home defense readyness

T

Tronny

Inactive
Question:
In everyone's opinion:
Should I have the safety ON or OFF?
should I have the pump on my gun unlocked and ready to pump? or keep it locked and press the button to pump it?

It is a Mossberg 500 persuader with a pistol grip (no buttstock) used for home defense which me and my girlfriend have ready.

5 rounds in the magazine of 00 buck shot, nothing in the chamber.
 
same.

Tronny,

i live with my girlfriend and have the exact same setup, but mine is an 870. This is what i did...

i used to have a pistol grip on there for storage reasons, but after shooting it a few times i relaised i had to brace myself, and i didnt like thati coulnd just shoot it....i dont want this to turn to a pg debate, but i had the exact same thing so i thought it could shed some insight. If you live in an apartment, i would reccomend a folding stock, youth stock, or lean it in the closet.

As for the way i keep the gun, saftey always ON. I like to keep an empty cvhamber and a locked slide. The locked slide is a good idea for two reasons. If someone picks it up or steals it and dosnt know what they are doing it will be that much harder for them to get a round off. Also, if you are woken up in the dead of night and have to use your gun, you have to manipoulate the unlock button and rack the slide. This makes you do a mental movement and a muscular movement instead of just blasting away.

good luck.
 
I think the sound of a pump being chamberd is a nasty sound for the intruder. It may defuse the situation and he would probably leave your house once you announced you where armed. On the other hand if you have children i would not do that, i would leave saftey on.
 
Dkb you are right on. I once scared a couple guys off at night who were trying to steal from me. When I came up on them and racked that puppy they both turned white and were gone reeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaalllll quick. Never came back. ;)
 
We live in a mobile home, so theres some room between us and other people, but its thinner walls than a normal house. small closet space so the pistol grip helps get it out, but I'm planning on getting a V-line gun safe for easy but restricted access, which the safe might just have to lay under the bed or something.
Pistol grip is good for our place, if youve ever been in a mobile home you know the lack of space you have to deal with.
I plan on us taking it to the range to get used to aiming from the waist etc.
 
We live in a mobile home, so theres some room between us and other people, but its thinner walls than a normal house. small closet space so the pistol grip helps get it out, but I'm planning on getting a V-line gun safe for easy but restricted access, which the safe might just have to lay under the bed or something.
Pistol grip is good for our place, if youve ever been in a mobile home you know the lack of space you have to deal with.
I plan on us taking it to the range to get used to aiming from the waist etc.
 
I use a Benelli M1S90, and keep five rounds total in the weapon. Four in the magazine tube and one on the carrier with the safety on. All I have to do is charge it and snick the safety off.
 
I keep 1 00buck in the chamber and I keep the magazien -1 so that I can throw in a slug if I need to. I keep the saftey on and the pump locked. I keep the chamber loaded because I don't want to have to give away my position just to have a weapon thats ready to use.
 
870 Police Mag, rifle sights, 2-shot mag extension.

Safety off, chamber empty, pump locked, mag full of buck, -1.

4 extra rounds of buck in a sidesaddle; 5 slugs in a buttcuff. If I want a slug for my first shot or any other shot, I can ram it in the top of the mag, pump and go.

My only and slight experience with defensive shotgun use has been in IDPA-styled 3-gun matches, and no-one there shoots a PG; but based on what I've seen people hit and not hit with full-on rigged-out standard-stocked defensive shotguns, I'd guess the practical range of a shotgun with a PG, in terms of having the accuracy and control to reliably put threat-targets down, would be about 10 feet. If that's all you need, maybe it's a good solution to a tight-space problem.
 
870 Wingmaster (Lincoln X), Winchester Model 1897 riot gun (Psalm 23).

I keep the safety off, slide locked, chamber empty and a magazine full - first is 00buck, rest are #4 buck. Just me and my wife. I have had her out to the range, shooting it from the hip at a close range target, both with and without hearing protection ...(I believe it's important to train for HD situations w/o earplugs, as you're not going to tell the BG "... wait, I have to put my earplugs in..." and the sound level of the gunshot may take you by surprise if you're not familiar with it.)

I agree that the dumb fool who breaks into my home is gonna say awww S#^% when he hears a round being jacked into the chamber of EITHER weapon. IMHO a pump shotgun has the ultimate pucker power for the BG's, especially in our home, which is an old Victorian home with a very large (14'x28') 2 storey foyer. The 870 kind of echoes in there, the Winchester less so (It sounds more solid and dull), but it STILL sounds nasty :D

Edited to provide name association
 
Chamber empty, safety off.

With the chamber empty and the requirement to unlock and cycle the slide in order to fire the weapon the manual safety is redundant and just one more thing to remember in a tense situation.

I carry my P226 every day with the chamber loaded and no external safety at all.

After the tense situation is over, THEN the shotgun safety is engaged until I have a chance to clear the weapon.
 
