Not only do I love shooting my shotguns, I love training with it and still deploy it for work purposes. Shotguns are incredibly devastating tools in close quarter combat (CQB) situations. Unfortunately, it does have two limitations, ammo capacity and reloading. While you can train reloading, it’s almost impossible to drastically increase the amount of time it takes to reload.
Why? Loading a shotgun requires fine motor skills, you can just jam in a cartridge, and instead you have to do it round by round. However, one good way to do this is to work on how you access your rounds. There are a ton of products out there, from ammo pouches to simply stowing extra shells in a rifle sling. But possibly my favorite is the AmmoPal, which is a polymer spring-loaded 12-guage shot shell dispenser. The product was invented by Todd Luebke, a US Army veteran and the owner of Strike Hard Gear. He has created what is basically a PEZ dispenser but for shotgun shells.
AmmoPal works by sliding your fingers and using two fingers to push and grab the new round. The spring loaded design pushes another round in place, ready to be dispensed next. The either product is made from high-impact Geon PVC, which is extremely durable. It is resistant to UV, oil, and fire which makes it almost indestructible. This combined with the dual mounting clips means it can be used together or independently. The clips are removable, and adjustable for height placement, and it can be mounted facing inwards or outwards as needed.
AmmoPal’s design is flawless. No matter what, you can count on it dispensing a shell each time without you ever having to take your eyes off the target. There is no fumbling around or dropping shells, or having to check to make sure they are pointing the right way. You simply grab your next shell and cray on. This is also what allows AmmoPal to increase your speed, and effectiveness.
As far as durability of the AmmoPal, I tested it in various drop tests to see if it would dislodge a shell. Even repeatedly dropping it from 6 feet, several times did not dislodge a shell. It is certainly impact resistant, and even with all 10 shells in there won’t dislodge one. The AmmoPal still looks great and hasn’t faded, nor does it look like it’s falling apart after months of use. I decided to take the company’s word on it being fire resistant.
If you were looking at increasing your reload speed with your shotgun, I would strongly recommend you look at the AmmoPal. There are other products out there but none will have a 10 round capacity, the flawless spring system, or the light-weight design. 8/10.
Ben