Wednesday Wisdom: 25 February 2026

Medal of Honor: Forrest Lee "Woody" Vosler 

For conspicuous gallantry in action against the enemy above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a radio operator-air gunner on a heavy bombardment aircraft in a mission over Bremen, Germany, 20 December 1943. After bombing the target, antiaircraft fire severely damaged the aircraft in which TSgt. Vosler (US Army Air Corps) was serving, forced it out of formation, and immediately subjected it to repeated vicious enemy fighter attacks. 

Early in the engagement a 20-mm cannon shell exploded in the radio compartment, painfully wounding T/Sgt. Vosler in the legs and thighs. At about the same time a direct hit on the tail of the ship seriously wounded the tail gunner and rendered the tail guns inoperative. Realizing the great need for firepower in protecting the vulnerable tail of the ship, T/Sgt. Vosler, with grim determination, kept up a steady stream of deadly fire. 

Shortly thereafter another 20-mm enemy shell exploded, wounding T/Sgt. Vosler in the chest and about the face. Pieces of metal lodged in both eyes, impairing his vision to such extent that he could only distinguish blurred shapes. Displaying remarkable tenacity and courage, he kept firing his guns and declined to take first-aid treatment.

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Performance of the Winchester 9mm 147 Grain Subsonic Jacketed Hollow Point Bullet in Human Tissue and Tissue Stimulant 

This particular 9mm load was vilified in the late 1980s and early 1990s as an inadequate manstopper. The article discusses the performance of the Winchester 9mm 147 Grain Subsonic JHP and correlates the load’s performance on the street with tests done in 10% ordnance gelatin. The San Diego Police Crime Laboratory reviewed twenty-seven shootings. The lab measured penetration depth of the 147 grain Winchester Subsonic JHP bullet in living human tissue at autopsy and measured the bullet's expansion from the recovered bullets. The lab compared the recovered autopsy bullets to the 147 grain Winchester Subsonic load’s performance in 10% ordnance gelatin shot at 4 degrees Centigrade. The lab found a close correlation.

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You Get What You Vote For: Repeat Offender Attacks 75-Year-Old Woman in Downtown Seattle

SEATTLE — Newly-released videos show the moments a man attacked a woman at random outside the King County Courthouse in downtown Seattle earlier this month. Fale Vaigalepa Pea, 42, was armed with a wooden board that had a screw through the end of it and used both hands to swing the weapon and strike the victim, 75-year-old Jeanette Marken, in the face, according to charges filed in King County Superior Court. The Seattle Police Real Time Crime Center recorded a video of the incident which has since been taken down.

Family members stated that the hit gouged out Marken's eye and she learned that she will not recover her eyesight in the affected eye. "To take a wood club with nails and hit her at full force in the face? I don't understand it," said Andrius Dyrikis, the victim's son.

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“The Gun Just Went Off! I Didn’t Pull the Trigger, Honest!”

Most of the time when someone characterizes a firearm discharge as "accidental," they should be saying it was a negligent discharge. Aside from the profoundly rare instances of firearms discharging because of an inherent mechanical malfunction, there are several other causes of unintended firearm discharges, from human performance errors – all of which have occurred, and not infrequently, in all groups of firearms users, civilians, police and military. In the law enforcement realm, unintended firearms discharges occur every year in North America. While most of these discharges result in minimal property damage and no human injury, occasionally the most tragic outcome of serious injury or death, to a civilian or fellow law enforcement officer, does occur.

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Local Governments Illegally Confiscating Firearms

Armed Attorneys Richard Hayes and Leslie Cross break down a troubling trend we’re seeing across Texas and beyond: police departments illegally withholding law-abiding gun owner’s firearms — even when no charges are filed. (Comment: I’m guessing this is happening most often in Texas's larger cities or counties)

In many recent cases, individuals are investigated, released, and never charged with a crime. Yet when they attempt to recover their lawfully owned firearms, police departments refuse to return them unless the owner obtains a judge’s signed court order or a “motion to return property.” If you legally carry a  firearm — this is an episode you might need to watch.

