Shotgun reloads

[PaulW]

I use an 1100 set up with speed loaders...what is the fastest way to reload with this setup.  Currently I rotate the gun 180 degrees so the loading gate is straight up.  Any better ideas.

[Chriss Grube]

Paul,

That's the fastest. I saw a neat trick with the speed loaders. Put a 7/16" wooden dowel rod in the handle and out through the hole in the back of the tube. It keeps the handle from popping out the slot. Looks dumb as hell but it worked for these guys.

[Bill H]

Delrin works even better. That's what I use in mine.You can order it in black from MSC

(I beleive that's the name-I can look up the part#s and phone# if you need)

Bill Hearne

[PaulW]

Great Idea, I do that also....it was so funny before I did that I was howing a friend how neat the speedloader was, within seconds I had four shells all over the floor.  He calmly said, yea, thats neat, and walked away.

[Rich Bagoly]

I turn the gun 90 degrees, and put the reciever against my hip.

No need to shift the grip on the forend.  No glove or barrel-burn.

I have never seen anyone else doing it that way.

*****edit starts here*****

I have changed my evil ways.  Now my reload probably looks like reload #3 from the March/April 2002 Front Sight.   Maintain the grip on the forearm.  Twist the wrist under, bring the gun back towards you.  

kellyn Posted on: 10:19 pm on Jan. 18, 2002

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Alaways believe Mike Voight!

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(Edited by Rich Bagoly at 1:46 pm on May 19, 2002)

(Edited by Rich Bagoly at 6:36 pm on June 3, 2002)

[Chriss Grube]

Bill,

If you can get me part # and contact # i would greatly appreciate it.

TIA,

Chriss

[kellyn]

I think that it is important to watch most of the process of the shotgun speedload.  I don't turn the shotgun 180 degrees - maybe 140-160 degrees.  I leave my weak hand in roughly the same position on the foreend.  I then bring the shotgun to the area of my lower rib cage with the barrel pointed slightly downward.  My weak arm folds up against my chest.  IMHO the most important thing is to get the right engagement/angle between speedloader and bracket.  Really look at what you are doing when the loader contacts the bracket.  Then be aggressive with the load.  Don't hedge it.  Once the load has started (hopefully successfully), I turn my attention back towards the targets.  I probably have the 2d round in the gun when I start to look at the next target.  

[Bill H]

The place I get the delrin from is MSC 800-645-7270. I use .500 black delrin rods.

1ft #63383814---$.97

4ft #63383822---$3.85

8ft #63383830---$7.68

I thread the rod and tap the handle so the rod screws in. It isn't perfect because the handle is tapered but it works and you can unscrew it if you want to replace with a different length or whatever.I forget the length I use but you want the rod to just leave the tube as the last round starts into the gun. You may have to open up the loader tube hole just a hair with the .500 rod but it will be a perfect fit.

Bill Hearne

[Chriss Grube]

Bill,

Thanks for the info. It was fun shooting with you at Todd's class. I'm still waiting on the match results. I think you got Jim. He tanked the El Prez with a mike.

[TMC]

One aspect of these loarders is in the gun itself.  When I first installed my loader and tried it the first shell would stop half way in the rest would end up on the floor.  You need to  break the sharp edges on the reciever at the mag tube entry and polishing that area.  My 1100 had really sharp edges that would catch the plastic on the shells.  After doing that I've never had a problem with a reload.

[a-44978]

Hows about limited without speed loaders?

Is it faster to roll the gun almost like a pistol magchange or keep the gun shouldered and stuff three at a time underneath (blindly).After fumbling too many times i have givin up on the stuff three method.Should i spend more time on this method?How do the pros do it in limited or tactical matches?

[kurtm]

A44978:

I agree that for a limited shotgun it is darn hard to grab 3 and "fumble " blindly triing to stuff them in all at once. That is why I recomend grabbing 4 at a time!!! This is the way EVERYBODY in Colorado loads and a minor known guy named Taran Butler............weak handed and 3-4 at a time! But I digress this has been beat to death on other threads in this section! Check out page 2 of this forum and read on.

By the way only one person (strong hand flipper loaders) has bother to respond to the Mike Huges challenge that you will find on page 2. How about it Kelly?? inquiering "mimes" want to know!!!!! KURT

[kellyn]

Sorry, I've been busy for the past couple of weeks with a trial. I will take the Mike Hughes challenge tomorrow or Saturday.

[paraman1]

I cant believe no one has brought up the Dave Neth "SLIDE" yet . There was an article in front sight that showed a decent approximation of this technique but basically you keep your weak hand in position on the shotgun while twisting it and setting it on top of your shoulder and loading with the strong hand . This gives you a clear view of the loading gate and gets you back into shooting position very fast . If you reload from a belt carrier however this is probably going to be slower than if you load from the gun or have a chest carrier like 3-gun gears to load from .

[kurtm]

Paraman1:

Dave Neth? Dave Neth? We don't need no stinking Dave Neth...... at least beating me, which seems to be happening more often!!!

There seem to be more ways to load a shotgun than Carter has pills. All ways have some really slick guys that can stuff a gun FAST!!!!! I still adhere to the weak hand load as fastest, albiet not by much in some cases. There is much less chance of hitting the trigger while "remounting" the gun if it is still in your strong hand (read that as almost 0). I have seen guys D.Q. 3 times now while sweeping thier hand back to the stock after a stronge hand reload, ( Kelly, note: I said SEEN!!!!) Seems thier trigger finger , or anothere digit hits the trigger while the strong hand sweeps back to reaferm a firing grip........BOOM D.Q. And in a truely "tacticle" sense can you imagin the face of a guy who is reloading his shotgun, fliped upside down, when a "target" presents itself? (read, guy shooting back at close range).....PRICELESS!!!!

I feel there is less monkey motion involved in weak hand loading, but I will quit pointing this out as some of you may catch on!!!! KURT

[paraman1]

I talked to Dave about why he reloads this way and one of the reasons he stated was the ability to use his strong hand to grab his sidearm if presented with a bad guy while his shotgun was unloaded . He felt it was more tactically sound , and since he is in Law Enforcement that may well be important to him someday . I actually use more of the Cooley twist method myself since I load off of a belt and that way I dont have to move as far to reload . I hold the shotgun up higher when loading off the shotgun and low when loading off the belt . I tried weak hand reloading but was never able to load very fast (Arm strength is most likely the issue) . I do however grab more than one shell at a time from the belt (2-3) and that seems to work well . I think the key is finding something that you feel comfortable doing and that is reasonably fast . Try to minimize the amount of movement from shells to gun and keep one hand in shooting position to reacquire targets more quickly . The reload is definitely a place where you can gain some serious time on a C.O.F.

[Ironman]

I have had the good fortune to of training with Taren. I just got a new shotgun and I have just gone over the reload with him. Most of the details have been mentioned all ready. One addition small item would be to keep the nose of the shell tight against the bottom of the receiver when you are rolling the shells down your ring finger. The other advice he gave me was to practice, practice, practice.

Jim

[George]

I am a long time proponent of the "Flip-N-Burn" method for reloading with "Speed Loaders". Kelly is absolutely right about watching the engagement into place, then ramming it home. After flipping, I do the dirty high and tight, just like Kelly says, it really is the ticket here.

The biggest problems I have seen folks create for themselves are related to improper alignment before the stroke, or pussyfooting the stroke. The dowels are a definite edge in power stroking the plunger (I am a wood dowel fan myself). Another good thing is powdered graphite in the tube, and on the plunger. Oh yeah, keep 'em clean too, grit don't help.

Regards

[George]

More on TecLoader usage.

I went down to the shootin' room and checked out what I do when I index the loader. I found that I do it the same standing, or moving. I also realized that my technique is based on putting the shotgun feed gate into position for where the loader wants to be when I pull it out and swing it forward. I am sure this will be a little different for each persons setup, and body english.

After flipping, the stock comb is resting just under my ribcage, and above my holstered pistol. There is an upward tilt on the barrel (maybe 10 degrees), and the loading gate is rotated to about 1 o'clock to align with the incoming stick. This let's me look forward more than downward as I am loading and moving. The Flip part of the Flip-N-Burn also brings the shotgun around a bit so that it is angled slightly left of forward to put the shotgun into alignment with the path I am bringing the loader forward on, instead of twisting the loader around to square it up (pretty much an analog of how I re-load for pistol by aligning the magwell for the upcoming mag). The stroke then occurs as more of a forward motion as opposed to downward. When the deed is done, I flip back to my grip on the forend as I am raising to shooting position (my Optima dot is mounted farther out the barrel than normal to allow me to do the flip right where I grip. This forward grip position also facilitates letting the shotgun assume the up angle I mentioned earlier).

I checked to see what my strong hand is doing during the flip to regain the grip and found that I was letting the trigger guard hit a fully forward stretched index finger flat and extended beyond the guard, and then getting trigger position as I am getting the stock weld, not while I am still getting a grip on things. I see no safety issues with this type of grip re-acquisition as opposed to a more ham-handed method as must have been used by the unfortunate folk Kurt mentions.

Another method of using "sticks" that I have seen work well is a weak-hand technique (Kurt is gonna love this). I remember a guy at the west coast 3 Gun matches I went to back in the early nineties who used the "Colorado" loading method and got incredible splits (like a lot under 2 seconds, like down near 1 second!). He kept the shotgun mounted, and stuffed the sticks up, and in so fast it just looked like he was re-adjusting his grip on the forend a little, but no, lo an behold, there were two loader parts sailing away in an arc to the right as he was shootin' again. His forend grip re-acquisition was a clean push forward after releasing the loader handle because he rolled the shotgun to the right slightly to square with the up-coming loader which also put the weak hand motion right inline with the forend. It was so smooth, and sooo fast it was un-believable to watch. Frickin' amazin'!

I tried the weakhand method (everyone who saw him use it did), but had big trouble keeping the gun steady as the loader came up and found alignment (or not found it mostly). The weakhand method (stick, or hand loading) definitely takes a very practiced strong hand hold on the shotgun along with a good shoulder weld. Not an easy thing for everyone. The Flip-N-Burn was way more do-able and consistent for me so that is what I stuck with.

I'm gonna time my splits using the "Flip-N-Burn" next chance I get, and report back in.

Regards,