The Defensive Shotgun; How we make it work--MilCopp Blog

[terrymo]

Does anyone else think this is worthy of a sticky? Not that I agree with everything in the article, but it does refute several often repeated myths on the errornet forums.

[Blowby]

Very informative, I can see it as a sticky.

[QuadBomb]

My personal favorite is "I load mine with the first round birdshot, then all buckshot after that. The first shell will hurt him pretty bad, and if he knows what's good for him he'll cut and run or surrender. And if he doesn't get the message after that then the buckshot will put him down."

Unfortunately, I heard that from another Marine. At least he was only talking about his home defense and not his duty weapon.

Relying on the bad guy's good judgment is not a recipe for success in lethal-force encounters. If we could say with any certainty that the criminal knew what was good for him, he wouldn't be a criminal in the first place.

Anyway, thanks for posting that Dave. I used to keep an 870P next to my and my wife's bed, and I knew that if I ran out of shells and the threat wasn't mitigated I'd be in trouble. That's why I've switched to an AR and I keep a spare magazine on my nightstand. Apart from reminding me why I switched, I definitely learned from the post.

[Dennis]

I actually OK with a bad guy immediately giving up upon hearing a shell being chambered, much less paperwork that way

However, if they want to press the encounter, I can assume they are really looking for a fight and respond accordingly.

Dennis.

[sammage]

I actually OK with a bad guy immediately giving up upon hearing a shell being chambered, much less paperwork that way

However, if they want to press the encounter, I can assume they are really looking for a fight and respond accordingly.

Dennis.

Not this again...

[blake g]

I actually OK with a bad guy immediately giving up upon hearing the safety come off and being hit with the already chambered round.

However, if they want to press the encounter, I can assume they are really looking for a fight and respond accordingly.

Dennis.

There - fixed it for you...

[Dennis]

There - fixed it for you...

Haha, I wish. Patrol ready means it ain't chambered until you get it out of the rack or trunk. At that point if the AH happens to hear it and wants to give up then all the easier

I obviously don't think that if some guy is breaking into your house you should count on racking your tube to scare him away, heck I don't even trust a few rounds of buckshot to stop them. Every situation is fluid and you need to assess it along the way, I'm just saying that them giving up immediately is one of the possibilities that I'm OK with. (and being a bit of a smartass...)

Dennis.

ps. My dad actually did confront a burglar in his house with his 870 and the guy ran pretty darn fast after it was racked...

[glocktogo]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the reason for "cruiser ready" condition is to avoid unintentional discharges, due to free floating firing pins and/or no FP safeties? At home I keep my 590A1 fully loaded with one in the chamber and a reload on the gun. Why would anyone keep the chamber empty at home?

[m24shooter]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the reason for "cruiser ready" condition is to avoid unintentional discharges, due to free floating firing pins and/or no FP safeties? At home I keep my 590A1 fully loaded with one in the chamber and a reload on the gun. Why would anyone keep the chamber empty at home?

Pretty much. Cruiser ready was done so that a shotgun with a round chambered wouldn't go boom during a collision. It is also an administrative tool to make sure everybody is doing something the same way and to try to eliminate the FU Fairy from paying a visit.
I've known a department that did it as an officer safety issue with an empty chamber and safety on with the hammer back. The idea being that if Joe Schmuck somehow got a shotgun out of a squad that they may take a second or two to figure out how to operate the shotgun in which the deputy could respond. Not saying I agree with it or that it makes sense, but I do know of a department that did it for that reason.
Some just do it for the reason that it has always been done that way and they don't even know why.
As far as keeping a shotgun with an empty chamber at home, I've known some that do it because their vehicle shotguns are stowed that way and it is a commonality thing with them: regardless of the shotgun they pick up or where they pick it up, it is in cruiser ready. They do the same thing to make the shotgun hot every time no matter what the circumstances.

[jamaicanj]

Great article. Thanks for sharing