Effective 870 police work

T

Tom2

New member
I read today in the Columbus paper, that the nutbar that shot the guitarist at the Col. concert, and went nuts, was useing a 9MM Beretta. He thought the band stole his songs! Wrote them off an album onto a notepad and thought they were his! But the arriving Columbus officer responded to the smallbore shooter with a decisive advantage-One blast from a police Rem. 870 from 20 feet! Nice gun for the money. Who cannot afford such inexpensive but formidable life insurance? :)
 
New info on shot

I heard today that it was a head shot with the 870 at 20 feet. Heard the officer had special training of some sort about how to terminate this kind of conflict abruptly without much discussion. Wonder when they decided to shift from center of mass shooting, or was this officer just showing initiative?
 
I don't know.....

I assume it was, as they did not say anything about slugs or searching for the bad guys head! :barf:
 
They do some training with head shots in case someone is wearing some armor.
Handgun- 2 to the body, 1 to the head. Shotgun- just go for the HEAD :eek:
Was glad to read someone showed up that could put a quick end to the situation.

BOB
 
I would imagine that a HS with buck at 20 yds is a helluva lot easier than hitting center mass with a pistol, just aim a bit and shoot.
 
Yup just aim at the upper chest area and you cant go wrong, from my experience at that range with buckshot you will end up with serval pellets in the head region.
 
Buckshot?

I was assuming they carried buck on duty, how long would it take to access the situation and change loads in a Remington? I heard he let go of the hostage or something so they had clearance to shoot, but how big of a group are we talking at that distance anyway?
 
20 feet is pretty darn close. I can get 8~9" groups at 15 yards using Federal 00 buck and that's over twice the distance away. I think you're talking about one big hole at 20'. I have never shot a target that close before.

What cracks me up is the folks that buy shotguns thinking you don't have to aim them.
 
Around 20 ft/7 yds, I believe my inexpensive training round (S&B 00buck) can place them close enough to cover completely with my hand curled into a fist, say smaller than a 4" group, perhaps smaller (it's been awhile). This from a Rem870 stock Marine Mag barrel, Improved Cylinder I think.

I don't know the situation at the time of the shot, but one thing that may have been prudent would be going to one knee quickly, or lower oneself so that any shot, missed or penetrated, could possibly avoid anyone behind the target.

EricO
 
You're right Erico

At 20 feet/7 yds the pattern should be 3-4" in diameter. Sounds like this officer had done the patterning and knew what his window of effectiveness was. Also, no chance of a miss at that range and "instant" cessitation of the BG's intentions. I'm guessing here, but I'd bet the officer never even unholstered the pistol. One look, instant situation analysis and one shot. I watched a VA State Trooper trying to find a good 00 round for his 870 last weekend. He had 5-6 different manufacturers rounds and was shooting at 5, 10 and 15 yards. The S&B he was using was lousy- 4" at 5 yds, 6-7" at 10 yds, only 6 pellets on the target at 15 yds.
 
The S&B he was using was lousy- 4" at 5 yds, 6-7" at 10 yds, only 6 pellets on the target at 15 yds.
Click to expand...

I also had bad results with the S&B 00 in my 870. I tried the same ammo in my buddies mossberg and had even worse results. At 25 yards out I can hit 2 or 3 BG's with a few pellets each :D .

Now, on the other end of the spectrum is the Winchester low recoil 00. Nice tight patterns in the 870. I actually did a headshot at 7 yards that made a perfect happy face. 2 eyes and 7 pellets in a perfect smile! I wish I had saved the target or taken a picture of it.

I am sure if the LEO was using buckshot he had some high quality "duty" ammo. Maybe even a VANG-COMPED barrel!
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Damn tight pattern @ 25 yards.

BOB
 
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