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Firearms Handling Refresher Part I: Handguns

While gun handling is not a perishable skill, it is certainly a corrosion-prone one. The skills don’t really die, but they sure can get rusty fast. The reader suggested that Backwoods Home’s firearms editor write a sort of handling refresher on firearms. John liked the idea, Dave Duffy concurred, and so did the gun editor. That’s all it takes, folks; Backwoods Home is your magazine, and the staff takes your suggestions seriously. Since the reader’s problems were with handguns, we’ll start there with this installment. 

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When you import the 3rd World; You get 3rd World values.

I lived many years in third world countries. Bribery is a way of life and often you cannot get a government employee to do their job without a bribe.

The ability of the average American to remain convinced that the entire World is just like them is rather cute. The ability of the average American leader — who is supposed to know better — to do the same is aggravating and dangerous.

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Don't Use FMJ Ammo for Self-Defense

Occasionally I'll see someone using cheap, ball ammo for self-defense. Sometimes this is borne out of simple frugality. More frequently it is the result of misunderstanding how modern, expanding, hollowpoint ammunition behaves. In this article I hope to convince you otherwise. Bottom line up front: don't use FMJ ammo for self-defense if (and only if) you have better options available.

Hollowpoints, as the name implies, have a hollow cavity at the tip of the bullet. Upon encountering fluid-filled tissue, a hydraulic action occurs, forcing the bullet to expand or "mushroom." Expansion is generally a good thing. Rather than making a very narrow, ice-pick style wound channel, expanding bullets cut a much wider wound track, which is more likely to cause rapid blood loss. Their larger diameter is also slightly more likely to strike a critical organ or structure.

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Uvalde Police Officer Who Hesitated Cleared of Any Wrongdoing

Every police officer in the country knows what to do if they’re ever at a school and some madman starts killing children: Run toward the danger and shoot the murderer until he’s very, very dead. Tactically, it’s pretty simple. It’s what police are trained to do.

Nowadays, officers no longer wait for SWAT to arrive if some maniac is shooting kids. It becomes an individual officer’s responsibility, because every second that tics by means another innocent child could be shot and killed.

If you can’t handle this responsibility, don’t ever raise your hand, take an oath and pin on a badge.

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Mindset and Decision Making

Caleb Causey of Lone Star Medics related a mind-boggling story recently about one form of mindset. He posed questions to some friends in the context of encountering two burglars in their home. The concept of giving scenarios and asking people questions about their anticipated reactions is often far more effective than pontificating about what they ‘need’ to do.

The friends are a couple who have a 10 year old son. The wife is a petite woman who is a practitioner of boxing; good for her. What Caleb did was to posit a scenario of initial violence and asked her what she would do. She replied she would fight them. Since the scenario was two burglars whose combined weight was three to four times hers, he continued escalating the scenario in his questions. In the event her resistance was overcome by the two burglars, the sequence of escalation he gave was: 

  -- her being badly beaten in the fight,
  -- her being raped,
  -- her child being raped,
  -- both of them being murdered.

The lady’s reply to the escalation of murder was the above quote about ‘being with Jesus.’ She apparently had accepted that as an outcome. However, her husband, who was listening to the conversation, did not find that acceptable. At the time of the conversation, they owned no weapons, other than perhaps a butcher knife. 

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The SSD-A Pistol Standards: A Low Light Test

Research indicates that criminals often choose the darkness or low light conditions to pursue their nefarious profession. A significant number of shootings involving police officers happen at night as well. Criminals view darkness as an asset and use it as an advantage against those whom they would victimize. These realities mean that if you are forced to defend yourself, odds are it will happen under low light conditions; however, few people pursue low light training even when the opportunity exists. 

