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Old August 28, 2008, 09:16 AM   #116
Scattergun Bob
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 29, 2008
Location: Nine Mile Falls, Washington
Posts: 1,186
JAE,
Boy, this thread has some legs! I did not expect it to go 5 pages.

You said “I know it's good marketing, but following the "logic" we've all been fed too many times to count, no one needs to buy any more shotguns. All
we need are recordings of the pump action shotguns being racked.
Let's just debunk this bull right here. A perp that will grovel at the mere
sound of a shotgun being racked probably can be chased off by a poodle.”

And enough folks have given responses to your bait, including myself.

There are other parts of your original post that I would like to respond to.
You said “I personally would rather have a high powered semi-auto rifle myself, if I'm trained on it. Otherwise, I would much rather defend myself with a 1911 or a revolver.”

So really much of your ilk at racking a shotgun is that you prefer another weapon for self defense. OK I get it. Does that in some way diminish the effectiveness of a shotgun simply because of (in your words) folklore, I think not! I believe it is the best close range weapon that we have. Now, I am well trained in its use, confident in its application, and have a combat history with scatterguns. That does make a difference! I suggest that you are giving up a great deal of defensive strength by choosing a handgun over a scattergun simply because of your admitted lack of training. GET TRAINED, get familiar with this weapon and then you can make an objective decision.

You suggest that rifles and scatterguns requiring operator training to be useful as defensive tools, I agree. Further and something you did not mention is that handguns also require operator training to be useful. As a matter of fact every part of a defensive plan needs education, training and practice to BE USEFUL AND EFFECTIVE. So this on its face value does not exclude the scattergun as a primary and effective weapon for personal defense.

As I stated in my first post, the racking of a shotgun does draw my full attention. I do not know if it would cause a predator to flee my home, if it does so much the better. My point was that pumping the action reward and forward on a pump shotgun is required to chamber a round into battery. Whether that action has mythical properties or not is in debate, however, “it is, what it is” the act of preparing the weapon to fight.

Finally there is some good to come from this thread;
Some of our thoughts around “how to defend” our homes in this thread are different and that is exactly right. There are several distinct defense profiles that are common to home defense. That said, some of our disagreement is due to not defining which profile of home defense we are using and tells me that a thread needs to be started defining them.

Now to add some more legs to this thread;
1st - Some of you continue to generate the MYTH that you can rack-up (load into battery from the tube magazine) your pump scattergun quietly in some “stealth” mode. For 870, 1300, 500 series shotguns this is a FALSE AND DANGEROUS assumption. The # 1 operator error for these guns is failure to drive the shell stops open and allow a round to exit onto the carrier (short stroke) the #2 error is not fully engaging the bolt (locking Block not fully engaged in shoulder extension) into battery. These conditions are greatly affected by how hard you apply rearward and forward energy to the forend. As one Remington factory armorer is fond of saying, it takes brute force to drive the working parts out of the way, and then it takes more brute force to drive the working parts back into battery. This is not a warm fuzzy, touch type of operation, THIS IS A SLAM THE FOREND BACK AND SLAM THE FOREND FORWARD, with force of will and arm. It is a noisy robust operation. Please help me stop this myth, if not, I will get smarter the longer you do this and you will someday experience a type 1 or 2 operator error.

2nd – Some of you STILL assert that you store your scatterguns in condition 1, what can I do to convince you that this is folly. Every year we have injury and death due to scatterguns firing due to bumps, jars, or drops. This is not conjecture this is fact supported by hunting accident stats. Scattergun Bob says, any shotgun that has a safety that does not lock the sear needs to have an empty chamber BEFORE it leaves you hands. Trust that the folks who came up with “cruiser ready” did so because of blood on the ground. To long term store your scattergun in condition 1 is unsafe and in my option unprofessional. To advocate this type of storage on this forum presents a ethical issue that I for one will always speak against. No matter what the activity, if it is worth doing, it is worth doing safely.

"Sometimes it is reasonable to hunker down in your home and hope that you are not the focus of the super predator's work this night. On those nights the comfort of a good Scattergun across your lap, charged with the right loads can make a true difference and bring the light of morning quicker."
Good Luck & Be Safe
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Regards, Scattergun Bob
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