Pistol grip shotguns... pointless or practical?
- Thread starter Extremely Pro Gun
- Start date
- Status
POINTLESS, PRACTICAL AND PAINFUL ALL IN ONE.
Good for bear defense as they are easier to carry in thick woods and if you need it your wrist isn't going to break off or anything. But, yes, they hurt the crap out of your wrist and are harder to aim. They are much less functional than a pistol grip top folder. Except for the added weight, I suppose.
I put mine on my 500 for a day and it hasn't been on since.
Good for bear defense as they are easier to carry in thick woods and if you need it your wrist isn't going to break off or anything. But, yes, they hurt the crap out of your wrist and are harder to aim. They are much less functional than a pistol grip top folder. Except for the added weight, I suppose.
I put mine on my 500 for a day and it hasn't been on since.
Youngster
Member
I never found shooting PGOS painful, even shooting one handed with buckshot. However I wouldn't want to put a lot a lot of rounds downrange with one, not over the long term, that'd be like begging for carpal tunnel or some other kind of hand or joint problems.
Justin
Moderator Emeritus
Nearly worthless as a defensive weapon, and completely impractical.
Sam1911
Moderator Emeritus
My Mossberg 500A came with one years ago. We shot it a lot that way back in college for the giggle factor. Rarely shot it "from the hip" (really, from a locked down hold at the side of your pectoral muscle...not the hip), but favored a real sight picture for wingshooting.
We could hit some clays with it, but it was difficult and not a sure thing by any means.
Shot a lot of buck and slugs through it. Some with a pistol-type hold. Some one-handed. Attention getting, but not painful. Also, "tactically" useless.
When I stopped using it as a pure toy, I put a full, traditional buttstock on it and that's how it remains. In the games I play with it now, I like to hit things, and to do so as quickly as possible. Gonna want a full buttstock for that.
-Sam
We could hit some clays with it, but it was difficult and not a sure thing by any means.
Shot a lot of buck and slugs through it. Some with a pistol-type hold. Some one-handed. Attention getting, but not painful. Also, "tactically" useless.
When I stopped using it as a pure toy, I put a full, traditional buttstock on it and that's how it remains. In the games I play with it now, I like to hit things, and to do so as quickly as possible. Gonna want a full buttstock for that.
-Sam
THE DARK KNIGHT
Member
LOL, hate to break it to you buddy, but there's no shotguns in those trucks that I know of. In fact, most companies even weld up the gun ports so you cannot even fire out of the truck. Corporate just doesn't want the liability.
Guns and more
member
- Joined
- May 6, 2008
- Messages
- 1,929
There are two types of threads I swore I'd never read again. Safes and P/G shotguns. And here I am. The voice in the wilderness.
As a member of the loyal minority let me say I own one. A Mossberg 500 cruiser. I got it for home defense and nothing else. I exchanged the stock grip for the Knoxx "Breacher's grip" and it is fun to shoot from the hip. I could shoot it all day. It's not for clays or birds or skeet or hunting. It's just easy to swing around in a close space and potentially do great damage to anyone in a room.
I've heard all the arguments (mostly those who have never owned one) and I still like mine.
As a member of the loyal minority let me say I own one. A Mossberg 500 cruiser. I got it for home defense and nothing else. I exchanged the stock grip for the Knoxx "Breacher's grip" and it is fun to shoot from the hip. I could shoot it all day. It's not for clays or birds or skeet or hunting. It's just easy to swing around in a close space and potentially do great damage to anyone in a room.
I've heard all the arguments (mostly those who have never owned one) and I still like mine.
Gryffydd
Member
Everyone who's serious about shotgunning thinks PGOs are useless. I'm not much into shotguns, but I can't see why I'd ever want one.
But what about pistol-gripped full stocks?
Such as:
I have a speedfeed stock like this one on my 870 and I rather like it. I'd like to hear some opinions on these vs. a standard stock.
...not trying to hijack, just thought this might be an interesting compromise.
But what about pistol-gripped full stocks?
Such as:
I have a speedfeed stock like this one on my 870 and I rather like it. I'd like to hear some opinions on these vs. a standard stock.
...not trying to hijack, just thought this might be an interesting compromise.
Youngster
Member
No problems either way for me, I think the traditional stock points and handles more naturally and is a bit more compact and "cleaner" in profile but the pistol grip is IMO faster to properly shoulder in a hurry and lets you haul the gun back into your shoulder with quite a bit less effort. I'm not crazy about the comparative top heaviness though.
HardShell
Member
Not useless/pointless/etc. IMHO... but almost so. Danged close, in fact.
Leaving breaching out of the equation (agree 100% with prior comments re: the silliness of this outside LEO/MIL applications), a PGO shotgun has a very narrow applictaion in HD scenarios where (1) the shooting will be at minimal distances, (2) the weapon will be fired from a small, confined space, and (3) a folding stock, even if available, would not be deployed.
