Shotgun Doctrine Today

[SeekHer]

Submitted just as received in the e-mail to me from Suarez International

Shotgun Doctrine Today

If I were writing the Shotgun Doctrine today, in the same manner as Cooper did in 1990, I would say this as a mission statement for the scattergun –

The shotgun is intended for proactive use in close range combat where the dynamic tempo of events may surpass the operator's ability to use traditional sighting concepts, and where the probability of a hit with a single projectile may also be affected by these events to include reduced visibility. Anything not fitting this performance envelope is far easier handled with a rifle.

The natural loading for the shotgun to manage these events is buckshot. Thus while the weapon may be pressed into service to other things (such as launch less lethal, gas, breaching, and other jobs), or used with slugs for special circumstances involving the destruction of cover, or reaching beyond its intended envelop via the use of slugs, we seek to optimize the weapons for their intended use with buckshot.

If such a mission statement had been made, the development of the shotgun nearly twenty years later would have taken an entirely different path. The shotgun would be seen as a special-use weapon and trained thus, rather than the current attempt to turn it into a ballistic Leatherman's Tool.

The shotgun is not a rifle and seeking to turn it into one will yield a shotgun that is not useful for shotgun problems and a poor performer at rifle problems. True, there are police officers that are not trusted with anything else. For them there may be little choice. But why would a free American that can choose any weapon and set it up as he pleases, want to be limited in the way the untrusted, shotgun armed, policeman is?

To those who would argue, I would mention that while you could shoot a CCW pistol at 220 yards, its use is to carry concealed 24/7 in anticipation of a close range gunfight, and not to shoot at 200 yards. So modifying the pistol for use at 200 yards makes little sense. Adding a scope, a stock, and a bipod to your Glock 17 seems as silly as trying to turn a shotgun into a rifle regardless of what the gun guru said.

This is what I suggest –
Barrel - Short as possible - left as it comes so we have a natural spread of the buckshot.
Sights - Standard open rifle sights. No ghost rings.
Magazine - Even with the end of the barrel
Forend - Long style. We don't carry it in police racks so why modify it for that?. A light may be used here.
Sling - Two point caveman style
Stock - Pistol grip full stock (folding is OK).

That is it. I would add nothing else. Now, let's look at how that may apply to the ubiquitous Remington 870. I know it will be a long, long time before the Saiga 12 ever eclipses the 870 so I am not going to dwell on it. I have an 870. I attended all the important schools dealing with 870 and actually taught a good amount with one. I even shot a bad guy or two with them. They are good to go and very nice weapons.

There are probably as many 870 accessory makers as there are for 1911 and AR-15. All the current schools take a very Cooperian view of the shotgun and specially the 870.

So lets examine how to best use this beast and set it up to fit our methods for fighting in the close range environment.

1). Barrel: The trend today is to so choke the shotgun barrel that one can discuss the impact in terms of minute of angle rather than pattern. This comes from two areas. One is the competitive nature of the early tactical community. They would set up a pepper popper way in the heck out there to force the student to transition to slugs (as taught in the class and as favored by its instructor). Crafty shooters would get all choked up in the barrel and take the shot with buckshot, thus giving themselves a definite time advantage over those who sought to "go to slug". The other area is the impossible-on-the-street thought that ALL PELLETS MUST HIT. Even with pistols and rifles this is not possible, so how will using a shotgun change things. This is more from a police fear of liability than a desire for combat effectiveness.

I prefer to leave the barrel as it comes, and use quality buckshot. This will give me a relatively tight pattern up close, but a natural spread of the impact on a threat outside the close range (5 yards and in) envelope. Consider that our forefathers shot more bad guys with shotguns than we do today, and that chokes were available back then as well. What did they do? Exactly what I am suggesting - Leave your barrels alone and stop setting them to win gun school games.

2). Sights: I don't think a shotgun needs ghost ring sights. For 90% of all shotgunning the regular bead will work great. An optimizing of the bead concept would include a high visibility bead from XS sights.

Personally, I like the regular standard rifle open sights that come on most 870s. Adding an XS system to this is the optimal sight for shotgun use IMEAEO (in my educated and experienced opinion). If your shotgun has ghost rings, don't worry, leave them...but I don't think they are optimal nor as fast as the previous options. There has been a move to add red dot sights tot he shotgun. While I don't think this is actually necessary, I am not against it. I think a forward mounted Aimpoint is far more useful than ghost rings.

3). Magazines and Ammo Capacity: The tubular magazine should NEVER exceed the length of the barrel. I don't care what the competition gurus do with their guns, you should not copy them if your pursuits are more martial than sporting. Leave the magazine as it came. if you wish to add a few more shots (not a bad idea) add an extension that reaches out to the muzzle but no farther.

Extra ammo - I am not a weak guy by any means, but I hate side saddles on any of my guns. They make a gun that should be light handy and lighting fast, into an overweight pig.
The butt cuff ammo sleeves are just as bad. Ever try to shoot from the left side with one of those? Forget it. To carry extra ammo get a small bag and throw the shell in there. Store it with the gun so when you grab one you grab the other.

4). Forends and accessories: Most shotgun accessories are focused on the police job. In police work the shotgun rides in a rack, and that rack secures the shotgun vis-a-vis the space between the receiver and the rear of the forend. "Sporting" fore ends are far too long to secure in police racks and thus just about all after market accessories deal with the short fore end.

A long fore end, however, is far more desirable in terms of handling and speed. How many competitive shotgunners of any sort, use a shorty police rack fore end? None. In fact, look at the 11-87 version of the Remington. Long forend. The only reason for the short forend is the rack. I leave the regular length fore end on all my shotguns.

A light is nice, but not at the expense of added weight nor of a compromised police forend. Take a light and attach it to the regular length fore end via rifle bedding material, screw in rail or whatever, but don't give up the long forend..

