The original tactical shotguns

Brutus

Brutus

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In 1888 it said Winchester offered from the factory a twenty inch barrel for the 1887 shotgun.
I am kind of enamored with the older history of 8 and 10 gauge shotguns in law enforcement and security.
I do believe Wells Fargo purchased Baker (or Ithaca?) shotguns in both 12 and 10 gauge for thier coach guards.

Right around 9-11 there was a now defunct Canadian gun online auction house.
I remember a 24 inch barrel SxS percussion shotgun with London Fine Twist barrels in 10 gauge.
Said to be once used by the New Brunswick Gold Company to guard shipments. Some lucky American won it in auction.

I have a book titled Gold Panning in BC. Along Quesnel River in Bullion a photo of Caribou Hydraulic Mine circa 1897. An un-named guard stands watch over the gold shipment with a Winchester lever shotgun.

There's a story about a Texas sheriff alone on rural ranch with his wife. Four hostiles on horseback arrive uninvited.
His 8 gauge kills one outright and mortally wounds another from a single 3 ounce shotload.

I wonder how many these were pressed into guarding sensitive North American rail stations and post offices during WW1?

In WW2 I wonder how many ten gauges were pressed into domestic service so that a 12 gauge pumpgun could go overseas with the troops?

These old fine shotguns have been keeping home and hearth safe for a couple hundred North American years.
Especially during rebellions, early settlement & world wars.
It deserves respect.

Edit: the only shotgun toting guards (in recent decades) for armoured car service was said to be Brink's, and only in Quebec.
That's rather interesting.
 
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During the 1920s and 30s, my small town cop grandfather is said to have kept an old blackpowder double barrel beside his bed in case a dissatisfied customer or one of their kin turned Midnight Rambler; that was pretty tactical but I don't have the technical details. I do think it was a good idea because, like most cops in his day, his handgun was only a .32. Anyway, the shotgun didn't keep the family pets from being poisoned, but it did keep the people inside safe.
 
Brinks and all other armoured car services had shotguns on the Lower Mainland until the middle/late 1990's. I watched a disabled truck's load get transferred with 2 guards posted with shotguns in the 1990's - in broad daylight in New Westminster.
 
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enefgee said:
Brinks and all other armoured car services had shotguns on the Lower Mainland until the middle/late 1990's. I watched a disabled truck's load get transferred with 2 guards posted with shotguns in the 1990's - in broad daylight in New Westminster.
Click to expand...

That's quite something else.
Never seen any private guards with shotguns NS, Ontario, Saskatchewan or Alberta.
 
Brutus said:
That's quite something else.
Never seen any private guards with shotguns NS, Ontario, Saskatchewan or Alberta.
Click to expand...

We had shotguns available to us at Garda but nobody uses them anymore except for certain runs. All 870's with some real world wear...beautiful;)
 
Brutus said:
That's quite something else.
Never seen any private guards with shotguns NS, Ontario, Saskatchewan or Alberta.
Click to expand...

I did a stint with Valguard in Toronto a couple of years back, doing milk runs from TO to Edmonton carrying bullion and high end jewelry for the CJ Expo. We were issued Glock 17s and Winchester SXP Defenders with 00 Buck loads while we were on duty, which made sense considering we were carrying up to about 4 million in cargo each way.

Only got challenged once by a grubby looking homeless person doing a half decent Dave Chappelle impression in Edmonton...who literally soiled himself in the lobby of the convention centre at 2am to the sound of the shotgun getting racked when he refused to back off.

Fun times!
 
Shotguns have always been heavily used for defense , and offence , purposes as it was only fairly recently that police services switched from shotguns to ARs for in Cruiser carry . The CSC still use shotguns for many applications ; and some police services now use shotguns for shooting bean bags . Have never seen the CBSA with any type of long gun , so not sure if they have long guns or not .


 
Brutus said:
Edit: the only shotgun toting guards (in recent decades) for armoured car service was said to be Brink's, and only in Quebec.
That's rather interesting.
Click to expand...

Brinks in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia still sent one out with the driver until maybe 4 years ago. 870 police like this https://www.remarms.com/shotguns/tactical/model-870-express-synthetic-tactical

Some were marked police magnum, some were not, older ones had bead sights and wood stocks, some newer were synthetic stocks with Remington rifle sights, all had 18.5” smoothbore barrels and were used with Winchester low recoil 00 buckshot. Some branches added side saddles, but most just had elastic stock cuffs to carry ammo.
 
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