My own wife's defensive position/role if the alarm should go off in the night used to be (before we had children) to grab her shotgun and retreat to the master bath's tub with her cell phone to call 911 while I defended the bedroom/hallway point of ingress from behind cover. Her sole duty, once the call was made, was to remain in the tub and destroy anything that tried to come through the bathroom door that wasn't me. Inside the tub enclosure, the PGO shotgun made sense for her, and she practiced with it enough that I felt comfortable in her ability to defend the doorway at that distance with her shotgun.
The argument could be made that you give up nothing by using a side- or top-folding stock with a PG and then it is there if you can deploy/use it, and it is a sound argument... except that we discovered very quickly that the mostly-horizontal "witness protection" style PG for a shotgun is far superior to the routine vertical PG found on most PGO shotguns and all folding-stock shotguns.
Here is her pet 870 back then, in case you aren't familiar with the grip I am referring to...
It aims quicker and better than a vertical PG IMHO, and the recoil is far less jarring to your wrist and much easier to control. If you've never tried one and wish to keep a PGO shotgun around, I highly suggest you try one (I believe SpeedFeeed still makes them).
Anyway, we eventually had children and her role/duties in an HD scenario have changed. Now she corrals the kids into the tub and defends the bathroom door from a position beside, but outside of, the tub enclosure -- so now she doesn't have the confinement excuse and I finally talked her into using a stocked shotgun instead. This is what she practices with/keeps for HD now...
IMHO, this 870 is far superior to her PGO one for a wider variety of uses and fits her current HD role very well.
So, very limited applications with severe utility limitations? Absolutely.
Useless/pointless? Not quite.
YMMV, as always.
Leaving breaching out of the equation (agree 100% with prior comments re: the silliness of this outside LEO/MIL applications), a PGO shotgun has a very narrow applictaion in HD scenarios where (1) the shooting will be at minimal distances, (2) the weapon will be fired from a small, confined space, and (3) a folding stock, even if available, would not be deployed.
My own wife's defensive position/role if the alarm should go off in the night used to be (before we had children) to grab her shotgun and retreat to the master bath's tub with her cell phone to call 911 while I defended the bedroom/hallway point of ingress from behind cover. Her sole duty, once the call was made, was to remain in the tub and destroy anything that tried to come through the bathroom door that wasn't me. Inside the tub enclosure, the PGO shotgun made sense for her, and she practiced with it enough that I felt comfortable in her ability to defend the doorway at that distance with her shotgun.
The argument could be made that you give up nothing by using a side- or top-folding stock with a PG and then it is there if you can deploy/use it, and it is a sound argument... except that we discovered very quickly that the mostly-horizontal "witness protection" style PG for a shotgun is far superior to the routine vertical PG found on most PGO shotguns and all folding-stock shotguns.
Here is her pet 870 back then, in case you aren't familiar with the grip I am referring to...
It aims quicker and better than a vertical PG IMHO, and the recoil is far less jarring to your wrist and much easier to control. If you've never tried one and wish to keep a PGO shotgun around, I highly suggest you try one (I believe SpeedFeeed still makes them).
Anyway, we eventually had children and her role/duties in an HD scenario have changed. Now she corrals the kids into the tub and defends the bathroom door from a position beside, but outside of, the tub enclosure -- so now she doesn't have the confinement excuse and I finally talked her into using a stocked shotgun instead. This is what she practices with/keeps for HD now...
IMHO, this 870 is far superior to her PGO one for a wider variety of uses and fits her current HD role very well.
So, very limited applications with severe utility limitations? Absolutely.
Useless/pointless? Not quite.
YMMV, as always.
Last edited:
gotgcoalman
Member
is it a golf club?
I had a Witness Protection 870 with a 12 1/2" barrel, classified as an any other weapon on a $5 stamp. Very handy for getting in close for under cover drug busts but tiresome during training. A very big and impressive surprise when the WP was produced from beneath a coat.
All I know about the PG's is that my brother has one on his 20ga 870 and said its "cool" but uncomfortable to finish a box... My 18.5" 12ga 870 with full orig stock will shoot mags all day, and I'm not the worse-for-wear... I have thought about getting the PG'd full stock, but cant justify the purchase when my wood furniture is still mint...
Justin
Moderator Emeritus
They're alright, but I'm not a fan. They have a tendency to direct a significant amount of felt recoil into the web between your thumb and index finger. Generally, it's not something that's going to be noticeable unless you're firing a lot of rounds, though.
Youngster
Member
Not if you're pulling rearwards on them they don't.
But anyway I forgot to mention above that traditional type stocks with a more vertically oriented handgrip section {like the Hogue stocks or as on some of the newer guns like the Vinci} are a good compromise.
shiftyer1
Member
I have one, I bought it cheap and it's my truck gun. I'm lookin for a standard butt stock for it though.
content
Member
Hello friends and neighbors // It has it's uses.
I had the Mossberg combo 12 ga. 18 1/2" with Pg and 28" with shoulder.
