Scott W. Wagner - The Gun Digest Book of the Tactical Shotgun

READY FOR ENTRY, Benelli M4 Tactical works well for SWAT entry missions. Here it is backed up by a Beretta M92 with Crimson Trace Lasergrip Sights and a Blackhawk Serpa Holster.

I 'm gonna grab the shotgun! How many times have those five words struck fear into the hearts of those on the receiving end of them since the shotgun was invented? Bad guys hearing it from cops, cops hearing it from bad guys, burglars hearing it from homeowners, robbers hearing it from storekeepers, guys who are in the need of an immediate wedding due to their personal and poorly planned activitiesthe list goes on and on. Yes, the shotgun in all its various guises and permutations is the stuff of legends, especially when it takes the form of a short-barreled model, such as the very first tactical shotguns the sawed-off double barrel. The short double was used for home, store, and stagecoach protection and law enforcement duty in the west. Stagecoach protective use added the term riding shotgun to our common vernacular.

I started shooting shotguns at age 14. We didn't have any shotguns in the family armory, but the other Wagner family that lived down the street from us did. The father, Cliff Wagner, a WWII B17 co-pilot, was an avid shooter, hunter and reloader. He took us out to an area gun club where me, my brother and my dad all learned to shoot 12 and 20 gauge guns at clay birds thrown off a hand-operated thrower. We even had some home-loaded tracer rounds to play with. I seemed to take to it naturally, hitting 17 out of the first 20 thrown. Great stuff.

From there I continued my shotgunning career at the Boy Scout Camp. Back then, in 1971 or so, there was a shotgun game called Mo-Skeet-O which used half size clay pigeons and .22 caliber shotguns, actually .22 rimfire bolt guns with smoothbore, choked barrels and bead sights. The cartridge was the standard .22 LR crimped brass birdshot round. The birds flew around 50 or more feet as I recall, and I spent the summer paying for cartridges and blowing up clay birds. I went on the get the Rifle and Shotgun Merit Badge on the Mo-Skeet-O range.

I didn't do much else until my law enforcement career began in 1980. Already familiar with the Remington 870, I found my training and qualification time with it very enjoyable. In 1986 I got my NRA police firearms instructor certification which included shotgun instructor certification, then in 1987 I obtained the Ohio Peace Officer's Training Commission certification as a police shotgun instructor. I continue to train regularly with it as a deputy sheriff at the Union County Sheriff's Office in Marysville, Ohio, as well as during police academy training time at our college police academy. Working with the shotgun has always been an enjoyable part of my police career, and something I have never dreaded, but fortunately I had early and proper exposure to it. I wish more officers felt the same way about the shotgun; perhaps this book will help.

The shotgun is a legendary arm, and rightfully so. It has a tremendous amount of close range power, as suggested by the very large hole in the end of the barrel a hole which, in the 12 gauge, measures a whopping .72 caliber! Even so, it is not difficult to shoot with the right training, attitude and equipment. It is versatile and useful for a wide range of tasks. If you purchase a gun that allows for the use of different length/type barrels and chokes, you can use it for anything from hunting birds or clay pigeons to hunting bear and everything in between, for home defense, law enforcement and military situations, including lethal and less-than-lethal interactions. Ammo is still relatively low cost, and was still available during the great 2007-2008 gun sale. In the proper configuration, it is extremely reliable and can feed shells in its gauge with the proper chamber ranging from 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 inches in length. Ammo is abundantly available, even in the now mostly anti-gun Walmart stores. I would speculate that 80-90% of the jobs that need to be done can be done with some form of the shotgun.

Even with the predominance of the AR-15 platform these days and I have to admit, I love AR-15s the tactical shotgun still rocks. It's true, you can't conceal it well legally unless you get the $200 federal tax stamp for a 14-inch barrel model (why bother), at best it holds only a total of nine rounds in an extended magazine (okay, so normally how many shotgun rounds do you need in the average self defense situation?) and it kicks a little bit depending on the setup. But it is still the best game in town, and one worth having access to. Remember, if you have a handgun, its only purpose is to allow you to fight your way to a big gun, or as a backup to the big gun, no matter how big that handgun is.

One of the best reasons this day for selecting a tactical shotgun is the cost. Clearly, you get more bang for the buck with one of these as opposed to the cost of a quality handgun or especially an AR-15. As a matter of fact, as I write this, my favorite gun emporium, Vance's Shooter's Supply in Columbus, Ohio, has Remington 870 Express Tactical Shotguns that feature an 18-1/2 barrel, the very cool looking if not functional Tactical Rem Choke, a full seven-round magazine capacity with 2-3/4 or 3 shells, XS Ghost Ring Sights, XS blade front sight and sight rail (which is fully adjustable for windage and elevation), and the receiver is drilled and tapped for scope mounting. (With the rail rear sight, I would go for a scope with a quick detach rail mounting system on sale.) The price? $299. I could buy three of those babies for the price of one middle priced AR: one for the front door, one for the bedroom, one for the car.