Well…I don’t know who’s not respecting it…but it gets a ton of respect from me. And, I’m guessing from any would-be home invader who has heard the distinctive sound of a round being chambered via pump action shotgun while looking down at a red laser dot painted on their chest.
The above question via The Truth About Guns:
“Nothing causes criminals to back off more hurriedly than does the presence of a shotgun,” gun guru John S. Farnham pronounced. “Shotguns scare people as do no other weapon.” And no wonder. When loaded with 00 buck or the new breed of self-defense shell, a shotgun is about as close to a “instant man stopper” as you can get. Even before all that sturm und drang, the sound of loading a pump action shotgun with that first shell should give pause to the most determined attacker. And yet cops are all swapping the scattergun’s combat distance devastation for “reach out and touch someone with a .22 (or ten)” AR. Millions of civilians have made the AR their “go-to” home defense gun. At the other end of the scale, a lot of fresh entrants into the world of concealed carry put their piece on the bedside table at night and call it good. Given their reliability and fearsome firepower, why have shotguns become the red-haired stepchild of armed home defense.
I’d love to own the Benelli M4 in that video — maybe someday. But at about ~$1600 MSRP, I think I’ll stick with my current Mossberg Model 590A1 “Persuader” 12 GA shotgun (which you can pick up new for less than $400), which replaced my Mossberg Model 500 HS 410.
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I think it is because too many people are lazy and find keeping a handgun close by is less trouble to deal with the next day when they need to stow the gun before leaving the house. Most people have a false sense of security anyway.
I have and will always respect the venerable pump shotgun. It is a fight stopper. I have my wonderful classic Winchester Defender loaded with all kinds of CQB goodies, but no double aught buck, the only shells I have loaded with shot have #7 bird shot, which will still make a big ol’mess of a man without over penetrating. I have some shells with flechettes, some with tiny women’s charm bracelets shoved in them, some bolos(one large slug attached to a smaller one with 3 feet of steel wire), some Rhodesian Jungle shot(an amalgam of all different size shot), sabot slugs and of course Dragon’s Breath. It is without a doubt the firearm with the most flexible ammo selection I have and it has the added bonus of freezing a man’s bone marrow with the sound of the slide and bolt going racka-racka! It will make a would be intruder beg your pardon and politely back away.
That Benelli is one bad-assed shotgun, adopted by the USMC a few years ago, but for that amount of money I just couldn’t justify buying one when my $199.99 Defender is such an awesome shotgun and so intimidating to see, as well as being about the fastest pump shotgun action around.
Im with you on this Robby,
My 18-1/4″ 870 is my bedside companion.
Yeah, Short 870, inexpensive, (never cheap) and dependable. Load #6 shot as it has good stopping power and will not have much velocity left after penetrating the walls and it leaves a perfect silhouette to show where the bad guy was for the forensic guys.