Although shooting accurately with a flashlight is much more challenging than simply using a normal two-handed stance, my experience with students who have been practicing over the past several years is that low light mastery (like all shooting skills) comes with practice and the proper equipment. 

As of February 2026, I have participated in four Sensible Self Defense Academy (SSD-A) Low Light Matches(1) so far in this low light season. I have done well with my every day carry pistol (EDC), starting from concealment—just like I carry the pistol. In the matches I use a hand-held light since I do not have a light on my EDC pistol.

SSD-A Pistol Standards 

However, I wanted to test my skills using the SSD-A Pistol Standards under low light conditions. The pistol standards is a course of fire that gained inspiration from the Short Combat Accuracy Test that Tom Givens of Range Master conducts in his Advanced Instructor Course. (2) The SSD-A Pistol Standards are as follows:

Start all strings of fire with flashlight in hand, pistol concealed, hand at sides, drawing from the holster. 

-- Strings 1 & 2: At 3 yards, draw and shoot three hits on the target, do this two times.

-- String 3: At 5 yards, draw and shoot three hits on the target, do this one time.

-- String 4: At 5 yards, draw and shoot two hits on the body and one hit in the ocular cavity. Do this one time.

-- String 5: At seven yards, draw and shoot four hits on the body, reload, and shoot four hits on the body. Do this one time.

Target: The target we use for the Standards is the Shoot Steel cardboard target with a custom scoring area. The chest five-point area measures 6 x 10 inches. The ocular cavity five-point area is a triangle that measures 5 x 3 inches. We cover targets with a t-shirt or something similar so the shooter must aim at the anatomically correct (upper center chest) scoring area to achieve proper hits (see target image below).

Scoring: Hits inside the chest scoring area or the ocular cavity are five points. Hits outside the chest scoring area or the ocular cavity are three points. Hits cutting a line count for the higher score; however, hits outside the chest scoring area or the ocular cavity must have the bullet’s full diameter to count. We score edge hits as a miss.

The final score is calculated as follows: Record each string time and add together for a total time. Divide total points by total time, for an Index. Multiply index by 20 for a final score. The par score is 100; the goal is a score above 100. I use Tom’s scale to categorize the low light results as follows: 80-100 Competent; 101-125 Advanced; 126+ Highly Skilled.

My Performance 

 

For this particular test, I used the Building Shooters NURO® Shooting System to time my runs. The NURO® Shooting System uses visual start and stop threat cues. The target on the right has the red pistol start signal illuminated. My score on run #1 (shot cold) was a 124 with my P320 EDC pistol using reloaded ammunition that match the Hornady Critical Duty 135gr standard pressure load’s performance. My score on run #2 was a 101 with my P365 alternate EDC pistol using the same reloaded ammunition.

Flashlights 

Through experimentation over the past several years we have confirmed much of the conventional wisdom concerning low light gear. While the 60 lumens Surefire 6P was certainly state of the art decades ago, modern high intensity lights have come into their own. We have discovered that a powerful light (300 lumens and up) overpowers a weaker light and permits the shooter to identify and engage targets that might otherwise be hidden from view—someone standing behind a car’s headlights for example. 

The spot size of the flashlight beam and the beam’s spill are also important. Ideally when you illuminate a threat you want the spot shining directly in their eyes. Some lights have a very small spot designed to throw the light over longer distances. While this works well as a spotlight, it loses effectiveness when used as a self-defense light because the narrow spot requires too much precision to effectively blind the threat. A flashlight with a large spot requires less precision and therefore works better in this regard.

The flashlight’s spill is the amount of light surrounding the spot. A light with a generous spill allows you to see things or people you might not otherwise see. There are many good flashlights on the market that meet these requirements.

