomorrow. I was thinking I want either 00 buck or #1 lead in a 2 3/4" load, but I'm not sure if I want a slug in there also or if I should mix the 00 buck with the #1 shot, or as someone mentioned elsewhere, the first being bird shot (???).

So what do you load in your HD/SD shotgun and if you mix loads how do you mix them? Do you have any preferences as to what goes in first? Please include your reasoning behind your choices to help this newcomer out. Thanks.

Also, if you have a buttstock carrier, do you keep something other than what you have loaded in your shotgun in it? If you do, why?

 

[Titan6]

How do you load your HD/SD shotgun?

One shell at a time. All slugs. But I have thick interior walls, not wall board and paint. I don't mix loads because the barrel is rifled and shot does not work well in a rifled barrel. I also know that everything that comes out the barrel will stop an intruder if I do my part. I use slugs because at close range you need a larger caliber rifle to equal the energy dump of the slug and the potential to create stopping wounds with a single shot is enourmous.

I used to use buck shot in a modified choke shotgun but given self defense ranges there is no real advantage to shot.

I carry slugs and two rounds of #2 bird shot in my carrier. At night when I go out to check noises it might just be a coon going through the trash. Since I don't like picking up trash all over the yard the problem is solved by the #2 shot.

 

[PTK]

When I had a shotgun for HD, it was loaded with 00 buck, no slugs. I now have an AR-15 for HD.

 

[Jack2427]

There is no discernable advantage in mix and match in the magazine. But there are some very real disadvantages. I have been carrying weapons professionally for more years than I care to remember, to the point where picking up a couple of weapons is second nature, and if I mix the rounds in a mag I am unlikely to remember which is up first, not to mention second or third. Not because I am old, but because people do stuff like that, particularly when a weapon is loaded and sits for a time(like most HD weapons).
If you mix rounds in a mag, here is a very real possibility that you will not remember which is which. At HD ranges if you have used anything like the right ammo, this is unlikely to be a factor, unless a slug does damage next door. In short it may not be a factor in stopping the BG if you are forced to fire. But it WILL be a big factor in the subsequent civil litigation, when you are asked why you mixed your rounds, particularly if you fired one which you thought was "in reserve". Why you ask, this should not be a factor, and you would be right. But in our litigious society everything is a factor, every thing counts. did you mix your rounds to obtain more "killing power"? Or did you do so to obtain less "killing power"? Either way there are pitfalls that need not be present. And you want every advantage on your side, giving the other side nothing, and I mean nothing to sink their greedy teeth into.
You can take your cues from thje real pros who carry shotguns, none of them mix rounds, none. Carry a butt cuff with different ammo selection? Sure, but not in the mag. In the mag there is too much room for either error, or claimed error-and when you are in court known as the defendant-who has just offed a local "honor student", who may or may not be a culturally deprived ethnic minority group member, the difference between actual and claimed error may be non existant.
We have all got to remember, when you act as an individual, not for some LE or military agency, YOU are buying the end result, not the taxpayer. You personally, homeowner, parent, provider, etc...
Me? I prefer fewer questions afterwards. Why did I use 00 Buck? Because the local cops do. Why slugs? Because that is what I use for deer hunting, and I had them around. Mixing and matching will sound like some malicious previous thought about how you were going to kill or maim someone, or can be twisted that way.
I know a lot of folks are going to say screw that, I will load my gun my way. OK thats your privilege, but I have been on the hot seat, don't want to be there again.

 

[Dave McCracken]

I use 00 I've tested and found to be tight patterning.

In case of action moving outside, or having to shoot through the fridge, there's a couple slugs in the Side Saddle along with more 00. Yet more 00 is found in A, a shell blet nearby and B, the backup 870.

Yes, I like 00 and have confidence in it. I;ve fired hundreds of rounds of it to get here, and regard it as very close to optimum.

Neither of my "Serious" 870s likes 1 buck. Too many fliers.

YMMV.

 

[Goblin]

My HD is a SXS 12ga. It's stoked with 2 #00. 3 extra in the sleeve plus 2 slugs in the remaining loops of the sleeve.BoomBoom deliciousness!!!

 

[moga]

4-00 buck
2-1 oz slugs
2-00 buck

in that order.

 

[wnycollector]

00 buck here, but my buttstock ammo holder has a few of these http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cb.aspx?a=377126

Check out the 8/07 review of it in www.gunweek.com

 

[Fred Fuller]

I'd forget about loading mixed types of rounds in a tubular magazine in some sort of supposed order if I were you. You really need to know what will be coming out of the muzzle every time you press the trigger, and chances are better than good that in the heat of a firefight, that won't be possible. Even the most carefully laid plans seldom survive contact with the enemy...

I've seen it tried, just on a flat range at the hands of a world class instructor who knows how to pressure students. No one did it successfully.

I keep tight-patterning 00 buck (Federal LE 127 00) in the magazines of the 870s here, loaded one round short of capacity. I keep Brenneke KO slugs in the Sidesaddles to be loaded in case ranges stretch longer than buckshot can manage, or more penetration is needed than buckshot can offer. Chambers are empty, hammers are cocked, safeties on.

I've trained with these guns under (IMHO) the best shotgun trainer in the country. I practice with them. I have confidence in my ability to use them under pressure.

Birdshot is for birds.

