By Scott Wagner
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. 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 abundantly available and I would speculate that 80-90 percent of the jobs that need to be done can be done with some form of the shotgun.
Home defense is probably one of primary uses of a shotgun. From the days where farmers once loaded shotgun shells to fire “rock salt” to irritate and scatter interlopers on their property, hopefully without killing them, to 21st-century defense against home invaders where some form of lead shot is the load of choice. Even though its popularity is being supplanted by the meteoric rise of the AR-15, the shotgun still has a place in self-defense. Really, the shotgun exists outside of the basic self-defense arena, which is dominated by the handgun. Because of its legendary reputation and brute power, the shotgun is more of an offensive weapon. It has been used in warfare since the invention of the powder which powers it, and the military is not usually in a defensive mission. I believe it was Clint Smith who said that the handgun exists to allow you to fight your way to a bigger weapon, and that’s the shotgun.
A home defense shotgun can take several forms, and also serve as a multi-role tool, especially if one lives on a farm or ranch, where it can serve animal control duties as well. When we talk about defending the home, we can also mean defending the camper trailer or RV. Traditionally a standard hunting shotgun is used for this purpose, such as a Remington® 870 Wingmaster, loaded with hunting loads, since the concept of a tactical shotgun is relatively new. While a weapon like this can suffice, there are some better shotgun configurations to work with.
If a product is to be considered truly “tactical” (and not just an average everyday product just spray painted black — such as a “tactical sledgehammer” originally purchased at Home Depot) it must: