by Gila Hayes
Alternatively, the entire stock can be replaced with one with a 13” length of pull, like those sold by SPEEDFEED®2 or the rubber overmolded 12” stock by Hogue3. Requiring no gunsmithing to install, replacement stocks screw onto the Remington pump or semi-auto shotguns with relative ease. A more expensive alternative is to buy a full-sized shotgun with a wood stock, then pay a gunsmith to cut the stock to size. I have done both, and swear by my short little Hogue stock.
Pump or Autoloader?
There is another variable in shotgun selection: type of action. For defensive use, we choose between semi-automatic and manually-operated shotguns (called pump shotguns). In the sporting world, double-barreled shotguns are often favored, but their ammunition capacity is too limited for defensive use. The choice between a pump and semi-automatic shotgun is similar to choosing between a semi-automatic pistol and a single-action revolver. The semi-auto shotgun employs some of the gas created by firing the shell to automatically eject the empty case and chamber fresh ammunition after each shot; the pump requires the shooter to pull the forend back to eject the empty shell, then pump it forward to recharge the chamber.
Author’s favorite shotgun is an old, well-worn Remington 870 set up with good sights and a 12” length-of-pull Hogue stock that fits her perfectly.
Racking the pump gun’s action to eject the empty shell and chamber another round, the shooter manually controls the supply of ammunition. On a smoothly finished pump shotgun this operation can become as automatic as shifting a manual transmission: you learn to do it almost without thinking.
The great advantage of manual operation is the gun’s ability to cycle the variety of powder charges as found in different brands and kinds of ammunition. A number of semi-automatic shotguns will not cycle low-powered bird shot, an inexpensive choice students favor for training. The pump shotguns just don’t care, since they need not harness the gases or the recoil-impulse generated when the shell is fired to operate the gun. A pump-action shotgun can be forced to cycle a greater variety of ammunition and can operate when dirty or unlubricated, since the shooter does all the work.
On the down side, the pump-action shotgun may produce more felt recoil than a semi-automatic shotgun of the same gauge. Most semi-automatic shotguns use the gases produced during the firing cycle, channeling gas through small holes in the barrel assembly to cycle the action. As a generalization, an autoloader recoils slightly less than a pump shotgun.
Nomenclature for common defense shotguns.
There are, however, two types of semi-auto shotguns, and one does not bleed off any of these gases. Typified by Benelli and Beretta brands, some semi-auto shotguns cycle the action using the recoil impulse or the energy from the rearward thrust of the burning gases. A recoil- or impulse-operated shotgun will hit just as hard as a pump shotgun.
Spending More Money
There are several modifications made by custom gunsmiths that can tame the shotgun’s recoil. A barrel modification called backboring reduces felt recoil by redistributing the gases created by the burning powder, and as a side benefit it rearranges the pellets into a tighter shot group that does not spread as widely in flight to the target. Best in the business for this after-market modification is Hans Vang, who developed the Vang Comp System4 and has worked his magic on both my “working” and competition shotguns.
Major modifications aside, a competent gunsmith can do much to simply “slick up” the operation of your shotgun. On the pump gun, this means smoothing away any rough places on the action bars and related working parts. Some of the same effect can be accomplished by pumping the action thousands of times, which could be accomplished practicing dry fire.
Extensive dry fire isn’t recommended for shotguns, however, as it is feared that the long firing pin may crack from vibrations that run through the metal during dry fire. If your manual shotgun cycles roughly, however, you can do everything but pull the trigger, racking the action repeatedly until the parts wear themselves into a smoother fit. The action release lever will have to be used if the trigger is not pulled; otherwise the action will remain locked closed.
Another common after-market modification is shotgun sights. Many shotguns come from the factory with no rear sight whatsoever, just one or two beads on a ventilated rib running along the top of many sporting shotguns. Slug guns, set up for deer hunting, are the common exception, wearing better buckhorn or pistol style sights but their rifled barrels don’t work for bird shot or buck shot, since the rifling slings the shot toward the edges of a large circle with no shot in the center.
