I went back to Front Sight in Pahrump, NV (waves at hayeksplosives) for their four day tactical shotgun class. The first two days are the two day class, and the last two days are practicing/drilling what was taught in the first two days, with a skills test at the end.
I did the two-day class in May, but the review did me no harm at all. I took advantage of the section on slinging and unslinging to switch to a, yes, tactical sling (shotgun across the front of the body), as it won’t slide off your shoulder that way and can just be raised and mounted without doing anything to the sling. Less fiddling and fumbling is a good thing.
The class was 35 people, no women this time. 16 stuck around for the full four day class. Age and experience ran the gamut from early 30s to mid-70s, and from a competition shooter and bird hunters with thousands of rounds downrange to “I’m thinking about buying a shotgun, so I rented one” (he was my training partner, and will be buying a Beretta 1301; I should get a commission). I think the experienced shooters were surprised by how much they had to adapt to the heavier buckshot and slug loads.
The Beretta 1301 ran like a charm. Since May, I changed my sight mount and sidesaddle shell holder. I had a Mesa Tactical picatinny rail with attached sidesaddle, but with the weight of the shells off axis, it would work the mounting screws loose, so I switched to the Aridus Industries mount (strongly recommended if you are going to try a red dot sight on a 1301) and a “stick-on” velcro sidesaddle from Brownshirt Tactical. I was not excited about gluing something to my shotgun, but I have read that just about all the screw-on sidesaddles suffer from working loose. The ability to rip off an empty shell holder and stick a new one on is pretty handy, and fully loaded they fit into a standard AR mag pouch, which is nice.
We had a discussion about how to train on malfunctions. Malfunctions are either a failure to feed from the magazine (solved by racking the bolt), or a failure to eject a spent shell (solved by rolling the shotgun to the right and racking the bolt, the “rack-roll”). One doctrine is “look, rack-roll, shoot”, which I gather is typical for law enforcement, at least. Front Sight teaches “look, rack-roll, decide to take the shot”, because while you are fiddling with your gun things can change. “Look, rack-roll, shoot” has resulted in bad shoots when somebody steps into the line of fire in that second when you are clearing the malfunction.
I have a Trijicon red dot on my shotgun, and if you have money laying around with nothing else to do, I suggest you try a red dot sight on your shotgun. They are fast on target, and since mine “co-witnesses” with my iron sights (that is, you see both at the same time), for longer shots it adds up to very good accuracy. They do need to be zeroed, my least favorite thing to do at the range. I have a laser bore sight (drops into the chamber), and I was dead on after zeroing with that at home.
You train on slugs at 35 and 50 yards at Front Sight. I would put my red dot right on top of the front sight, and you can see the results – 10 out of 10 on target, out of a smooth bore 18.5 inch barrel.
You also pattern your shotgun at Front Sight, to learn how far you can take a shot with 00 buckshot without pellets going wide of your target. I brought some of my Federal “Flight Control” shells for this, as they are supposed to put up a tighter pattern. They live up to the ad campaign. The target shows four shots from the patterning exercise. The torso is from 20 yards (all nine in the target, with the proverbial 9th pellet flyer at the lower right). If I ever get my mitts on the semi-mythical 8-pellet Flight Control, I should be good from 25 yards, maybe a little further. The head is from 10 yards, again all on target. Only the people shooting Flight Control had clean headshots at 10 yards. The upper right is from seven yards, and shows two pellets just outside the main pattern. The upper left is from five yards.
The drills (and test) include multiple targets – two, three, and four in a row. What was really interesting here was the difference between birdshot “training” loads and 00 buckshot loads. Birdshot, I could basically move the shotgun in a straight line across the targets with little correction after each recoil. Buckshot was a different story, as the recoil is, well, significantly more. It really tests your stance and how well you have mounted the shotgun (spoiler alert: my stance and mount were somewhat exposed with buckshot). I should note that I don’t use the nancy “low-recoil” loads – I want my slugs and pellets to leave the barrel as angry as possible.