How about a flashlight on the pistol? We have had several police officers who attend our low light classes and matches, and some are issued pistols with mounted lights. I have no objection to pistol mounted lights, and they can make accurately engaging a threat much easier with the proper switch configuration. However, I believe everyone should master the hand-held light techniques for several reasons. Searching with a mounted light virtually guarantees that you will point the pistol in unsafe direction or at an innocent at some point. Police might get away with pointing their pistols about in this manner, a private citizen might get charged with aggravated assault. 

Challenges 

When I first started teaching low light classes (2014) we discovered that the two biggest challenges for shooters was recognizing the threat targets in decision-based scenarios and then hitting the threats. When initially exposed to low light problems, even very accomplished shooters who have very little difficultly hitting a target under normal lighting conditions often go through an adjustment period as they learn low light techniques. 

So what is posing a challenge for them under low lighting conditions? Almost every student with iron sights initially shoots high on the target or often over it. We discovered that shooters were subconsciously tilting the pistol up slightly to see the front sight better in the low light. 

Regardless of the lighting conditions, you must properly align iron sights and then concentrate on the front sight while simultaneously pressing the trigger. Hard to do under normal circumstances with good light--more difficult to do under low lighting conditions. 

The shooter in the image below is properly executing the Harries Technique with iron sights.  She is using a flashlight she borrowed from me for the match. This particular light has a very large spot and spill.  As you can see, it literally lit up the entire area. The targets are 15-yards from the shooter and you can see smoke from the shot she just fired.

Shooters with an optic on their pistol often have trouble finding the dot when they use low light techniques such as the Harries, the FBI Search, or the syringe if they do not grip the pistol properly and execute the technique correctly. 

Practice 

You must practice low light techniques to have any hope of using them under stress. Using a light in conjunction with a handgun is something that you cannot practice once and get it down pat. Thankfully you can practice the techniques with live fire during daylight if your range won’t allow night shooting. So how do you practice engaging multiple threats and shooting on the move with these techniques? 

If your local range has IDPA matches, shoot the course of fire using your flashlight if the match director will permit it. You likely won’t win the match; however, you will learn how to shoot and manipulate your pistol under some stress. Practicing how to search a structure (like your house when nobody is home) in the dark is important as well. DO this with AN UNLOADED PISTOL (check it 3 times!) or a dummy gun. This helps you identify how the various angles and corners in your house make one technique a better option than the other. 

Conclusion 

To my knowledge, no data exists concerning private citizen-involved shootings with criminals under low light conditions; however, since a lot of criminal activity occurs after dark we can assume that there is a likely correlation. There are several reasons to use a flashlight: to observe and detect, to illuminate and navigate, to eliminate anonymity, and to identify and engage threats. Used properly, a flashlight lets you see danger before it can affect you and it can encourage danger waiting in the dark to go elsewhere. 

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(1) We conduct these matches every year at Cedar Ridge Range, just north of San Antonio, TX.  We run matches once or twice a month (holiday and weather dependent) from November through March.

(2) I graduated from Tom’s Advanced Instructor Course in 2022. For Rangemaster’s SCAT go to: https://snubnoir.com/blog/2023/01/25/scat-drill/

Wednesday Wisdom: 18 February 2026

Medal of Honor: Owen Francis Patrick Hammerberg

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a diver engaged in rescue operations at West Loch, Pearl Harbor, 17 February 1945. Aware of the danger when two fellow divers were hopelessly trapped in a cave-in of steel wreckage while tunneling with jet nozzles under an LST sunk in 40 feet of water and 20 feet of mud, Hammerberg unhesitatingly went overboard in a valiant attempt to effect their rescue despite the certain hazard of additional cave-ins and the risk of fouling his lifeline on jagged pieces of steel imbedded in the shifting mud. Washing a passage through the original excavation, he reached the first of the trapped men, freed him from the wreckage, and, working desperately in pitch-black darkness, finally effected his release from fouled lines, thereby enabling him to reach the surface. Wearied but undaunted after several hours of arduous labor, Hammerberg resolved to continue his struggle to wash through the oozing submarine, subterranean mud in a determined effort to save the second diver.

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https://tacticalanatomy.com/qbuddy-teamq-tactics/

There are a few interesting observations to be made of the tactics in use in Mumbai--it you as a private citizen find yourself in a similar incident, remember--there may be two or more attackers:

It appears the attackers were organized into buddy pairs, allowing one to shoot while the other moved, and so forth. Interestingly, the buddy pair has is a later innovation in small unit tactics and has only been slow to trickle through regular infantry formations. In World War I, the smallest element of maneuver (on paper) might have been a battalion or company. 

The Germans, in developing “storm troop tactics” then innovated even smaller maneuver elements, which we might call squads today. The role of platoons and squads became only greater in WWII. After WWII, General S.L.A. Marshall conducted a massive study of the reactions of men in combat (See “Men Against Fire”) and the result of his work was the genesis of the Fire Team. The Fire Team is now the smallest doctrinal unit of maneuver in the US military. In the Marine Corps, it is led by a Corporal, includes an automatic rifleman with a Squad Automatic Weapon, and two more riflemen.

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Closing With The Enemy

It’s very common to see in news reports where Armed Citizens have pursued criminals after the criminal has broken off from the crime. Pursuit is fraught with hazards, both legal and tactical. Unconsciously closing with an adversary is something seen many times in Force on Force training. We need to train ourselves rigorously to hold position or to retreat unless there is a valid purpose for closing. Closing with an enemy needs to always be a conscious decision, never an unconscious one.

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It Was a Trap Last Time; It's a Trap This Time

So, amnesty for illegal aliens is back on the table — I say back on the table, because everyone pimping for amnesty tends to give the impression that amnesty has never been done in the United States before. Oh, but it has. Let us take a look at the Simpson-Mazzoli Act — also known as the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 — that President Ronald Reagan signed into law in November of 1986.

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The Rise of Carlos the Jackal, the Most Feared Terrorist of the 1970s

To teasing classmates, he had been el Gordo or “the chubby one.” To fashionable friends in London’s nightclubs, he was Illy. To his girlfriends in France, he was Johnny. In the Middle East, he was Saleem Mohammed. To the customs officials who checked his documents at various international airports, he was usually José Adolfo Muller Bernal, a Chilean academic.

To British authorities, meanwhile, he was Carlos Martínez Torres, a Peruvian businessman whose passport photograph—clearly in need of updating—showed a nineteen-year-old with a round face, full lips, a prominent nose, sharp chin and eyes obscured by large oval sunglasses.

José, Johnny, Saleem, Adolfo or Carlos had spent the penultimate day of 1973 preparing to shoot dead Joseph Edward Sieff, the Jewish president of Marks & Spencer, a major retail chain whose upmarket shops were to be found on high streets across Britain, and a prominent supporter of Israel. To this end, the young man had travelled to a mock-Georgian mansion on a quiet, elegant street in north London, not far from Regent’s Park.

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HUB Mount Suppressors: The New Industry Standard

What exactly are HUB Mounts? Hybrid Universal Base, or HUB for short, is a section of 1.375x24 thread pitch machined into the body of a suppressor. The reason for HUB mounts' widespread use lies in the flexibility and modularity they provide end users. For example, if you have a .30-caliber suppressor with a 5/8x24 direct-thread mount, you are limited to the types of firearms you can mount it to. In every single case, it will be a screw-on, screw-off process.

Your options expand with HUB mounts, whether it's proprietary direct thread adapters or quick-detach mounts. These terms may sound confusing to someone new to these concepts, so let's dive deeper.

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The Naked Medevac

A friend was flying medevac at a sprawling U.S. Army training base. These were the days before GPS and night vision goggles, so navigating a Huey helicopter over a blacked-out training area on a moonless night was a bit like driving a car down the Interstate with your eyes closed. Suffice to say, there’s a technique to it.

It was hot this time of year, like Africa hot, and heat casualties were a problem. Some unfortunate schmuck had died of heatstroke a few weeks before, and the chain of command was serious about ensuring that didn’t happen again. As a result, the drill instructors were especially mindful of heat exhaustion among their enthusiastic, bald-headed charges.

My comrade got the call that a trainee had keeled over from the heat at about 0100 in the morning. When your core temperature climbs to dangerous levels, time is brain. It is critical to get the patient cooled down quickly. That meant ice packs and a chilled saline IV. The Dustoff crew loaded all of this stuff onboard the aircraft and was turning and burning in no time. 

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Who doesn’t love a good fire? 

Not a housefire, but a bonfire, cookfire, and campfire? There’s no easier way or ignition source than a lighter—except, of course, for a flamethrower. But how did we get from primitive sparks to the reliable gadgets we carry today? The modern lighter didn’t appear overnight. It emerged from the age of flintlock guns, where sparks met powder with stubborn charm. 

Those early ignition systems inspired the first “strike lighters” in the 1820s. They were bulky and finicky—gadgets Q might hand Bond before a mission. Brass tubes hid crude flints. Spring-loaded parts snapped with unpredictable enthusiasm. Patience and steady hands were required, and a backup plan never hurt. Despite their quirks, they delivered portable fire on command. 

As metallurgy improved, these odd contraptions became dependable tools. By the early 20th century, lighters moved from novelty shelves to pockets worldwide. Soldiers carried them into trenches. Explorers trusted them in remote corners. Every day, people used them for pipes, candles, and small daily rituals. The lighter became a symbol of readiness and mechanical confidence. One spark changed how humans carried fire.

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Spohr .44 Magnum: High Dollar Revolver with Zero Shortcuts

The Spohr N670 is what happens when you take Smith & Wesson’s flagship classic magnum design, give it to an obsessive German gunsmith and say “make this, but do it your way.” That quality comes at a price. And that price is $4200. That is well outside my personal budget for a new wheel gun and I suspect the same is true for many of you. But that’s okay. Even if I can’t afford this gun, it brings me great joy that someone cares enough to produce a shooting machine as fine as this one. And by the time we’re done here, I hope you feel the same way. 

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338 ARC? A Closer Look At Hornady’s Large Bore Subsonic

The 338 ARC was, remarkably, the first ARC cartridge the company designed … all the way back in 2017. It’s a subsonic-centric cartridge designed for use on medium game at medium range. Hornady was exceedingly clever in releasing this cartridge at the right time, which is something that has tripped up many other cartridge launches. The market can support a subsonic .338 bore rifle easily right now, where even a few years ago this would have struggled to gain traction.

The 338 ARC is part of the venerable Advanced Rifle Cartridge (ARC) family that originated from the 6.5 Grendel/.220 Russian parent case. The 6.5 Grendel has enjoyed steady popularity over the past couple decades after it showed serious potential for fighting use early in the War on Terror era. It was proposed as something of a replacement for 7.62 NATO in long-range use, but it never truly caught on beyond its initial concept, with most military interest today being in Eastern Europe, though it’s yet to be seen if even this will ever come to fruition.

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Legendary Marine Scout Sniper Chuck Mawhinney dies at age 75 

Legendary U.S. Marine Corps Scout Sniper Charles Benjamin “Chuck” Mawhinney died at the age of 75 after an incredible life, both in the military and after. Mawhinney is famous for over 100 confirmed kills as a sniper in Vietnam.

“I’m just a simple person, and in Vietnam, I was just doing my job.” Mawhinney once said. His famous quote represents just how humble he was. Mawhinney worked for the U.S. Forest Service after his time in the Marines, retiring after 27 years, and for most of his life, no one knew just how legendary he was.

