Shooting Shotguns at the Range? Why?

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22-rimfire

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I read all the time about folks shooting shotguns at the range, but I never see anyone doing it. Why shoot one at the range at all?

Possible reasons include:
(1) If you hunt birds, I can see shooting clay pigeons (trap/skeet) or simply shoot clay pigeons as a sport. okay.
(2) Patterning a shotgun... okay
(3) Sighting in a scope or seeing where the sights are hitting with open sights for deer hunting. Okay.
(4) Tactical shooting for civilians. Okay; maybe one person in a thousand might do it.

Seems most shotguns are "home defense" guns. I have one too. But honestly I have never shot it other than to make sure it works.

What say you?
 
I don't have a home defense shotgun. There was a time all I did was shoot ATA (trap) dove and quail. I would say majority of shotguns are for sporting not home defense.
 
All of my shotguns are primarily used for hunting and shooting clays. As a home defense gun I have 1 that has a short barrel with rifle sights but even it has a 2nd barrel for other purposes. Even that would not be my 1st line of defense but is simply one of the tools in the toolbox so to speak.

Even if your only shotgun is a dedicated home defense gun you need to be shooting it as much as anything else to become familiar with it and to learn to handle the recoil.
 
My shotguns were for small game hunting too until I moved away from my small game hunting area. Now I only own one and it just sits unused.
 
I have one too. But honestly I have never shot it other than to make sure it works.
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Some people feel it pays big dividends to practice with any gun used for defensive purposes.
Until you can operate the controls without thinking about it, or looking at it.
Until it becomes second nature to pick it up and hit things with it.

They are exactly right!

What say you?
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What I just said.

You are just barely familiar enough with your shotgun to be a danger to yourself and others during a high-stress situation.

rc
 
Not true. Sounds like he hunted with it.

I wouldn't have any reservations about using my 870 for HD. I've operated it a hell of a lot, and can do it blind.

I have NEVER practiced HD with it, specifically. If I can hit quail, rabbits, clays and doves, I'm sure I can hit a home invader with the same gun.

However, if I didn't ever use a HD gun for anything else, I'd practice with it, at least occasionally. I'd also do "dry practice" at home, since the controls are the most important part of using the specific gun, assuming you know how to shoot a shotgun.
 
I have both field and tactical shotguns and shoot both regularly. Obviously, the field guns get more workout during various bird seasons, but I also shoot a variety of 'clays' games in off seasons.

The tactical goes along with handguns most practice sessions. Tactical shotguns with birdshot make excellent steel cleaning devices-get both the rust and the paint in just a few blasts.
 
I shoot my waterfowl guns at the range to check them out and to get used to the recoil - again - because the sporting/skeet/trap/clays ranges don't allow 3" shells or pellets bigger than #7.5. And I really don't think they want me shooting Hevi-Shot even if it's 2.75" and #4 or #6.

I shoot anything I can at the range because it's paid for by the year. Oh, I'm talking about a private outdoor club. Are we talking about indoor ranges?

John
 
I read all the time about folks shooting shotguns at the range, but I never see anyone doing it. Why shoot one at the range at all?
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Goodness - I shoot at least 125 rounds a week at the public range out of one shotgun or another... I'm usually standing at the clay throwers, trying desperately to pretend that I can hit these teeny flying clay frisbees. I'll occasionally sidle up to the rifle or pistol lanes where they let me practice with buck or slugs, respectively. I usually shoot with my field guns, but I've been known to use my HD guns for both clay and buckshot work, a couple of range trips every 3-4 months or so shooting.

All in all, I burn through more 12ga shells than I do any other ammo type, pistol ammo included. I probably still suck at shootin' these things, but it ain't for lack of trying. :)
 
I shoot between 100 and 300 rds a week at clays. As for the just shooting at a range, mostly it is just patterning when I get a new choke tube or work up a new load. During the decade I hunted deer with a shotgun, I would spend more time at the range with slugs working on groups at various ranges.
 
shooting clays is fun and and also a shooting sport, and i would think people that use them to hunt would want to practice, and maintaining proficiency with your home defense weapon.

pretty much the same reasons people shoot rifles or handguns at the range
 
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=460888

http://www.yfainc.com/schedule.html

http://www.guntactics.com/schedule.htm

http://www.defense-training.com/sched/schedform.html

Go to any of the many ranges all over the nation (links above cover just a few) where a defensive shotgun class is being taught, and you'll see numbers of students shooting shotguns on flat ranges- and sharpening their defensive skills. Often enough, former students from those classes practice the skills they learned in class on the same ranges where they were taught.

Training is a great shortcut to learning new skills, and practice is a great way to hone new skills until they are part of muscle memory. Why do you need to train? Because no one is born knowing this stuff, and if you are going to stake your life and the lives of all in your household on your ability to run a shotgun, you need to know what you are doing. See Post 159 and subsequent at http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=355528&page=7 to get some idea of the things you need to know.

Shooting your defensive shotgun every once in a while to see if it works might be enough. but then, it might not, either. What will you do if things go wrong?

lpl
 
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I shoot about 100 rounds a week at clay games. I love shooting shotguns more than anything else. :D
Home defense is a 9mm for me, which I shoot about 100 rounds a month. If I don't shoot well then I shoot more. Last month was 300 rounds to get back in the groove.
If you have a shotgun for home defense, you should shoot it on a regular basis so you can do it with your eyes closed, because if you need it, you won't be turning on the lights to use it.
 
Seems most shotguns are "home defense" guns. I have one too. But honestly I have never shot it other than to make sure it works.
Click to expand...

Sorry but that statement just sounds wrong to me. Any gun you own you should be skilled with and that means practice. Also you just implied that most shotgun owner's don't practice either because you don't personally see it. I would argue the opposite that most shotgun owner's I know in fact shoot regularly, mostly because I met most of them at the trap range shooting leagues.
 
I usually stick to open ranges, and usually we'll bring someone who hasn't shot a gun before out with us. In that case, I drag along my 11-48 to introduce them to recoil-operated autoloading shotguns ;)
 
What a strange post. Yes of course you should practice with your defense gun.
 
i bought a shotgun and I will take it to the range to become familiar. What if something happens and I have some unexpected recoil? Or something. Thats why you shoot one. Or, because you can. This is America, you can do that
 
All the shotguns get patterned, on paper, for all the types of shot that I have for it and then they are used for field, fowl or clays...

The only time I get to play with them is at a Cowboy Action Shoot or a 3 gun event...
 
Most of my shotguns are purchased used, so I always go to the range with new acqusitions to fully test out each gun. Plus, breaking clays is great fun...much more so that punching holes in paper targets.
 
What say I? I say if you are looking at having any sort of defensive firearm, you need to practice regularly with it, that includes shotguns as well. The notion of just firing off a few rounds to make sure it works then just storing it under the bed or in a closet like some sort of talisman to ward off things that go bump in the night is to me ludicrous at best!
 
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