I believe a self-defense shotgun absolutely requires a good set of sights. Variations include a rear notch and front blade that are very like pistol sights; or a ghost ring rear sight that is much like an aperture sight, commonly used with a blade front sight. In my opinion, the Express Sight designed by Ashley Emerson and marketed by XS Sights5 can’t be beat on the shotgun. The latter three are excellent choices for the combat shotgun, although the beads will suffice for those who will simply pursue basic competence with their home-defense shotgun at relatively short distances.
Your skill with your defensive shotgun will be only as good as the practice and training time you put in with your equipment. Good technique is the first step in rendering the shotgun enjoyable for training and informal practice. The second step is setting up the shotgun so it is comfortable. Let’s outline some of the accessories that make a difference.
Before you set out to replace the recoil pad on your shotgun, look at your undies. Metal parts on brassiere straps are downright dangerous beneath the butt of a recoiling shotgun! My favorite cure is the PAST Hidden Comfort Recoil Shield6 for women, which is secured beneath the bra strap with several Velcro strips. Another cure is to wear a sports bra without any metal, but that won’t offer any recoil protection.
Ghost ring shotgun sights
XS Sight’s express sight system
The simple bead sight, illustrated in the first photo somewhat elevated, and in the second in the position used to aim the shotgun.
If the recoil really bothers you, consider having a gunsmith fit a Pachmayr Decelerator butt pad on the end of your shotgun. This incredible accessory absorbs and distributes the recoil like nobody’s business—it is well worth the price!
Technique Eases the Pain
Listen up, this is important: firing the shotgun doesn’t have to hurt! Let’s look at why people get bruised shooting the shotgun and see if we can prevent bad first experiences, as well as offer techniques that will make shooting more pleasant.
Just like the pistol, there is a proper grip for the shotgun. Because of the shotgun’s weight, we have a tendency to encircle the stock with the shooting hand thumb, a habit I fight to this day. That would work, if just holding up the gun was required. Unfortunately, when the shotgun moves back under recoil, a “wrapped” thumb can strike the nose with considerable force.
RULE #1: TO AVOID NOSEBLEEDS ON THE SHOTGUN RANGE, POINT THE SHOOTING-HAND THUMB TOWARD THE MUZZLE.
Other dangers to avoid are too-long fingernails. I have seen the nails of the shooting hand gouge the cheek when the shooting hand and face come too close during recoil. Nose bleeds and cheek gouges don’t happen to everyone: variables include the length of the stock and where the shooter cheeks the comb.
Find the Shoulder Pocket
Improper placement of the shotgun on the shoulder joint is the leading cause of shooting discomfort with the self-defense shotgun. Many folks learned to shoot a rifle as the first gun they ever fired, and they attempt to apply the traditional rifle marksman’s stance to the shotgun. Unlike a rifle, the defensive shotgun will be fired with heavily recoiling buckshot and slugs. If fired with the butt against the shoulder joint, the collar bone or lower, on breast tissue, it will hurt!
To locate the proper spot for the shotgun butt, try the following exercise that I learned at Clint Smith’s Thunder Ranch:7 Put your fingers in your shooting-side armpit; flatten your hand, and let the thumb p
oint up. The area the thumb touches (between the armpit and center of your chest) is called the shoulder pocket. Raise and lower the shooting-side elbow, and feel the musculature beneath your thumb move up and down the chest. If the butt of the shotgun is placed where your thumb touches, those muscles help protect against bruising.
It is my experience that squaring your shoulders to face the target is the best protection against the shotgun slipping out onto the shoulder joint during multiple shots. A bladed stance invites the shotgun to slip out of the shoulder pocket.
RULE #2: FIND THE SHOULDER POCKET, AND PULL THE BUTT OF THE SHOTGUN AGAINST IT FIRMLY. This rearward pull is exerted with the strong hand, which also operates the safety and the trigger. Do not discharge the shotgun unless it is pressed tightly into the shoulder pocket, with the torso squared to the target!
