Remington

3 home defense firearms that’ll make you prepared like John Wick

You roll to your side to take a quick glimpse of the clock: it’s 3 AM. You’ve been awake for the past 2 hours, trying to go back to sleep. You couldn’t. Something’s off…you can just feel it.

“Ah, it must be paranoia,” you think. When you’re about to close your eyes, you suddenly hear a loud shatter downstairs. You get up. And then, your front door slowly creaks open, bringing a chill down your spine. “Oh shi—” you panicky think before cutting yourself off. You know what this is:

A home invasion.

Your heart starts pounding as you quickly try to find your .30-06 hunting rifle with scope. Beads of sweat roll down your face as your hands begin to shake uncontrollably. You realized that your hunting rifle is downstairs. And then, suddenly out of the shadows, a dark hooded figure emerges. What do you think will happen next?

You’ll either lose your life or your precious valuables. Why? Because you weren’t adequately prepared for a home invasion. How do you prevent that from happening? By getting prepared. And one of the first steps in being prepared is getting yourself a SOLID home defense weapon. That’s why I wrote this article — to show you my top 3 favorite home defense firearms, starting with my first recommendation…

Remington 870 (Shotgun)

Pros: Flexible ammunition types, insanely powerful

Cons: Heavier and harder to carry (compared to pistols), requires two hands to shoot, low ammunition capacity (compared to rifles)

Why use a Shotgun for Home Defense?

Because they’re scary as hell. If ANY intruder hears a sound of a shotgun, they’ll most likely bolt for the door… and will never step foot on your property again. But that’s not the only reason you should invest in a shotgun. Shotguns are also extremely versatile. Meaning, there is a wide variety of ammo available like:

Slugs
Buck Shot
Bird Shot

In other words: Shotguns are multi-purpose. They can be used for hunting and target shooting as well as home defense. And that’s not all. Shotguns are incredibly reliable. (More specifically, pump shotguns). They are very easy to use and won’t fail on you — even with minimal maintenance. The best part? Shotguns are pretty darn cheap. In fact, a brand new Remington 870 only costs $300. And if you really look, you could get yourself a used one for less than $150.

Recommended Accessories:

Shotgun Sling: Makes extra ammo easily-accessible.
Red Dot Sight: Allows for rapid target acquisition. The FastFire 3 from Burris is SOLID.
WeaponLight: Flashlights and lasers are a must for shotguns.

Glock 23 (Pistol)

Pros: Easy to carry, lightweight (and compact), requires only one hand to shoot

Cons: Low ammunition capacity (compared to rifles)

Why use a Pistol for Home Defense?

The fact is this: Handguns are some of the best firearms for home defense. They’re also my personal favorite. Here’s why… Accessibility. I carry my Glock 23 almost EVERYWHERE I go. It’s small, compact, light and fairly easy to use. That said, you’d be able to move quicker and quieter through your home. Bruce Willis in Die Hard would probably agree with me. Another reason for acquiring a pistol is because they rarely run into jamming issues, easy-to-clean, and just straight up reliable.

Look: Just do yourself a favor and get a handgun (if you don’t have one already). It’ll protect you everywhere — inside AND outside of your home.

Recommended Accessories:

Grip: Upgrade your stock grip with a grip from a reputable manufacturer for an improved grip quality.
Light/Laser: Will help with accuracy and seeing in low-light conditions.
Holster: A must if you conceal carry. Feel free to read my top 3 essential firearm accessories.

AR-15 (Rifle)

Pros: Higher ammunition capacity, powerful, long-distance shots

Cons: Heavier and harder to carry (compared to pistols), requires two hands to operate

Why use a Rifle for Home Defense?

If you want to be a badass like John Wick, use an AR-15. The reason? It’s INSANELY versatile. The AR-15 can be used for home defense, target shooting, and even deer hunting. How is that possible? The AR-15 is chambered in a 5.56 cartridge and could also shoot a .223 — allowing for a flexible platform. And get this: An AR-15 is actually EASIER to shoot than a shotgun or pistol due to the low recoil and accuracy. If that wasn’t enough for you, the AR-15 also holds a larger total capacity of ammunition. In other words: you can easily take on multi-person home invasion.

Let me make it simple: I highly recommend owning an AR-15. It’s just… awesome. I’m not the only person who thinks so. In fact, the AR-15 is the most popular rifle in America.

