Why I went from TACTICAL to PRACTICAL on my Home Defense Shotgun

Over a year ago I tossed some tasty modifications on my home defense shotgun, which started out as a standard Mossberg 500 persuader (with the “hog leg”).

Mossberg with a “Hog Leg”

Granted if this is all you have near the bed at night and it’s loaded with 00 Buck or slugs you are definitely sitting pretty, can’t argue with the effectiveness.  Yet my tinkering spirit sought more and as such I bolted on some ATI gear to my shotgun.   I added their adjustable buttstock with pistol grip, a side saddle (for extra shell capacity) and mounted an extra Streamlight TLR-1 up front for illumination purposes.

Once all of the modifications were in place I took the shotgun to the range and fired it, one of many times in the months to follow.  I have to tell you that it felt alright but something just didn’t sit right with me.  Adjustable buttstocks and pistol grips all day long on my AR’s but on the shotty it felt like a 90% solution.  Oh well…I had put in the time, money and effort so I would leave it as is.  Besides it looked super cool, one might even call it tacticool.

The Defining Moment.

Range ops and finger banging a weapon on the couch are one thing, adrenaline pumping and using it in a real world environment is a completely different thing.  Recently I wrote about how I grabbed my shotgun and circled my yard to get the drop on what I thought to be bad guys in my driveway (thankfully there were none).  It was during that time when I made a mental note that I should lose the fancy buttstock and pistol grip and go back to old school.  Remember this is just personal preference, nothing against ATI as their products are certainly quality and appreciated by the masses.

Tactical to Practical.

I never liked the original Mossberg ‘hog leg” pistol grip because it did not give me the option to shoulder the shotgun.  The ATI stock retained the pistol grip AND gave me the option to shoulder the weapon but it just didn’t feel right.  As such I went on Amazon and ordered a stock Mossberg buttstock which took the shotgun from this…..

Mossberg 500 ATI Tactical Stock

To this.

Mossberg 500 Stock

To Each His Own.

Look, do whatever is comfortable for you.  Personally I bought into the ATI stock and pistol grip and while it’s great, it’s not my cup of tea.  I just feel more comfortable with the old school standard stock, and there is one more MAJOR reason to back my stance which I must share.

With the pistol grip version I could not reach the safety with my thumb while carrying the weapon at the low ready or shouldered (looking down the sights).

My thumb won’t reach

With the standard Mossberg stock installed my thumb can easily reach and manipulate the safety on the weapon.

Easy reach to the safety

Round In the Chamber: Ready to Rock.

I don’t believe in the whole “all you have to do is rack the slide on a shotgun and the burglar will leave.”  For those of you with a CCW license, do you fancy racking the slide on your pistol after un-holstering it?  Besides if there is a couple evil doers bent on more than stealing for crack money the sound of a shotgun being racked is not going to deter them.  Not to mention, keeping one in the pipe means all you have to do is flick the safety lever and you are good to go.  Working the pump action on a shotgun WHEN you think someone is in the house is for the movies.  Better to keep the element of surprise…

The Bottom Line.

Mine is a tale of thinking that I would like and appreciate something and then finding out that after use, it just wasn’t for me.  This is a classic example of why it is so important to field test your gear instead of bolting (or simply buying) a bunch of stuff and then assuming it will be your best friend if something goes down.