Some blahblahblah about side saddles, if you aren't familiar:
There are a couple options out there for long guns. Naturally the carbine is the best. If you should be forced into utilizing a shotgun in a defensive scenario, whether by departmental constraints, stupidity, the hand of god- whatever, it will probably feature a tubular magazine. Tube-feeders have very low mag capacities and thus shotgun side saddles were ushered in to provide shotgun operators with as many rounds on the weapon as possible. Finally, within the world of shotgun side saddles, there are a couple options. Over the past decade or so, Mesa Tactical's aluminum offerings have more or less dominated the respectable market with Tac Star's chasing behind shouting "I sell better and work just fine, really!" More recently, a return to "tactical nylon" has come about in the world of side saddles and EssTac's Shotgun Card is a fine example. The primary reasons for using an elastic retention system over the plastic of a Tac Star or the aluminum and Santoprene or whatever of a Mesa saddle are as follows: The shotgun is a violent weapon system. It throws everything on it around quite a bit. If you can find a side saddle that is rigid in construction AND retains shells perfectly under heavy and extended periods of recoil AND allows them to be easily removed when needed, I'll eat my MSM hat, the one with the earpro in it. In addition to that, there have been periodical reports on various internet forums of mounting hardware for heavier saddles such as Mesa's shearing under recoil. If you would like to only base your product selection on empirical knowledge, more power to you and go ahead and buy Mesa. Otherwise, read on.
EssTac's Shotgun Card is a simple 2"x~7.4" piece of rigid webbing with a 1.5" wide elastic strap sewn along it, double stitched at regular intervals, (0.9"-1"), to allow it to accept and retain 7 of any length 12 gauge shell. This is not a new concept, but it is certainly a cheaply executed iteration of the concept with definite bonuses over alternative side saddle options. I wont try to sit here and justify what I bought to both you and me. No system is perfect and it certainly has its downsides. Jus sayin. It's got its ups, too.
The card ships with a small loop of cordage at one end. This cordage features a 7-strand core and is double stitched through both the elastic and rigid 2" webbing base. It is easily cut by the end user. As with any paracord, just take a lighter to it and pinch it to finish it off nicely. I ditched mine because A. I dont need any sort of pull to extract the card from a pouch or to remove it from a weapon or loop platform, I can just grab the goddamned card itself, and B. loops of anything are snag hazards, and snag hazards that are attached to firearms are just liabilities. The cord can also get stuck on the card's hook backing and disrupt its ability to secure itself to a weapon. Other manufacturers have begun offering cards with simple, no-frills extra bits of material at the ends, not loops, to ease drawing the card from a pocket and removing it from a weapon. Again, I ask why. But. Whatever. As I will explain later, another nice thing about cheap nylon gear as opposed to expensive aluminum components is that you can modify just about anything about it easily and without feeling like you're wasting money/destroying something valuable.
The read of the card is entirely covered with hook material. Die-cut loop backers are available through a couple reatilers and do NOT ship with the cards themselves. Alternatively, adhesive-backed loop strips from 3M work just fine, and like other die-cut offerings, can be cut to any size, shape, form, whathaveyou to accomodate various receivers and various needs. For example, if this is a department gun and no permanent modifications may be made to it and the serial must be visible for inventory purposes, just cut the backer so the serials visible and when you're through with the side saddle altogether, a simple wash gets any adhesive still on the receiver off and shes good to go in a few minutes with no tools.
I have had no issues with the card falling off or coming partially off the gun. The hook material can also be cut out at on corner to ease removal from the weapon if the quick change capabilities of this system are really that important to you.
Feeding the elastic loops is certainly harder than loading a rigid carrier. If one were to reason it out, they'd find that increased speed and ease of use is always appreciated... hooowever loading a side saddle is not something you do when you need rounds on target, so the marginal increase in loading time becomes something near a non-issue. It really is not that difficult and you'll become quite adept with it. Retention issues with recoil and EssTac's shotgun cards are not unheard of, although as usual EssTac customer service is beyond awesome and if they stitched the elastic a little too loose, just call them up and let them know and they will replace it for you.
I was reticent to go the elastic route. I've used Mesas and I very much like them. Most of all I like that, (so long as their mounting hardware holds up), they will still be functioning probably long after I die, depending on how much use they get. The elastic of the EssTac Shotgun Card does not offer such longevity. Unfortunate, but nothing's perfect. Luckily they're cheap to replace, bout $15, and will probably last the average shooter a couple of months at least. I can see them being worn out much quicker if the shooter often lays the weapon down on its left side. Elastic like this also lets you know when its time to replace it. You'll notice pitting and you'll start to see the rubber strands inside it in time to order a replacement, especially if you order from SKD.
I have noticed that the rough edge of the card can cut my thumb at its first knuckle when I bring my strong hand up into a higher grip to access the slide release on Mossbergs. Like the safety edge biting into your thumb, or cutting up your fingers ramming rounds into the tube, it would not even be noticed under stress and is not a serious issue. That said, I expect Stu over at EssTac could pretty easily figure out how to slip some 5038 tape over the edges and clear this up.
Regardless of what type of monte carlo stock you're running, nylon side saddles can easily be adapted for use on the stock as well. Even if you've gone with a 12" LOP and the card is longer than the stock body, a Dremel with a cutoff wheel and a lighter will make short work of taking off a round or two from a carrier such as this. Of course, be sure to cut on the right side of the elastic's stitching...
I've probably forgotten something about this product. Oh well. That's all I can muster at this hour.
If you have any questions or comments regarding this or other equipment, feel free to ask away. I'll respond to the best of my ability. Cheers.
