The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Your top DEFENSE shotgun: Rem 870, Rem 11/87, Win 1300Defender, Benelli M1???

Preacherman · October 16, 2002, 12:05 AM

I'd add one word of caution... I love autoloading shotguns for their speed, and use them for hunting and target work, but I am very reluctant to trust them for defense. I've seen too many of them malfunction in a rapid-fire, high-stress situation. One example: I did LFI-2 and LFI-3 with Massad Ayoob during August this year. On both courses, EVERY SINGLE SEMI-AUTO SHOTGUN (including Remingtons, Benellis, Mossbergs and a Saiga AK-style magazine-fed semi-auto) malfunctioned at least once during a high-speed qualification run, sufficient to drop the student using it out of the running for high score, and sometimes enough to make him/her abort the course of fire.

This is only the latest in a long line of experiences like this. So, if my life depends on the gun, it's gonna be a pump! Unless you do something silly like short-stroking it, it will probably work every time, and can also handle a wide variety of loads without worrying about reliability of cycling the action. Yep, it's a pump for me!

October 16, 2002, 12:05 AM	#23
Preacherman Senior Member Join Date: July 9, 2002 Posts: 791	I'd add one word of caution... I love autoloading shotguns for their speed, and use them for hunting and target work, but I am very reluctant to trust them for defense. I've seen too many of them malfunction in a rapid-fire, high-stress situation. One example: I did LFI-2 and LFI-3 with Massad Ayoob during August this year. On both courses, EVERY SINGLE SEMI-AUTO SHOTGUN (including Remingtons, Benellis, Mossbergs and a Saiga AK-style magazine-fed semi-auto) malfunctioned at least once during a high-speed qualification run, sufficient to drop the student using it out of the running for high score, and sometimes enough to make him/her abort the course of fire. This is only the latest in a long line of experiences like this. So, if my life depends on the gun, it's gonna be a pump! Unless you do something silly like short-stroking it, it will probably work every time, and can also handle a wide variety of loads without worrying about reliability of cycling the action. Yep, it's a pump for me!