Thanks for the responses. They’ve given me a bit of the insight I was hoping for.

I am surprised by the number of “mixed lethal” replies. I have always believed that it was imperative that the shooter know exactly what type of ammunition he was about to shoot, and mixing types at the same time can make that difficult in a gunfight, if not impossible.

Other, maybe i misunderstood your poll.

All cars have a shotgun. If an officer is not issued a rifle, then it has a standard shotgun with Federal Flitecontrol 00 Buckshot.

If an officer has a rifle, either issued or personally owned/approved, they are issued a less lethal shotgun, with beanbag rounds.

No mixing the two.

Thanks, KevinCW. Yes, that would be an “other” if the required load varied depending upon whether the officer has a rifle.

At my department each Deputy is issued an M4 style carbine and an 870 pump. We issue Federal slugs and 00 buckshot (the flitecontrol wads make the Federal 00 a favorite) and the shotguns can be loaded to the Deputy's preference.

I've been pushing to have the shotguns converted to LL with orange stocks and beanbag rounds, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

We issued the Federal 8 pellet low recoil buck and 1oz slugs. Deputies who choose to have a shotgun may load what they wish out of that.

Less lethal is either Safariland or Def-Tec and must be fired out of a designated less lethal shotgun. Deputies are forbidden from mixing lethal and less lethal ammunition in a shotgun.

We still have shotguns but nobody draws one. Only M4s leave the building. Shotguns are done unless it’s to qual.


They should be repurposed to less lethal but that’s another topic.

quote:

Originally posted by FedDC:
We still have shotguns but nobody draws one. Only M4s leave the building. Shotguns are done unless it’s to qual.


They should be repurposed to less lethal but that’s another topic.

That is exactly what we are doing with our shoties. All but two of them. For the two guys left that carry them.

quote:

Originally posted by FedDC:
We still have shotguns but nobody draws one. Only M4s leave the building. Shotguns are done unless it’s to qual.


They should be repurposed to less lethal but that’s another topic.

I checked "other' because we deauthorized shotguns (14" 870s) as of 12/31/2020 other than breaching and less lethal by our SRT.

Initially there was a push to go all 11.5" M4 but officially shotguns are being replaced with SIG MPX-k SMG as an alternate long gun.

When we did authorize shotguns, we issued both Slug and Buck shot and it was left to the officer which type of ammunition was loaded.

I did 2/3 of my time with a larger department, 1/3 with a much smaller one. At both, the guns were loaded with buck, #4 or 00 buck, depending on what the department was issuing at a particular time. At the most smaller department we had slugs we could load if the officer felt slugs might be appropriate to the situation. Can't remember at the larger department, only time I used a shotgun at all was for qualification.

Patrol rifles have been replacing shotguns for some years, though at the smaller department we still had shotguns along with patrol rifles. Our rifles were M16A1s converted to semi-auto for patrol officers, left as select fire for SWAT guys.

The stocks and forearms of our less-lethal/bean bag 870s were painted a bright yellow. Don't think anyone could confuse our bean bag guns with the guns loaded with buck shot, or vice versa....

Our policy was to keep a shotgun cruiser ready: safety off, action unlocked, hammer down, on an unloaded chamber with a full magazine tube (Federal LE 9 Pellet LE13200 Flite Control Buckshot 12 Ga 00 Buck) and buttstock pouch (Federal 12 Gauge Tactical TruBall Rifled Slug).

It was pretty common to see 00 buck in the tube and slugs on a buttstock pouch, then an ESSTAC velcro shotgun card with a mix of 00 and slug (brass up for 00, brass down for slug with the thought being could look at it and see you're pulling a slug) mounted on the receiver, with additional "cards" in a surplus MOLLE bandolier or M4 pouch, 2 round Wilson Combat plastic shell holders tucked up by the rear sling swivel, or both.