5). Stocks: On the stock...."A Pistol Grip"? Some might ask why? In fact, Cooper didn't like pistol grips on anything. Why? His view of the rifle was not so much for the CQB envelope but rather the classic view of the snap shot and long range shot. The view was of a "general use" which was focused less on shooting people than on the hunt of wild game. The development of the shotgun mirrored the methods for the rifle.

Me, I think that a pistol grip stock is essential. You can shoot like they do at gun school with a regular stock, or hunt ducks with one, but don't you have a pistol grip on your MP5 or AR 15...or even the AK?. There is a reason for this. Because it facilitates dynamic transfer from shoulder to shoulder. Because it facilitates shooting in the CQB (Under the arm) position. Because there is no loss of any weapon attribute at all with a pistol grip other than not being socially acceptable in Commie-fornia.

So get one on your shotgun.

6). Finally slings: The best sling for a shotgun is a simple two point caveman sling. I think those uber-tactical three point slings look stupid on a shotgun. They complicate the weapon, make it slower to deploy or use in a fight. They make it impossible to transfer the weapon from side to side or to use it as a club when the time requires it. The shotgun is a simple weapons, put a simple sling on it.

Shotguns are wonderful weapons, and the Remington 870 is a great example of what a shotgun can be. But before you train with it or accessorize it, take a long and deep look at why you have it, the real circumstances where you will use it, and then act accordingly.
_________________
Gabe Suarez

[Combat Controller]

Man, he loves him those Saigas...

[Odahi]

This makes a lot of sense to me, not least because I'm a cheap bastard. But mainly because our shotgun is strictly for home defense, and would only see other use for small game in a SHTF situation. It's a good tool for home defense, as is. For longer-range work, I am partial to other weapons, depending on the target. That's why I have four rifles (so far), and only the one shotgun. It's a good tool, but there are things it's simply not suited for.

[WayneFloyd]

Good article - lots of it make sense. Here is my 2 cents.

This past Saturday I attended an 8 hour basic home defense shotgun course. Really a get to know your shotgun course. We fired at various ranges using slug/buckshot/birdshot. We fired standing and kneeling and learned how to tactical and combat load. Also how to deal with any FTFs. We patterned our shotguns with the buckshot at 5/10/15/20/25 yards. We each fired about 300 rounds. All were pumps either Moss or Rem. One guy used his Rem 11-87 at the end. Several of the instructors had autos and demonstrated those for us.

I did not own a shotgun so I bought a cheap China knockoff 870 pump to use until I decide what to buy.

Here are some take-a-ways I had.

1. Its takes many hours of training to become competent with a pump. Lots of short stroking. Most of the students were already familiar with their shotguns but still had trouble maintaining rapid fire under stress.

2. I was amazed at the broad range of patterns. We learned that each gun will pattern differently with each brand and size of buckshot. So it was suggested that you pattern all your loads so you know how they perform. At 20/25 yards half of the guns were throwing at least 1/3 of the shot out side of the target area.

3. I had never shot slugs before and was surprised at the accuracy at 25 yards.

4. Types of sights (ghost rings, beads) did not seem to matter - other than I noticed the ones with high ghost rings got hung up on jackets/clothes.

5. As the article said - get a sling. I had a simple two buckle GI sling - it worked well. Most everyone else had the same. There were some with one point and two point - they seem to work ok but I notice it seemed harder for them to do reloads with the weapon strapped in.

6. Had three folks with adjustable stocks and pistol grips - I did not see it made any difference on shooting ability but I do like the idea of an adjustable stock as it allows different size folks to quickly adjust the gun for a better fit.

7. Most folks carried extra shells in a side saddle or on the butt stock in an Uncle Mikes. I have a butt stock holder on mine. Moving around the shells kept falling out. A few other had same problem.

8. Don't buy a cheap shot gun like I did. It held up well till the last 20 rounds. We were rapid firing on six targets, loading as fast as you can. Halfway through a round of fire the braze weld hold my barrel to the mag tube gave way - probably due to barrel heat and stress from pumping hard and fast.

9. If you are going to get a shotgun for home defense I strongly suggest attending some kind of training first before you buy - borrow or rent a gun if possible. Then ask to shoot others - most will be glad to let you do it. Then decide which one will work for you. After pumping my shotgun all day I'm buying an auto loader

Regards Wayne Floyd

[308Mike]

After pumping my shotgun all day I'm buying an auto loader

Don't blame you, but racking an autoloader at night doesn't quite have the same effect on people as hearing a pump. There are some VERY GOOD autos out there. I've been eying either a Benelli or Winchester.

Winchester is listing the XS3 as the Fastest Shotgun in the World - 12 rounds in 1.442 seconds.

[drice]

I've been eying either a Benelli or Winchester.

Hey Mike, Don't know if you'd be interested, but my Benelli Super Sport is for sale.

[308Mike]

I'm afraid to ask how much, 'cause I probably can't afford it right now anyway.

[SoupOrMan]

The tube magazine shouldn't go past the muzzle? Most of the extensions available for my dad's 870 at the time went past the muzzle by half an inch. Ah well, it's a 1986 model, before Illinois got stupid about shotgun magazine extensions.

[Dan]

What if price is, in fact, a consideration?

[cu74]

..... racking an autoloader at night doesn't quite have the same effect on people as hearing a pump..

I agree that the sound of "racking" a pump shotgun is a sphincter-puckering attention-getter, but scaring the bad dude who has broken into my house just isn't my first priority. He may hear that sound, but it will be AFTER he hears, (and feels) the first shot. My 12 gauge household social-work pump has a round of #4 buckshot already in the chamber. YMMV, To Each His Own, etc., etc......