They're here.
The long-awaited, much-hyped 870-tactical-upgrades for which my department shelled out much treasure have been issued, and we have received our 'training' for the use of these lovely little beasties.
Features:
Sure-fire fore-end with the pressure pad. Nice, but there was an awful lot of flashlight blinking going on. A learning curve, I'm sure.
Mag extension: taking in-tube capacity from 4-6. Nice feature. I wonder how many NDs we're gonna have from dinosaurs taking out 4 and thinking its empty? My co-workers scare me at times.
Speedfeed stocks: Ehhhhhh...the PG is not loved by me, but it works. Getting the shells out takes a trifle of practice, it would seem. Still, its nice having 4 slugs on-board.
Tactical Sling: everyone sit down. We dumped, what, $40 each on these babies, and now the chain of command has decided that we shall not use the tactical aspect of the tactical sling. Thou Shalt Not Sling thy Boomstick Until the Confrontation beith Over, and the High Priests of Ordnance Shall Not Train the Unwashed Heathen in the Use of the Tactical Sling.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over? Why the hell not? And if you just want a standard sling, why pay 8x the cost of a simple one for features we are forbade to use????? The mind boggles.
Someone asked the instructor how you use the tactical sling, and he replied "I can't show you." To which I piped up, "Ok, can you show us what not to do?" He laughed, but refused to show us anything.
The final indignities are related: slugs are on-board only to pierce cover, and the sights remain bead sights. No mention of long-range shots, no mention of shots vs hostage-takers. No discussion of patterning, no mention of POA v POI for slugs.
Course of fire was 7 buckshot, 5 slugs. You're trained. Go home.
Sigh.
So close and yet so far.
One final observation: the best way to kill a roomful of cops would be to somehow slip in live rounds for training dummy rounds. 30 cops in a small room acting like kids on Christmas morning, racking dummy rounds all over the place and playing flashlight tag with the fore-end lights. Jesus. Hair-raising.
Mike