Tube fed gun for open

[DaveM]

Hello Everyone. I’m a longtime pistol shooter but new to 3 gun. I prefer to shoot an optic on my pistol so I need an open shotgun. I have an benelli M2 and a burris fast fire speed bead setup. Can this be competitive if I add a speedloader setup or do you really need a magazine fed shotgun now days?

[ecn515]

Get a long tube, like 15rds in the gun to start, and learn how to quad load. If you are proficient with that set up it will take you a long way. The speed loading sticks really aren't any faster than quads if you are good. I've shot a lot of head to head matches against guys with speed sticks and just loading my TO gun by hand and frustrated many of them. 

 

Most stages these days you won't see shotgun round counts above 15, and if you do it's not by much. A quad or two maybe. At major matches obviously the box fed guys will have an advantage over you on stages that are 40+ rds, but that's a very small portion of all the shooting you'll see. 

 

Additionally a lot of box fed guns have PROBLEMS. If your m2 runs, that's already an advantage in open. 

 

If/when I move to open I will continue to shoot my 1301 and just load it all the way up and put a dot on it until that become a limiting factor. 

[CharlieD]

I guess it really depends on how competitive you want to be.  I shoot open with a benelli m2, so here are my thoughts.  
You already own the m2, just start with that.  Skip the speed loaders and learn how to quad load.

If you have no interest in quad loading, then buy a box fed shotgun.

 

[Pcew73]

the only downside I see to using the Benelli vs a box fed gun is at a match that has high round count shotgun stages that exceed your mag capacity.  If you are just going to be shooting local matches you would be just fine using the Benelli.  If you look at major match results you will also see many tac-ops guys who quad load beating alot of the mag fed shotgun guys too.  Use what you have a get proficient at quad loading.    

[BoyGlock]

I have a 1301comp and Derya mk12 aka ria vr80 box fed sgs. Although boxfeds are an advantage in reloadings, for me its quite heavy vs tubefed 1301c. I shoot Open in ipsc and occassional 3GN in my side of the pond. Both dont have much round counts in long cofs and Can be easily handled by both guns. If both are reliable and I had time to train w/ speedloaders or quadloads in my 1301c I would favor it over the vr80 mainly due to its light weight and hence easier gunhandling in lots of movement stages. Besides in ipsc the max box mag cap is 10, while in tube max gun L is 1320mm w/c usually load 13-15 rnds depending on ready conditions and ammo to be used. 
its just me. Not a big guy and 60yo. 

[Matt in TN]

Meh - I shoot open with an 870.  You'll be fine!

[poortrader]

I shot open w/ my TTI M2 before getting a box fed SG.  I can ghost load the M2 so I had 17 rounds to start.  My big magazine hold 23 rounds.  The Benelli gets front heavy with 17 rounds but the Benelli has an advantage when changing to slugs.  

[71Commander]

Quad loading is fine for some but not all. Arthritis in my hands forces me to a box feed Vepr.

[Bw3375]

On 4/28/2021 at 5:38 PM, poortrader said:

I shot open w/ my TTI M2 before getting a box fed SG.  I can ghost load the M2 so I had 17 rounds to start.  My big magazine hold 23 rounds.  The Benelli gets front heavy with 17 rounds but the Benelli has an advantage when changing to slugs.  

Can you explain how to ghost load an M2 please sir? 

 

I'm also running a TTI M2 and strongly considering going open. Do most people rubbing a tube shotgun in open mount a dot?  If so, what's the preferred mounting way for a dot on an M2?

 

Thanks!

[ecn515]

I have run my m2 in open for a little while and have seen a few others doing it as well. I have had pretty good success with it, despite the fact that I only have a 12rd tube on it. Having a gun that runs reliably in open already puts you ahead of a lot of the competition. I have used a Vortex Crossfire Dot on my gun, I have a Roth Performance Receiver so it is a direct mount. It really doesn't help much when shooting birdshot, the big advantage is when shooting slugs. 

Despite all that if I were to shoot open at a major match with that set up I would get destroyed by good open shooters who have DA guns or other high performance reliable open guns on stages with high shotgun round count like jungle runs. On normal stages, or at smaller matches it really isn't a disadvantage. 

[poortrader]

On 11/23/2021 at 9:55 AM, Bw3375 said:

Can you explain how to ghost load an M2 please sir? 

 

I'm also running a TTI M2 and strongly considering going open. Do most people rubbing a tube shotgun in open mount a dot?  If so, what's the preferred mounting way for a dot on an M2?

 

Thanks!

Load up tube at preload table.  At make ready. pull bolt back, drop one in chamber and put one on lifter.  Press down the one on lifter to make sure the bolt closes.   

 

 

[donno]

Buy a box fed gun and go have a great time. Quad loading is great but defeats the purpose of competing in open. 

[villageidiot]

I decided to look for a new scatter gun after running a 930 and homemade caddies for several years. Both work, but I could never get the quad loading quite right. 

 

Two factors drove me to a box feed gun:

 

The cost of an M2 + mods + good caddies for 24 rounds is quite a bit more than a VR80 (especially with the current 4 mag promotion). 

 

Using an optic means I can actually zero my slugs. No more horizontal offsets on far targets.

[ard212]

I mean, capacity aside, what's your plan for an "unloaded" start ? If the match has at least one of those I don't see why you wouldn't end up on last place.

 

Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems to me that alone would kill the entire idea.

[poortrader]

On 12/15/2021 at 7:59 PM, ard212 said:

I mean, capacity aside, what's your plan for an "unloaded" start ? If the match has at least one of those I don't see why you wouldn't end up on last place.

 

Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems to me that alone would kill the entire idea.

Load fast.  This was an issue at 2 matches where I used tube SG.