Recommended Accessories:

Rifle Scope/Red Dot Sight: Read this article on how to choose a rifle scope.
Front Hand Grip: Allows for MUCH better grip.
Flashlight: Great for low light environments.

Which Firearm Should I buy For Home Defense – Pistol, Rifle Or Shotgun?

It depends on your environment. Want something lightweight and easily accessible? Get a handgun. Live in a rural area and have a lot of distance? Invest in a rifle. However, if you live in a more densely-packed area, go with a shotgun. Also, don’t forget to check your local laws to see which firearm is legal. But most importantly: whatever firearm you choose, make sure to commit to training and practice. As long as you head to the gun range a couple of times per year, you should be golden. With that said…

Now Its Your Turn

These are my top 3 favorite firearms for home defense. Sure, there are hundreds of guns out there you can choose from but these were my top 3 favorites. That said, I’d like to hear from you: What firearm do you use (or plan on using) for home defense? Let me know by leaving a quick comment down below.

Author Bio:

Richard Douglas is a scopes expert with over 10 years of hands-on experience and has been featured on Burris Optics, War History Online and more. No wonder his friends call him the “James Bond of Scopes.” Richard now spends most of his time reviewing scopes and sharing his exclusive findings on his blog, Scopes Field.

Feature image courtesy of Pixabay

My 5.11 Shotgun Loadout

It’s not a big surprise that I love shotguns right? Well, 5.11 has helped me out with an awesome Shotgun Loadout for my All Missions Plate Carrier. It’s one of the two loadouts I run on my AMP and I have been training hard over the last week with it. Learning how to use both the carrier as well as a couple 5.11 Shotgun attachments. Mixing these attachments with the AMP has provided me with an awesome overall loadout for shotguns. The Hex grid layout allows me to run attachments that would be vertical as horizontal and even slightly diagonal. This makes it easy to run a mix of two very different pouches.

How I designed My Shotgun Loadout

The idea was simple. Shotgun ammo is a real pain in the ass to carry around, but the shotgun itself is not a high volume weapon. It’s made for quick, close, and violent encounters. I designed the loadout to work with both quick reloads, and for lulls in the fight. This struck a balance between the amount of ammo I can carry and the availability of said ammo.

My Shotgun Loadout Pouches

What drew me to 5.11 Shotgun gear is the fact it is tested by Viking Tactics, a company I respect immensely. If you don’t know Kyle Lamb and VTAC you need to do some research and learn what’s what. They are an outstanding, cutting edge company in both the gear and training realm. I trust them.

The first two attachments are the 5.11 VTAC Shotgun bandoliers. These 5 round bandoliers are made to run vertically, but I like running them horizontally at the top portion of my vest. This makes it easy to reach them and keeps me from over occupying my plate carrier vest. On my Shotgun loadout, these are the bandoliers I use for quick reloads. This includes emergency reloads and reloads under fire. This gives me ten rounds on tap for those “Oh Shit,” situations.

These mini bandoliers use elastic loops to hold the rounds secure and running them horizontally. With the brass up they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

On top of that, I keep a VTAC Shotgun Ammo pouch on board. This holds 25 rounds of shotgun ammo in the standard cardboard box a 25 round packs come in. The box stays in the pouch and the zippered lid of the pouch has an overlapping open elastic flap that prevents the rounds from bouncing out of the pouch, but this allows you to reach in and remove rounds.

The entire setup gives me 35 rounds total. In a flash I can switch to an AR loadout and rock my ugly 80 percent lower receiver AR, aka the Ghost Gat.

Running the Shotgun Loadout

The two bandoliers of the shotgun loadout make it very easy to access ten rounds on the fly. For emergency reloads, and for a quick top off these two bad boys are perfect and easy to reach. These attachments make it easy to grab ten rounds of ammo on the fly. I practiced speed or emergency reloads quite a bit. These being the reloads through the ejection port when you run the gun completely dry.

The same goes for grabbing rounds and shoving them into the tube. It’s quick, easy, and very intuitive.

The VTAC ammo pouch allows me to fish for extra rounds when the stakes aren’t so high. It is a little slower than the bandoliers, but it also holds 5 times as much ammo. I use this pouch for reloading when things are a little quieter. This could be a lull in the fight, or for when the enemy at least appears defeated but we need to ensure everyone who needs killin’ is killed.

