ojibweindian,
Just my take if you will.
First, I would learn the gun just as it is, bone stock.
Reason: Anytime we do something , we should first have a "base" or "control" . If we don't, and instead do a lot of things, then if we have a problem, it is much more difficult to diagnose the problem.
Control, do "this", access, diagnose, result.
This includes gun fit.
I do not know how many times I have seen a shooter add things to a shotgun, and then have problems, only to find out, the gun does not fit.
Length of Pull (LOP), and Drop at Comb, are the two most common. In addition to being able to hit, or have the pattern/group arrive where it is supposed to, the shooter also has less felt recoil.
Less Perceived Felt recoil means the human body is less likely to develop a flinch.
The human body is designed to protect itself.
"When he/she does that it hurts" and the body will flinch, to protect itself. It may also close eye(s), or stop swing, to protect itself.
What one is doing is "ingraining" flinch, instead of correct basic fundamentals.
Not good.
In addition, felt recoil affects quick effective follow up shots.
Oh you might get the first shot off just fine and then for the next one, or subsequent "Nuh Uh, it hurts when he/she does that, I ain't going stand here and get hurt!"
Administrative.
A shotgun has to be loaded, and unloaded. With a bone stock /factory gun, one can learn to load, and unload the gun.
On a 870, one uses the shell latch, instead of cycling shells. This is safe, and is less wear and tear on shells.
Mag extensions change the balance of the gun, and side saddles do so as well, plus, in learning to do Load, Unload, and Adminstrative, that dad-burn thing is in the way.
Learn to keep the gun fed with basics, ingrain these, and learn to check condition of gun using magazine, loading through magazine, and so much more.
Snap Caps, and Dummy Shells are suggested.
Just like IDPA/IPSC, shooters stand over the bed, and do nothing but drop mags, and insert mags, to ingrain mag changes.
Rules of Safety, still loading, checking to see if a shell is in the chamber, and doing the Administrative drill of unloading the shotgun.
Once the gun fits you, and you have done these other things, including with live fire, then access your environments and tasks.
This is what Awerbuck, Clint Smith, Cain, ...etc, will do , if you take a class.
Re: Skeet.
Yes I shot Skeet, who knows how clays and shells downrange I have on a skeet field alone.
Plus other things one does with a shotgun...
A Skeet field to me, is more than just a field to shoot skeet on. I was raised using a skeet field for all sorts of uses, besides skeet, and includes defensive shotgun use.
Note: Safety is paramount, and the fields I come up were private. I was also raised with 3 Rules of Gun Safety, Hot Ranges, and Big Boy Rules.
We did not know what a Tueller Drill was, simply because Tueller had not had his incident yet, still Low 8, is an incoming "target" , and if you crank the machine down, that clay is coming out at 55 mph, "flat", and not where a "registered" clay is checked going through the hoop.
Now, who says you have to stand on the station. You stand more in line with the low house, and that clay will do serious damage to you, if it hits you.
Stop that threat by breaking it, before it breaks you.
Crazy Quail.
I learned from the best.
I have had 3 Gunners, HRT, SWAT, and others, get so tripped up, with Crazy Quail.
I was raised to not be a programmed shooter. Anyone can break clays on a skeet field.
Programmed Shooters became worse, when the rules changed allowing one to pre mount the gun.
There have always been "fair weather shooters" that did not want to mess up score cards and class. So these folks stayed on the porch when it rained, or there was wind, or anything but a nice, pretty day where the skeet targets came out the same way , every time, and always went through the hoop and if not broken, had the same perfect flight path.
These same programmed shooters with B, A, AA class ratings, could not hit a quail, or dove, or duck.
The darn critter did not come out when they said "pull" and the nerve of that critter not flying a flight pattern of one of the eight stations.
Seriously, I watched a A shooter go through a box of shells and he only felled 3 doves.
His dad, just a country boy, using that old worn shotgun, that he used for everything, felled his limit of 15 doves with 17 shells.
Not bad for a 65 year old fella, recovered from knee surgery and with arthritis from a injury.
Just a old well worn Model 12, slicker than owl poop.
On a public range, or club range, with permission, there are things one can do that are within the rules, such as Crazy Quail.
Crazy Quail pits puller against shooter.
Like I said, I learned from the best.
Still on a private range, shooting Crazy Quail, I am not the only one that has beaten a shooter, with a full mag, extended mag, even with side saddle, as the puller.
I have beaten Benneli, Mossberg, Rem, Winchester ...etc, guns set up for serious defense, and used for 3 gun, pulling Crazy Quail.
"This is the fastest shotgun!"
hehehe
"Well it was not fast enough, and you still ran out of shells"
Benneli Folks, do not let that gun go dry, I will drive you nuts , to the insane asylum, if you do.
You had better know how to keep that gun fed.
Now I warn about new shooters with side saddles.
I will stop, and have, as folks are getting hurt, and I am afraid they will get cut.
My trick is to take Hook-n-Loop [Velcro] and use a hole punch for bolt holes.
This protects the finish of receiver, and more important, is acting like a "lock washer" to keep the bolt and nut "snug".
I have seen too many guns that ran reliable without a side saddle, not run with one.
So the velcro assists with "snug" and allowing the gun to run.
That said, quite a few folks removed side saddles, as they cut themselves up, trying to do Crazy Quail and other things one can do for some quality stuff for defensive shotgun use.
Some learn the gun, all over again, going back to square one, then when they put on a side saddle, the correct basics allow them to transition to its use, and they can more effectively use a side saddle.
Others, sell that gun, and go buy another one...
The old "buying skill and targets" bit, I utterly detest.
Crazy Quail: I know I have my work cut out for me, if some country boy, or some country gal steps out with a well worn gun.
It does not matter what make, model , type of action, or gauge, I know I have to be at the best of my game, pulling Crazy Quail.
These same folks will blow your mind how well they shoot a Tueller Drill , with a shotgun as well.
At one time, we had tennis ball throwers. I forget what speed these can be adjusted to throw a tennis ball.
A bit safer than clays coming at you, still a tennis ball will hurt.
Set these up, to toss from 21 steps. One of the things me and mine "added" to a skeet field.
We set these all sorts of ways...
Still I guess we did 21 steps, as the center stake is 21 yards in skeet, and just the number "21" stuck with us.
(We protected the thrower, and some fields were "in" a square range where we incorporated handgun use too. Like a said a "skeet field" to me, is not just what most folks "see" or "think of")
Still we, shot incoming tennis balls.
Set up five machines to throw, and one has to "walk the gaunlet".
The threat might be coming at you, or it could be, to some one else.
We would use scarecrows, to represent good guys and shoot the threat before it could hit the scarecrow.
Learn in open air, then build a "set up" , much like stages are done.
Never laugh at fella with a J.C.Higgins 20 bore pump gun, with 26" fixed IC choke.
He will beat you like a drum.
He also stopped a serious threat with that same gun, twice.
