Shockwave

Posted on by

Go to try one of these today:
thumbnailImpressions? Well…I had been pretty curious to try one. After getting the chance to try it, my enthusiasm has gone from “I need five of these” to “Eh..two will be plenty.”

Now, before you say anything, yes I have seen all the YouTube videos about the ‘proper’ way to shoot this thing. That said, it is still wildly impractical for anything beyond ‘narrow hallway’ venues. Would I feel comfortable with one in the house at 2am? Maybe. But unless you think spending $390 for a gun that, in my opinion, is best used at distances where you can do target identification using the Braille system, I think there are better options.

Recoil? Well, obviously, yes, there’s recoil. The furniture is too slick for my tastes. The forend, especially, was prone to sliding right out of my hand. A Hogue or Pachmyer ‘rubbery’ forend would be my choice. The strap on the forend helped, but my hand still slid around a bunch.

Throw a ‘wrist brace’ on there and I’d be much more pleased. Honestly, I’m not thinking of many circumstances where I would not be better served with a handgun or a carbine. Like a lot of niche guns, nine times out of 10 it isn’t the right tool for the job. But that tenth time….

However, it has a ‘cool’ factor, is fun to play with, and someday they’ll probably legislate it into NFA badness, so I might get one just for the sake of that. As a primary weapon, I cant see any circumstance where it would shine over a handgun or M4. But, as a ‘specialty’ kind of thing it might be useful. Either way, interesting to play with, and I’ll probably get one, but unless it has a stock on it i’m going to relegate it to ‘range toy’. YMMV.

As an autoloader, however, I might be a little more inclined to think that it has a tactical niche.

23 thoughts on “Shockwave”

    • I’m confused… why do you feel the need to link to posts that I made? Do you feel that I’m not aware of what I posted in the past, have forgotten it, and therefore need to be reminded of it?

        • And you know that….how? Google Analytics tells me what percentage of traffic here is ‘repeat customers’ and ‘most’ are, in fact, not new.
          Additionally, your question was not aimed at readership, but at me. Since the question was directed at me, and I’m quite aware of what I post, the linkage was unnecessary unless you feel that I need to be reminded of my own postings.

          • Eric, toughen up snowflake.
            The lack of tolerance for presumptuous behavior is the right of the site owner, his call.
            Why do you care? Planning a presumptuous post in the future or was the presumptuous poster the victim here?
            Were this an in person conversation it would be funny.
            “Hi Commander, please tell me about your latest experience. I remind you about what you said last year on a slightly different topic but please go on with your answer!”

          • And some of us who have been reading the site for a while don’t remember every single thing that gets posted. Bringing up a prior discussion and providing a link for the readers is not presumptuous or rude, it’s actually useful.

            You might want to schedule a visit to the proctologist and get whatever is bothering you checked out. Sheesh.

  2. Yah, that butt stock (hand stock?) caught my eye immediately as “there’s nuthin’ to keep it from sliding right outta my sweaty/bloody hand”. Needs sumthin’.

  4. Yuck.
    Just tuck the buttstock under your armpit if your opponent is too close. Get a folding stock for storage, unless it’s one of those Benelli “spring into stock” types.

      • And your point is?

        I was talking generic shotguns, but mentioned the one type that can’t use a folding stock.
        After seeing so many shooters have problems running pump types, including 3-gun competitors, I”m not much enamored of them. Not that big a deal if your target is a flying tweetybird, but for serious social use, I’d prefer an auto. Specifically a Benelli.

        • “Get a folding stock for storage, unless it’s one of those Benelli “spring into stock” types.”

          Maybe you need to learn to write more clearly!! Are you saying to put a folding stock on the Shockwave if it doesn’t have a spring in the stock? Your statement is unclear!!! So, my point has been made!

  5. The ability to change barrels and buttstock to go from defensive hallway sweeper, to a slug gun, to bird gun, could be very versatile when the SHTF.

    Reportedly guides in Alaskan brown bear hunts carry a Rem. 1187 with slugs as a back up gun. Semi-auto giant chunks o’ lead FTW when wounded massive creatures are on the attack.

  6. My initial thoughts on this size range of shotguns is a solid follows:
    – Easy to handle and useful at close distances. Seems like a decent bedroom or hotel room gun.
    – Along the hotel room lines it could be a good ‘fits in the overnight bag/ backpack’ but hits harder than a pistol.
    – Cool/ Snub at the ATF. I never thought I could have something like that because paying for a tax stamp for a shogun would be silly.
    – Some specialty applications like less lethal or breaching.

    Yes it would not be a good gun for a small framed weak wristed person but I’m neither. Yes it has a slow rate of fire and limited range as well as capacity. However at bedroom/ hotel distances those points are negligible. There is a reason close quarters shotgun fights don’t last long.

    Yes there are other options in the size range but they are either significantly less powerful (every decent Sub/ pistol caliber carbine), much more expensive (PCC and bullpup/ folding stock carbines) or really in a different size class.

    I plan to buy one.

  7. i hate seeing them market guns like these. they are appealing to the wrong crowd, the chicago types, that use them the wrong way and make us all look bad. they have to know that atf will revisit this and make a bunch of folks into instant felons one day, but anything for a buck.

  8. Fired both the Mossberg and Remington versions and while I like the 870, the Mossberg wins out on this one especially since it can fire the 12ga mini shells without the adapter. Recoil is that of a 20ga shotty. The Shockwave I shot, they put a Big Dot on the front sight and wearing gloves there was no slippage while firing the 12ga 00 buck or the mini shells. It’s a niche weapon for sure, I’d rather have a CZ Scorpion pistol with armbrace and a binary trigger then one of these.

  9. Because it supports past experience and personal prejudices, I go with the “Meh” practicality rating.

    And sadly, raw capitalism times shortsigtedness, and disdain for future customers, has pretty much eliminated the really nice grippy Pachmayr forend option for shotguns, unless you find a used one somewhere. Which sucks.

    I have a plethora of 870s hereabouts that would have liked the same after-market forend the original acquisition sports, since 50 years later Remington has never seen fit to upgrade the part to standard, wet outside conditions or sweaty hands on a hot day never having occurred to our engineering/design betters. Because if it wasn’t thunk of first in Ilion, NY, it clearly isn’t important enough to bother about.

    But the perennially stupid thuglife Vindicator pistol grip is still routinely stocked. Go figure.

    Unlike Pachmayr’s current owners, Hogue – being somewhat brighter – apparently still sees a market for a grippy forend for Rem 870s and Mossy 500s, thus confirming my suspicion that if something is superior, and I like it better, it will either be discontinued entirely, or supplanted in favor of whatever I found less needful.

    Pretty sure there’s a Beautiful Mind Nobel Prize In Economics theory hiding in there somewhere, but I’m not a schizophrenic genius, and it’s not my field.

Comments are closed.