Additionally, besides reloading the shotgun I would use this pouch to reload my side saddle and my 5.11 bandoliers. This allows my shotgun loadout to be used together and this increases my overall versatility.

The Setup

My Shotgun Loadout is working out very well for me. The gear is very intuitive, very easy to use, and it’s made very well. When paired with the All Missions Plate carrier I find it to be supremely customizable. Building this loadout hasn’t been easy. The industry largely ignores the shotgun and I’m glad 5.11 has stepped up the shotgun game.

The shotgun is far from a popular weapon, but it is still an amazing close range fight stopper. Having a way to carry extra ammo is an absolute necessity. This gear from 5.11 is an outstanding choice if you are a fan of the mighty shotgun.

The Remington TAC 14 Hardwood: Old School Cool

I love shotguns, and more importantly, I love shotguns with wood furniture. Also, let’s make them really short and use an odd definition to ensure they are not NFA regulated items. Thanks. That incredibly picky request has now been made a reality with the TAC 14 Hardwood model from Remington. The TAC 14 is Remington’s not a shotgun firearm with a 14-inch barrel and Shockwave Raptor Pistol grip. This 12 gauge pump-action firearm is one of many that have hit the market in the last few years and Remington has released several different variants. The TAC 14 Hardwood model has by far become my overall favorite.

Why?

I mean besides looking freakin’ sweet? Let’s be real clear I bought this gun because I like shorties, and the wood furniture looks fantastic. It immediately reminds of the original Witness Protection guns utilized by the US Marshals and produces by Jim Wilson of Wilson Combat. If you look deeper than just the wood pistol grip and pump the gun has a few other features from the Witsec guns. Namely, look at the Shield/Sling keeper on the front of the gun. These were present on Witsec guns as was the dual sling attachments.

I saw the TAC 14 Hardwood at SHOT last year and loved them and as soon as one hit my local store I swooped in and grabbed it up. I own a standard TAC 14, and more than a couple of Shockwaves, but this gun is by far my favorite.

Inside the TAC 14 Hardwood.

The TAC 14 Hardwood is sadly an 870 Express with the Matte finish. I really wish they would’ve gone with the Wingmaster and given the gun a dark blue finish. I’m sure in a year or two they will and I’ll go broke buying it. The TAC 14 Hardwood does differ from the standard TAC 14. Of course, it has wood furniture, but the sling keeper and handguard combo is nice. More than that the gun accepts 5 rounds of 2 3/4 buckshot versus the TAC 14’s four rounds.

The TAC 14 Hardwood adds a +1 extension and doesn’t dimple the tube I wasn’t the only person annoyed by Remingtons dimple four round tube when I received my original TAC 14. With the extension, the magazine tube is now flush with the barrel that gives the gun a much better and symmetrical look.

The TAC 14 Hardwood also comes with a sling, a cheap one, but it is appreciated. On top of that, the Box has some awesome custom cut phone. I give them a 10 for presentation. The gun looks absolutely fantastic.

More than a Pretty Face

These guns can be hard to handle if you aren’t familiar with shotguns. It takes a lot of time and ammo to really get comfortable with one. Blasting away at the hip is fun, but that is far from using one in an effective manner. With the right technique its not hard to handle these aims or even aim them.

Admittedly their effective and accurate range is limited, but they can still deliver a sledgehammers worth of payload into a target when used effectively. This does require getting a good solid grip on the gun. The rear grip is smooth, but the geometry of it ensures a pretty good grip. The front pump uses an old school but effective texture to help you maintain it’s grip as well.

The gun’s action is incredibly smooth and the pump slides rearward very easily with minimal twisting, grit, or roughness. It’s incredibly satisfying and it delivers that classic shuck sound with style. Handling wise the placement of the safety is awkward without a traditional stock, but with some practice, you can learn it to take it off with ease. However, putting the safety back on is another issue entirely. It’s not so easy, but when in doubt just move the firing hand and get it done safely.

The trigger isn’t bad, and as a shotgun, it’s not exactly that important. Reloading this gun is also far from easy and I’d imagine it’s a little simpler to just transition to a pistol than attempt a speed reload. The gun is a hefty 5.6 pounds so trying to reload it with the firing hand in place isn’t easy, or even really effective.

