rcmodel
Member in memoriam
Full magazine with one in chamber, safety OFF.
If you voted for this, you need to up your Health, Life & Liability insurance coverage, and move to a better neighborhood!
rcmodel
Full magazine with one in chamber, safety OFF.
Just curious, what are the circumstances you would choose a slug instead of buckshot?
Lee Lapin brentfoto,
You asked: In a home defense situation, why would anyone, especially at nighttime, load mag one round down?
That limits you to 3 out of 5 possible shots, unless you have the presence of mind (and can stop "shaking" enough) to load a slug in the magazine just as you're picking up the weapon. This coupled with all the things one must do otherwise, would be a bit much, don't you think?
That's a fair and legitimate question. My only answer is the same one I stated in my first post on your thread- "TRAINING and PRACTICE make what might seem complicated simple, and speed up the process as well. "Load one shoot one" drills are especially effective in this regard. No matter what the condition of the gun, the condition (skillset) of the operator is vastly more important."
So here's this all-the-way-around-the-barn answer to what is essentially a pretty simple question.
No, I don't think it's a bit much to start out with just three rounds of buckshot in the magazine of a pumpgun that will hold four plus one in the chamber were it fully loaded. I know how to load the gun, and I don't believe I'm going to get "the shakes" to the point that I can't manage to get it done. I have confidence that I won't, if that confidence ever turns out to be misplaced then yes, I might well be screwed. But if I ever get rattled that bad, having four or even five rounds in the gun is not going to be any real help that I can see. I'll just be a dead dude with a fully loaded gun, rather than a dead dude with three rounds in the magazine and four in the Sidesaddle.
You see, I have TRAINED AND PRACTICED at picking up the shotgun and loading a slug into the magazine and from thence into the chamber. I have done it all on my own, and I have done it with Louis Awerbuck dragging me back and forth and up and down in front of a bank of steel swingers yelling "SHOOT! SHOOT! SHOOT!" in my ear in front of my whole shotgun class.
I think I can do it in the peace and quiet (hey, everything's relative) of my own home if I have to.
Why would I load the magazine one round down? So there's room for a slug if I need one first up. I don't know what situation I might have to deal with when I roll out with the shotgun, and i want to be able to load it to suit whatever I have to face.
After years of messing about with different configurations of shotguns, I have come to LIKE a plain simple bare bones 870- 18" barrel, no magazine extension, short stock, white light, Sidesaddle. It just handles better and is more manageable as far as I'm concerned. Yes, I could add more ammo capacity- at the cost of a slightly more sluggish gun. I'll risk the tradeoff.
Why would I keep the chamber empty and give away another round in the gun? Because I think it's safer.
...Note- I'm not telling you that YOU have to do any of this the way I do it, by the way. I'm explaining what I do and why i do it. What you do is up to you.
Let me leave you with what I consider the most important words of this entire answer/essay/diatribe:
No matter what the condition of the gun, the condition (skillset) of the operator is vastly more important.
See to the first things first, all else will follow...
Stay safe,
lpl/nc
Just curious, what are the circumstances you would choose a slug instead of buckshot?
I voted with the reasoning of my previous explanation of 'ready' condition.So, I don't understand why you voted for the latter?
I suppose if you define 'ready' condition as the fastest possible condition to make a shot then the answer would be Full magazine with one in chamber, safety OFF. It's not the safest but the fastest to a shot.
On another matter, why even practice out to 100 yards unless you're into deer?
They'll lock you up and throw away the key if you ever waste somebody at that distance.
1. You must THINK and try to remember to chamber another round;
2. You must choose ; and
3. You must actually chamber a slug.
Practicing at 100 yards for a SD or HD scenario is hardly worth it. JMO but you'll have a hard time justifying your position in the civil as well as criminal courts.