Shoulder stock/ longbarrel was worthless to me as a skeet gun.
Shoulder stock / short barrel great HD.
PG with 18 1/2" barrel was great travel gun. I put it into a gym bag when walking to house or hotel. When driving my truck, it was no problem to have it on seat beside me in N.C.
I would mostly consider PG shotgun a close range weapon (room defense). 18 1/2 was a full choke, and we did shoot milk jugs from hip out to 25 feet with #4. We also tried it one handed. Not fun but if you had to you could.
I had the Mossberg combo 12 ga. 18 1/2" with Pg and 28" with shoulder.
Shoulder stock/ longbarrel was worthless to me as a skeet gun.
Shoulder stock / short barrel great HD.
PG with 18 1/2" barrel was great travel gun. I put it into a gym bag when walking to house or hotel. When driving my truck, it was no problem to have it on seat beside me in N.C.
I would mostly consider PG shotgun a close range weapon (room defense). 18 1/2 was a full choke, and we did shoot milk jugs from hip out to 25 feet with #4. We also tried it one handed. Not fun but if you had to you could.
MCgunner
Member
Useless and unshootable. Might could hit something with it in low light with a laser, but I am a point shooter and to do that, I need a standard shotgun that fits properly. For portability, I have many handguns to choose from. That's what handguns are for and pistol grips are for pistols. Heck, I have two handguns in my two front pockets right now. Beat THAT with a shotgun! 
Every tool has its use.
Every tool has its use.
Lock your right wrist tight under your right pec muscle and shoot it at a 45 degree angle to your left. Absorb the recoil in a twisting motion with your upper body. It's the proper way to shoot a pistol grip shotgun and it's not hard to master.
rich
rich
amd6547
Member
This is one thread that could be pre-empted by the use of the search function. This was all hashed out not long ago. Some here view PG shotguns and their users with contempt and disrespect. Others here know that they are very useful, and usable, within a narrow range of circumstances. I am in the latter group.
+1 on the SpeedFeed chickenhead grip. It is far more practical than the standard PG.
+1 on the SpeedFeed chickenhead grip. It is far more practical than the standard PG.
Justin
Moderator Emeritus
Amd, I'm fairly certain the challenges issued in the previous threads still stand. If PGO shotguns can be shown to have utility above and beyond a properly-stocked shotgun for the vast majority of home-defense situations in which they will likely be employed, then the facts would plainly speak for themselves.
snooperman
Member
- Joined
- May 4, 2009
- Messages
- 2,143
The real purpose for a Shotgun for Home defense
The real purpose for a shotgun for home defense is that it is very decisive with the first shot fired. The probability of missing with the pistol grip stock is much greater than with the shoulder stock , hence nullifying the real purpose of the HD shotgun. Gabrial Suarez, a noted trainer , in his book does not recommend pistol grips for home defense either. The shoulder stock will give the user a faster follow up shot as well. This has been proven by many trainers at ranges according to Suarez and Louis Auerback, both noted for their work in training law enforcement people.
The real purpose for a shotgun for home defense is that it is very decisive with the first shot fired. The probability of missing with the pistol grip stock is much greater than with the shoulder stock , hence nullifying the real purpose of the HD shotgun. Gabrial Suarez, a noted trainer , in his book does not recommend pistol grips for home defense either. The shoulder stock will give the user a faster follow up shot as well. This has been proven by many trainers at ranges according to Suarez and Louis Auerback, both noted for their work in training law enforcement people.
Justin
Moderator Emeritus
I'd be hard pressed to think of a serious authority on defensive shotgun work who would advocate their use.
I'm sure that a PGO shotgun has some purpose.
I currently own seven shotguns, each of which I use for one thing or another, or more. I have my eye on more, each of which also would serve a purpose. None of them are wallhangers or safe queens, and I sold a couple that I did use but just didn't like that much.
And I haven't even thought about getting a PGO shotgun.
But they must have some purpose. Whatever that is.
It would seem to me that the recoil would render them nearly worthless, though. I wouldn't choose a .44 for self-defense against human attackers, either, much as I like the things, and I can actually make followup shots with a Mountain Gun and full-house loads...
I currently own seven shotguns, each of which I use for one thing or another, or more. I have my eye on more, each of which also would serve a purpose. None of them are wallhangers or safe queens, and I sold a couple that I did use but just didn't like that much.
And I haven't even thought about getting a PGO shotgun.
But they must have some purpose. Whatever that is.
It would seem to me that the recoil would render them nearly worthless, though. I wouldn't choose a .44 for self-defense against human attackers, either, much as I like the things, and I can actually make followup shots with a Mountain Gun and full-house loads...
amd6547
Member
I don't find the recoil overwhelming (using full power 00 buck), nor do I have a problem making fast, accurate follow up shots at close range.
"Most likely you'll go your way, I'll go mine..."
-Bob Dylan
"Most likely you'll go your way, I'll go mine..."
-Bob Dylan
- Status