It’s a lot easier to hold the gun by the pump and reload via the firing hand. Alternatively, you can bring the gun in the box like a handgun and reload it.

Shot’s Fired

Recoil is admittedly rough with these guns, but with practice, it can be controlled. I fire standard 2 3/4s buckshot and I find it manageable. It’s not as effective as a properly stocked shotgun of course, but its a lot easier than I imagined. There is no pain due to the rear grips ergonomic design. The recoil does shoot straight back into the wrist. It more or less forces the gun upwards instead of rearwards.

Controlling the gun and firing it somewhat rapidly is doable, but again a lot of birdshot practice should be conducted prior to shooting. The TAC 14 Hardwood is a very fun gun to shoot. It’s not an easy one, but that is part of the fun of the gun. It’s difficult to control and to shoot well. This challenge is where I find the most fun.

The gun is a pump shotgun and it runs reliably. As a pump action weapon its plenty reliable. The gun extracts and ejects and loads the next shell with absolute authority. This includes high and low brass shells. The gun runs everything as it should without much effort.

The TAC 14 Hardwood runs as good as it looks. It’s an 870 so you can accessorize it to a good degree but you shouldn’t. The beautiful wood furniture needs to stay put. If you want to experiment get the Logic Industries 80 percent lower shotgun. If you are looking for a fun, reliable, and challenging tool with old school cool appeal the TAC 14 Hardwood is for you.

Ultra-short .300 Blackout barrels round-up Part 2

In the second part of this ongoing series detailing as many commercially available ultra-short (sub-7″).300 Blackout barrels as possible, I’m not only adding two more to the lineup, I was able to obtain more ammo to test last articles barrels with as well. The two new barrels are both from KAK: the first is their venerable “Baby Blonde” 6.25″, the other is their brand-new 4.75″ (nickname in progress). Some additional chrono data will be included here for the V Seven 6.5” and the Right To Bear 6” barrels tested in Part 1. If you like time travel, jump to Part 3.

Due to the limited quantity of a couple ammo types, some of the chronograph data is somewhat limited. I’d like to have multiple 5- or 10- shot strings for each ammo type through each barrel, but it wasn’t possible. Likewise, accuracy testing should also be considered preliminary, as none of these barrels are totally broken in before grouping starts, I simply don’t have an extra hundred rounds per barrel. I do get a good sense of how these function (while suppressed or unsuppressed), general velocity data and which ammo each barrel prefers. This will allow me to pare down the ammo selection for a final accuracy review later.

So let’s talk tech specs on this article’s newcomers:

KAK 4.75″ with Micro Gas Tube and AR15 configurable buffer system, data from KAK.

Stainless Steel 416R
1:7 Twist
5R Rifling
Micro-gas length (1.5″ shorter than pistol length system)
.125″ gas port size
.750″ gas block journal
M4 feed ramps
5/8×24 threaded muzzle
10.48 ounces (barrel alone)
Special tuning might be required, this barrel requires a short barrel nut or modified grooved barrel nut to clear the micro gas tube (covered in installation below)
Price: Currently $200

KAK 6.25″ “Baby Blonde”

Stainless Steel 416R
1:7 Twist
5R Rifling
Pistol length gas system
.125″ gas port size
.750″ gas block journal
M4 feed ramps
5/8×24 threaded muzzle
13 ounces (barrel alone)
Price:Currently $199

Both of these barrels I assembled onto uppers. Both used ALG Defense handguards, which had to be trimmed down by about 9″. The 4.75″ barrel’s micro length gas system required I make some modifications to the barrel nut: I cut it in half (the forward half provided support for the long handguard, which wasn’t there anymore) and notched out the barrel nut on top-dead-center. I made sure there was enough material left on the nut to support the barrel. The Baby Blonde was assigned the tan handguard and the 4.75″ the black handguard.

KAK 6.25″ barrel with cut down ALG handguard

KAK 4.75″ with modified ALG barrel nut

Both barrels received an AAC 51t suppressor mount for subsonic work, the Baby Blonde getting a three-pronged flash hider and the 4.75″ barrel getting a Breakout (mistimed 180°, I’m swapping mounts often so not too worried about it. The barrels in Part 1 had mistimed muzzle devices as well, just hidden beneath a flash can or suppressor).

