heat shield really worth it?

R

Ruthless4christ

New member
I have never had a heat shield on any of my shotguns and I am not into "looks only" stuff on my guns. is a heat shield really helpful on a combat/HD shotgun?
 
ive never had to fight with my shotgun but i can imagine how hot it gets after multiple rounds are fired. I have a sawed off 12 i bought from a police auction that was an entry weapon and it came with one on it. Really there arent a lot of places to grab the gun (its got a pistol front grip) so in an emergancy situation where you are shooting and then need to grab your gun and backpedal i could see it saving you burnt hand you might need later.
 
I am just thinking about it realistically. I have spent entire days at the range with my shotty, done speed drills reload drills and all kinds of fun stuff, but I have never burned my hand, nor can I really remember my touching the barrel much at all anyhow, so....... yeah......I think someone is trying to trick me into spending 30 bucks on a something I don't need.
 
I must say that rduckwor is spot on.

To discover a lot of things about your shooting irons you need to put them and yourself through some serious effort.
 
I like my heat shield when doing hot reloads as I tend to hold the shotgun slightly forward of the receiver. The rest of the time not so much.

It was easier to add a $13 heat shield than change a fifty year habit. The metal heat shields don't shield heat for long, they get hot after awhile. The fiberglass/resin shields seem to perform much better at reducing heat.

If your not going to run a full tube through the gun and then immediately reload I wouldn't worry about a heat shield.
 
I never thought a first re-load to be more than a bit warm but I do have a fairly high amount of desensitizing to heat...

Brent
 
Your queston is whether or not a heat shield is worthwhile on a combat/hd gun. Do you really mean to use your girearm as a combat weapon? I would think that while some combat weapons may be hd guns, not all hd guns are appropriate for use as true combat guns.

I think of a combat guy is something to use on the streets of Fallujah. For combat it may be worth it to pay for thicker barrel and magzine walls, a heat shield, a side saddle, a recoil absorbing stock that can be adusted for body armor or not, a bayonet, and even a night vision scope. On the other had, a basic short barrel shotgun standard barrels and magazine, a standard stock, and a bead sight, perhaps with a light, is fine for hd.

I have no expertise in this regard, but suspect that a heat shield is rarely needed on a hd gun, but it adds weight and cost while it may increase the time for field repairs.

So what is it that your really need? A basic HD sbotgun or a combat weapon?
 
The only times a heat shield would have been useful on my Rem 870 would have been during shotgun defense classes.

You probably only need a heat shield on a home defense shotgun if you plan on shooting a lot and requiring several reloads. Otherwise, you can do without it.
 
Back aorund the time Mastodon went on the Endangered List, I shot a fair amount of 3 gun. This was in a LE only league, where stuff was limited to agency/dept issue or its civilian equivalent.

I ran both issue 870s and my own. Some competitions had us running 60 rounds of buck and 10 slugs in short time frames.

At no time did I burn my fingers, and most of the drills were done sans gloves.

If you think a heat shield helps, fine with me. Mine won't have them.
 
I wouldn't use a heat shield on anything. If the gun gets hot enough to burn you while shooting, then more than likely you need to let it cool down anyways.
 
When I bought my shotgun (very first gun), it (heatshield) was at the top of a list of "must-haves". I spent that first day shooting the shotgun for everything it was worth. I ran the heaviest loads I could get as well as boxes and boxes of cheap birdshot. The gun got HOT!

But not hot enough to burn me. Many many years later and the shotgun still doesnt have a heatshield. I consider it "done" as far as parts it needs.
 
The military/trench gun type heat shields/bayonet lugs were held in place by screws that engaged notches in the barrel, or in the case of the Remington 870 Mk 1 (which had a bayonet lug but no heat shield), the magazine extension. Far as I know, none of the current heat shield offerings have anything to keep them in place save clamps, and I have seen them move around on the gun under recoil enough to cause problems with the function of the gun.

Heat shields make keeping the exterior of the barrel cleaned and oiled more difficult without taking them off and putting them back on.

I've never seen any advantage to having one, and I've done formal shotgun classes and shot 3-gun. But if you like the idea, feel free.
 
I am not into "looks only" stuff on my guns...
Click to expand...

Unless your planning on repetitive combat, or often, pumping heavy number of rounds through your shotgun, I think you answered your own question.
As has been suggested, a heat shield can often be more trouble then they're worth and gloves can be readily used.
 
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