Shotshells Anyone?
When I first started shooting 3-gun about 5 years ago, most folks were loading their shotguns strong-hand. Then, the really good guys started flipping the shotgun and putting the buttstock on their strong-side shoulder to shove shells into the magazine tube. I thought, “wow, this is like a quantum leap here”. I dropped fewer shells because I could “look” the shells into the magazine, and it was faster than fumbling up underneath the trigger guard. Of course, I was shooting an 1100 at the time. Then, I watched as Robbie Johnson filled his magazine tube in about 6 seconds weak-hand, while keeping the Benelli shotgun in his shooting shoulder. Again, quantum leap… Now that I’ve made the switch from the 1100 to the Benelli M2, I’m practicing weak-hand reloads. But, when I was loading strong-hand, I got what has to be the best set-up for loading strong-hand on the planet. It’s called the Angled Shell Chest Carrier from 3-GunGear.com. Mark Buchanan makes some extremely nice stuff, and I used the Chest Carrier for the ridiculously shell intensive “shotgun circus” stage this year at the FNH match. I’ve never seen elastic like what is used on this rig, but it is stong and very tightly woven. I’d suggest storing the rig with shells in it, I’ve had mine loaded for about 3 months now and it still holds shells perfectly. It seems like most guys I see shooting the 1100 are loading strong-hand. I think this has to do with the way you have to engage the carrier latch on the 1100 to load the magazine. I tried, on several occasions, to load my 1100 weak-hand with very poor results. The Benelli, on the other hand, I can load weak-hand without a problem. Anyway, if you’re shooting an 1100 (and can’t load it weak-hand like I couldn’t), and you need an ignorant amount of shells because you miss a lot like me, (or it’s just a really long shotgun stage) try out Mark’s stuff. You won’t be disappointed.
