How to swap out shells quickly on a pump?

[Pops1085]

Way back before the old man passed away he used to tell me when he hunted deer with a shotgun he would always keep a bird round in his hand in case a grouse would pop up so he could swap shells quick and shoot it. But now that I think about it I can't for the life of me figure out how he did that unless he only kept one in the chamber, racked it out and dumped the birdshot round in the extraction port. Is dumping one in that way normal or is that a practice that should be avoided?

[publius]

Not real fast but I pull the forend back until it is just about to eject the shell, pull the shell out and replace it. Don't have much reason to do it anymore but I used to carry a slug and a buckshot duck hunting in case a deer wandered by. Wish they would make a slug and buck non-tox so I could still do it. PS- I never killed a deer duck hunting:o

[BigJimP]

Yes, he probably just racked the round in the chamber out onto the ground ...and dropped the bird shot shell into the gun ....and after you've done it a few thousand times, its not that big a deal....

but Grouse are pretty quick - especially in the timber...( so its not optimum )...

its probably more like, when they were stalking deer - a grouse came up and flew....and he knew about where it landed, so he racked the round out of the chamber - dropped a bird shot shell or two into the gun - went and located the grouse, and took his shot.

But shooting at Grouse ...and then going back to stalking a deer...is a pretty good way to make sure there are no deer within a few hundred yards or more...so I don't recommend it.

[Splice]

2 ways to perform a changeover, on a Remington 870 at least:

1: if your magazine has more room in it, load the shell you want into the mag then pump it once. It'll eject the shell in the gun and load up the shell you want.

2: if your shotgun is fully loaded (mag full, 1 in the chamber) then this is what you do: pull the forend back to the halfway point. Put your thumb behind the next shell in the magazine tube and push the shell into the tube until you hear a click. It won't take much to do this. Now pull the forend back all the way- if the extractor pulls the shell out, great! If not, just roll the shotgun and dump the round out of the chamber. Then just put the shell you want in the chamber, throw the forend forward and you're good to go! This also works if your mag is full and you DON'T have one in the chamber.