Shockwave competition comparison - granted a stupid question

[Malamute]

To be fair, at the time he made that vid, nobody had seen any other way of running one of those shockwaves other than at hip-level, and he hadn't yet been exposed to push-pull recoil management so bringing it up to eye level to use the sights was a nonstarter. And let's face it, the birds-head grip wasn't intended to change how the gun was held, it was meant to add sufficient OAL to make a 14"-bbl 'shotgun' into a 'firearm'. So it's understandable that, at the time, he'd equate them with a traditional 'cruiser'-style PGO. I was in pretty much full agreement with him at the time (and I still am for the traditional PGO gun), and it was only Rhett's work that changed my mind on the potential of the Shockwave-style guns.

I dont think getting the gun up to see where its pointed is a nonstarter at all. I have to say Ive always been baffled by the idea of shooting stockless shotguns solely from the hip rather than getting them up where you can see where its pointed, unless one is talking contact type distances and concerned about it being taking away from you. The common vertical style shotgun pistol grips never appealed to me after I shot a few however.

I dont think its accurate to say the birdshead grip meant to increase length, I think it was used in the case of the shockwave for that reason, they used an existing commercially available grip to achieve that. Theyve been around a long time in the form of shortened buttstocks, as well I believe as custom made examples. The cut down single barrel I had way back when being one common type of example, and it was not difficult to shoot held out to see the barrel and hit cans in the air (all I had for airborne targets at the time).

Edit: I recall the Witness Protection guns from the 1980s as well as home and old gunsmith chop jobs from as far back as the late 1800s with similar grips. I recall articles on the witness protection guns from way back, but few details. One I just searched (2017) had a picture showing holding the gun up to eye level to shoot, mentioning that shooting from the hip was a great way to totally miss the target even at relatively close range.

https://www.tactical-life.com/firear...rotection-870/

[BWT]

As someone who is intrigued with oddball stuff, this thread may cost me some money

Me too some day.

How I look at the Shockwave is in context. $300-ish you have a pretty close to “One Shot stop capable” gun (not saying it is but lots of folks here have attested to the efficacy of a 12 GA 00 Buck) you can throw in a car and have 4-5 rounds.

This to me is legit what a truck gun could be. It’s about $50 more than a Ruger LCP and you aren’t putting $1200-ish in a rifle.

You also don’t have as such of a big stigma as a AR-15.

I don’t know I’ll ever buy one, but dang I’d say isn’t this a quasi-compelling argument.

[GearFondler]

Fantastic... I now have an irrational desire to put a birds head grip on my 1301. [emoji849]

[03RN]

Definitely not as fast as a stocked shotgun but sure is handy behind the seat or strapped to a ruck. Or even just out putzing in the woods hunting squirrels.
Full power slugs in this one

[Norville]

This inspired me to find mine in the back of the safe…

[TCinVA]

Edit: I recall the Witness Protection guns from the 1980s as well as home and old gunsmith chop jobs from as far back as the late 1800s with similar grips. I recall articles on the witness protection guns from way back, but few details. One I just searched (2017) had a picture showing holding the gun up to eye level to shoot, mentioning that shooting from the hip was a great way to totally miss the target even at relatively close range.

https://www.tactical-life.com/firear...rotection-870/

The bird's head grip is better than a typical pistol grip because it doesn't load as much recoil into your wrist...which fucking sucks in short order. If you are carrying it as a breaching tool not having that hard right angle on a pistol grip can help prevent snagging on shit to boot.

So if you absolutely have to use one of these things, the bird's head style grip is greatly preferable to the pistol grip, IMO.

It still sucks, just considerably less.

[RustyCrusty]

This is Rhett… thanks for the kind words in here!

I just posted this today. I thought it relevant to the discussion here:

[GJM]

Rhett is highly skilled and spends ALOT of time on niche' problems.


I think the way he works the Enigma is pretty interesting.

Do you know, when he is drawing with the butt of the pistol behind his belt, whether he pushes the Enigma higher with his support hand to expose the grip, or whether he just digs in behind the belt for a grip?

[backtrail540]

Do you know, when he is drawing with the butt of the pistol behind his belt, whether he pushes the Enigma higher with his support hand to expose the grip, or whether he just digs in behind the belt for a grip?

From watching his other videos, he explains that he pushes his three fingers in the gap behind the grip (created by the grip being behind the belt) and slides over to get the grip.

[SouthNarc]

Do you know, when he is drawing with the butt of the pistol behind his belt, whether he pushes the Enigma higher with his support hand to expose the grip, or whether he just digs in behind the belt for a grip?

He digs it and creates a slight gap right behind the butt to dig his last three fingers in. Right around 2:09 in the video is where he talks about that gap.