I wont deny, I was smitten with this gun after seeing it in the store for the first time and dug up this article on it…
http://www.mossbergowners.com/viewtopic.php?f=91&t=659
While I can clearly see the advantages of some of the more common pump action shotguns for home defense, an O/U style shotgun does have some unique advantages as well.
1st… familiarity. Anyone who commonly shoots O/U style shotguns in other capacities such as hunting/skeet may well be better served with a self defense weapon they can effortlessly pick up and put into service.
2nd…a well trained individual (think cowboy action shooter) can probably get 8 shots off with this style of gun more quickly than any pump action could cycle all those shots. Believe me i have seen it in action. Now i am not claiming that everyone is capable of doing so and particularly under stress, but i do believe the whole slower reloading thing is a bit over stated. Any sane person in a gun fight will be cycling their pump from cover/concealment anyhow. This means your very unlikely to be walking through gunfire, cycling and blasting away as fast as you can like in the movies. In a real life situation, a quick reload in a break action rifle while behind cover/concealment is probably equally quick.
3rd…on a small number of targets…(1-2 threats) a double barrel gun will always outperform a pump action. It allows faster acquisition and follow up shots on the second target due to not having to break your site picture to cycle the next round in. In the vast majority of home invasions i have read about in the NRA’s many publications, few involve multiple intruders, and even fewer require more than 1-2 shots to neutralize the threat…either them fleeing by fear of further force…or them falling by well placed force to begin with. This is hardly a scientific sample, but valid to a point. I feel that if i were to actual need 8+ shotgun blasts within my home (at ranges of less than 30ft) to neutralize a threat, i am afraid i have bigger problems than my pitiful self defense tools will likely save me from.
I wont deny some of the bigger problems with this particular model of gun however. The biggest of which is the lack of true "ejectors" that actual completely remove spent casings from the breech when you break it. While one can become fairly proficient with "extractors", its gonna add time to reloads for no matter what when you have to pull the casings out by hand. Great for re-loaders…not so much for Self Defense.
The next major flaw is the pricing point. While its very reasonable for an O/U style gun, it currently is priced at nearly double the bargain pump actions (mav. 88), and about a third more expensive than even mid grade ones(moss. 500 / rem. 870). The thought of them adding ejectors and optional screw in choke system makes this even more skewed as i am sure these features will only significantly increase the pricing point, currently set at about 5 at the time of this post without them.
Despite these flaws, i am as i said before, utterly smitten by its sexy curves and sleek non non-sense design. I know some think it hideous and a complete bass-ackwards approch to gun design, but I see myself purchasing one in the near future and possibly upgrading to a newer model with ejectors should one become available in the future.
What do the rest of you think?
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