Hello fellow shotgunners. I wanted to discuss everybodys preferred spare ammo carry besides a typical side/buttstock saddle. I'm the process of building a very simple home defense 870 Police and wanted some opinions.

Personally, after having a 6 shell capacity side saddle on my previous Mossberg 500, I found that I did not really like that option. The additional shells made the shotgun feel unbalanced and seemed to just add additional weight, which I did not care for imuch.

With this 870 build, I'm adding a 2 shot extension to the magazine and planned on not using a saddle this time around. I have an old Eagle Industries Patrol Bandoleer I bought for a shotgun class a few years back and I was thinking about this option:
- keep the bandoleer fully stocked and keep it slung over my shotgun in the house so if I ever need the shotty I can quickly toss the bando on my shoulder first and load from that if need be

Have any of you used this product before? It worked quite well in the 2 day class I took, very minimal setup:


Any other good products/methods you guys like for spare ammo carry besides the saddles? What do you think about keeping the bandoleer on the shotgun for use?

Receiver storage is really the best option. If you do not care for the regular sidesaddle, try one of the velcro shotgun card systems. You can remove the rounds from the gun when shooting it, and put it back on when you put it up for the night. In reality, however, the hadling traits of the sidesaddle are largely overshadowed by the usefulness.

Honest question, what realistic home protection situation will you need MORE than 6+1?

I do have a side saddle and ammo carriers but that is for 3 Gun, not home defense.

My $0.02

Agreed 100%. Running a leg rig, bandoleer, chest rig, etc for home defense is ridiculous.

This is true. If you really need that many shots, just use a pistol or carbine with frag rounds. Granted on my shotgun, I do have a  2 shot extension, 4 shot saddle on the right side, and 5 shot cheek pad/ carrier. I however, don't necessarily consider it a home defense gun, I consider it my do all shotgun. Check the pics from my reply in this thread. The reason I have the different add-ons on mine, is when fully set up I have different types of ammo for different types of threats/situations. It's not because I need the shots, though.

Anyway, unless you live somewhere where you have a gang of guys breaking in at one time, the +2 shot extension would be perfectly fine. The bandoleer would just get in the way and cause confusion when trying to get a reload going depending on how tight your elastic still is. Not to mention, it would just be one more thing you have to grab when you hear that bump in the night.

ETA: Just my $0.02.

Yes a light is a must. I plan on adding the Magpul 870 MOE forend and adding Travis Hailey's new small composite light on it.

12ga Micro-Rig, the best way to carry shells!


http://www.originalsoegear.com/12gamicro.html

If you watch the video close to the bottom, the malfunctions the guys are having, aren't actual malfunctions. The shells they're using are known for seizing up like that. In fact, that's the only shells I have EVER had do that. Granted they're cheap enough not worry with how many you blown though, I always worry with them REALLY seizing up and not being able to open it up.

IMO the side saddle is not for spare ammo as much as it is for different ammo.  Buckshot in the gun, slugs in the side saddle. I use a 4-round side saddle only because nobody makes a two round side saddle. But having a couple slugs attached to the gun for a select slug option is a must.

This is the absolute truth. On my duty shotgun, I carry a tube full -1 of Federal #1 Flite Control, and a 4rd sidesaddle with 2x slugs, and 2x breaching rds.

I don't disagree with you at all, the side saddle meets that need for your application as an LEO.

My comments were only intended for the OP's question about home protection. For that application the OP should be just fine with 6+1 buckshot, I don't see the need for him carrying slugs to use inside his own home.  If we're talking about a large piece of property a rifle would be the better tool for that application, and on that vein I'd question the necessity of his using it.  If you get in a long gun or slug shootout in your yard you have fucked up a lot of different things...  As a homeowner/parent/husband your job is to protect your family from immediate danger, engaging thugs in the yard with a rifle or shotgun with slugs should NOT be your place, that is the job of the LEO.  You call the police and put the mother fuckers down when they cross your threshold. Just trying to be realistic...

Anyway, a much better use of the OP's cash would be investing in a flashlight for that shotgun...

Agreed. The odds are a slug would never be needed. In that case, carrying a couple of slugs on the sidesaddle isnt going to hurt a damn thing. In that one case, however, its there. The shotgun is a system. Denying one portion of that system is foolhardy, when the cost is so low.

There are times a multi-pellet payload is a liability even inside the home.

A light is coming for sure. I plan on putting that new light from Hailey Strategic Partners on it. I'm trying to keep this gun lite weight compared to my previous Mossberg 500. That thing was  a beast and not easy to manuver with because it was unbalanced and heavy IMO.

Properly set up fighting shotguns are heavy. No way around it. get yourself some dumbells and work on strengthening your rotator cuff muscles

Well it seems if they are overly heavy then IMO they are not setup properly. I want to be able to manuever quickly with mine. All though I do not know how much weight adding a side saddle and 4 or 5 extra rounds will add, but it definatly makes the receiver of the gun unbalanced with more weight on that left side.

Do as you wish, but the half to three quarter pound added to the receiver does nothing to "upset the balance." Its a fighting tool, not a BT91.

I have to agree here, but on the different note. The reason I agree that it doesn't matter is, the little bit of added weight or offsetted weight would not be the thing on your mind when clearing your house from the bump in the night. If you looked at my gun from the other thread, for now all the extra weight is on the right side.. That extra weight is an extra 14 shells, and the times I've used my gun training or whatever it has never been a problem, even with the 18.5" barrel.

I'd also like to add, there really is nothing lite about a 12ga, no matter the setup.. A bone stock 870 express with 26" barrel weighs roughly 7.5 pounds. For every 2" of barrel you gain or lose roughly a 1/4 pound.. So one with an 18.5" barrel should weigh around 5.5 pounds.