Of course, your mileage may vary...

lpl

 

[scott22]

I have #4 in mine, I live in an apartment and would not be needing to shoot at any distances that slugs or 00 would be better suited for. The #4 minimizes over penetration but will still penetrate deeply enough to stop any intruders.

 

[nitesite]

First two are Federal 00 buck with FliteControl wads.

The next five are slugs.

It's always loaded that way. Simple. Two buckshot rounds, than all slugs. I should never have a problem remembering that.

 

[RockyMtnTactical]

00 Buck for me

 

[md7]

i load my magazine with five 00 buck,(1 shell shy of full) and have slugs on the butt cuff. if i see that a slug is in order, then i have enough room in my magazine to put one in and shuck it in the chamber.

 

[556A2]

2 3/4" Federal Vital-Shok 00 buckshot, and Brenneke KOs for a slug drill.

 

[Wopasaurus]

I have 5 rounds of Hornady low recoil 00 Buck in there. It doesn't have much kick to it at all, so my GF can handle it if she is the only one that can make it to the shotgun in the closet.

There's also a speedfeed stock on the shotgun, and it has 4 shells of Federal 00 Buck Vital-Shok.

 

[DMR]

Buck in the shotgun, perhaps slugs on the sidesaddle/butt stock thingy. Buck is best at close range. I souldn't need/want to follow someone outside. If I realy, realy need to follow them outside I would like to have slugs availible. BUT, know your backstops and you better be ready for hard questions from the DA's office (as if the questions about what happened inside are not hard enough).

 

[onebigelf]

standard power 1oz slugs in an Ithica 37 pump. no round chambered.

John

 

[V1K1NG0]

Low recoil 00 buck. I always ask my friends why punish yourself. I practice with what I know I will have in my firearm for HD. I've used winchester ranger, winlite, rem managed recoil and found the winlite patterns best in both of my 870's. So that is what they are both loaded with.

On sidesaddles I have 3 low recoil slugs and 2 more low recoil 00 buck.

I keem my third shotgun loaded with full power slugs just in case I think I might need extra penetration.

 

[alpha6164]

i just dont understand why people would limit themselves to single projectile ammo (slugs) and limited ammo in a shotgun format. If i wanted single projectile i would have my ar15 with 30rnds of 75gr TAP ammo. And for the people that are talking about being in apartments, etc, a slug will travel a lot further and do more damage to unintended targets than a 5.56 round.

The whole purpose of shotgun in my opinion and some of the top tactical instructors i have spoken to is to deliver multiple projectiles in a tight pattern, basically increasing the punch factor. My Benelli M4 throws 00Buck in a fist size pattern at 15yards. Nine 9mm size projectiles traveling at 1300fps is devastating. But i sure as hell would not pick slugs and limit my projectile count to 5-8.

 

[shooting4life]

I keep 8 #4 in the tube 4 slugs and 2 000 in the side sadle. I live in a condo and have neighbors in just about every direction. The longest shot i will have to take would be 8 yards. Speaking of which, I would only use the SG if a had a little to get ready, otherwise it is my pistol.

 

[Shung]

2 less than letal, and than 4 buckshot

 

[357wheelgunner]

The magazine is full of OO Buck, downloaded one to save the springs. There are 2 rounds of buckshot (for the round in the chamber and to top off the magazine) and a pair of slugs for just in case.

 

[Alvin in AZ]

Hmmm...
Wouldn't you want it loaded with your typical hunting loads so it wouldn't look quite
so premeditated to the grand jury, that you were wanting to actually kill somebody? :/

Seems to me only the police can get away with that. :/

And while I'm at it...
Do you really want -any- jury seeing your tack-tee-kewl shotgun with the pistol grip or
any of that other stupid looking military crap on your "simple sweet burgular just trying
to feed his family" (with his mom crying in the front row) "killing device"?

To answer the question...
3+1/2 - 1+1/18oz - #4 jackrabbit shells <--"high brass load" with less kick
or
3+1/4 - 1+1/18oz - #5 quail shells
or
3+1/4 - 1+1/18oz - #6 dove shells

"because that's what was in the magazine at the time"

Alvin in AZ

 

[NotSoFast]

Alvin in AZ -

And while I'm at it...
Do you really want -any- jury seeing your tack-tee-kewl shotgun with the pistol grip or any of that other stupid looking military crap on your "simple sweet burgular just trying to feed his family" (with his mom crying in the front row) "killing device"?

Nowhere in my question did I once mention "tack-tee-kewl". If you go look at Mossberg's website you will notice that their combo, while having a composite stock, has none of the things you try to make me out to have on my gun. While I appreciate your thoughts on game shells in the gun or on the sidesaddle/buttstock sleeve, and the comments on what the jury might hear about, I don't appreciate your attitude toward someone you know absolutely nothing about.

To the rest of you, I thank you for your candid answers and your reasonings. I will consider what each of you had to say in my decision.

Chuck

 

[45Guy]

I keep the first two rounds with #4 birdshot, and the next four with #4 buckshot, the reason being overpenetration risk in my apartment. I figure the first two rounds will hopefully (fingers & toes crossed for luck) be the only rounds fired if I have to shoot, then onto something more powerful. And if all else fails I have four rounds of Remington Reduced Recoil OO in my sidesaddle.

But first up would be whichever handgun is next to the bed. Shotgun is left loaded and locked in a wall rack, empty chamber & off safe as a last resort firearm. Then out comes the tomahawk.