Side saddle, brass up, brass down?

[H&K]

Just took a basic shotgun class from SoCal County SWAT instructor(arms still healing!) and this subject came up. I see that most pix onsite show brass down. We were told otherwise. Let's hear what you think?...

[rromeo]

I keep buckshot brass up and slugs brass down.

[tcb]

It depends on how you reload. In my academy we were taught to load with our weak hand pulling rounds down from the saddle and inserting them under the gun while keeping it on target. Other people will flip the gun over and use their dominant hand to load pulling rounds down from the saddle and inserting them over the gun, this is popular in competition, there are many varients, strong hand over the top to grab shells etc.... It really depends on what works for you, pick a way and train it.

[The Machine]

There are a number of different theories here. Some people alternate different loads, as said above, which is great for low light/no light. The important thing is to find a setup and practice. You must decide how to place your ammo in the saddle and how to get that ammo into action. There are weak hand and strong hand techniques.

[rromeo]

My reason is just so I can identify the rounds. With the brass down, the slug is clearly visible.

[Reductio]

Brass down: it loads faster for me. Give each a go and see... with the brass down, if you turn the gun over, you can just pull the shells out, then push them right in to the tube.

[B yond]

Thanks for the reply. Reasons?

We were told that the most common material for the feature is plastic and if kept loaded can take a "set" or relax. The instructor related in his experience he'd seen rounds start falling out of a sidesaddle when the weapon was being fired. He also said he'd seen rounds start to "walk out" upwards as a weapon was fired in action. The technique demonstrated was to put thumb up from the bottom and grasp brass between pinky and ring fingers and rotate fwd. to load tube mag. a bit of practice made it work fairly well. Thoughts?
Oh yeah, when loading, tuck butt under arm, do not try to hold out on point.

There are things that can be done to a side saddle to help it "grip" the shells if necessary. I've seen people put some kind of tape inside the shell holder to give more tension, but the best solution I've seen (IMHO, not something I've done myself either) was a dab of some kind of rubberized paint or cement inside each shell holder that was allowed to dry before the shells were inserted.

I'm curious why you were taught to tuck the butt of the gun under your arm when reloading. Did the instructor(s) give a reason?

Personally, I'm new to side-saddlery, but I've been keeping 3 rounds of 3" 00 buck brass down towards the muzzle and 3 rounds of 3" slug brass up at the butt end of my side saddle. This allows me to carry two different loads and identify them in complete darkness.

I've been practicing loading from both positions with snap caps A LOT, and have found brass down to be a little faster but brass up to be a little easier, of course YMMV. I'm practicing this with the gun shouldered and on-target, loading with my weak hand.

[Vanilla Gorilla]

i run brass up because gravity is not just a theory it is the law

[BigDogatPlay]

I run brass down as I too was trained to load from under the gun. And I use a flip method for loading, gun rotates and lay the stock on top of the shoulder. It's the best technique I've found yet. Brass up is very effective for ejection port loading, not so much for through the loading port. I run four 00B and two slugs, with the slug ammo always in the two most forward holes.

How to store them is also dependent on the side saddle itself. Some, perhaps all, weaken over time. In those cases, shells brass down may drop out under recoil. Some models are well known for it and come with instructions to not store the gun with shells in the holder for long periods. I use Lyman and Tac-Star and I've not had those issues yet.

[teflondog]

I use a TacStar side saddle on my 870, which doesn't secure the ammo enough during recoil. Brass down starts to slip out after shooting several rounds, so I keep my brass facing up. It's slower to reload this way, but I think it's better than having to pick up my ammo from the ground.

[Shintao]

Slugs Down, 00Buck Up. I have a Mesa Tactical and it keeps the rounds in regardless of whats going on. I like to be able to identify rounds in low light, also, I train keeping the weapon on target and reloading

[Sky_DiveR]

+1000 on the Mesa Tactical. Well worth the extra cost.

I also have "Double-O" up and Slugs down.

[STAGE 2]

Brass up. Your instructor is a wise man. Tacticool reloads are great, but even the best equipment wears out, and if for nothing else I don't want my shells falling out. It may be a hair slower, but its a darn sight faster than searching for shells on the floor in the dark.

[luckystrike]

I used to have a 6 round sidesaddle, lethal rounds brass down, non lethal brass up

[SoCalXD]

"Non Lethal"... those hurt! I volunteered for a hit way back when... big mistake!