All firing was done from a Caldwell Stinger shooting rest at 50 yards for groups and through a Caldwell Ballistic Precision chronograph at the recommended 10-foot distance. Both KAK uppers shared a 4x Trijicon ACOG with ACSS reticle.

9 different ammo types were tested, but that bears some discussion. My on-hand supply of Barnes RangeAR was very limited, and I only had three rounds of Reaper Controlled Chaos. I ran the Reaper round through the 4.75″ barrel, as data can be found for it from 6-7″ barrels. Abbreviations for the two barrels will be, Baby Blonde (BB) and 4.75″ (475) and additional data for the barrels from Part 1, V7 6.5″ (V7) and Right To Bear 6″ (R2B). Chrono data from Part 1 for V7 and R2B will be inserted here as well.

SUPERSONIC ROUNDS

All rounds listed below cycled through both barrels with mil-spec BCG and standard weight buffer. Last round locked the bolt back with each ammo, unsuppressed.

Barnes RangeAR 90gr:

475 Average 1961 fps. Standard deviation (SD) 21
BB Average 2080 fps, SD 51
V7: Average 2166 fps, SD 37
R2B: Average 2104 fps, SD 19

Reaper Controlled Chaos 110gr:

475 Average 1792 fps, SD 31

Barnes Tac-TX 110gr:

475 Average 1846 fps, SD 6
BB Average 1946 fps, SD 8
V7: Average 1977 fps, SD 14
R2B: Average 1923 fps, SD 8

Federal All-Copper 120gr:

475 Average 1662 fps, SD 45
BB Average 1714 fps, SD 15
V7: Average 1794 fps, SD 8
R2B: Average 1735 fps, SD 8

ADI MSR 125gr Sierra Matchkings

475 Average 1651 fps, SD 60
BB Average 1751 fps, SD 32
V7 Average 1775 fps, SD 20
R2B Average 1740 fps, SD 10

Ammo Inc Jesse James 150gr soft point

475 Average 1613 fps, SD 18
BB Average 1661 fps, SD 10
V7 Average 1698 fps, SD 13
R2B Average 1642 fps, SD 14

SUBSONIC ROUNDS

Will indicate if the round cycled (CYC), or locked the bolt carrier on last round (LB) suppressed (SUP) or unsuppressed (UNSUP).

Ammo Inc /Stelth/ 220gr

475 Average 863 fps, SD 22. CYC and LB UNSUP and SUP.
BB Average 880 fps, SD 19. CYC and LB UNSUP and SUP.
V7 Average 931 fps, SD 11. CYC and LB UNSUP and SUP.
R2B Average 906 fps, SD 25. CYC and LB SUP, CYC with no LB UNSUP.

Fiocchi 220gr subsonic

475 Average 819 fps, SD 33. CYC and LB UNSUP and SUP.
BB Average 821 fps, SD 8. No CYC or LB UNSUP, positive CYC and LB when SUP.
V7: Average 810 fps, SD 14. CYC and LB SUP, CYC but no LB UNSUP.
R2B: Average 835 fps, SD 9. Did not CYC UNSUP, CYC AND LB while SUP.

Discreet Ballistics 190gr subsonic

475 Average 831 fps, SD 23. CYC but 50% LB UNSUP, CYC and LB when SUP. BCG was getting real dirty at this point. Added lube.
BB Average 864 fps, SD 38. NO CYC or LB when UNSUP, positive CYC and LB when SUP.
V7 Average 904 fps, SD 19. CYC and LB SUP, CYC but no LB UNSUP.
R2B Average 870 fps, SD 27. CYC and LB SUP, 50% CYC and 50% LB when UNSUP.

Remington 220gr subsonic round

475 Average 889 fps, SD 8. CYC and LB both SUP and UNSUP
BB- test data recorded on video, memory card ran out of memory. Data lost.
V7 Average 930 fps, SD 38. CYC and LB SUP, CYC but no LB UNSUP.
R2B Average 900 fps, SD 31. CYC and LB when SUP, did not CYC or LB UNSUP.

