pistol grip or not for home defense??

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glock_17_4U

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i am thinking o getting a remington 860 with a foregrip and pistol grip to defend the ole homestead. what are your opinions? the model i am thinking of getting is remington 870 express model#24823.it has pistol grip stock and foree. please give me your thoughts on this shotgun.
 
For PGO:
Useless on the front, even more than useless on the rear.

Stock with a pistol grip also isn't as bad, but you can't get a proper cheekweld on the ones I've tried. I have a AR stock on one, it's more of a novelty than anything, it's shootable but it points funny, and if it went back into use as one of my HD shotguns, I'd go back to the factory stock.
 
IMHO a proper buttstock is necessary in a HD shotgun. Sure you can say you intend it for room sweeping in tight quarters, but I find a proper buttstock doesn't interfere with this, and how do you butt-stroke an intruder with a pitol grip? Plus you might need to snatch it up to your shoulder and take a shot at longer than arm's length. Then, a buttstock is necessary.
 
Here we go again.
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Welcome to THR. Search is your friend.
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Unless you're the ones paying for the band width, leave the kid alone. It's an honest question.

To the thread starter. Here's mine:

Right.jpg

It's a Remington 870 "tactical" with a Knoxx recoil reducing telescoping stock. I can adjust total length yet still have a shoulder mounted weapon. I don't like shotguns that only have a pistol grip: too hard to control during recoil and impossible to aim except at extremely close distances. Any distance that close and I'm better off with a handgun.

These guys seem to have some of the best prices for new:

http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/index.php/cPath/37

Best of luck. PM me if you want any other advice.
 
Have to go with the shoulder stock vote. Self Defense is self defense and you want to be able to get a decent mount and sight picture if you have to shoot. The 870 is a tactical shotgun used for room clearing by men on the offensive. Unless you are a policeman or fresh back from Iraq chances are you haven't been trained to search and clear. Just personal opinion but I want a gun that I can shoot for fun because then its more likely to be used for regular practice. With that gun you will be comfortable and with that gun you will be better able to do what needs to be done if God forbid you ever have to. A gun looking mean and cool doesn't make it a good choice. Not denigrating the 870, it has a good reputation as a tactical weapon but do you really need one or do you just want it for the cool factor.
 
My HomeLand Security*** Shotgun is a Maverick 88, with the 18-1/2" cylinder bored barrel, #4 Buckshot in the tube and a butt cuff with 5 slugs in it. I tried the PGO on my Maverick....ONCE. Forgot it was equipeed that way, and swung it up as a standard-stocked Woods-N-Water gun. Results...Badly mooshed but not broken nose, fat lips, and a matched pair of "Shiners"..also known as 'dotting your eyes'.



***My shotgun Secures my Home and Land from those miscreants of felonious intent.
 
Not denigrating the 870, it has a good reputation as a tactical weapon but do you really need one or do you just want it for the cool factor.
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What are you talking about? You can buy the 870 in every conceivable configuration from wing shooting to trench warfare.

Set it up for the field with 28 inch barrel and interchangeable chokes on Sunday.

On Monday stick the 18 inch barrel with rifle sights back on, for HD.

You can't find a more versatile shotgun.

I personally have two. The HD one in the above picture, and a left-handed Wingmaster (one of the last to leave the factory with high polish blue and figured wood).
 
I personally find pistol grips unnecessary and painful to shoot. People will come out of the wood work to tell you differently, my favorite gun is a pistol grip gun. :confused:

870policefs2.jpg

If this is your first shotgun stick with the normal stock and learn how to hold and shoot it properly with range time. Learn to shoot your gun and handle it under pressure. Then you may decide you want to start playing with all of the extra have to have stuff like lights, grips, lasers, and heads up helmet displays.

1960 stock Remington Police gun.
 
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Pistol grip only is for looking cool and shooting poorly. Get a shotgun with a full stock and learn to shoot well, then mess with it if you want.

My 870 Police was left stock for the last 3 years. Last week I added a Surefire weaponlight and a Speedfeed I magazine stock. In a month or two I will be getting some tritium express style sights, and it will be done.

Don't buy a bunch of addon crap until you've shot the snot out of the gun and know what you need to change.
 
I'm a fan of PGO shotguns in some roles.
I have a loaded PGO Ithaca and full stock Remington 870 by the house doors at all times.
I usually don't recommend the PGO shotgun because most people won't take the time to learn their proper use and practice with them.
 
Fun for the range. Not so great for self defense. It can still get the job done if you practice enough with it but not really worth the effort. Requires more training to be somewhat effective when you could have trained less and be more effective with a proper butt stock. Not advocating "training less," just making an example. Some people feel more comfortable with them and that's fine. But the vast majority of people shoot better with butt stocks.
 
If you have and shoot an AK or an AR or any other rifle with a pistol grip, then getting a stock like the Knoxx Industries Spec Ops may well work for you. The rifles I shoot the most have pistol grips on stocks so giving the same treatment to my 870 was a move that really works for me.
The fact that the Spec Ops stock seriously tames the recoil on those 3" magnum shells is a real plus too. Firing "Reduced Recoil" 2 3/4" slugs and buckshot is so easy it's sick. I believe my 73 year old mother could use my 12 gauge 870 with those loads. That is, if she could lift the gun. :neener:

BTW, forget about the PGO concept. Been there, done that, doesn't work very well. There is that little problem of aiming and the inability to do so with a PGO shotgun. Unless, of course, your an action hero in the movies that can shave the beard off the bad guys with your shotgun shooting from the hip. :scrutiny:
 
If you're already a wingshooter,

stick with a normal shotgun. You've got ingrained muscle memory that will be your saving grace when you've got fractions of a second to do what must be done. Your hands will know what to do when your brain is in reset.

Since "shooting flying" is an "instinctive" process, more akin to traditional archery than to any other shooting sport, shotguns are made differently than other firearms. A well stocked and properly-fitting shotgun will come up to the shoulder naturally, and should be pointed pretty much where you're looking without you having to do much of anything.

It's almost axiomatic that what is correct for any other firearm will be wrong for a shotgun. I find that even the skills don't carry over much. If I shoot my shotguns like my rifles, I miss. If I shoot my rifles like my shotguns, I also miss. There are some intermediate cases, like big-bore double rifles, but I'll never be able to afford one, so I've no idea how to shoot them well.

I don't even care for pistol-gripped stocks on shotguns. They point weird, and I can't shoot them worth a darn. My hands are telling me "rifle", the sight picture is telling me "shotgun", and the target tells me "you missed".

Shotguns are made like they are because, after 200 years of evolution, that's what works.

--Shannon
 
Unless, of course, your an action hero in the movies that can shave the beard off the bad guys with your shotgun shooting from the hip.
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Oh, you mean like this?
#4 Buckshot and 00 Buck shot from 17 yards.
Slugs shot from 26 yards.
All shot from the hip.
IthacaTLR2BGtarget.gif

7 yards shot from the hip.
Slug and #4 Buckshot.
laserslughostage.gif


OK, I admit it, my shotguns are equipped with Streamlight TLR-2 laser/lights.:D
IthacawithTLR2andBSA.gif
 
I wonder where they find those guys to put in those "perp" targets. They look straight out of an episode or "Starsky and Hutch" or "Beretta".

Thinking about it, those pics were probably taken in the 70's anyway, but still....


-T.
 
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