I managed to score high enough on the skills test to graduate, although not with distinction (this time). The slug test involves swapping out a buckshot in the chamber for a slug, and then firing, all within 5 seconds from 50 yards and 4.5 seconds from 35 yards. It was very clear to me I wasn’t going to make the time limit and still hit the target, so I concentrated on landing all six shots (yes, when I heard the sixth one ping on the target, there was a fist pump). I did not get extra credit for my headshot from 50 yards (which, to be fair, was pure luck).
The rest of the shooting test was with buckshot. After nearly four days of shooting a 12 gauge shotgun, I was tired, I’m telling you, and my mounting and stance were sloppy, so I gave up some points there. Fortunately, stance and mounting are things I can drill in my garage with an empty gun. The time limit on four targets from 15 yards is 2.5 seconds, and I missed the time on one multiple target shoot, and gave up accuracy on another. There was universal agreement I had the saddest target of the day – it showed one single, lonely pellet hit. (Pro-tip – when doing multiples, don’t shoot at a clean target).
There was also a brief session on room and house clearing. They said it is extremely dangerous, and not to do it unless you have family in another part of the house. Of course, Mrs. Dean’s bedroom is all the way across the house from mine (apparently, my snoring is that loud). And my house is a tactical nightmare of dead spots that you can’t clear without being exposed to uncleared areas. At least with the Dean Beasts I can probably just go to wherever the screaming and begging is.
Bottom line: the shotgun is my preferred weapon, and I now feel confident enough with it to keep it loaded and ready to roll in my bedroom.
Sweet weapon! Shotguns are just so versatile,
They really are. And 12ga ammo (even if “just” skeet loads) is usually on the shelf even in the most picked-over stores.
I’m happy with my 20 gauge
I went nuts last year buying ammo, in the “panic” time, so yeah, it’s nice to grab some cheap birdshot and go plinking, save the PDX rounds for wetwork….
Nice article.
I need to do something like this at some point.
For the most part, shotties are simple, and therefore safer IMO, fewer things to go wrong,
What a cool experience!
Thanks for sharing the course with us. I’ve shot a lot of shotgun rounds, but tactical I am not!
They said it is extremely dangerous, and not to do it unless you have family in another part of the house.
One of my instructors said the same thing. He said to barricade and call the cops. The only reason to leave your bunker is if there are family members in danger.
Also, I am in a townhouse and share a common wall with my neighbor. I’m pretty sure I don’t want to share any buckshot with her.
Phrasing?
The realities of burglaries and home invasions are that you likely dont expect it at that moment.
Its why muscle memory and training are so key. SEALs train many hours per week even if they have been doing it for decades. Why? Make sure that you are as ready as you can be for the worst case scenario.
Home defense gives you a huge advantage if you are prepared.
(1) you should know your home even in the dark. An intruder wont.
(2) make sure you know where an intruder might hide because they are good spots.
(3) make sure you and anyone supposed to be in the home are aware of the plan. (Dont have both spouses searching the house in separate spots, which is how a friendly shooting might occur.)
(4) be ready to kill. If you dont shoot to kill, you will likely die when faced with a desperate and armed intruder.
(5) dont assume anything. If you hit the intruder, unload your weapon into them. Nothing worse than almost killing an intruder and then they kill you because you didnt finish them off.
(6) be very familiar with your weapons. If you cant operate them in low/no light environment you are asking for trouble.
(7) you dont have to shoot it out. You can always run away.
Also, get some smoke grenades. You should have quality gas masks anyways. If you have an intruder, don the gas masks and drops a smoke grenade. It will engulf your home in noxious smoke in a minute and no intruder is prepared for smoke. They will flee.
Think outside the box and you up your chances of survival.
Nice! And Joe approves!
? (waves back)
A long read but worth your time if your an Elon Fanboi/girl
https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2021/10/28/starship-is-still-not-understood/
IMO, he’s right if and only if Elon can get the refurbishment time down to days, not months. I’m a bit skeptical of the heat tile solution. It sucked on the shuttle, and while Elon has made some improvements, it’s still a bunch of glorified styrofoam glued to the outside of the ship.