Tronny,

Straight up- how many rounds have you actually fired through your Persuader in practice? How many rounds through shotguns of all types, lifetime total, approximately?

And how many for your girlfriend? Is she scared to shoot it in its current configuration (that is, with a pistol grip only stock)?

The condition of the gun is far less important than the condition of the shooter... and the only way to 'condition' a shooter is through practice and training.

lpl/nc
 
The sg was bought only a couple weeks ago, we did have the chance to take it out in the country and put a few rounds through it, 6 fr me 1 for her, she wanted to know what it felt like.
We plan on going to the range to get more used to it (she didnt wanna shoot much in an uncontroled area, but wouldnt mind shooting more at a range or somewhere meant for shooting in)
As far as I know, she has no previous gun experience, myself I have .22 experience and SKS experience, no previous shotgun use. It is in the plans though, as I know shotguns DO require aim still, especialy shooting from the hip.
Currently it is being shipped off to the repair center to fix a possible defect in the manufacture of the gun, so I probbaly wont see it for a while. Anyone know the wait time for the Mossberg repair center in Eagle Pass?
 
Tronny,

Thanks for your honest answers to my nosy questions.

Sorry to hear your new shotgun is having digestive problems, I hope they get it fixed and back in your hands very soon. I don't know what the turnaround time is for factory support, I have heard from other folks that Mossberg is making real efforts at doing a good, fast job on warranty repairs these days.

Please consider some (free) advice from an old stuck-in-the-mud shotgunner on your situation. I am NOT trying to pick on you, only to help, with what I consider to be a genuinely serious subject.

The first piece of advice is to replace the pistol grip with a conventional shoulder stock, preferably one of Mossberg's Bantam stocks if you or your girlfriend need the shorter length of pull- and most folks do better with a too-short stock than a too-long one. Any halfway decent gunsmith can shorten a stock as needed to fit a given shooter. The overall length of the gun will not be increased enough to make any real difference in handling the gun inside, if you're doing the right things with it. Our house guns here, set up to fit my 5'4" wife, are right at 37 inches long overall with an 18" barrel and a 12.5" length of pull. Knowing how to handle the gun indoors is the key. More on that later...

The second piece of advice is to have a premium recoil pad installed on your short or shortened shoulder stock- a Decelerator, Limbsaver, KickEez, Remington R3 or the like. That makes a lot of difference in the gun's shooting comfort during practice sessions. Proper fit and good form make the most difference, but a good pad helps a lot too.

Third piece of advice is to get some training. Some lessons from a friend with lots of shotgun trigger time might be good, or a hunter safety course, or better yet the NRA courses on shotgun, personal protection and home firearms safety. Take a look at http://www.nrahq.org/education/training/basictraining.asp and see if these classes are available in your area. Ask around at gun shops in your area and see if there is any training available that anyone knows about.

Fourth- Learn to shoot your shotgun first. Pay attention to the owner's manual, pound the rules for safe gunhandling into yourself all over again. Determine which is your master eye, if you don't know already. See the thread at http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=217593 to learn how to determine that. Get some dummy loads to practice loading and unloading with- if you have a friend who reloads, ask them to make you up some dummies, or have your gun shop order you some. After you learn to shoot your shotgun- loading, unloading, making safe, mounting, tracking a target and firing, learning to run the bolt every time after every shot so that it gets to be instinctive, and always being safe no matter what- then start learning to fight with a shotgun. It's a different skillset than just shooting, though it incorporates a lot of the things you learn while learning to shoot. But get the basics of ordinary gunhandling down pat first, then start working on fighting skills. Don' get the cart before the horse.

Fifth- Let me invite you across the street to TFL's sister site, The High Road, at http://www.thehighroad.org . Specifically to the Shotgun Forum there, most specifically the Lending Library at http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=207361 . Now I am not trying to hijack you away from TFL, but there are lots of us who wander back and forth, and you can do that too if you want. Join up at THR, give RM a chance to get through with the Louis Awerbuck _Combat Shotgun_ videotape that's part of the library, and ask him to forward it to you when he's done. By borrowing it you obligate yourself to send it on to the next THR member who asks for it, but that's all. I know you can't get all the benefits there are to hands-on training from a tape or DVD- but there are _some_things you can learn that way. If it encourages you to get some face-to-face training from one of the many excellent trainers working in the US today, so much the better.

And last- encourage your girlfriend in every possible way to learn to defend herself. Make it as easy for her as you can. Check out http://www.corneredcat.com/ for some insight you might not otherwise get into some of the things involved in that.

Take care of yourself, and Stay Safe,

lpl/nc
 
I generally keep a handgun for HD, but if I were to use one of the shotguns (both Ithaca SxS doubles), they set the safety "on" whenever the breech is opened. It just takes a flick of the thumb on the back of the receiver to turn the safety "off." If your's is that simple, I'd suggest leaving the safety on.
 
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