Shotgun Select a Slug

The shotgun is a versatile weapon capable of running a wide variety of ammo. With a little understanding and practice, you can even change up your ammo mid-stream. A good example of that is using slugs. The technique is called Shotgun Select a Slug, and it is easy to do.

Shotgun Select a Slug – Guns 101 – Feed The Machine

We generally load our shotguns with one flavor of ammo. In a defensive situation, we typically load buckshot. However, a situation may arise where you need a slug to solve a special problem. While simply running the action and dumping all your ammo out will work, it is time-consuming and wastes ammo. The technique I use is quick and easy.

We will do a little theater of the mind and set up a situation. Let’s say you are loaded with buckshot but need a slug. I know this: if I cycle the action, the next round in the tube will feed into the chamber. All I need to do is insert a slug into the tube as the next round in line.

To do this, I bring the gun into my workspace and index my slug. I insert the slug firmly into the tube and run the action. On a semi-auto gun, I will run the bolt. For a pump-style shotgun, I will firmly run the forend to the rear and then all the way forward. With this process, you have now brought a slug into the mix, and it is now in the chamber.

There is one “What if” that I will entertain here. What if my tube is full, and I have one in the chamber? This is a very real scenario and is quickly addressed. What we need to do then is make room for one round in the tube. If you know that the tube is full, simply run the action once before executing the select a slug technique. While we will ultimately lose an additional round, you can load the slug now.

Shotgun Select a Slug -Practice Is Critical

As with anything related to firearms, practice is important. I suggest you acquire some dummy training rounds and practice this technique. While it is not complicated, it is a different motion than you may be accustomed to. Ultimately, you want to be fast and smooth. Speed will be critical if you are at a point where you need a slug.