Quick access to shotgun shells
I heard something last night about home protection that I like, on this podcast, Black Man With A Gun: “You don’t shoot people just to kill people, you only shoot people to stay alive.”
But being prepared to do so involves training, practice, safety, and accessibility to your weapon. And accessibility to your ammo. An unloaded gun will not keep you alive. (Unless you bluff, the criminal isn’t brazen, and bluffing with an unloaded gun can get you killed. Non-brazen criminals rarely break into houses in the middle of the night willing to kill you. Non-brazen criminals steal iPods out of unlocked cars.)
There’s a lot of debate among gun owners about whether to keep your weapon loaded or not. Keeping it loaded makes it a better bet for home protection in split-second emergencies, but also can increase the chance of accidental discharge. Even though we don’t have kids, we do have cats, and they like to mess with everything. So I won’t keep my gun loaded. But I want shotshells readily available, and I can load them in seconds, even in the dark. (I practiced with non-active plastic dummy shells.)
I had bought this shot saddle (from TacStar, which is where this photo is from) to mount on the side of my shotgun:
(I was inspired to get it because Lem on The Shield has one. I am a little embarrassed to say that - one probably shouldn’t take gun cues from TV shows, but it looked like it made sense to me):
But after I bought it, I realized that to mount it you have to push out the pins that hold your gun together. And that can, according to the directions, cause your gun to jam if not done right. So I decided to mount it on the wall in my bedroom.
I used a stud finder to find a place to nail it:
Had to drill a couple extra holes in the metal saddle. (I wore my shooting eye protection for that.) Then I just nailed it into the wall, and added shells:
Yay! Shells totally ready to go, without having a loaded weapon in the house.
Now, I can hear you saying, “But what if the crazed addict / killer / rapist gets into you and your wife’s room before you have time to load up?”
Well my friend, our bedroom has the window boarded up with three layers of plywood (we use it as a recording studio). We have a several-room house, so I would have some notice if I heard anyone come in the other windows or the door before they got to my room. (I did last year when someone tried to get in, I stopped the guy from coming in, called the cops, and they caught him). And I am an insomniac guy with audiophile hearing who works at home, is usually awake all night quietly reading, has cameras pointed out all his windows, and leaves the house a total of about three hours a week, not in any set schedule.
“Do you feel lucky? Well do ya?”
July 24th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Thanks for the shout out bro. Cats Rule!
July 24th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Yup. And it’s ok to be tough and have a soft side, as you said.
And cats have a tough side. They seem soft, but that’s because they’re little. If my cats were three times the size, they’d take off my toes when they play fight bite with me when I’m trying to sleep.
MWD
July 24th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Bandoleros, Michael. Bandoleros.
July 24th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Gives me a get-rich-quick product idea:
Bandolero pajamas!
July 28th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Shotgun shells are small enough (even 12 gauge) that you can keep two in a pocket as you walk around the house. If you need to run for the shotgun you can have at least two shells in hand ready to load up.
Before you go to sleep at night, load up. Trying to fumble around when you’re suddenly awakened and groggy is bad ju-ju. Unload in the morning, slip on your pants (two shells in the pocket) and start your day.
You may also know that they make shot loads for pistols. These function better in revolvers than semi-autos and give many of the advantages of the shotgun, albeit nowhere near the fight-stopping capability—though I can’t imagine anyone taking a .44 Special shot load to the face, groin, or anywhere else, who’d still be interested in, or willing to, fight.
The sound of a shell being racked into a pump shotgun is almost guaranteed to cause the listener to shit himself, especially if he thinks he may soon be looking down the business end of the thing.
Hope you never have to use your weapon, bro.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
My dad was a major gun enthusiast. He was a cross between Tommy Lee Jones and Hunter S. Thompson and carried a .357 in his boot and a .44 magnum either just in his hand or in a zippered cloth case. The .44 was loaded with alternating loads of shot and hollowpoints.
He was pretty insane but it would be a huge mistake to not acknowledge his efforts to ensure that I received proper gun safety training and a healthy respect for firearms.
In my home state I think they still have a big shoot-out twice yearly where participants can shoot everything up to a mounted .50 caliber at old cars. I’d like to go and just video all of it.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Nunzio -
I can see the point of having it loaded at night, and may do that, but what’s the point of unloading it during the day? Or do you mean unloading it when you leave the house?
For what it’s worth, I work at home, don’t leave the house much, and am usually awake all night and asleep from dawn until early afternoon. How (and why) would I adjust the schedule for this?
I just am thinking, if it’s loaded when it’s asleep, why unload it when I’m awake and home? I have no children> do have cats, but cats could not perform the four actions needed to fire it when loaded (holding down release, pulling back to cock at the same time, taking off the saftey and pulling the trigger). Also, I put the cats out of my room and shut the door when I sleep, as they jump on my face a lot and wake me up.
MWD
July 29th, 2008 at 6:44 am
Michael, I misunderstood. I thought you needed to have the shotgun unloaded during the day, for some reason…visitors, kids, whatever. (Being groggy when I read is about as bad as being groggy when trying to defend oneself!)
I keep mine loaded, but WITHOUT a round in the chamber. It’s easy enough to rack the slide if / when need be.
Some people make a rack over the door on which the shotgun rests. Say, for instance, in a bedroom or other place (authorized) visitors don’t go. Keeps it well out of the way, hidden from folks who aren’t in the room, and easy enough to reach up and grab. Not a good solution, obviously, for people too short to easily reach the top of a doorway.
July 29th, 2008 at 8:28 am
We very rarely have visitors, and if I kept it loaded, I would unload before the very rare occasion where we have any.
But I used to live places that had a lot of visitors, and I do have a first-hand experience with a loaded gun disaster, at least something that happened where I was living….in 1994, after Bomb broke up, I was in a short-lived band called “Drive-By Crucifixion.” My guitar player came by one day for practice, he went into our downstairs practice room to set up. I was upstairs.
A buddy of mine and his girlfriend were sleeping in the practice space, buddy kept a loaded Glock by the mattress (I knew he owned a gun, but did not know he had kept it loaded and that it was in my home). Kept mag full, chamber empty. Glocks do NOT have a safety.
My guitar player picked up said Glock, thought it was a toy gun. (I don’t know how anyone could pick up a solid piece of heavy precision machinery like a Glock and mistake it for a toy, but this might be part of the problem of people NOT being familiar with guns). Guitar player cocked it and pulled the trigger before gun’s owner noticed (he was groggy, just waking up.) Guitar player fired it into the wall. Bullet ricocheted off the cement went through gun owner’s girlfriend’s ass and came out her leg.
I called 911, cops and ambulance came. Took girl to hospital, she had surgery, had a long recovery, many months. Guitar player was detained nine hours and questioned, released. Cops kept the gun. (A very expensive gun, which I don’t believe was registered.) No charges were pressed.
Could have been much worse, if the idiot guitar player had pointed it AT someone.
Guitar player was a sensible guy in most other respects, even tempered, very intelligent, black belt in karate. But like many people who have never been around a gun, treated it like a toy, with disastrous results.
The power of a ricochet bullet (or stray bullet) is the reason that cops do not fire warning shots.
MWD