OK,,, This comes under the heading of "What I do with my shotguns." as opposed to "What I did to them." The whole idea after you get the gun set up is to use it for something. In my case, that is going to classes, Participating in Local 3 Gun Matches, and God forbid, Home Defense or an Active Shooter Response.
It has come to my attention that most people don't understand the importance of Port Loading a Shotgun, or how to do it properly.
Tactical Shotguns are Ammo Hungry Beasts. Port Loading is the way you keep the Hungry Beast fed when in a dynamic situation. All should agree that it is counterproductive, if not downright stupid, to stand in the open while reloading your magazine and being shot at? It simply takes too long to accomplish and you are super exposed and probably won't make it home.
However it is possible to keep rounds going down range in a relatively quick manner by Single Loading or Ejection Port Loading the gun. After Learning the steps and practicing to eliminate as much wasted motion as possible it is possible to get a shot off every 1-2 seconds for as long as you have ammo readily available. Usually off a Side Saddle or Shell Holder on your belt or vest.
So in order to do this you first must learn how to grasp the individual Shells.
You do it like this,,, clasping the shell on its ends with your Index and Pinky Fingers with your other two fingers behind the shell. This hold on the rounds facilitates either loading into the magazine or into the Ejection Port. Just get in the habit of doing it this way.
I prefer the Velcro Side Saddle for holding my Extra Rounds on the gun, as they are the quickest way to access rounds and when they get empty you simply rip them off the gun and slap another one on. To pull rounds out of the side saddle you grasp the front shell with your Thumb and Ring finger and pull down and then transition to the hold described above.
Next you will tip the gun slightly to the right to better access the Ejection Port. Note: you are feeding the gun from the underside not over the top.
Then push the round into the port,,, the reason why you load from underneath is because it stages your hand in position for running the slide.
Then push forward on the Slide or hit the Bolt Release on a SA gun. and you are ready to fire. Note: All of this was done with the gun on your shoulder held up by your strong side hand/arm. This will take a little practice and development of some muscle memory. By keeping the gun at eye level you eliminate precious seconds from your follow up presentation.
The last thing in the process is ejecting the spent round as quickly as possible. This is done by what is known as "Riding the Recoil."
On a Slide Action Shotgun the only thing keeping the gun "in battery" is the Bolt Release. When the gun is in battery the bolt is locked to the barrel shroud and when the gun is fired this prevents the bolt from flying open. However this all happens in Milliseconds. As soon as the hammer drops the bolt release is disengaged and the slide is free to open the bolt. That split second after the gun fires is where you "should have" been running the slide and ejecting the spent round!
With a loaded magazine you would rack the slide to eject the spent round and then immediately close it to be ready to fire. With an Empty Magazine you only Rack the slide back and leave the bolt open and then go thru your Port Loading Sequence. As you are closing the bolt you are also coming on target and pulling the Trigger as soon as the Front Sight comes to bare on your next target. This all happens in less than a second or so. It does take some practice, actually lots of practice,,, but it is doable and if I can do it at 72 you can too!
With a Semi Auto Gun all the round handling is the same and the only difference is hitting the bolt release after you stuff the round in the Ejection Port. Obviously the gun takes care of ejecting the spent rounds. The one exception to Ejection Port loading is the Browning Auto 5 with the "Speed Feed" feature. On that gun you push the round into the empty magazine and it automatically puts it into the chamber,,, Right NOW!,,, and the gun is ready to fire. This is faster than Port Loading the gun, and it is by far the fastest gun to Single Load !
So I hope this little tutorial will help some of you learn something new that is useful.
Randy