[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Racking a shotgun (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 11/8/2005 6:10:27 PM EDT
I was talking to someone today. The shotgun racking thing came up. I quote "The loudest sound in the world is a 12 gauge shotgun jackin' a round"  This damn myth is so pervassive, that I'm beggining to think it's not much of a myth. If NEARLY EVERYBODY keeps insisting that the sound of a 12ga chambering a round will scare someone away, is it possible that a criminal (being part of the "nearly everybody" group) buys this? Is it possible that the criminal equates the sound with imminent death? I keep hearing this over and over, and I'm starting to wonder if your average burglar is actually death;y afraid of a shotgun - so much so that he'll start beating feet upon hearing one chambering a round. PLEASE somebody set me straight. This is just to stupid to believe, much less repeat ad nauseam. Gimme some stories of bad guys not giving a shit after hearing the infamous "shhhk-shhhk", before my head explodes. |
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That is a myth brought about by the fact that most gun owners - those who are not as avid as we are - will choose a shotgun as a defensive weapon. Thus in their circles ... the shotgun is thought to be the most powerful, most reliable the best weapon for a defensive job. .... they do not know "any better". IMO 
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I find it hard to believe the people on this board wont admit that. I understand the running joke but it's just reality if someone is creeping up your stairwell and hears that sound they will think twice about continuing up. Would you? 
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| Well. as for myself, I had to sell all my pump shotguns for just this reason. See, after using this little myth to sell so many shotguns in a retail environment, I started to believe it. It was an unfortunate day when out at the range, upon racking my Mossberg 500, I immediately pissed myself, dropped the gun, and fled to the car. |
+1.,. Nicely said |
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well i can say it worked for me. caught 2 urban youths breaking into my blaser late one night. got within 3 feet of them and racked it. one screamed and ran, the other just stood there and pissed himself then took off running. i wouldn't have done that with a real bad guy, but i figure those 13-14yr old kids will never try to break into a car again. |
No more so than any other sound that would signal that surprise has been lost. |
My question however, is this: What surprise? What are you going to do with this surprise, if not make your presence known? Wait for a convenient opportunity to shoot them in the back? If you have a home invasion scenario, there are only two possible courses of action that involve a weapon: You either warn them in some fashion that you have one, and allow them the time to decide to escape, press on, or capitulate, or you shoot them with no warning whatsoever. If it's your intention to force your invader to capitulate, you are going to have to give away your 'position and armament' anyway. If you're going to shoot them, then for the average criminal, the half second's realization he has that you're just around the corner with a shotgun are meaningless. |
Have you NEVER been to a movie? The shotgun must be racked at the first sign of trouble. Then again when entering the enclosed space where the trouble is/may be. Once more when moving into another room. A fourth time when encountering any living thing, threat or not. Once more for emphasis when reciting the cool like that the idiot writers thought up. Once more when the trouble has passed, never mind the fact that the gun has long ago been empty |
| I was going to buy a shotgun for this specific purpose. Then I realized I could save money by simply playing a recording of a shotgun racking. So far it's working pretty good, but I'm a little worried about what will happen when the the batteries die on my boom box. |
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that sound allowed my second cousin to know the perp was about to bring a gun out from a hidden area of his car perp ended up using it on himself, but the sound was enough warning that my cousin had started pulling the trigger on his revolver (double action, so the hammer was going back as the perp killed himself) |
Same goes for a revolver. Right before going into action you must open the cylinder and check the rounds then do that one handed bend the crane slam shut move. Do this everytime you think you might be in danger. |
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well i have a Mossberg 590 and i bought it assuming it would be a good home defense weapon. maybe i am wrong in this assumption. as it stands right now i take my 220 with X200 on the rail with me to any odd sounds in the home, or when my silent car alarm goes off and pages me. anyway i take the 220 because i have put thousands upon thousands of rounds through it and it is the weapon i am the most proficient with. why is a shotgun such a bad weapon for defending one self at home? the decreased round count is not a benefit, and the decreased rate of fire is also negative, but what else makes it a bad weapon for defending your home? |
Same goes for semi handguns, "Look Man dont make me kill you"! (racks slide for effect) "I mean it man, tell me where the money is" (racks slide) "Im serious, Ill blow your fool head off"! (racks slide) |
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The only thing scarier is the sound of a SAW bolt going home on a live round and it not detonating. Happened at a live fire range in Germany. It was a range that had a tire trench (some folks will know this range in Graf) The platoon was all standing on the edge of the trench while they were giving instructions. Well a dumbass slipped and he swept the entire platoon with his loaded SAW. I was like he mowed everyone down because they were all dropping flat as fast as they could. When his ass finally hit the ground his muzzle was pointing ad the last 4 of us who were still int the horror show slow motion bad dream effect while trying to get down, we all heard the bolt go home. Thank God the weapon was a POS. He got sent to another unit as a truck driver because of that. |
Pooby's question was,
If I were sneaking up a stairwell, with the intention of doing harm to the person at the top, and I heard a round being jacked into a chamber, it would require a new course of action. It would not mean that I'd turn tail and run. As to the rest of your question, If I find an intruder in my home who is clearly armed, there will be no warning. |
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Three goblins (white by the way) tried to get in the house when I was in the field. Wife parted the curtain on the door with a bayonet on a Mini14 (Bayonet, folding stock, 40 rd mag--Every evil feature)and let the bolt fly home at the same time. They ran like little girls. Suddenly Rape and Robbery didn't seem like fun any more. I have heard that sound (shotgun racking)while doing halloween pranks as a young punk. It does set your mind straight. Yup, I ran like a little girl. Fucking birdshot hurts twice. Once when ya get shot and when your dad pops them out like zits. Oh yeah he used alcohol to "treat" the wounds. |
She should have had a round in the breech before she even had contact with the threat, this aint hollywood. |
I completely agree. My home defense weapons are chambered and ready to go. If I suspect that they're armed, the last thing they hear will be the safety snapping off. |
 Anyone else with any more experiences like this??
