I posted this a couple months ago and the hate comments were horrific. I thought I would write about something other than space or futurism or politics and economics for a change so here goes. An individual high in openness like me will innovate as a matter of course so I decided to display a concept I believe is fairly original before someone else comes up with it and gets the credit. I first carried a shotgun in Alaska in areas with bears and trusted in the power of that weapon and on occasions carried them on the job over the years. While I love the elephant gun power, the recoil of magnum loads is, however, a distinct disadvantage. Few enjoy the beating they take from the weapon, which jars the entire body and bruises the shoulder (I hate it). In addition the standard Mossberg or Remington with a shoulder stock is not very maneuverable in tight spaces. Folding stocks have their own set of problems and have never been very popular either. Law enforcement wanted a shotgun that would fit in the front of their patrol vehicles and could be quickly deployed and so have used pistol-grip-only (PGO) shotguns for decades, calling them “Cruisers.” So I have modified this concept into something new- my original post was titled: “Cruiser Ascendant.”
The problem with PGO’s which they are forever damned for is you cannot aim them. Try looking over the top of the barrel and the gun will eventually smack you in the face, no matter how hard you try to remember to keep it from doing so. It occurred to me about five years ago that a red dot sight mounted on the side of the shotgun might solve my love/hate problem and I began experimenting. Sighting and firing the weapon “bazooka style” worked out well and I have continued shooting and developing the concept for the last couple years while thinking about marketing it in a kit. But…while I am great on ideas and innovation I am worthless at executing business plans and so I have done nothing with this “Offset-sighted Cruiser Shotgun”, or “OC” gun, and eventually someone is going to figure it out just like I did. So why not come out of the closet?
The metal ring attached to the flashlight rail is for a sling but I already figured out the best place for the sling to hook to and I put the ring on just so the gun will sit somewhat upright on a flat surface. * I have since removed the hook ring as the gun still sits less upright and the sight picture is better.
I designed the setup with active shooter response in mind. Loaded with buckshot it is, in my view, superior to any handgun (it is actually a kind of super-handgun). It is also short enough to be transported easily in a vehicle (why police used it) and handles well in confined spaces. Most importantly, it allows the shooters arms to act like shock absorbers so with a soft rubber pistol grip practicing with the weapon is mostly painless. Like any 12 gauge it of course kicks like a mule and I usually put in one random dummy round out of five when practicing to help me process and condition out flinching.
The key component is the BEAMSHOT RF9 mount, though there is a similar cheaper mount available last time I checked. To keep the mount from moving around I filed a slot in the front bottom to fit the barrel mounting nut support. I used a couple little plastic bubble levels and white-out with the barrel in a hobby vice and was very careful (you cannot un-file metal). I planned on accidentally over-filing a little and had some shimming material ready but managed to avoid that. It was difficult but not too challenging. In my experiments over the years I found without the support beam engaging this slot the sight mount is eventually going to move. Different reflex sights and flashlight rail combinations, or no flashlight rail in combination with the mount, can be used. The only requirement is that over 2.5 inch offset between the center of the barrel bore and the center of the sight. If the sight is under that measurement and too close to the barrel the gun is going to contact your head/face and hurt you when you shoot it, which defeats the whole purpose.
The hard plastic grip that comes with many cruisers off the shelf is going to hurt your hand. The Mossberg/Maverick supplied grip also has a metal sling attach knob that sticks out of the side- and if you are going to wrap that hard grip with something soft to make it work I would recommend also taking the sling attach knob off as it is not something you want near your face when lighting off this cannon. If you have the offset distance and are using the dot the gun should not hit you but you still want to minimize any possibility of injury. The soft rubber grip I put on had the same kind of sling attach knob sticking out of the bottom and I took that off as it does not help the gun to sit upright on a surface (why I put the sling attach ring on the light rail but later removed it as the gun still sits but at a more severe angle). There are new flip-up dot sights on the market that might make the weapon even more compact and I encourage anyone building an “OC Gun” to see if that is an option. Using one of the cheaper mass produced reflex sights is fine as I used one in my early prototyping and had no problem. In fact, it worked better than the second higher dollar sight I tried. You want as clean a sight picture as you can get without peripheral battery wells and dial covers sticking out.
And…anyone out there talking about the Offset Cruiser shotgun concept, please mention me, Gary Church. Good luck and I pray this will only be used to protect others.
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Addendum:
Several months ago I posted this and the mockers and trolls sitting in mommies basement seemed to have found something they could giggle and pee their pants about so I took it down. Disgusting creeps. I thought the spacex muskrats were bad…these guys are like a whole other legion. The Tucker Carlson white power hour is obviously getting them too wound up. It is back up so those of a more progressive view might take a look at my other posts.
For those actually interested and not trolling I have put a couple hundred rounds through this gun over the last couple years developing it and it works. It is different and will be difficult to get on target very fast at first and never quite as fast as shouldering and looking straight down the barrel- that is one of the trade-offs.
This setup is designed to allow sighting of a PGO shotgun, the difficulty doing so being the main drawback of this type of weapon. 
A much cleaner sight picture after removing the mounting knob on top of the sight and the ring on the rail below. The sight is bore-sighted with a laser and is offset to the left approximately 3 inches. This requires me to aim that distance to the left of whatever I am shooting at. It is not difficult with a little practice to visualize those few inches at whatever range I am shooting. It works.
In conclusion, a Pistol Grip Only (PGO) shotgun is more compact than a stocked weapon, making it easier to store in and deploy from a vehicle (why the police originally used it) and is more maneuverable in confined spaces. It also does not punish the shooter anywhere near what a stocked shotgun does. The hard plastic grip provided with many off-the-shelf cruisers does hurt the hand and a soft rubber after-market grip like the Hogue Tamer solves that problem. The main problem is aiming it. An offset sight is a trade-off as it adds complexity and due to the sight sticking out from the side of the barrel is not quite as easy to store. The “bazooka” position is also a quite different technique compared to “shouldering” and aiming requires an unorthodox offset sight picture. In my view the pros outweigh the cons.
Ice on the Moon 