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I just bought a Benelli Supernova Tactical for duty and I thinking about putting away my 2 3/4 Remington Law Enforcement 00 and pick-up some 3.5 inch magnum 00. The difference in pellets goes from 8 or 9 to 18. The price you pay is you loose 1 round in the tube and you gain a hell of a lot of recoil. I figure for slugs it might be worthwhile as the bigger shell will get me more penetration on target behind cover or in a vehicle. I'm a rookie so forgive me if this all sounds stupid.

vsp305 says ...

In my opinion, there's no such thing as overkill.  Dead is Dead. The thing you need to be concerned with is the area in which you are going to be using this weapon. I don't know a thing about Upland Pa, is it a populated area, are you city, town, county? I just don't know if I want a weapon that powerful for use in a area that is Very populated or areas that are full of residential houses, Malls, Businesses, etc, you get my point.  That said, the weapon you mentioned is a great weapon, I'd just be cautious about what terrain I used it in.  I was issued my shotgun by my department, and there were no substitutions for it for fear of Vicarious Liability. Might check with your Dept regulations too.

yeah that pretty much says it all

sipowitz65 says ...

I prefer to shoot the 3.5's  but we use the 2 3/4 light recoil. During a gunfight the last thing you should be worried about is weather the recoil is going to kick you ass taking your mind off of the job that needs to be done. Another thing is during training you will be able to and want to do more things. I believe the shotgun gets a bad rap from people who do not train with it regularly, once they get some good solid recoil they tend to fear it.

I don't know if you are a hunter or not, but the same applies to hunting and shooting at game, or shooting at a bad guy.  On the range, a shotgun will pound you to death. In real action, you never feel a thing. Hunters know what I'm talking about, and so do those that have discharged a shotgun in the performance of their duties.  You never remember the recoil under those circumstances.

My thing is this. During yearly qualifications I have a select few who flat out REFUSE to qualify with the shotgun using the 2 3/4  shells. 10 rounds a year, no more. If they used a 3.5 during qualification they would receive a stronger recoil making them more scared to use the shotgun and maybe during a gunfight these people would not even consider picking up the shotgun. Since they have not qualified they are not even allowed to have them in their vehicles. Like I said, I like the 3.5's but I dont think they are for everyone.

Farva705LiterCola says ...

acclauhs says ...

I hear you about the liability, the last thing I want is to get sued over a firearm, but the Mossberg 500s we're issued are old, beat up and the sights on the never stay on zero. On the three cars we have, only two have shotguns, and one of those cars is the chief's; never to be used by rookies. I would feel a lot more comfortable shooting a gun that I know is going to hit where I aim it versus one that I have no idea. Upland is a pretty populated brough, a lot of kids are out and about on the streets. I figure that the Benelli would be kept cruiser safe with 00 buckhot in the magazine and I'd use the mag cut-off button to load a slug as the first round if I had time.

Yeah, the old/used or community use firearms require a lot of maintence. Our firearms are in good condition, but overal maintence and cleaning is a problem. I choose to use my own shotgun/rifle, even Taser X26e. We have community shotguns/m16's/tasers, but seeing how well they are treated and maintained, I rather trust my life to something I'v taken care of.

Guess I was lucky then. My Dept issued everyone a shotgun, and everyone did qualify with it twice a year, 20 rounds of buckshot and 5 rounds of slugs. Your gun was cleaned before it left the range, and IF you showed up to the range with a dirty gun, you only did it once!

They also provided at every office a "gun cleaning box" that was full of patches, hoppes, oil, cleaning rods, etc.  Makes a difference when you don't have to share equipment.

I'd be a little cautious on going from 9 to 18 pellets. This of course depends on the area you work and the geography and deals mostly with liability and not so much performance. Just remember when you pull that trigger you will be responsible for 18 pellets heading down range with no sense of who's good or bad. One of those pellets missing the intended target and striking an innocent is not what you or your department needs. In the area I work our department is actually considering getting away from 00 buck altogether and relying solely on rifled slugs. I think you can make arguements both ways but I think potential liability is the driving force. Currently we utilize Remington 870's loaded with 00. We also over the last few years began equipping select officers with patrol rifles in .223 caliber.