I enjoyed the tone of the article, this is just the beginning, I share his enthusiasm,
I think he’s right, even if starship underdelivers compared to the hype. It’s the difference between a dogsled and an 18 wheeler. Doesn’t matter if the 18 wheeler can do it 500x more efficiently or 1000x more efficiently, it’s still a massive improvement over the dogsled.
exactly, we need normalization, not customization, and NASA just doesn’t cut it, at least for Heavy lift.
Seems like the heat tiles aren’t so much a solution as a stop-gap.
I could be wrong, but am guessing improving that at this point isn’t top priority. Once other things get settled/solved, they’ll come back to that.
try a red dot sight…They are fast on target, and since mine “co-witnesses” with my iron sights
I do this with my Angler Royale Model 15 fishing rod.
The Bee is quick: KKK Member Posing By Glenn Youngkin’s Bus Turns Out To Be Ralph Northam
hahaha
*raucous applause*
Man, here’s one Bee story I wish was real.
Amen.
If someone starts a crowdsourcing campaign to fund this business model, I’m in.
This story was in the recommendations.
https://babylonbee.com/news/liberal-parent-trying-to-figure-out-how-to-cheer-on-their-son-brandon
Welcome to the club, Joe.
My barber is fine if I just sit there in silence.
“#2?”
“Yep”
12 minutes pass…
“Look good?”
“Yep, thanks”
*hands over some bills, leaves*
Fin.
#2, Sidewalls
Pay Barber
Now? Wahl shaver, #1 perfect
Cool write-up, RC. That looks like a great course.
*looks at Winchester 1300 and ponders…”
I bought a Winc 1200 back in the day, sold it and bought a Rem 1100, liked that so well I bought a second one, with a different barrel. I gave them to my youngest grand daughter and the guns are in Alaska, I now am shotgun less (had 4 but gave the other 2 away as well).
I haven’t used a shotgun for close to 30 years, not much reason to keep them.
I would like to take this course.
Thanks for the write up!
Also sweet shotgun. It also comes in a marine version (less susceptible to the effects of salt water) which seems even sweeter. Puts a shame to my $200 870.
I have that version. Yes, it’s purty.
Puts a shame to my $200 870.
Meh. I love my 870.
The 870 is legendary. It has a couple of quirks you hav to manage, but I don’t think anyone would turn one down.
590M Mossberg, looks like an AK 47 that the Terminator would use,
Gotta remember to pump the damned thing. A lot of them are used on the skeet range and the owners never forget. I saw a friend with an 870 and 3 ducks falling out of the sky. I just liked an 1100 better. Opinions and choices. Contrary to Sen Sanders opinion many people need a variety and the choices are there.
My first shotgun, 12 years old, Iver Johnson Champion, single shot 12 gauge. Shot my first grouse on the wing with that, I had a story to tell when my dad and older brothers came in from deer hunting. I was hooked. Thanks RC, memories are made of this.
Hey, PO, congrats on the successful bow hunt. You can get a supplemental license for $2.50 and hunt with the boys or is that a completely different license?
I got a regular ($35) and a bonus for $2.50 so I can take the fawn along with the doe. I picked up my new glasses today and can see much better so I’m trying to think up some good excuses before next Saturday.
I don’t have the freezer space for another deer. Nobody in my family except for me will eat it.
I’ll get up early, make breakfast for the rifle boys, and then take a nap in the nice, warm cabin.
I should bring the Ravin R10 crossbow by your house to let you have a try. It’s kinda nice to be out in the woods when it is still somewhat warm, no barrage of gunfire before legal shooting light, and the bow season is longer (i.e. less competition).
The tenderloins I grilled up that night (marinated in garlic salt, pepper, and olive oil for 5-6 hours) were some of the best I’ve ever tasted.
Grilled or broiled?
grilled.
I was worried that I had overcooked them, but the first slice was glorious.
Cool I’ll try your recipe, my broiling skills suck,
“Nobody in my family except for me will eat it”
Wife won’t eat it either and Zep has his own. We don’t have enough company except the the locals and they have there own, too.
Thanks, Mr. Dean. I really enjoy these articles about this crowd’s multiple pastimes. Even the ones I don’t participate in. Maybe, especially those.