The general public never would have known about Mawhinney if it weren’t for one of his former spotters writing a memoir. Joseph Ward detailed his military exploits in the book, “Dear Mom: A Sniper’s Vietnam.” He ended up using the same rifle Mawhinney had, and in his book, he mentioned that Mawhinney had a whopping 101 confirmed kills.

Though Ward’s book didn’t initially sell very well, other authors and historians eventually stumbled across the book where they found out about Mawhinney’s record-smashing confirmed kills during the Vietnam War. Though it was later confirmed that the claim of 101 kills was low, that number was questioned because it exceeded the legendary Marine Scout Sniper Carlos Hathcock, who had 93 confirmed kills.

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The 20 Gauge Beretta A300 Ultima Patrol

Beretta announced a new version of the A300 Ultima Patrol in 20-gauge at the 2026 SHOT Show. Beretta’s new Ultima Patrol 20-gauge has a new stock design with integrated quick detach sling attachments and users can shorten the length of pull to twelve inches. Beretta made additional design changes including an enlarged loading port, a reversible safety, and extended bolt handle.

I recently attended a SymTac shotgun class. A fellow student who also happened to be a Lipsey’s executive brought one of the new 20-Gauge A300s to the class and allowed me to test fire it. I normally use a Beretta 1301 tricked-out with a Magpul stock and multiple Aridus Industries accessories and the weight difference between the two guns was eye-opening. The 20-gauge A300 weights only 6.0 pounds unloaded and the gun’s handiness is immediately apparent.

I am not recoil sensitive and if you correctly use SymTac’s push/pull technique, recoil is not an issue. However, I fired the A300-20 without using push/pull to see what the full recoil would be. Subjectively, the A300-20’s recoil was much less that what I typically feel with a Mossberg 590 20-gauge; a difference similar to what you could expect comparing the Beretta 1301 versus a Remington 870 pump in 12-gauge.

Now that Federal (as of this writing) is producing two 20-gauge buckshot loads with their FLITECONTROL® wad, a high performing self-defense load is available for the 20-gauge. In January 2025, I tested the Federal 20-gauge # 2 buck FLITECONTROL load that had just been released and found it patterned acceptably for most home defense distances with both a standard barrel and a VangComp-modified barrel.(1)

You often hear people opining that a 20-gauge is a better choice for smaller people because it recoils less. As I pointed out in a November 2019 article, this is often not the case.(2) 

It is a matter of physics. A 20-gauge, twenty pellet standard load of #3 buckshot weighs 468 grains. At 1200 feet per second (FPS) it will have a muzzle energy of 1497 foot pounds. A 12-gauge, 8-pellet 00 buckshot load weighs 430.4 grains. At 1145 FPS it will have a muzzle energy of 1253 foot pounds. All things being equal, the 12-gauge load would have less felt recoil than the 20-gauge load.

All things typically are not equal however. The 20-gauge shotgun will probably be lighter than a comparable 12-gauge shotgun so if recoil is a concern, the 12-gauge will likely produce noticeably less felt recoil. Take SymTac’s shotgun class and you will no longer need to worry about recoil anyway.

For more information on using a shotgun for home defense, please see the 2025 update to my Home Defense Shotgun Manual.

Every time I think I have all of the firearms that I will ever need, some manufacturer comes out with a new must have. I think Beretta's new A300-20 falls into this category

Even though Beretta has improved the stock, I hope a conversion adapter becomes available so a Magpul replacement stock can be installed. I also would welcome an Aridus Industries Imperium Handguard; however, that may be a wish too far--maybe Beretta will make a 1301 20-gauge version.   

If you enjoy reading these posts, please subscribe. The link is on the upper right side of the page. All that will happen is that you will receive an e-mail when I post an article. Your information will never be distributed.

(1) https://www.sensibleselfdefenseblog.com/2025/01/testing-federal-premium-20-gauge-2.html

(2) https://www.sensibleselfdefenseblog.com/2019/11/rangemaster-shotgun-instructor-course_13.html