HD Shotgun at the range

[eye5600]

I recently saw a response to some question about an HD shot which advised taking the gun to the range to practice and get familiar with it. Obviously sound advice, but...

1) What's the attitude of the typical outdoor range, and what facilities would one be looking to use?

2) What kind of practice is suggested? Something more organized than blowing up fruit?

3) And since lots of kinds of competition are rooted in practice for off-range activities, is there any sort of shotgun competition other than the wholesale destruction of clay birds?

(Sorry if this is a repeat, as it could well be, but I didn't find anything in a search.)

 

[oneounceload]

Most "regular" shotgun clubs frown on short-barreled HD guns due to noise and usually do not allow anything bigger than 7-1/2 shot, so you would more likely be looking for a rifle/pistol range to practice with your gun.

There are various competitive uses of shotguns outside of clay targets, including CASS and defensive-style shoots.

You would want to practice, if possible, in a setting close to HD scenarios - i.e., from behind partitions, etc.

 

[Rshooter]

I myself use rifle and pistol ranges to work on my HD shotgun. Most ranges will allow you to fire slugs at their backboards and buckshot at boards that you yourself supply. I do not have access to competition or "action" shooting and it would not do me much good any way since I have movement restrictions.

I fire on normal patterning, scoring, and silhouette targets. I fire for accuracy and pattern at known distance. This gives me confidence with the controls of the gun, reloading, knowing where my shot will go, and what different loads will do at different distance. After hundreds of rounds over the years I am confident that on a dark night I can control and use the gun as second nature. I also use the much maligned pistol grip at times but I use it with confidence.

 

[Pete409]

Most "regular" shotgun clubs frown on short-barreled HD guns due to noise

That has not been my experience. Of course, I've been to only a small fraction of all the shotgun clubs in the country so I can't say whether my experience is typical of "most" or not.

What I can say is that I have taken short barreled shotguns and have seen others take and use short barreled shotguns at skeet, trap, and sporting clays ranges and never heard of any complaints yet.

As for the extra noise, that's very minimal and probably no worse than someone shooting a ported gun. I've found that all shotgun noise is very directional. That is to say if you are in front of or close beside the muzzle, you will get a lot of noise. All you have to do is take a couple steps back and get behind the muzzle and the noise you hear is greatly reduced.

 

[Yo Mama]

What shotgun do you have?

I had my Mossberg with an 18.5 inch cylinder barrel that I would take trap shooting and bird hunting. Everyone looked at me and laughed, up until I took more birds than their 28 inch barrels did.

Lesson: Shoot what you got, and shoot it alot. I probably put a good 1200 rounds out of it the first year I had it. I knew where it would perform.

As for practice, try the trap and skeet ranges, and try to set up targets in the desert where it is safe and legal. I like to set up stands and walk through shooting on the move.

With time your shorty will grow.

 

[cpirtle]

See if you can find a 3-Gun match in your area if you want something a little more stimulating than shooting fruit or clays. Many will let you shoot the course without the rifle if you just have a pistol and SG, you're just scored differently or not at all.

Nothing wrong with going to a clay shoot either, at most you may hear some comments about shooting clays with a tactical shotgun but that's getting a lot more common and there are grumpy bastids at any event.

I usually get some grief for saying this but I think shooting competitively is the best way for normal people to practice for real world scenarios. Adrenaline (& BAR) is part of any real world situation and you get neither shooting paper in a casual paper target environment

 

[ArmedLiberal]

Shooting thrown Pepsi cans way out in the Nevada desert is the best!

My indoor range allows shotguns with buckshot or slugs or shot, just no steel shot. They prefer that you pull in your targets before they get cut in half and fall on the floor too.

The two outdoor ranges around here allow only slugs on the rifle range and only bird shot on the trap and skeet areas.

And I agree with Clint Smith, learn to run the gun you have and shoot it a lot.

 

[eye5600]

Interesting comments.

I would not have anticipated that steel shot was unwelcome indoors.

