I have been carrying and shooting shotguns for over 40 years. I carried a Remington 870 for 29 of those years as a police officer. In that time I had quite a few different accessories on my guns. Some stood the test of time while others came and went. I thought I had seen just about everything. When I met Michael Lavergne at the SHOT Show this past January and saw the TactaLoad for the first time, I realized I still had more to see.
Mr. Lavergne is also retired from Law Enforcement and spent many years carrying and shooting shotguns. Like a lot of us, he felt the weakness of the shotgun was the limited ammunition capacity. Rather than add on some bulky shell holder, he decided to invent a new butt stock that is capable of holding 5 extra shells inside. Knowing that most polymer tactical shotgun stocks are hollow, he was able to create a space inside the stock where the 5 rounds ride on a spring loaded follower, pushing them out of the bottom. They are held in place by a polymer retainer. The TactaLoad stock is designed to hold three sizes of shot shells – 2 ¾”, 3” and 3 ½”.
Mr. Lavergne sent me two of the TactaLoad stocks to test. One for a Remington 870 and another for a Mossberg 500. I installed them on two shotguns I had and found the installation was very easy and took hardly any time. I loaded the stocks with dummy rounds to start, making sure I understood how to load and unload them. I needn’t have bothered. It was easy getting the rounds in and out of the stock. Now it was time to head to the range.
On the range I tested the stocks using a mix of 2 ¾” and 3” shells. I had no issues with any of them, even if I mixed them up. Both the Remington and Mossberg stocks operated the same. I found I could load using either hand from either side of the stock. I could do tactical reloads using my support hand but where the stock shined was doing combat reloads using my strong hand. I kept the gun in my shoulder with the pump to the rear and the action open, then I reached back with my strong hand, removed a round and put it directly into the open chamber. It was very smooth and fast.
The TactaLoad is very well made and easy to master. It features adjustable length of pull spacers to help you get the perfect fit. The rubber butt plate absorbs recoil and keeps the stock firmly in your shoulder. It even had a sling swivel stud if you want to add a sling. If you own a Remington or Mossberg pump action shotgun, you will want one of these stocks.