Tacstar shell holder opinions

Mermaniel

Mermaniel

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
79   0   0
Hey guys,
I plan on getting a 12.5'' Grizzly as soon as my income tax return gets here and want to get a shell holder. I dont (cant afford to) want to spend 70$ on a Mesa tactical, but found this Tacstar on ebay for cheap. Is it a piece of junk or not too bad?

Any suggestions on similar shell holders for about 50$ or less?

thanks.
 
Spend the extra money and get the messa the crapstars are famous for stripping holes and being a general pain in the ass
Messa will last forever or a s and j detachable shell holder is a great choise as well
 
Just copied and pasted another one of my posts from another thread hehe

I have used TacStar, Mesa, and the new S&J velcro side saddles and personally didn't find any of them stand out WAY farther than the rest. All have pros and cons.

Short summaries from my personal experience:
TacStar - looks ugly and is bulky and it feels like it's cheap but by far best retention of rounds under recoil. I had no actual issues with it

Mesa - looks nicest, fit and finish is nicer than my shotgun LOL, less bulky than TacStar, but I found round retention less than great. Half the loops were tight and half were loose which to me is more annoying than having them all just be loose. I also didn't like how the loops are so thin.. would have liked them a bit wider to cover more shell

S&J velcro - the one I decided to stick with for now. Very thin profile, retention has been decent so far, I like that you can have several and just stick them on. The long term durability has yet to be proven for me but I can't help but feel (whether I'm right or wrong) that the elastics would wear out faster than polymer or aluminum but I guess at the affordable price, I can just replace them easily
 
awesome, thanks for the advice and short reviews. I guess I'll pass on the Mesa. Why spend 100$ with tax and shipping just for looks???

any other info would be greatly appreciated.
 
I've had Mesa and Tacstar and prefer the Tacstar over the Mesa.

I found the Mesa to be nearly impossible to get shells into during the winter.

Anyone looking for a lightly used, 8 round saddle-rail for an 870?

IMG_1583Medium.jpg
 
I ran a 4rd tacstar on my 870 for a couple years and have had no issues with it besides the bulkiness. I switched over to a couple 7rd S&J detachable shell carriers for convenience and to make the shotty more streamline. However, I found that the S&J carriers do not hold the shells well at all. I had to constantly reposition the shells when they start sliding out after a few shots. When I'm practicing at the range it's not a huge deal, just more of an annoyance. But I'd hate to have to rely on it one day only to discover I've dumped all my spare ammo on the ground. I've switched back to the tacstar and have ordered 3 more for my other shotguns. This time I plan on using velcro to attach the plastic shell holder to the aluminum mounting plate.
 
If weight is an issue, go with the S&J velcro carrier.

Lighter, very low profile, almost unlimited mounting options, cheap! and best of all it's canadian made!.
 
Jwan320 said:
However, I found that the S&J carriers do not hold the shells well at all. I had to constantly reposition the shells when they start sliding out after a few shots..
Click to expand...

Ouch.. don't like hearing that especially since I just bought 6 for me and 2 for Brian
 
Sambaru said:
Ouch.. don't like hearing that especially since I just bought 6 for me and 2 for Brian
Click to expand...

Don't you mean you just bought 8 for Brian? heh heh.... ;)

For the price they're still a decent shell storage solution, just not on the receiver of any repeating shotgun. I relocated one of mine to the buttstock of my cooey 12g. Should work fine for the single shot. The other one I use in my range bag for any loose shells. Or I stick it to the door panel in my truck when I'm hunting.
 
Jwan320 said:
However, I found that the S&J carriers do not hold the shells well at all. I had to constantly reposition the shells when they start sliding out after a few shots. When I'm practicing at the range it's not a huge deal, just more of an annoyance. But I'd hate to have to rely on it one day only to discover I've dumped all my spare ammo on the ground.
Click to expand...

How were you using yours?.

