Why stick the first shell in the ejection port?

[RyanM]

How else am I supposed to load my Youth Single Shot 20 ga?

I am open to suggestions as I will always be learning...still I only gots one "port" and the shell won't go anywhere else, and only go into that area, in one direction...

You're supposed to bite off the end of the shell and pour everything down the barrel, of course!

 

[Dave McCracken]

A couple things, now that the dust has settled.....

I learned the technique very young, in a goose bliind with my father. It was the fastest way to charge the shotgun. Letting a cripple get away was not allowed.

Later, in the Correctional system, it was taught as the fastest way to get one shot off.

Prison riots are "Target Rich Environments". One at The MD House Of Correction in 1971 saw about 30 inmates shot off the yard fence during a "Major Disturbance" there by one officer. He had an M-1 carbine and a Model 12. When everything was over he had one round of 30 Carbine ammo left. No inmates died, he held his shots low. Working at MHC, we expected to have to repeat the experience. Eventually we did in 1981 but no firearms used in that one.

The premise was that a weapon shot empty MUST be recharged ASAP. Through the EJ was the fastest way to get one shot ready, and a good hand could make a fair rate of fire charging and shooting one at a time.

Of course, if we didn't need that shot instantly, we turned the weapon over and filled the magazine with four more buck loads.

As to whether anyone here should do it, it's up to you. While a bit more complicated to learn, it IS faster to get ONE round ready.

Also, the technique was incorporated into the qualification COF. 4 rounds were in the shotgun and once empty the 5th was inserted in the EJ, cycled and fired. Most folks has little trouble with the technique.

 

[Sir Aardvark]

I also learned to do a "Combat Reload" thru the ejection port on my 870, it's the fastest way I've found to get another round into the chamber when my gun is empty.

Just toss it in and rack the slide and you are ready to engage your target immediately.

Another reason why to do it this way is to transition from buckshot to a slug - if your magazine is full of buckshot, you can just toss a slug into your open ejection port, rack the slide, and immediately be able to engage your target with the slug.

You might try practicing this way once or twice and see how it works for you - you might find that you like it.

 

[ArmedBear]

But if you load a shell backwards into the magazine, the gun just goes "ptooey!" and spits it back out at you.

My mileage differs...

Me too. Cost me a quail once, and quail had been sparse due to low rainfall totals. Shell jammed in there tight. It took me a few minutes to get the !@#$ shell out of the magazine, ultimately with a Swiss Army knife's assistance. In a defensive situation, it could have cost lives, not just quail.