ACCURACY

I’ll mention it yet again that these accuracy results are preliminary, as all of the barrels I’ve received have been factory new. Once broken in, groups usually shrink somewhere between “noticeably” and “significantly”. Some of this can be seen in the (in)consistency of groups, where two groups from the same barrel with the same ammo will perform very differently not two minutes later. I wanted to get some groups to see what ammo types each barrel preferred, to pare down the options later. More exhaustive accuracy testing to come. Accuracy results for V7 and R2B found in Part 1. Unlike Part 1, called flyers were simply discarded. Here’s results sorted by barrel.

KAK 4.75″

Barnes 110: 1.33″–2.54 MOA

Federal 120: 2.91″ & 7.5″–5.55 & 14.3 MOA

Ammo Inc JJ 150: 1.57″ & 1.8″–2.99 & 3.43 MOA

Discreet Ballistics 190: 1.88″–3.59 MOA (stabilized)

Ammo Inc /Stelth/ 220: 1.9″–3.62 MOA (slight yaw in bullets, no baffle strike)

Remington 220: 1.82″ & 1.64″–3.47 & 3.13 MOA (some rounds yawed slightly, most stabilized)

Fiocchi 220: 1.6″ & 2.05″–3.05 & 3.91 MOA (stabilized)

KAK 6.25″

Barnes 110: 2.29″ & .99″–4.3 & 1.89 MOA

Federal 120: 1.6| & 1.98″– 3 & 3.78 MOA

Ammo Inc JJ 150: .91″ & 2.1″–1.73 & 4 MOA

Discreet Ballistics 190: 1.92″ & 2.39″– 3.66 & 4.56 MOA (stabilized)

Ammo Inc /Stelth/ 220: 1.79″ & 3.4″–3.41 & 6.5 MOA (stabilized)

Remington 220: 1.11″–2.11 MOA (stabilized)

Fiocchi 220: 1.03″ & 2.22″–1.96 & 4.23 MOA (stabilized)

KAK 6.25″ subsonics

KAK 4.75″ supersonics

KAK 4.75″ subsonics

KAK 6.25″ supersonics

Conclusion:

There’s the raw data so far, take it as you may. A couple observations: The KAK 4.75″ barrel is right on the edge of usable length. The lighter supersonic rounds had an immense concussive effect and blew the charging handle back with each round. A linear compensator/blast can is a necessity. The lighter subsonic round by Discreet Ballistics stabilized just fine and looks to be a good fit with this tiny barrel. For those saying such a barrel is essentially a pistol caliber carbine, the 90gr bullet was moving at ~1961 FPS, for 769 foot-pounds of energy.

The KAK 6.25″ barrel is a healthy step away from the edge, showing marked performance increases in velocity (naturally), accuracy (three groups in the 1-2 MOA range) and stabilization of subsonic rounds. Supersonic rounds didn’t blow the charging handle back with each shot, nor was the concussive effect nearly as profound.

A few groups were wildly inaccurate, so I’ll be going over each upper to check assembly again. Even a cheap barrel shouldn’t ever drop a 14 MOA group, so I’ll see if there’s anything mechanically incorrect.

I’ll keep working on this project as new barrels arrive (still waiting on Vertias/SLR upper and Modern Outfitters MC6-SD) and as opportunity permits more testing. Next time I’ll be strapping on a much higher magnification optic, and as I’ll be shooting each barrels preffered ammo, groups should decrease on the whole. Thanks for reading!

A special thanks to Discreet Ballistics, Ammo Inc, Fiocchi, and Federal for sending out ammo! A similar thanks to V7, Right to Bear and KAK for sending barrels, gas blocks and rails. Without their assistance, I couldn’t get an article like this off the ground.

-Rex Nanorum

@Rexnanorum

YouTube Channel

Why I still choose the home defense shotgun

Working with the Loadout Room has given me access to tons of gun and gear I’d never thought I’d get the opportunity to access. From the big to the small I’ve gotten hands on with every category of rifles, handgun, and of course the shotgun. Throughout my experiences I keep coming back to the shotgun. In the age of the semi automatic carbine, the suppressed 300 Blackout upper, and even the brace equipped AR pistol I come back to the Home Defense Shotgun.

Why the Shotgun Sucks

It’s easy to sell people on the AR 15 and other carbines for home defense. They do offer the shooter 30 rounds, light recoil, and tons of accessories and customization options. Without a doubt the carbine is the perfect choice for some people.

Let’s face the shotgun is not a fair weapon. It doesn’t care how big you are or how recoil affects you. They typically offers 8 rounds or less of ammunition, and it doesn’t offer Barbie doll amounts of customization. The home defense shotgun certainly has its issues, but when push come to shove for close quarters fighting it’s hard to beat.

Why the Home Defense Shotgun Rules?

Power. Simply put per trigger pull the 12 gauge shotgun is the hardest hitting most powerful weapon in the home defense arsenal. With a proper buckshot load the 12 gauge shotgun is devastating weapon.

There is three main ways a bullet stops an attacker.

The first and least reliable is pain. Inflict enough pain onto an attacker and they stop attacking. With a gun this generally isn’t your aim, but it works. The home defense shotgun will certainly inflict plenty of pain.

The second way a gun stops an attacker is through blood loss. Again it’s not the best way to stop an attacker, but it works. The shotgun’s use of multiple projectiles creates one massive wound, or a dozen smaller wounds. With properly placed shots the shotgun can cause massive damage to the body.

The final and most effective way to stop an attacker is through proper shot placement. Proper shot placement means hitting a vital body part and causing things like organ failure. This is where the shotgun excels. The use of shot drastically increases your chances of hitting something vital in the body. With a number 1 load you are launching 16 pellets worth of effective firepower.

Being Realistic

Don’t get it wrong a shotgun isn’t creating a wall of lead when fired. The modern shot pattern doesn’t expand a crazy amount at close quarters. However, when it hits the body it continues to spread and open up. The vital zone in the human torso really isn’t that large. The lungs and heart are generally located in one central area. A rifle or handgun round placed in this small area can completely miss these vital areas, or deflect off bones, or a dozen other situations that doesn’t immediately stop an attacker.

With a shotgun and proper ammo you are putting anywhere from 9 to 16 pellets in that area. Some may miss, some may deflect off bone, but what are the chances all of them are going to miss these vital areas? I’d say its slim. More than likely you are going to score multiple vital hits with one shotgun blast to the torso.

When the Lights Go Out

Another consideration is low light scenarios. It’s great to talk and train for situations where we have great visibility on our targets. In a home defense scenario I may not have that kind of visibility. I may only see the glimpses of my opponent between muzzle flashes. In that case, I may not get that great sight picture before I apply some pressure to the trigger.

With a handgun or rifle let’s say I aim for a vital area. I hit the target, but I’m three inches off my point of aim. Have I still hit a vital area?

With a shotgun I can still completely miss a vital area, but I’m putting I’m still putting a lot of lead on target. In low light situations I have a speed and accuracy advantage with a shotgun that I wouldn’t normally have with a rifle or handgun. This is really where the shotgun shines. In low light situations that requires quick and instinctive shooting the rifle and handgun don’t hold a candle to the home defense shotgun.

My own home defense plan is simple. I hear a bump in the night, I grab a shotgun, step into the hallway point the shotgun at the end of the hallway. That hallway includes the rooms to my loved ones.

Anyone comes in my hallway they either flee or meet Mr. Mossberg. I’m covering a very small area with a very big bore. It’s perfect for the instinctive shooting the shotgun excels at.

The Home Defense Shotgun Setup

A shotgun is not a rifle, and don’t treat it as such. Leave the slugs for property defense, not home defense. I also stay away from over accessorizing my shotgun. I like a red dot, and maybe a flashlight. Even then those aren’t needed, at least not in my home. It’s never 100% dark, but a good light is my closest to a must have.

Mastering the shotgun is less about accessorizing and fancy techniques. It’s all about brilliance in the basics. Learn how to reload, learn how to fix short strokes, learn how to clear jams and learn to control recoil. It’s not a weapon I’m going to be in a super long firefight with it. It’s for quick, and decisive firefights at close range. If I was going back to Afghanistan I’d take a rifle (or preferably an M240) but for the house? I’ll keep the boomstick on hand.

Ultra-short 300 Blackout barrels | Round-up Part 3

In the third part of this ongoing series detailing as many commercially available ultra-short (sub-7″).300 Blackout barrels as possible, I’m only adding one more barrel to the lineup, a 5″ slinger from Veritas Tactical, assembled into an impressive upper in conjunction with SLR Rifleworks, utilizing their 4.25″ Helix forend. I was also able to acquire one more ammunition type, Federal’s American Eagle line of 220 gr. subsonic rounds. This round received chronograph treatment from most barrels, and accuracy testing from the Veritas Tactical/SLR upper. Further data will show up in the final article. Be sure to jump back and check out Part 1 and Part 2 of this series.

