I was just going though a semantical exercise. I doubt that law enforcement officers carry slug guns. But a “shot”gun that is shooting a slug is no longer a “shot”gun. I did state that the newspaper in all likelihood had it messed up, as always. I guess that a door breaching round would make it a “powder”gun instead!

‘and a pure bred Jersey Cow’

(first thing that sprang to mind)

But I don’t have to bet, so I won’t.

Christopher: I don’t know if cops carry rifled slug guns, do they? Wouldn’t the main purpose be to have the buckshot/scattergun capability and wouldn’t a rifled bore screw that up (as it were)? Seems to me a dedicated slug gun would be an awfully specialized weapon for general patrol carry, but I’m not a cop.

But the shotgun could of had a rifled barrel designed for shooting slugs, therefore making it a rifle (or at least a slug-gun)and not a shotgun. In fact I would assume that they were using slugs on a cow to kill it as shot would not work as well, and then it would not be a “shot”gun even if it had a smooth barrel. Kind of makes me think when there was an auction for Annie Oakley’s “Smooth Bore Rifle”? If it is a smooth bore then it is not a rifle. Granted I am using a few technicality’s here and most likely the paper did not properly identify what they were talking about, as usual. But it does go to highlight that we in the gun community have misnomers as well, like the shotgun/slug-gun issue and clip/mag and smooth bore rifles. When is a gun what it is not, if I use shot shells in a rifle what is it then? At least the media did not label and assault. wepon

The photos included one image of police seeking to catch the cows as they roamed a creek, while the other was the clear photo of Danville Police Officer Jerry Zeidler shooting one of the cows with a rifle.

From what I see, that’s a standard-issue police shotgun, prolly a Mossberg or a Winchester.