Combat Shotguns: Dying?

[ATN082268]

Not at across the room distances. At across the backyard distances maybe yes.

How many single rounds are necessary to stop three, four .. five home invaders? At least "that many". How many females of average stature, or elderly people, can effectively shoot a 12 gauge faster and for the desired effect across a large room, down a hallway or staircase than an AR?

I have used Federal low recoil 00 Buckshot with flitecontrol and can generally score all 9 pellets on the 8 ring or better at 25 yards with my 12 Gauge Mossberg 590A1 shotgun. I don't advocate the shotgun is necessarily the best home defense weapon for a particular person and their situation. I do think, round for round, that the shotgun can be hard to beat for close range situations.

 

[RPZ]

No argument there at all. However I think the reason for the decline of popularity of the combat shotgun is probably due in part to the reasons I have cited.

Just an observation; I do not see many combat shotguns being used as entry weapons on either the military nor the civilian side. Some yes, but the predominant weapon is the AR.

 

[Mr. T]

How about this one?

 

[262madmike]

Its been my experience that Shotguns have there place and are valuable weapons.However it takes a certain person to deploy a Shotgun.Most L.E.Officers chose not to be qualified with the Shotgun.I believe that people that are interested in different weapons systems will qualify with a Shotgun.

 

[bannockburn]

I think I have my home defense shotgun bases nicely covered with both a Maverick 88 12 gauge and a Winchester Model 1300 20 gauge.

 

[Berger.Fan222]

There are a lot of shotguns out there, with bird barrels, slug barrels, and with shorter (combat) barrels.

When the time comes, they'll find their role.

Just because sales currently show another gun is more popular, does not mean the ones in circulation are dying or dead. Been to a 3 gun match lately?

 

[Phaedrus/69]

Certainly the shotgun isn't "sexy" in the way that an AR is sexy. One side effect of America's "Forever Wars" is that a lot of guys over the last decade+ have been trained on the M4 and probably carry the preference for the platform over into their civilian lives. Changing demographics mean that less people hunt vs 30 years ago, and as the population shifts from rural to urban there aren't as many folks growing up with that 870 or 500 leaning in the corner. People that don't have a lot of firearms experience will likely go with the new (ie what they're seeing now or what they learned in the military).

The AR is a mature platform now, too. Lots of "barbie" guns and there are a ton of companies making ARs and AR stuff. For better or worse it would have been hard to set up a black rifle twenty years ago with all the stuff we do now.

 

[justice06rr]

Weapon platforms in my opinion cycle through like fashion does. What is hot today won't be trendy tomorrow. It helps companies move products. I think ARs on the decline and pistol caliber rifles are on the increase. Likely shotguns to follow.

I don't believe AR's are on the decline. It will be stead as far as wide-spread use. The prices are declining, which is great for everyone. The over-saturation may be causing a false sense of decline. But everywhere you go, people are using AR's in the civilian and LE/Military world.

As far as the original questions, it is possible that shotguns are less used by majority since the AR and other long guns (PCC's, etc) are becoming more popular. Although shotguns will not go away for SD/HD use and is still widely used for hunting and recreation.

Every household should have a shotgun (if possible).

 

[FAS1]

I just checked on it. My combat shotgun (Beretta 1201FP) is loaded, and doing well. Looks great for being about 25 years old too!

 

[Panzerschwein]

I just checked on it. My combat shotgun (Beretta 1201FP) is loaded, and doing well. Looks great for being about 25 years old too!

View attachment 348518

I like it!