 

[ArmedBear]

a rifle/pistol range to practice with your gun.

Many ranges frown on having their target frames blown apart by large buckshot patterns, too.

As for the extra noise, that's very minimal and probably no worse than someone shooting a ported gun. I've found that all shotgun noise is very directional. That is to say if you are in front of or close beside the muzzle, you will get a lot of noise. All you have to do is take a couple steps back and get behind the muzzle and the noise you hear is greatly reduced.

IMO ported guns are worse unless you're in front of the gun.

I would not have anticipated that steel shot was unwelcome indoors.

It bounces around more than lead when it hits concrete. Not something you want to do, whether or not the range tells you about it.

WRT clay shooting clubs, I find that most people are friendly. American Trap shooters can be jerks, but I've been to trap ranges that were very friendly.

Someone might offer the use of his gun, because it will be easier to hit clays with a gun that's made for wingshooting than a HD gun.

 

[cpirtle]

It bounces around more than lead when it hits concrete.

It also does much more damage to the backstop than lead.

 

[oneounceload]

Many ranges frown on having their target frames blown apart by large buckshot patterns, too.

I was talking about an outdoor public-type range where you bring your own target stands

MOST clay clubs are very friendly. Often times, however, someone shows up with their HD gun, overloads the gun and starts rapid fire shooting of shells not allowed. Why, at some of the clubs I have shot at before, they do not allow them. Even with a "regular" target gun, the wrong shells can get you asked to leave.

 

[ArmedBear]

I think that many people who tell stories about their being kicked out of a range for having the "wrong kind of gun" were probably just being dangerous idiots. They just want to blame something or someone other than themselves for being kicked out.

WRT shotgun ranges... People with fragile egos seem to have a real problem with being told to follow strict safety guidelenes. What they forget is that, unlike rifle and pistol ranges, people at clay ranges are swinging guns in the air while shooting and carrying guns around regularly. Without strict discipline, shotgun ranges could not be safe. There's no bench to lay the gun down on, open. There's no stepping away from the guns between rounds.

I guess what I'm saying is, yes, some RSOs have limited social skills. However, try not to be too easily offended by someone whose job it is to keep people from getting shot.

 

[Pete409]

Well stated, Armed Bear.

 

[oneounceload]

We get a lot of folks right before hunting season at our club in FL.....some come in looking to sight in turkey guns, (not allowed for safety zones), and some come to get ready for doves. Most have no idea about safety/sweeping people/loading at the right time, and they bring young kids without previous experience, etc.....While we welcome everyone, it takes the main trapper and one of us regulars to make sure they stay safe and keep everyone else safe.....

 

[Fred Fuller]

Ask at your local FFL dealer, wildlife club etc. for information about ranges in your area, and their rules and regulations. If you're just getting started with a shotgun, you need to spend some early time on a 'flat range' (typical target range, formal or informal) in order to experiment with patterns, loads, and some basic administrative and shooting exercises.

If you can find a more experienced defensive shotgunner to go along and help out, that would be good (listing your home state in your profile might even help you find a volunteer here at THR). Otherwise, look for an NRA basic shotgun class near you (see http://www.nrahq.org/education/training/basictraining.asp for a locator).

What do you need to be practicing? Administratively, you need to learn to safely load, make ready, fire, make safe and unload the gun (dummy ammo is best for this while you're learning, IMHO). You need to learn how to unload a tubular magazine without running rounds through the action. You need to learn how to handle a defensive shotgun safely and effectively, as opposed to a sporting shotgun (primary difference is working muzzle down, not muzzle up). You need to learn to shoot safely from Low Ready and Indoor Ready, barricade left, barricade right, low barricade, and how best to move with the gun. You need to learn retention and transition to a sidearm. You need to learn to shoot one/load one, how best to get an empty shotgun running again and the select slug drill.

