rbernie
Contributing Member
I decided to take the home defense shotgun (Benelli M2 18.5”, GG+G sidesaddle, Nordic +2, Surefire) to the range to see how it handled snap shooting with the extended magazine and the side saddle fully loaded. The sidesaddle has been a recent addition; I was shamed into adding it by people whose inputs I trust and who are strong proponent of the side saddle as ammo carriage. The principal stated benefit was the integration of spare ammo carriage onto the weapon, making it faster to grab the weapon and get into the fight with spare ammo at hand.
I used a mechanical clay thrower, actuated by my offhand, to throw clays and gauge my effectiveness at snap shooting them out of the sky. With my standard Benelli M2 Field or my Citori, I can usually manually throw doubles and hit both clays from a low ready at least nine times out of 10.
With the magazine fully loaded, the Nordic +2 extension made the gun modestly front heavier but it did not feel, even with the weapons light, much different than my field length barrel shotgun. The extra weight did not affect my muscle memory at snap shouldering, and I maintained a 90+ percent hit ratio. This is the configuration in which I normally keep this shotgun, and I have set it up specifically because it is similar in feel to my field shotguns.
Adding six rounds in the side saddle, on the other hand, changed the weight of the weapon significantly enough that I was noticeably struggling to bring the gun up fully and completely after releasing the clay, and my hit ratio dropped dramatically. This result had been my experience in the past with other shotguns, but not with this specific gun, so I felt obligated to confirm or disprove my expectations.
I may keep the sidesaddle on the shotgun, but not without spending considerably more time at the range to see if I can compensate for the extra weight. For defensive uses, I will always favor accuracy in snap shooting at moving targets over any other attributes, and if I can’t get comfortable with a loaded sidesaddle then I will have to revert to off-the-gun ammo carriage.
I used a mechanical clay thrower, actuated by my offhand, to throw clays and gauge my effectiveness at snap shooting them out of the sky. With my standard Benelli M2 Field or my Citori, I can usually manually throw doubles and hit both clays from a low ready at least nine times out of 10.
With the magazine fully loaded, the Nordic +2 extension made the gun modestly front heavier but it did not feel, even with the weapons light, much different than my field length barrel shotgun. The extra weight did not affect my muscle memory at snap shouldering, and I maintained a 90+ percent hit ratio. This is the configuration in which I normally keep this shotgun, and I have set it up specifically because it is similar in feel to my field shotguns.
Adding six rounds in the side saddle, on the other hand, changed the weight of the weapon significantly enough that I was noticeably struggling to bring the gun up fully and completely after releasing the clay, and my hit ratio dropped dramatically. This result had been my experience in the past with other shotguns, but not with this specific gun, so I felt obligated to confirm or disprove my expectations.
I may keep the sidesaddle on the shotgun, but not without spending considerably more time at the range to see if I can compensate for the extra weight. For defensive uses, I will always favor accuracy in snap shooting at moving targets over any other attributes, and if I can’t get comfortable with a loaded sidesaddle then I will have to revert to off-the-gun ammo carriage.
Last edited:
