The Shotgun and My Reasons Why You Need One

The shotgun is probably the most versatile firearm that you can own and I believe that every prepper needs to have at least one in their home armory.

Now I know that there are folks out there that disagree with me, but it is more powerful than a handgun, but it does not have the range of a rifle. It also lack in its limited magazine capacity.

But what I wanted to do is give you my reasons why you should own a shotgun.

Reason 1 - Price.         

Like it or not, the first question everyone is concerned about is money. Good news is that you can go to just about any sporting goods store that offers firearms and find shotguns. They are everywhere and they are cheaper than the other alternative a AR-15 or a AK-47. 

If you have $200-$300 dollars you can walk into your local sporting goods store, gun shop or megastore and easily walk out with a shotgun under your arm.   

Knowing this, you can quickly save the money needed and within a week or two, you can upgrade your preps plan and add a shotgun in your home armory.

Now I did mention an AR-15 or AK-47, but those cost considerably more and the goal of this book is to get you ramped up with your preps as fast as possible. Once you are adequately prepped, you can then start expanding.

Reason #2 - Diffferent types of Ammunition

As I mentioned in a previous chapter there is a whole mix of different ammo that you can purchase for the shotgun and you can very your loads also.

Assuming you can carry at least 5 in the tube. You can make your first round bird shot for close range. They will not blast through walls and if it does, they lose its velocity really quickly.

Secondly you can put a couple of "00" buck shot followed by a couple of slugs.

Here is a home defense scenario.

It is late at night and you hear a noise in your home. You then hear multiple voices coming from the front of the house. Sitting next to your bed is your trusty Mossberg 500 and you have prepared just for this type of situation.

You know your home so you use the corners and concealment to your advantage. You see the first bad guy and he  has got a gun sticking out of the front of his pants. He is at a close range, and your first round in your shotgun is bird shot. At this range it will cut him to ribbons and take him out.

You fire and bad guy #1 goes down.

The second bad guy you see is coming towards you , he is to be a bit further but that is ok, your second round in the stack is buck shot  and it will take that person out before he reaches you.

You do not know if there is another bad guy, but you have another round of "00" Buck ready and waiting.

All of a sudden bullets are coming through the front window.  There is another bad guy who was driving the car. You have that Buck shot chambered already, so you fire busting out the car windows. But that is not all, you have some slugs that will go some distance in the stack and they do a lot more damage.

Bad guy #3 took up a position outside the car and is now shooting blindly through the blown out car windows. He is using the ol' spray and pray method and is not coming even close to where you are. You chamber the slug knowing these will go through walls as well as car doors. BLAM…CLICK CLACK…BLAM. Two slugs down range and both right on target. It is quiet. Taking more buckshot from you’re the rifle butt carrier you load more buckshot into your shotgun.

You have eliminated the bad guys. Your practicing this exercise over and over again has paid off, you and your family are safe and the bad guys are finished.

Yes this is kind of glorified, but this is a good example of stacking the different rounds in your shotgun anticipating the need.

There is bird shot, which is good for small game for food, or can be used for close quarter indoor defense.  There is upland game rounds where the "BB's" are bigger and pack a meaner punch. 00 buckshot, which is like sending 8 rounds of 9mm down range and then there is the slug. I big 50mm hunk of lead that is like a cannon ball hitting you. There is also many different types of rounds in between these I have named.

Shotgun even has the ability to shoot rounds that contain non lethal bean bags, rubber bullets, even small nets that deploy when the exit the shotgun bore.

So the variety of shotgun rounds are pretty extensive and for every need, there probably is a round to meet that need.

Reason #3 - Power and Performance

The power that the shotgun delivers beats a handgun hands down. Where the handgun has maneuverability and high capacity; the shotgun delivers a deadly volly of BBs, Buckshot and slugs .  They have been the weapon of choice for law enforcement. In fact the term "riding shotgun" comes from when there was a driver of the stagecoach and then the person acting as security who carried a sawed off double barrel shotgun. Shotguns were used during the bloody trench warfare  of WWI. The allies brutalized the Germans so badly with the shotgun that they protested their use and threatened to instantly execute any of the troops found in possession of them.

During Vietnam they were used by the tunnel rats who went deep into the Viet-Cong tunnels clearing out the enemy.

Fast forward to today and our military boys stationed in Iraq have used the shotgun effectively to clear out buildings in building to building searches seeking out the enemy.

Reason #4 - Easy To Maintain

Most shotguns are very easy to maintain.  In fact breaking down a pump shotgun is easy and with a little practice you can even change out to a different barrel depending on the situation that you are using your shotgun. There are plenty of different cleaning solvents and oils, that you can use and most if not all can be used on the common shotgun with no problem. In fact if things get bad, you can even use gasoline or diesel fuel with a bamboo pole with a cut up "T" shirt and get your shotgun clean. It isnt rocket science and it is made to keep it simple.

Reason #5 - Different Roles a Shotgun Can Play

The basic pump shotgun can play a vast array of different roles and gladly takes on those roles and performs. For example you can pull your long hunting barrel off and put on the  shorter home defense barrel and already your shotgun has changed from recreation tool to a "get the bad guys" defensive weapon. You can swap out the the common wooden stock and replace it with a cammo or flat black nylon stock and front forearm. You can even get dual pistol grips, one for the trigger and one for the forearm and you have a tactical weapon at the ready.

There are flashlights, lasers, 20 round bandoleer slings. You can get scopes, red dot sights, even holographic heads up sights for your shotgun. You can get a short barrel or a long barrel, even one the is between the two sizes. Folding stocks, collapsible stocks, even no stock using a single pistol grip. If you can think it up, odds are they have it for the shotgun.

The shotgun is capable of wearing many different hats and with each one, be just as effective for the role you have made for it.

Reason #6 - Protected by the Law

Even with all the different roles the shotgun can play, it is still seen as a sporting arm by legislators and because of this it will be the last type of weapon to be banned or have legislation drawn up against it. You can even own a shotgun is some of the most anti-gun havens in the US. New York they are legal to own, even in Chicago where handguns have been completely banned, a shotgun is legal to own.  This in and of itself is something that the modern day prepper needs to remember and why I say every home needs to have at least one shotgun in the home armory.

So we have discussed why "I" think ever home needs a shotgun, now lets talk about the type of gun that is good for you.

Choosing the Gauge

Ok I can hear it now, "what is the gauge?"

The gauge is the size of the diameter of the barrel measured from the rear of the weapon. It is the gauge that determines the size of round your shotgun can fire.

There are different "gauges" of shot gun, the most popular, starting with the smallest is 410, then 20 gauge, then the most popular, 12 Gauge.

There are other big bore gauges like 10 and 8, but these are not very common and ammo is at a premium, if you can find it.

The 410 Shotgun

The 410 is a small bore round, about half the diameter of a dime or a little bigger than a #2 pencil is round. This shotgun is usually a boy's first shotgun. Commonly it is a breach break and you have to feed one round per shot. These are good for small game and dove as well as taking  care of vermin like rats, snakes and mice. They have very little kick at all and I do not recommend them to be used in a home defense role. They really do not have the firepower, but can be used as a backup weapon if a fire fight ensues.

Rounds include snake shot, bird shot, upland game, buck shot (3-4 balls) and slug with some other sizes in between.

The problem is that because the round is so small in diamieter, it does not carry enough projectiles to be used as a primary home defense weapon. But I think it is a good weapon to have if you have a young teenage boy or girl learning to hunt and shoot. It is a good gun to start them out with.

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The 20 Gauge Shotgun

The choice most people get when it comes to a shotgun is usually a 12 gauge, but once they really start shooting it, their shoulders wished they would have taken a 20 gauge.

For a home defense weapon that everyone in the family can use, I recommend a 20 gauge. It has enough fire power to it to be effective but not quiet the kick that a 12 gauge has. This is a very woman and teenager friendly shotgun. Teaching everyone how to use and be effective with a 20 gauge is a very good home defense solution. One can not say that the "man of the house" will be within arms reach of the shotgun. Having one that both the wife and kids can effectively use is a very smart tactical solution. This is why I like the 20 gauge for an all around general home defense shotgun as well as a good weapon to hunt with.

The 12 Gauge Shotgun

For most preppers out there, the hands down standard for the shotgun is going to be a 12 gauge pump. As we discussed you can pick one up just about anywhere that sells firearms.

There is also the semi-auto shotguns which are great, but with more working parts calls for more chance of something going wrong. And you just cant break down a semi auto shotgun and do a quick repair on it; where with a pump you can usually pull it apart, find the problem and get back in the action.

Where pump shotguns are pretty inexpensive, the cost of a semi-auto shotgun is three to four times that of a pump. Sure you can find some that are less expensive, but they jam up, break and aways at the worse possible moment. Now are you willing to bet your life and the life of your family on a cheap semi-auto shotgun?

Then there is the issue of  parts. It takes more parts to cycle that semi-auto than there are parts in the standard pump shotgun. These parts will wear out and eventually break and again usually at the worse possible time.

There is the issue of bad feeds and finicky ammo. Where a pump shotgun will "eat" almost any round you put in the magazine. Semi-autos have been known to not like all rounds or sizes which result in the weapon jamming. If a pump jams up, it is relatively easy to clear, were if a semi-auto jams up, well you are basically out of the fight till you can clear that jam.

My Choices of Shotgun

Well when it comes right down to it, there really are only two choices. The Remington 870 and The Mossberg 500.

Mossberg 500
Personally I like the Mossberg 500 but when you butt up weapon to weapon, both are excellent and dependable shotguns. These two are probably the most famous and the most owned shotguns out there. They are both affordable, you can find them at almost any sporting goods store, mega mart and gun shop out there. Both Mossberg and Remingtion make different varieties of the individual shotgun.

For example, I own a Mossberg 500® TACTICAL TURKEY™ Series pump shotgun.

 

Here is the same model but it has been totally made into a tactical weapon

This Mossberg 500 has a  front and rear pistol grip, a modified butt that holds 6 extra rounds, the Tactical Turkey is already drilled for a scope but this person has added a weaver rail to the top so that they can use a red dot or a holographic rear site. This is a fine example of how one can modify their shotgun, specifically the Mossberg 500 Tactical Turkey series.

Remington 870

The Remington 870 Sportsman Synthetic.

As I have said, it is a toss up between the two. They are both fine weapons and the Mossberg wins by just a hair.

Actually when I was going to purchase my shotgun, I was using an older gun for a trade in. I had limited amount of cash and I had my eye on a Remington 870 Sureshot Super Turkey. I really liked the feel of this weapon with its Monte Carlo stock with built in pistol grip. But it was slightly out of my price range on what I had budgeted myself.

I would recommend it to anyone looking for a shotgun. With the Monte Carlo pistol grip set up, this was a very comfortable shotgun.

Both of these shotguns come in 12 gauge and in 20 gauge. What you need to do head on down to your local gun shop and feel both of these. Look at all their features as well as the third party add ons.

In fact, regarding third party add ons, the Mossberg 500 has a few more things out there over the Remington 870 and besides the price, it was that ability to have the opportunity to add a few more modifications that finally won me over to the Mossberg 500.

Either of these will fit the bill and will serve you for a long time to come.

Get a shotgun while you still can and while they are still affordable. A day may come when you wish you did.