How to load a shotgun fast

Technique demonstrated by Jerry McCulley (U.S. Army, ret.)

Load-two means stripping two shells from a belt-mounted carrier in one grab and feeding them into a tube-fed shotgun in one motion. It is how competitors keep a shotgun running without breaking their stance or their eyes off the stage. The video below is our own demonstration with the Johnny Clip 2x4; the steps that follow are the same technique written out.

The load-two, step by step

1. Set your workspace. Shoulder your shotgun. The reload happens up in your workspace, in front of your face — not down at your belt.
2. Reach like quick draw. Reach for your first set of rounds with your hand shaped, in Jerry’s words, “like a kid playing quick draw.”
3. Grab low, cap the top. Grab the rounds with your middle, ring and little fingers, and cover the top of the rounds with your thumb.
4. Pull up — never away. Pull up into your workspace. Resist the urge to pull away from you — always pull up.
5. Stab the tube two at a time. The bottoms of the rounds sit exposed in your grip, so you can stab them straight into the magazine tube two at a time.
6. Repeat until full. Go back for the next set and repeat until the tube is full.

Two details do most of the work. The grip: fingers under, thumb capping the top, so the shell bases stay exposed and ready for the tube. The direction: always up, never away — the Johnny Clip is designed to hold rounds secure even when you are sprinting, and the reload pulls up out of it.

The Johnny Clip's shell spacing is arranged for load-two and load-four alike — the four-shell grab builds on the same grip and the same pull. Like any reload, both methods are easy to learn and get fast with practice.

Comparing carriers before you commit? See our shell carrier comparison.