I ran mine and hard the first few times out, no shells ever fell out. I even had them mounted in a very unconventional way:

P1020378.jpg

P1020379.jpg


Then the typical way:
P1020376.jpg


How hard you ask? despite my misses (doh), I never dropped a shell (that's me at the end there calling "out"):

[youtube]iXF-I3GfwI0[/youtube]

That was with both carriers full in the above config with me loading from the belt mostly (I did pull two shells out of the receivers holder, but I stopped afterwards, the one on the forend is still full)

Perhaps it was sewn too loosely, I'd contact Simon to get another one.
If you run it harder than that and you're dropping shells, I want to see video proof! :)
 
Cyanide Ride: Cool vid! I dig the forend wrap around method but I don't think that would work too well on my pump guns.
If I did any real intense shooting the shells would fall out of my S&J carriers for sure. I ran them on the receivers of my 870 express tactical and DA 12.5" grizzly. When I'm simply standing in a stall shooting at paper targets (totally NOT tacticool at all) most of the shells would have slid as much as 1/2 way out of the loops. I'd have to push them back up every so often. Same thing for when I'm out shooting clays on crown land. Perhaps I got a couple from a bad batch?
 
I installed a 4 round Tacstar on my HP9 and it works great. Installation was simple and it retains the shells well but is still easy to strip them out as required. The only thing (and probably Norc specific) is that the stock forend would hit the carrier before the action would cycle all the way to the rear; a huge problem as you can imagine, so I changed the forend to a Hogue overmolded and now it cycles without being impeded and has great grip.
 
Jwan320 said:
Cyanide Ride: Cool vid! I dig the forend wrap around method but I don't think that would work too well on my pump guns.
If I did any real intense shooting the shells would fall out of my S&J carriers for sure. I ran them on the receivers of my 870 express tactical and DA 12.5" grizzly. When I'm simply standing in a stall shooting at paper targets (totally NOT tacticool at all) most of the shells would have slid as much as 1/2 way out of the loops. I'd have to push them back up every so often. Same thing for when I'm out shooting clays on crown land. Perhaps I got a couple from a bad batch?
Click to expand...
I think you must have somthing defective. As the shells are very tight on the s&j DSC. Email us your address and will get new ones out to u asap.
Fyl. Do yours have the pull tab?
Bbb
 
ndb86 said:
that looks like fun... I think... What were you doing? What were you all shooting at what is the object of the game?
Click to expand...

This is called "Rolling thunder" there are 6 steel targets, shooter one shoots target one, shooter two shoots target two, etc. all the way to the last shooter who shoots target one and calls out. The first shooter now shoots target one AND two, shooter two shoots target one and two, etc, etc and so on and so forth until we are all shooting at all six targets.

It's incredibly challenging and a whack load of fun!. As you know, most matches are usually won or lost on shotgun and for this stage, your loading skills better be up to snuff! :)

badboybeeson said:
I think you must have somthing defective. As the shells are very tight on the s&j DSC. Email us your address and will get new ones out to u asap.
Fyl. Do yours have the pull tab?
Bbb
Click to expand...

And there you have the reason why I love this guy!.

Shotgun and shotgun stages are my favorite events out of all three gun stages.

So much so, I confess to ordering something very special and something I probably shouldn't have...
 
Stevo said:
I've had Mesa and Tacstar and prefer the Tacstar over the Mesa.

I found the Mesa to be nearly impossible to get shells into during the winter.

Anyone looking for a lightly used, 8 round saddle-rail for an 870?

I agree, I just got a Mesa and already have the Tacstar. I find the Mesa much harder to work with
Click to expand...
 
Hey, Simon,

Can you speak to whether or not we should/could keep our DSCs loaded? Will this cause premature wear on the elasticity if we keep shells in there all the time? Would you recommend taking the shells out for storage? Does it matter? Would appreciate any info on this. My biggest concern being loss of retention so I'd like to do whatever it takes to keep the loops as tight as possible.

Cheers!
Sam
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom