While I’ve chimed in before with my take on a home defense firearm, Carteach0 has a nice piece on home-defense shotgunning (h/t Xavier). I will say I don’t like the buttstock shell holder because if you have to switch shooting to your “other hand/shoulder” (something we did in the KR Training Defensive Long Gun class), now you’ve got shells in your cheek and it’s going to be tough to aim. However, you may not have a choice and it’s certainly better than nothing. As InSights Training Chief Instructor Greg Hamilton says:

Chances are, if you’re ever going to be involved in a home defense situation with a shotgun, you’ll be in your birthday-suit. So unless you’ve got ammunition Velcro’d to your ass, all the extra ammunition you’ll have will be on the gun.

And while I’m apparently now biased towards an AR/M4-gery as my home-defense tool, there’s still some good reading in my take on a home defense firearm regarding use of a shotgun. Take a look at the section with links to The Box O’ Truth. Very good reading.

One thing I really liked was Carteach0’s additional piece on practice drills for shotgun home-defense. Look at the first reload drill. Notice the muzzle is kept between you and the threat (previously discussed here, firearm may be different, concepts are the same). Notice the shotgun runs dry, he then ensures the first load is dropped in and made ready… he doesn’t reload the whole gun then ready it, he gets one load ready to go then reloads the rest. This is important because you did the minimal necessary to get the gun back in a reusable state in case you have to start using it again before being fully replenished. Good technique. He’s very smooth in the video. I’m going to have to give his particular technique a try. Someone in the comments mentioned reaching under to pop the shell into the port instead of over, and gave a nice reason why. Have to try both approaches.

In terms of movement, one of the best things you can do is move in a natural way — like he said, it’s tough, tougher if you try to think about it. Try to let your legs and feet move in a natural way. Let your hips point in the direction you want to move, keep a slight bend in your knees, and walk. You should pivot your torso at your hips, like a turret on a tank, to take aim at whatever you’re shooting at.

Carteach0, thanx for the pieces. Good stuff!

Another nice video from Clint Smith of Thunder Ranch. This time talking about (re)loading an empty semi-automatic handgun (from slide-lock, because you’ve run the gun dry).

There are some subtitles of his technique to pay attention to:

• Leave the muzzle between you and the threat. This keeps your eyes on the threat, the gun will be in your peripheral vision which is all you need. If you bring the gun in to your face to reload your eyes will focus on the gun and who knows what that threat is going to be doing and how fast they can do it in (see Tueller Drill). 
• When he pulls out the new magazine, note it’s already positioned properly for the reload… no need to flip it around to get it positioned right. Ensure your spare magazines are stowed in such a manner. This then allows that index finger to index the first round of the magazine which will facilitate your brain and gross motor skills to guide the magazine into the magazine well.
• When he racks the slide, he grabs the slide with an overhand grip. I’ll discuss this more in a moment.
• Clint emphasizes being smooth, not fast. This is important! Yes you need to be fast, but not so fast that you fail to reload on the first attempt — that will ultimately lead to a slower reload. You must be smooth: slow is smooth, smooth is fast. When you practice these reloads, focus on being correct and smooth first, then gradually add speed but never go so fast as to let your smoothness and correctness degrade.

I wanted to talk a little more about the rack technique. Generally you see two techniques: the over the top grip like Clint used, or the “slingshot”  method. In the slingshot method you use your thumb and index finger (or maybe index and middle, or the side of the 2nd knuckle of the index finger) to “pinch” the rear of the slide and rack it like you would if you were pulling back a loaded slingshot. I prefer the over the top method because it provides a few advantages:

• It’s a gross motor skill. If adrenaline is pumping, fine motor skills degrade.
• It involves more muscles, thus is easier to rack the slide. If you’re not that strong (e.g. women, elderly), you’ll have more success, maintain a better grip on the slide, and be able to successfully rack the slide. Furthermore, if you’re using a gun you’re unfamiliar with, who knows… maybe the recoil spring on this one is a lot stronger than you’re used to; sure on the range you’d get to try racking again, but in a fight for your life you might only get one chance to rack it: give yourself every advantage to ensure your success.
• On that same token, some of us might have one hand’s grip stronger than the other. What if you have to use your weak hand to rack because your strong hand is disabled? Over the top works with any hand.
• And on that token, what if you lose use of your thumb? You can still rack over the top, even if some digits are disabled.

To perform the over-the-top technique, do it just like Clint demonstrates in the video, with the meat/palm-heel of your hand resting on one side of the rear of the slide and your fingers coming over the top and the pads of your fingers gripping the other side of the rear of the slide. Grip firmly, ensuring your hand/fingers do not cover the ejection port. Then pull the slide back in one smooth and fast motion (it’s easier if you move fast than slow). Your hand should travel all the way back to your shoulder, which means, when the slide reaches the end of its travel it should come out of your hand and the recoil springs slam it forward and your hand comes off and continues back towards your shoulder. Do not ride the slide forward, let the recoil springs slam it forward.

As well, as Clint said, don’t just drop the slide. Rack it, always rack it. Let your muscle memory work to always rack it. The gun that saves your life may be unfamiliar to you, so learn and practice techniques that work regardless of the hardware in your hands.