[Todd Hogue]

"Just the sound of racking the action will scare most intruders away". I am sure you have heard that statement before. I posted this on my blog. What do you guys think. Comments?

Does this scenario sound familiar? You’re standing in a gun shop or sporting goods store and you notice a clerk hand a pump action shotgun to someone and declare “just the sound of racking the action will scare most intruders away”. I often wonder how that comment affects the thought process of the hesitant gun owner. My term “hesitant gun owner” is defined as a person that doesn’t have a background in firearms and is shopping for their first self-defense weapon. The hesitant gun owner typically doesn’t have much if any experience with firearms. Maybe crime has skyrocketed in their neighborhood or they know someone who has been assaulted or robbed. Something has caused them to visit this gun shop today and they assume the guy behind the counter knows what he is talking about. Sometimes they do. Sometimes they don’t! While this statement can be a cliché used by the well trained and decisive gun-owner, it can be a stumbling block for the uninformed. It could even get them killed.

Most honest well adjusted citizens don’t want to harm another human being. They just want to be left alone and be able to pursue life, liberty and happiness. So how can this statement cause the hesitant gun owner to get killed? What if they decide not to load their shotgun and just use the “deterrent” of racking the slide to scare away the violent criminal offender? What if that doesn’t work? The odds are it won’t work. With our current revolving door justice system our criminals have become very experienced. The repeat offenders walking the streets today have been pepper sprayed, hit with an expandable baton, tased and some have been shot. Do you really think the sound of racking a shotgun can be relied upon to scare off someone who is threatening you? Is this a helpful thought to put into the mind of the uninformed? The answer is a definite NO!

Gun shop owners should encourage the “hesitant gun owner” to obtain some training from a local or regional trainer. If that is out of the question due to the cost of tuition then frequent practice should be the next suggestion. Buying a shotgun and placing it in the closet is not an effective way to protect life and limb. In order to stay familiar with the shotgun a quarterly trip to the range would be my suggestion. Almost everyone can afford a six or seven dollar box of shells for practice every 3 months.

Next time we will shed some light on the often heard gun shop statement “you don’t even need to aim a shotgun, just point and shoot”. Sadly, nothing could be further from the truth…

Todd
http://gun-guy.blogspot.com/

[wtf0ver]

The sound of a shotgun racking is very intimidating. It's unmistakeable and might change the mind of your run of the mill smash and grab type burglars. The hardened criminals maybe not. if you don't have it loaded and if you're just relying on the sound of it racking to deter a burglar you're sadly mistaken.

[Jon_R]

Originally Posted by wtf0ver

The sound of a shotgun racking is very intimidating. It's unmistakeable and might change the mind of your run of the mill smash and grab type burglars. The hardened criminals maybe not. if you don't have it loaded and if you're just relying on the sound of it racking to deter a burglar you're sadly mistaken.

It will likely force the bad guy to a decision point. Fight or flee. No telling what that particular bad guy will choose.

If the racking of your shotgun is followed by the sound of the racking of his shotgun you will really wish you had practiced more because you are getting ready to experience some drama.

[mixflip]

Home defense shotguns are meant for shooting people...not scaring people.

[PeaceKeeper]

The sound of a pump shotgun is extremely effective, that is when it is proceeded immediately by a large muzzle flash and loud boom.

[PrO...]

Unfortunate for any criminal caught trying to rob/harm my family and me...

I have a semi-auto!

[gruntmedik]

Originally Posted by Jon_R

...If the racking of your shotgun is followed by the sound of the racking of his shotgun you will really wish you had practiced more because you are getting ready to experience some drama.

That's sig line material right there.

[bug]

Originally Posted by mixflip

Home defense shotguns are meant for shooting people...not scaring people.

There will be no better responses than this
+1

[Uncle T-bone]

I only want the bad person in front of my shotgun to see a bright flash and hear a loud boom and then maybe, just maybe hear me rack it...

[aippi]

Many guys on these blogs think of HD as the final scene in "Scareface". They watch to many movies.

Most every time if someone breaks into your home it is because they think no body is there. When they realize that someone is, they get out of there because the messed up.

Yes, there are occupied home invasions that you hear about on the news and you hear about them because they are so rare. And yes, a single woman living alone is at a greater risk for this. However, most of these occupied invasion involve drugs or large amounts of cash. This just does not affect most all of us and thinking a group of armed thugs are coming to your house is unrealistic.

If you hear a sound and think someone is out there, call out " I am Armed and on the phone with the police" then rack that pump. If someone was there you will hear a door slam or window break as they dive out it.

