Tatted, while I normally regard what you post as quite good and well-rooted in procedure, I must take exception to your evaluation of the sound of a racking shotgun. I used to believe that way, also. I was on a call one time where a guy was tearing up an apartment. Just as we pulled up, he ran out of the apartment and across a field. I bailed out of the right side of the patrol car with the 12 gauge, yeled, "Halt! Sheriff's Department,' As i racked a round into the chamber. The guy left six feet of skid marks in the dirt as he sllid to a stop, threw his hands in the air and flopped onto his face. I have been reading recently many experts in the field of tactical weaponry that recommend keeping the shotgun fully stocked, which means one in the chamber. Their position is that the sound of a shotgun being charged does not have the magical ability to make a BG wet his pants and become a blubbering mass of jel-o While the sound of a shotgun being racked was recognized by virtually all the subjects in a test of peoples' recognition of sounds, people of all ages and experience levels recognized the shotgun, but that does not necessarily translate to a deterent. I have seen people who were high on drugs that would probably not even realize that a gun had been fired at him, let alone charged. Today, I would prefer to have five rounds in my shotgun than four, or as many as the longest magazine I could get, plus one in the tube.