A Big Dog Tactical LLC

10/08/2021

09/21/2021

09/16/2021

Aurora, CO husband is forced to defend his wife and young daughter on a city bus by shooting an attacking teen once in the chest.

09/07/2021

A family that spotted their stolen vehicle in central Las Vegas and gave chase early Tuesday ended up being shot at when they attempted to confront the thieves, police said.

07/12/2021

Instructor Zero NOT slam firing a pump Shotgun. Slowed down! Awesome trigger control!

05/23/2021

Written by: Greg Ellifritz   Last Saturday, I taught Active Response Training's very first open enrollment shotgun course. It's kind of odd that I've never done one, considering that the very first fi****ms instructor certification

05/15/2021

There are not many shotguns intended for the defensive use market that come with chokes these days. For the ones that do though, it can increase the size of the performance envelope if choke/load selection is tweaked to maximize potential. Unfortunately, this requires experimentation to figure out the right combo, but surely we are not going to complain about having an excuse to shoot our guns more.

Usually, the easy button answer to buckshot load selection is to just use Federal Flite Control loads or Hornady Versa-Tite loads combined with a cylinder bore choke. Before 2020, that was easy to say, and easy to do. Post 2020 (yes, that is how we refer to the world now 😔) it can be difficult to find FFC, and even harder to find the Hornady loads with the Versa-Tite wad. On the other hand, I have been able to drive down to the local shop and buy a 25 round box of Fiocchi buckshot for the past two months. Having a gun that allows me to stretch the capability of an otherwise unremarkable buckshot load has been of great value lately.

We can also see an example of “over choking” with these three patterns. As choke constriction increases, pellet deformation can also increase. Pellet deformation is what causes larger and/or erratic patterns. Usually this manifest as shown in the modified choke pattern below. A tight cluster, with a few stray pellets further away. This type of pattern is very unpredictable, and no bueno for maintaining pellet accountability.