Much like I’ve mentioned in the previous two articles, the accuracy and chrono data is preliminary and not totally exhaustive. The barrel’s aren’t broken in before accuracy testing (just the rounds used for chrono data). The final article will likely show improved accuracy for all barrels after a break-in period and a good cleaning. I’d like to shoot more groups for accuracy and more strings of fire for chrono data, I simply don’t have hundreds of rounds for each barrel.

Here’s the tech specs for today’s shooter.

Veritas Tactical 5″ barrel:

Stainless Steel 416R
1:8 Twist
5R Rifling
Patent-pending “Micro Gas-Tube”
.936″ gas block journal
M4 feed ramps
5/8×24 threaded muzzle
14.2 ounces (barrel alone)
Price: $189.99 (barrel alone)

The Veritas Tactical upper was put with the same SBR lower I’ve used for all other barrels in this project, with the same Geissele SSP trigger used as well. I did make a change in the optics department, swapping out the Trijicon ACOG for a Leupold VX-3i LRP 4.5-14x. All firing was done from the Stinger shooting rest, as per my SOP for this series.

First let’s look at the chrono data for the American Eagle line of subsonic rounds, as run through all five uppers.

American Eagle 220 gr.

V7 6.5″ – 844 FPS average, Standard Deviation (SD) 41.8
R2B 6″ -848 FPS average, SD 26.8
KAK 4.75″ – 760 FPS, SD 36.2
KAK 6.25″ – 813 FPS, SD 6.1
Veritas 5″ – 783 FPS, SD 21

The rest of the chrono data for the day was all done with the new barrel from Veritas.

Ammo Inc’s Jesse James 110gr: 1696.8 FPS, SD of 52.9

Federal All-Copper 120gr: 1622.6 FPS, SD of 10.2

Ammo Inc’s /Stelth/ 220gr: 831 FPS, SD of 18.1

Remington “White box” 220gr: 834.4 FPS, SD of 25.5

Fiocchi 220gr: 790.8 FPS, SD of 17.9.

The Fiocchi round was the only one that failed to lock back the bolt carrier on the last round when firing unsuppressed. This didn’t repeat later during accuracy testing, so an extremely dirty bolt could have exacerbated low gas pressure.

I ran 5 types of ammo through the Veritas/SLR combo. Below are group sizes in inches (@ 50 yards) and MOA for the average. Notable groups (good and bad) in bold.

Veritas Tactical:

Jesse James 110gr: 1.61″ & 2.5″, 3.92 MOA average

Federal 120gr: 1.7″ & 1.7″, 3.25 MOA average

Ammo Inc /Stelth/ 220gr: 1.8″ & 4.7″, 6.2 MOA average (some bullet yaw)

Discreet Ballistics 190gr: .92″ & 2.2″, 2.97 MOA average (did not cycle unsuppressed)

Fiocchi 220 gr: 3.1″ & 2.95″, 5.77 MOA average.

Some similarities are to be noted between this barrel and others tested in this series. The Federal 120 gr. copper round is still the most consistent, group-to-group and between various barrel lengths, with exception to one zany group out of KAK’s 4.75″ barrel. Subsonics have shown (understandable) tendency to lose a little stability when fired from barrels 5″ and under. The 190 gr. round from Discreet Ballistics continues to impress, both in volume (quietest, unscientifically) and in recoil, where it is by far the lightest.

Veritas Tactical makes a very nice barrel/gas system. The same goes to SLR Rifleworks, who’s handguard is both light and strong. Price wise, the barrel comes in the middle of the pack, above Right 2 Bear and below V Seven Weapon Systems. Performance thus far has been on par with the rest of the pack, which is a good thing. As with the other barrels, I’m expecting improved performance after the round count racks up. I’m off to find some ammo!

-Rex Nanorum

@rexnanorum

Remington

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Now Its Your Turn

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My Shotgun Loadout Pouches

Running the Shotgun Loadout

The Setup

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Inside the TAC 14 Hardwood.

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