You consistently keep painting these things in terms of "competition". I don't compete. I don't plan to use one in a competition.
I paint things in terms of competition because the majority of my shooting is done at matches where people compete against the clock and gear can be tested under circumstances that are more rigorous than just an afternoon of plinking.
It would be disingenuous for me to attempt to talk from the position of someone who uses firearms in a law enforcement or military setting as I have no actual experience with that.
On top of that, I would submit that there is a fairly decent amount of crossover between firearms that are generally useful for practical competitive shooting and ones that are useful for self defense, especially among divisions where the allowed firearms tend to fall under Production, Limited, or Tactical divisions.
From that standpoint, I would submit that if PGO shotguns were able to be effectively used for such shooting matches, they would, as some have claimed, be useful for self-defense purposes. The lack of such weapons being used at practical shooting matches would tend to speak volumes about their practicality, and therefore correlate at least somewhat to their usefulness (or lack thereof) for self-defense.
This is not to say that PGO shotguns couldn't or don't have some utility. Just that you've failed to illustrate a situation or scenario in which one would be the best tool for the job.
I don't care to know how many plates you can break or how fast you can "run a course". I don't care if it's slower and harder to aim than one of my other guns.
That's your prerogative, I suppose. But you can't make claims touting the effectiveness of a platform, especially as a defensive weapon, and then fail to provide evidence when others question it, and then obfuscate and fume about how you don't need to prove anything when called on it.
I shoot blackpowder. Are you going to spend the next week (the length of this interminable thread, it seems) telling me to give those guns up because *you can't use them in competition", too?
Certainly not. There are plenty of competitive shooting matches and organizations that are open only to black powder firearms, and there are people in those circles capable of employing black powder guns to great effectiveness.
On top of that, most states have hunting seasons reserved for just black powder shooters, which is certainly another point in favor of their utility.
And the last one I made was a parted out Winchester 37A from Gunbroker that I didn't have a stock for and didn't want to have to carve one. I used a broken stock, cut a nice bird's head on it, and converted it to a 12" barrel muzzle loader. I don't plan to use it in competition. Heck, I really don't even care if it gets me laughed at at the range here. It's a blast to shoot with some reduced recoil 00 buck.
I've contended the whole time that if owning and shooting a PGO shotgun makes you happy, then by all means, own it and shoot it. As someone who owns a Mateba Autorevolver, I grok that sentiment completely. But I certainly wouldn't advocate keeping a Mateba as a self defense gun. Same goes with the PGO shotguns. If owning and shooting one makes you happy, then you certainly don't need any further justification. However, outside of one or two extremely narrow applications (door breaching), they don't do anything that can't be done faster, easier, and more accurately with a different firearm, and it's disingenuous to suggest that they be a consideration for one's self defense needs when there are better choices available.
