I've not been a fan of the so-called KISS principle for many years. For those who came in late, KISS stands for "keep it simple, stupid." Well, I've found the pattern of assaultive behaviors and countermeasures appropriate to those behaviors are anything but simple and I refuse to believe my students are stupid. So there. On the other hand, facing complexity with a simple solution - while wrecking flexibility - is very fast and, in the case of the single- or two shot shotgun, extremely simple. Sure, having a magazine tube longer than a politician's rap sheet allows you to play games with ammo selection. That's not always a good thing as it sometime leads to the "paralysis that accompanies analysis." Far easier to have a short stack-barrel, like the Mossberg/Maverick HS12. Even that junior-grade cannon comes perilously close to complexity as we'll discuss. It's funny though, at a media event which has the latest and greatest in semiauto and pump shotguns as well as Modern Rifles, to find the Belle of the Ball is the simple Maverick 12 gauge over/under. Light and as fast as the Mojave rattler - but more deadly - the pair of Maverick shotguns were nearly always on the firing line. I'd hate to guess how many rounds they consumed, using Winchester low-brass bird shot (which, contrary to the belief of some, is quite capable of personal defense at the distances contemplated in most homes) and the new Winchester PDX1 slugs.

"Ejectors!" was the call heard on the range when someone was going for speed with the HS12. Lacking ejectors, you pluck the empties before reloading.

After patterning, the Gunsite cadre had us jump through some hoops with the guns - the wonderfully modular Mossberg 500 and high-cyclic-rate 930 SPX autoloader as well as the Maverick. Both of the stack-barrels were on the line with each relay. It was quickly apparent that you might forget how to unload the tube-fed guns, or that you might forget to rack the pump after each shot - but there was no messing about with the HS12. Load, mount as the safety slides forward, and PRESS. No problems. Well, a couple of minor problems. Rate of fire was slowed by the HS12's lack of ejectors. I tried the Clint Smith "dump it over your shoulder" and the hulls fell free when I tried it. The technique has the advantage of not worrying about whether the ejectors work. One gun fired the top barrel first. The other didn't. Well, the safety slides forward and back; if you want the pellets to go out, push the selector the direction you want the charge to go. If you don't want to shoot yet, pull the selector back, keeping the charge inside the shell. Simple.

The height of the Mini Red Dot Sight (Insight MRDS) makes you shoot "head's up," as NRA Associate Editor Ed Friedman demonstrates; not comfortable when launching express slugs. Hits at 100 yards were the routine.

Push the selector to the right and you see the "U" character; to the left is "O". The "U," we found out, means "under." The "O" is over. Simple. If no one has jacked with your fowling piece. That's an unnecessary complication, but I won't fight them over it. How does a low cost double fair with slugs? Winchester thoughtfully outfitted us with the PDX1 Segmented Slug and the PDX1 Defender Slug/Buck load. Ed Stock, Gunsite Rangemaster, thought we'd be remiss if we didn't do a "walk back" drill with slugs. In the pictures, you see the HS12 with the Insight MRDS installed. One's cheek is off the comb to see through the Mini Red Dot Sight. One of the two doubles had the MRDS removed. There's a groove through the Picatinny rail, allowing you to use it as a rear sight for the fiber optic front. You get a good cheek weld with that arrangement - more comfortable when shooting the nominally1600 FPS Winchester lead punkins.

Maverick HS12 fiber optic front sight.

At a hundred yards, the assembled writers wore the Pepper Poppers out with both loads. The PDX1 Segmented Slug is designed to break into three parts after impact. This had no effect on our ability to strike the steel targets at 100 yards out of any of the guns. The suprise was the little HS12 - the little double that could. Now a home security shotgun may never use slugs unless home is a rural ranch or farmstead. Knowing its capabilities gives you confidence. I heard that 11 orders went in for HS12 shotguns as Mossberg Media Relations Director Linda Powell went home - this from Gunsite instructors and skin-flint gunwriters. If that doesn't tell you what you need to know about the Maverick HS12, check out blogs by Sheriff Jim Wilson and Richard Mann (who, incidentally, has the over/under shotgun record on the Gunsite Scrambler - so far). --Rich Grassi Grassi is editor of our companion service, The Tactical Wire (www.thetacticalwire.com) http://www.eotech-inc.com/ http://www.gunsite.com/main/ http://www.mossberg.com/ http://www.winchester.com