Although counterintuitive, the straight thumb of the shooting hand is the key to avoiding socking your own nose during recoil.
X marks the spot! The shoulder pocket is magic for avoiding bruising and pain from shotgun recoil.
Jacqueline takes care to get the butt of the shotgun in the shoulder pocket before shooting.
Many shotgun trainers teach that raising the shooting-side elbow enhances the protection of the shoulder pocket. Some circumstances do not permit the raised elbow, however, including extending the elbow beyond cover or concealment. I favor a lower elbow position, for more strength with which to pull the stock into my shoulder. You can choose what works best for you.
Why is it so important to press the butt of the shotgun tightly in the shoulder pocket? The shotgun’s recoil is considerable. When the shotgun is pressed tightly against the shooter’s chest, the jolt of the recoil is like receiving a hard push. It rolls you back, but does not injure. If the recoiling shotgun is held loosely or is actually slightly away from the shoulder, it comes back with brutal impact, and is like taking a full power, fisted punch. Which would you prefer?
Body Position
We are limited in our efforts to eliminate recoil in the defensive shotgun, yet the power of the weapon is both its strength and disadvantage. Proper grip and shoulder position mitigate most of the discomfort, yet the shooter must still contend with the rearward thrust, which can throw a slightly built person off balance unless body dynamics and strength are harnessed to tip the equation in our favor.
If the shotgun shooter’s legs are locked and rigid, the recoil pushes the shooter back off balance, moved rearward all the way to their toes. On the other hand, if the knees are bent, the legs act as shock absorbers, allowing the shooter to flex with the recoil, then spring immediately forward to regain the shooting stance.
I prefer a deep bend in the forward, non-shooting side knee, with less in the rear, shooting-side leg. The deep flex of the forward knee brings the shoulders well forward of the hips, and puts the hips forward of the rear knee and foot. The aggressive, forward-leaning posture puts all the weight of the body behind the recoiling shotgun, and uses that weight to bring the muzzle down and reassume a shooting position for follow-up shots.
Unlike classic Riflery, the shotgunning stance positions hips and shoulders square to the target.
Which brings us to RULE #3: LEAN AGGRESSIVELY INTO THE SHOTGUN TO ENJOY RECOIL CONTROL AND MAINTAIN BALANCE.
The final element of body positioning for successful, pain-free shotgun shooting is the placement of the cheek on the comb of the stock. Firm pressure between cheek and stock is essential. If the cheek is slightly off the stock, the blow can be debilitating when the shotgun recoils and socks its operator in the jaw. Just as the stock is pulled tightly into the shoulder pocket, a firm cheek “weld” is an important way to avoid shooting pain.
An excellent after-market product for both carbines and shotguns encourages a consistent cheek weld, while reducing the amount of recoil felt on the cheek and jaw. An adhesive-backed pad, made of rubbery Sorbothane® is marketed as the Cheek-eez pad through the Brownells catalog.8
RULE #4: PRESS YOUR CHEEK FIRMLY TO THE STOCK, CONTACTING THE COMB IN THE SAME PLACE EVERY TIME. There is a secondary advantage to developing a cheek weld that is repeatable every time the shotgun comes to your shoulder. If you cheek the comb the same place every time, your use of the shotgun sights will be consistent and once the proper position is memorized, the cheek weld is the key to quick sight acquisition.
As we discussed earlier, the most common shotgun sights are a single bead, double beads, ghost-ring sights or rifle-style sights. When you cheek the stock, the sight alignment should be similar to the earlier illustrations. If the sights are out of alignment when you bring the shotgun up on target, experiment with cheeking the stock on a different part of your face. Where the cheek contacts the comb will vary from individual to individual, depending on face shape, length of neck, and how well the shotgun fits the individual. I press the comb of the stock right below my upper mandible, while others contact the stock at the jaw line. The more sophisticated sporting shotgun shooters fine-tune cheeking the stock by changing the drop of the shotgun stock’s comb, but combat shotgunners usually just learn to work with a straight field stock.
