Addressing Shotgun Side Saddle Carriers -- An Experienced Assessment.

The Venerable QTAC-7 Side Saddle Carrier.

We have studied the opinions of shotgun tactical trainers, in regard to extra ammunition carry, side saddle carriers.

We are going to address the opinion of those who discourage the use of VELCRO®-attached ammunition carriers, in that their opinion is, "They are ineffective for retention in tactical deployment."

This rebuttal assessment is based on three decades of experience with tactical combat shotguns and tactical rifles.


In our day, we carried extra ammo either in our pockets or pouches.

Traditional shotgun ammo carry.

Retrieving ammo was cumbersome and precarious. Dropping ammo, especially when engaging in actual dynamic situations, did happen. Was there panic? No. Just keep grabbing.

As a side note, for the naysayers who comment "If you need more than what is in the tube, you must be doing something wrong" have not been in a true dynamic situation. In our personal experience we have blazed through multiple shotgun tube reloads of shot shells and the threat(s) still existed.  Dynamic circumstances are never choreographed and never appear as though they do in the movies.  Real circumstances are chaotic, at best.

Personally, I have oriented ammo incorrectly on reloading and dropped shot shells. Yes I practice extensively reloading tactics with my weapon in static environments, but in true dynamic situations, for which I have experienced, Murphy's Law is there to sucker punch you! Things do and will go wrong.  What matters is how you are able to adapt in a quick and efficient manner.

In the last 15 years, I have adopted accessories on my tactical combat shotgun. I have tried metal and polymer side saddles. I embraced the concept, but either found them too tight or too loose. I did not like having to dislodge the shotgun from a shooting position to a loading position. This took too much time and effort, in my opinion. Ambient temperature is also a factor. In the cold, pulling/pushing ammo was not smooth or easy. If it was hot, just firing the shotgun with the metal or polymer sidesaddles,  I would lose a couple of rounds either falling out the bottom or ejecting up and out of the holder from the recoil. Another factor was the after-market binding screws replacing factory pins to secure the mounting plate. Too tight, binding the receiver and causing extra friction for internal components--too loose and this causes the plate to vibrate causing external damage to the receiver. I also did not like that the carrier was static--once empty, it's empty!

I wanted to have the ability to have shot shells available and close to my work space. Seeing the elastic removable carriers come to market, I felt this was worth looking into.

I have tried other elastic holders and found many used cheap sticky tape.  I did not like the soft carrier backing, as it formed wave rolls and did not make full contact along the receiver.  Most of all, when firing the weapon, the actual carrier would fall off due to lack of full contact and engagement. I found this to be unacceptable, but I wanted this idea to work!

Working on a solution to this problem, years back, we developed a semi-rigid, flexible, full-flush contact carrier that mounts only with strong Industrial Strength VELCRO®. This created a great system, for which I believe is the best thus far.

We set forth reasonable expectation to mitigate ammunition dumping. Our years of testing has shown great expectation can be achieved with this system of carrier. Through our tests, we experience less than a 10% dump ratio in dynamic environments. It is unreasonable to expect perfect retention, as some so-called "tactical shotgun experts" believe. If something does not perform to 100% expectation performance, does this mean I throw away a great force multiplier? Of course not!

Easy grip and rip!

Extra rounds close to work space!

If a shell comes loose, do I stop and pick it up or bewail the imperfection?

I empty that carrier either via port or tube loading, rip it off and press a loaded one already oriented to my preference and press forward!

The extra six rounds close to the work space mitigates time to extract and reload far better than reaching in my pocket or pouch! The benefit still greatly outweighs any negative potential of any ammunition dump, which is impossible to avoid 100%.

As a comparison, do I throw out an AR platform for common malfunctions, such as clearing? Or how about common operator error, such as magazine drop when trying to load an AR and/or have the magazine drop right out of the receiver because of poor magazine seating? I have seen many and have personally experienced this many times. It happens, grab another; pick it up, if its your last one and get it in there; and charge and GO!

The overall experienced assessment of the QuadraTactical Ammunition Carriers is that they provide the shotgun operator with an excellent force multiplication dimension for the tactical combat shotgun platform. Get them here: QuadraTactical

Most effective battle gun platform!