Understanding the Gauge

I find it very odd that so many shooters have such profound misunderstanding of the shotgun. I am constantly encountering experienced shooters who still thing that the shotgun remains a 25 yard device and is only good for shooting ducks. These are shooters who should know better. Some of these shooters who don’t understand the shotgun tack the tac that they are against the shotgun and even get insulting of those that elect to use them. They continue to pass on poor stereotypes of the shotgun:
1. Shotguns have brutal recoil.
2. Shotguns are for short ranges only.
3. You don’t have to aim a shotgun.
4. Just the sound of a pump action shotgun being cycled will send goblins running away in panic, soiling themselves along the way.
Unfortunately, none of these are true.
1. My 12 year old has no problem handling any of my shotguns, each one a 12 gauge. If my young kid is tougher than you are… Drop and give me fifty!
2. This is one of the shotgun’s advantages… You can go from zero to two hundred yards with one weapon. Most defensive shootings are within 21 feet. If you have a defensive shooting that extends past that, the further away, the more difficult the time will be for you to justify your use of lethal force. For military guys, sure everything can be a nail and your hammer is a battle rifle so you are fine… But for civilians, going out for three yard shots isn’t really a good idea. So range doesn’t matter much for shotgun justification.
3. At normal defensive distances, inside twenty-one feet, the spread of a typical shogun load from a typical defensive shotgun is shockingly tight. I daresay the pattern will be tighter than what you boast you can can do with your carry pistol. The groups are typically just a couple of inches at those ranges. This makes it easy to fire a dramatic miss. You still have to aim. Part of this aiming is knowing what your shotgun and load is doing at every range interval. Once you gain an understanding of just what your gun is doing… How it patterns… Then it helps you apply all that delicious violence that your shotgun can deliver.
4. Racking the slide does make a good sound. We all love that sound. But for a defensive situation your sound might not scare anyone away, and you might have just gave away your position or warned your adversary that you are getting ready to fire. You might not have time. Get your shotgun ready before the bad guy is close enough to hear it.

Tango Uniform Truck.

Many of you know my old Chevy truck. It’s a 2500 Scotsdale four by four, with an extended cab. It’s been all over with multiple trips to Vegas and has carted around four of those who contribute to Concealed Carry Magazine. It’s been a great truck and I am very fond of it. My wife is even more taken with it. She enjoys the strong engine and capacity to haul pretty much anything.
Unfortunately the old War Wagon is on it’s last legs and othe thing could go Tang Uniform at any time now. It’s now leaking oil from multiple locations, smoking, overheating, and running like total crap now. I’m not sure what the problem is… But it’s more than what I want to deal with right now.
I have the chance to buy a Toyota Forerunner… If my check from the publisher is what I hope it is. Then my Bride can have her baby blue Explorer back and I’ll have a rig to drive through winter. Driving the Chevy back and forth to work every day isn’t going to happen. Especially since it doesn’t have a heater anymore. I think if I get this Toyota, I’m going to do something with it…
Check certain engine parts, check mileage per gallon, try to measure just how good the rig is running. Then do a full Slipstream treatment on it. A long term test. See if Slipstream has solid benefits like what we think it has. The Chevy is just too beaten down to be a good test mule.