For some formal shotgun POIs (programs of instruction), see the stickied thread on Fighting Shotguns up top on the main Shotgun Forum page, or at http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=355528&page=7 , see post 159 and subsequent. There are a good many books and videos available on using the defensive shotgun effectively, and several nationally known instructors teach outstanding classes in its use as well- thought not a lot of shooters want to leap into one of those right out of the gate. Still, IMHO, professional instruction is the best possible way to steepen your personal learning curve with any defensive firearm.

And that's just the 'how to shoot' part of the equation. Even more important IMHO is the 'WHEN to shoot' training. That's best gotten from a working criminal defense attorney in your jurisdiction, who can explain both black-letter and case law to you regarding self defense where you live. Most initial consults with an attorney are free, but even if you have to pay for an hour of his/her time now, it may save you having to pay for several hundred billable hours later.

Be Safe, be persistent, be a good student...

lpl

 

[tactikel]

My state is shotgun only for deer, so most any shotgun imaginable shows up at the range for "sight'n in". Slugs at the targets and shot/buckshot at the patterning board. It seems half the shooters have a slug or turkey gun that need sighting in. Nobody seems to mind at all.

 

[eye5600]

I'm sure Lee's advice to get into a class and/or get an instructor is the best. Here in my home state (CT), you have to attend a class to get a pistol permit, but no class is necessary for a long gun. It should be obvious that a pump or semi-auto shotgun requires as much education/training as a pistol. Since the class is not required, it's not as obvious to the newbie that it's available.

I can hear all the experienced hunters out there saying "I hope I never have to move somewhere where I have to take a damn class and get some damn permit". There seems to be an assumption that we all learned to shoot rifles and shotguns during the colonial era, so we don't have to learn now.

 

[cpirtle]

Here in my home state (CT), you have to attend a class to get a pistol permit, but no class is necessary for a long gun.

I'm sorry but do you mean that in order to buy a pistol in CT you need to take a class, or is that for a CHL?

There's a bit of a difference between requiring a class to own and requiring a class to carry. I dismiss the former on principal alone.

 

[Snarlingiron]

I recommend a simple action. Ask the range. I shoot at 2 different places. One has signs clearly posted at the clubhouse that no shotguns with a barrel length of less than 22" are allowed. The other one doesn't care.

Their house, their rules.

 

[jakemccoy]

The few ranges around me have vastly different rules. I'd suggest asking your local ranges, instead of some dude that's clear across the country.

Anyway, I called up my main shotgun range. The manager acted like he was confused when I asked him about shooting with an 18" barrel. In other words, there is no such rule. He did provide suggestions though. He suggested that I don't shoot with anything less than 26" for accuracy purposes or whatever. That's what he said.

As far as training for home defense, I do whatever is fun. For me, that's shooting flying clays. My 870 feels like an extension of me. I'll plan on taking a shotgun self-defense course one of these days.

 

[cpirtle]

..instead of some dude that's clear across the country.

...He suggested that I don't shoot with anything less than 26" for accuracy purposes or whatever...

LOL, with advice like that I'd rather talk to the dude on the other side of the country

 

[ArmedBear]

LOL, with advice like that I'd rather talk to the dude on the other side of the country

Do you do any clay or wing shooting?

 

[jakemccoy]

I meant it's better to call your local range for local range rules on shooting short barrels. It doesn't really matter if some random dude in Australia can shoot short barrels at his range all the time.

 

[RP88]

if you have a pump-action, the best thing to practice is speed in cycling/shooting and follow-up. You can do this against propped up scrap wood, bags of leaves, silhouettes, and at the local range if they don't have any rules about firing speed. If you can find an unsupervised public shooting range, that would be your best bet unless there is public land nearby that you can shoot on. But, I would still suggest that you try and be courteous to others out there i.e. don't go out there and empty 6-10 rounds in two seconds next to a rifleman trying to zero in or practice his marksmanship. Shotguns are loud.

 

[ArmedBear]

if you have a pump-action, the best thing to practice is speed and follow-up.

If you can hit skeet or trap doubles, then this practice might even correlate with an improved ability to rapidly hit multiple moving targets.

Piles of scrap wood are easy to hit.