Thinking you can just sneak up on someone and shoot them for being in your home is wrong headed. There are ways for a person to end up there and not be intending you harm. If you are that afraid to live alone then move back in with your parents so they can protect you.

[GoBow]

You don't have any guarantee that the BG will even hear you rack the slide. Most folks (and animals too) unconsciously turn off their hearing if they are moving. They'll hear their own footfalls and whatever noise they make; but they won't hear other sounds unless those sounds are really loud. You could strike up a brass band and they still might not hear it. They're too preoccupied with the sounds they're making.

[JBnTX]

I think it's just one more of those highly overrated gun myths.

It just assumes too much, and that's dangerous in a HD situation.

[southernshooter]

Don't want to do the slide rack thing. Dump one round onto the ground and give my position away.

[Glockdude1]

No matter where you come from, everyone understands 12 ga pump......

[B Coyote]

Originally Posted by mixflip

Home defense shotguns are meant for shooting people...not scaring people.

An excellent paraphrase of Travis Haley from Magpul.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XCv0X6SqUg

bc

[AggiePhil]

You beat me to it. "I don't use a pump to scare somebody. I use a pump to shoot somebody."

[vafish]

Originally Posted by aippi

Many guys on these blogs think of HD as the final scene in "Scareface". They watch to many movies.

Most every time if someone breaks into your home it is because they think no body is there. When they realize that someone is, they get out of there because the messed up.

Yes, there are occupied home invasions that you hear about on the news and you hear about them because they are so rare. And yes, a single woman living alone is at a greater risk for this. However, most of these occupied invasion involve drugs or large amounts of cash. This just does not affect most all of us and thinking a group of armed thugs are coming to your house is unrealistic.

If you hear a sound and think someone is out there, call out " I am Armed and on the phone with the police" then rack that pump. If someone was there you will hear a door slam or window break as they dive out it.

Thinking you can just sneak up on someone and shoot them for being in your home is wrong headed. There are ways for a person to end up there and not be intending you harm. If you are that afraid to live alone then move back in with your parents so they can protect you.

I agree with Aippi mostly, No rational person is going to stay in a home if they know there is a armed homeowner with a shotgun.

But, in my case I got a couple of barking dogs. If their noise hasn't persuaded an intruder to leave, then I'm not going to bother racking the shotgun. Besides that, racking the shotgun would eject the shell in the chamber.

[aippi]

Gobow - just post proves you have never heard an 870 racked with authority in the dead of night. There is no sound like it, nothing. Most anyone knows that sound nothing says get the F out of here like that sound.

[AggiePhil]

Deleted. It's Christmas.

[SarcoBlaster]

Originally Posted by AggiePhil

Remind me never to take a class from AI&P Tactical (though I've never heard of them prior to today). Mindset problems.

[1faSStchevy]

Only the second guy will hear my Mossberg "rack the action"

[unit1069]

When he was attending college a friend of mine took a girlfriend to explore a cave he was familiar with.

When they arrived there was a guy sitting in a car in the parking lot near the entrance. The two of them went into the cave for about 50 yards or so when my friend recognized the sound of a shotgun slide being racked.

They hurriedly left, and he told me he believed some local meth cookers were engaged in whipping up a batch inside the cave.

[Truckee]

I usually stay away from this sort of thread. But, some members I respect have said a couple of things that gave me pause. I've been prompted to waste a few minutes.

While I agree that shooting someone would be a horrid experience, I don't agree with giving a potential preditor any heads up (target indicators). I will attempt to intimidate them into fleeing, only after I've silently dialed 911 and covertly readied arms... and the perp is under my tactical advantage.

No rational person will be sneaking about my home at 4 a.m. I will count on the Mook becoming rational after I have the advantage, not prior to.

[USMC06]

I don't depend on the sound made by the racking of my shotgun to do my work for me, but ... Aippi is absolutely correct. If you have never heard the sound of a pump shotgun racked in the dead of night while approaching an "unknown condition", you have not heard it all. It can be LOUD and paralyzing to many.

[ennis]

Years back, a friend and his wife woke to an intruder in their apartment. They had a pump SG and a Garand under the bed. Each grabbed one. The intruder stuck his head into their bedroom. They racked the slide on the shotgun. The intruder calmly turned and spent the next 15 minutes rummaging through the house taking whatever he fancied, before leaving. The ammo was in another part of the house. But, the point is, racking of the shotgun, as well as seeing, two armed occupants, did absolutely nothing to discourage this guy.

I know this is where folks chime in with, "an empy gun is useless" or "He wouldn't have walked away from my house". What any of us will do at times like that is another question. This is only about the idea that racking noise from a shotgun is an effective deterrent. It wasn't in that one case.