Strong shotgunning stance counteracts the recoil’s rearward push, seen here, and allows small shooter to maintain balance and control for multiple shots with the 12-gauge.
Operating the Combat Shotgun
Loading a shotgun is much more of a manual one-at-a-time affair than using a magazine or speed loader to load a semi-auto pistol or revolver. Odd, tubular speedloaders exist for shotguns, but are primarily used by competitive shooters and are extremely specialized. The defensive shotgunner may increase ammunition capacity by installing an extended magazine tube, but beyond that, we simply make best use of the ammunition we have and are prepared to transition to handgun if we shoot the shotgun “dry.”
Non-emergency loading of the shotgun consists of filling only the magazine tube. Most shotguns in common use do not have internal firing pin blocks, so are at risk of accidentally discharging if they fall or are dropped with a shell in the chamber. Indeed, internal drop safeties, which are standard on later model Mossberg shotguns are the exception, not the rule.
This is why we do not leave the home-defense shotgun sitting in a corner or on a shelf with a loaded chamber. If the danger of home invasion is so great that there is no time to chamber a round, a firearm will not solve the problem. Good locks, solid doors and windows, and other precautions should address that danger.
Unlike the procedure for handguns, loading the shotgun is a relatively slow and dexterity-intensive job. The shotgun’s “magazine” is a tube beneath the barrel, nearly always accessed through the bottom of the receiver, into which we feed the shot shells one at a time. On most shotguns, the action must be closed before the magazine can be loaded. Unmodified shotguns usually accept four rounds, although as noted earlier an extension to the tube may accommodate seven or eight shells. If the tube accepts only one or two shells, take it off and check for a magazine block, commonly installed to make the gun legal for bird hunting.
To simplify loading, Louis Awerbuck teaches his students to “trace” the final half-inch of the trigger guard with the tip of the shell, guiding it into the magazine tube. On shotguns like the common Remington 1100/11-87s this brings the front of the cartridge in contact with the carrier release, which must be depressed to open the loading port. On other shotguns, his method gives an index to guide the shell into the loading port, even in the dark. Awerbuck gained recognition teaching at Gunsite in its heyday, then began his own instructional firm, Yavapai Firearms Academy.9 He travels to locations throughout the U.S. and his training is well worth the tuition. He is also author of the authoritative textbook The Defensive Shotgun: Techniques & Tactics published by Delta Press.10
Once the shell is inside the loading port, use your thumb to push on its base until it is in the magazine tube completely. Pushing against the pressure of the magazine spring, you’ll feel the cartridge catch when it goes past the shell stops. Conf
igured slightly differently on various shotguns, the shell stops are small metal claws on either side of the mouth of the magazine tube that keep the shells inside the tube despite the pressure of the magazine spring. Take a look now at your unloaded shotgun and find the shell stops; we’ll revisit them later.
Hans Vang makes and sells this magazine extension tube for 12-gauge shotguns.
The slow process of feeding one shell at a time to the shotgun’s magazine tube.
If the shotgun is brought into action, you will need to chamber a shell. Cycle the shotgun’s action to move a shot shell from the magazine tube, onto the shell carrier and up into the chamber. With the pump gun, that will mean depressing the action release and pulling the forend all the way back to put a shell on the carrier, then pushing it forward so the shell is lifted into the chamber and the action closed.
On most semi-automatics, pull back the operating handle until the action locks open. This brings a shell out of the tube, and if you look in, you can see it sitting on the carrier before the action closes, chambering the shot shell. Benellis and Berettas use a different sequence, due to their tactical advantage of being able to leave a shell on the carrier with the action closed. Hitting a small button mounted on the side of the receiver puts a shell on the shell lift where it can sit indefinitely until the shooter racks the action to load the chamber.