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As the Rifle was in the corner of the bedroom 2 feet from the front door of the rented trailer. The goblins were demanding entry and pounding on the door. She picked up the rifle, released the bolt and spread the curtain in essentialy one motion. My wife was not well versed in firearms at that time. she kept the rifle in condition 3 as she was confused by the safety on the mini14. She repeled boarders rather well considering her training level at the time. Hell she even repeled the Police Officer who came to take the report. She made him go back to the cruiser and turn on the blue light (It was dark) before she put the rifle down. One of the three was busted for dope selling and rolled over on the other two on the Rape and Robbery of another Marine Corps Wife in a similar attack. When asked about the attempt at my house he replied "She had a FUCKING Machinegun!" No shots were fired but she was safe. |
You know what you could do is record the sound of the racking of a shotgun and sell those electronic jobbies with a button people press. Kind of like a fart machine. You could press said button and scare the burglar away while never having to have a [anti]'dangerous'[/anti] gun around the house. You could start selling them in NJ, DC, NY, and now San Fran. 
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wtf is an "urban youth"? |
aka HOODRATS |
| I don't think the average criminal is going to stick around if he knows someone is in the AO, and especially if he knows that someone is armed. To that end, if the criminal recognizes the sound of ANY firearm being charged, a case can be made that the sound will send the average bad guy packing. Am I going to bet my life on it? No way. Does any rational adult believe that the sound of a 12 gauge being racked will do the job alone? No way. Is it fun to say? Yes. |
Huh? If I hear something go 'bump" in the night I'm grabbing my Remmie 870 precisely BECAUSE I know better. I also know that my kids would appreciate me slinking around the house loaded with #4 shot much better than my AR with a 30 round mag of 55 grain .223. That myth is brought on by Hollywood who's got their main characters racking the slide with one hand as he's making the bad guys go flying through plate glass windows shooting them with his Desert Eagle in his weak hand. Contrary to what you see in the movies it is easy to bring a pump gun into battery without that familiar, loud and tactically unsound 'clunk clunk' noise. |
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The loudest sound in the world is when you expect a weapon to go bang and it click. The second loudest is when you expect the weapon to go click, it went bang. There are other noises that are louder than a bolt closing, pump racking, or slide ramming close. I equate racking a shotgun to deterr a home invasion or bad guy as shooting the aggressive bad guy in the arm or leg, it begs for trouble. Chances are racking a shotgun, racking the slide of a pistol, or a bolt ramming home will scare away most petty crminals, but here are some popints to think about: Shotgun have limited capacity, chances are you do not have a USAS-12 with a drum mag, that means the average shotgun holds the same or less shell than an average pistol. Racking a shotgun means you either have an empty chamber or jacking a round out of the chamber, in ether case, you are reducing the number of rounds from a limited resource. Doing a room defence or house clearing with a shotgun that have an empty chamber is really a bad idea. The defender never know the invaders are punk kids out for burglary or gang bangers bent on blood initiation. You really want to meet a pair of drug dealing gang bangers around the corner with a empty chamber? Making any noise will give away your position, reducing the element of surprise, "and as we all know, the element of surprise if half the battle..." (Untouchables) And finally, do you really want to rack a weapon, which can possibily induce an operator's mal-function (jam) due to stress, or find out that the round you just jack out was the only round in the weapon? |
 Those poor people, outgunned by the lorinco .25 and the glock 9mm with their pitiful weak 12 gauge with 00 buck. 
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