Original S.O.E 12GA Shotgun Card

I was watching some videos on YouTube the other day and saw a neat trick from James Yeager. He took some sticky back industrial strength Velcro and used it to attach an SOE shotgun card to his shot gun. My first thought was that thing looks super simple, I’ll just grab some Velcro and elastic and make a shotgun card. I figured it would be a nice DIY article. If you notice the title though this is not a DIY article but a review of the SOE card. That’s because my project failed miserably. The thread kept breaking in the Velcro. After a few hours of frustration I decided to order the SOE ones. When I saw the quality of the SOE ones I knew that ones I had tried to make would have been crap compared to them anyway. So instead today I’ll be reviewing the SOE 12 gauge card and how to make a quick and easy side saddle.

Quality

Like all SOE gear the quality on this thing is built like a tank. The Velcro was stitched to a rigid nylon webbing and semi rigid elastic. The one I tried to make was flimsy. The elastic loops stand up making putting in the shells easy. The elastic holds them very tight with no worries about the shells falling out. I could not find any loose stitching in the card. I like how stiff the card is so that the cards can stand upright in mag pouches. Being that they are Velcro backed they will stick on any gear you have with the soft backed Velcro.

Easy Side Saddle

This is a super easy project. I had a long strip of Velcro I bought from Walmart from the project I was working on. Use the SOE card to measure out how long to cut the fuzzy side Velcro. Once your Velcro is cut it’s time to clean up the shotgun. Normally I use the Frog Lube for everything But for this you want to remove all oil and lubricants. I was afraid that the Frog Lube would prevent a good adhesion. So I cleaned up with some Hoppes #9.  I lined up the Velcro with the line at the bottom where the shotgun curves. Peel back the backer to expose the sticky side of the Velcro and press firmly. Continue to peel back and rub the Velcro until its all stuck on. Rub the Velcro to ensure you have a solid contact for maximum adhesion. You will need to leave it on for at least 24 hours before trying to remove a card from it. I went ahead and stuck the card on it. That’s it, for a few bucks and a few minutes you have a shotgun side saddle.

Time is Money

You might be better at sewing than me and could do this project right. However that time and investment got to high for me. The SOE Cards only cost $15 for me that is a steal for the quality and utility you get from them. I can’t wait to get out to the range and put my sidesaddle to the test.

Do you have an SOE Shotgun card? Do you have a sidesaddle from another company? How do you carry extra shells? Let me know in the comments!