I was trained from single digit age on my grandpa’s 1897. It made me immune to recoil. Also very accurate when hunting dove and quail. Shotguns and shooting make me happy.
Dove hunting was a favorite pastime when I lived in TX. Lots of action and fun even when the birds didn’t fall. Then spend a 1/2 hour looking in the tall grass for those that did fall.
My dad had a ’97, he’d hold the butt and a 1/2 Score would wrap his arm around the stock and pull the trigger. It banged my cheekbone pretty good but I never complained ’cause that would end the shooting lesson. First shotgun I shot, even if I needed a little help.
Im going to be getting my first shotgun soon. Not sure what I should get. I signed up for a Beretta and a Mossberg catalogue but they never came. Was thinking about something with a pistol grip because that might be easier for my wife to use. Have to find some sort of traing course for us to take as well.
Mesa makes a pistol grip stock for the 1301. The 1301 is bizarrely both light weight and soft shooting (for shotgun values of soft shooting. Probably a good choice for women if they are going to shoot 12 gauge, but the 20 gauge is a perfectly cromulent self defense gun.
I’ll take a look thanks RC, and thanks for the article.
I went with a Mossberg 590 with a pistol grip. Very happy with it.
I am so uncomfortable.
O. M. G
And yet, I smiled.
That’s awesome. Also, I was not aware that Bob and Linda shared a wedding anniversary with me and my wife.
The third of June?
6 is also divisible by 3.
The plot thickens…
My Brother just sent me this, quite fun,
https://photos.app.goo.gl/35J1zuUhPqdVTji17
Nice. They could do the whole book.
One shot, two shot
Clot shot, flu shot
Nice article! I go through a lot of shotgun ammo. I need to get better acquainted with my Shochwave.
Look at these two pretentious hacks. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (does that even count now that they disowned the Royal Fam and skipped town to California?) really think that their open letters will influence anything or anyone.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10145787/Harry-Meghan-accuse-G20-leaders-failing-ensure-poorer-nations-access-Covid-vaccines.html
Put your money where your mouth is Harry, your Mum did……
I was relaxing, singing blue jeans blues actually, when I happened upon that link. This is what I think of those two.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lNIT_CWUXcg
hahaha. That looks like a weird -and funny- show.
Not to worry. All those unused doses of AstraZeneca which are no longer wanted will be given to the poors.
The pandemic has been over since before it was announced in January (?) 2020 by doctor bitc – uh – Birx. Right about the time she announced that the numbers would be total horseshit. There is barely ever a pandemic for a respiratory illness, natural or contrived. They mutate constantly. It is endemic and Here to Stay. Deal with it using the known treatments, which do not include the illegally authorized clot shots.
Also here to stay
Which one of them is the virologist.
PJ Media is a sad shell of itself, I posted this,
The people that comment at the PJ media sites are the perfect Left wing talking point. ad Hominem and RaRaRa! You sound like the Deplorables that they call all of us, Show some inteeligence and respectability ffs!
And I misspelled intelligence, Dammit!
Where are NW and Rockabilly Gal on the zoom? Law school is not an excuse!
Asleep, one of us anyway, and recovering from yesterday’s
foolishness. Tomorrow probably.
PJ Media is a wretched hive of scum and villany, I haven’t looked at other comments in years, but Damn! there’s a lot of hate and narrow mindness out there
/Hides under Glib rock, safe…
Let’s Go Brandon
Come join us on Zoomie. We ares drunk
At some point I may join one of those at some point. I am articulate on a level somewhere between The Great Cornpoppio and Tucker Carlson while indulging. Though that might be a matter of interpretation.
What have We as a nation become? He can’t lead a horse to water, God help us.
I just get myself in trouble zooming. pass,
Me…whahappan and tulip…not much to get in trouble with. Well…just them two now cause I dipped out.
I run my mouth too much, it’s better this way.
Great article RC Dean. I’m putting one of these classes on my to do list. I had no idea there were red dot sights for shotguns much less that they are useful. That’s one more thing to check in on.
https://news.yahoo.com/speaker-kicked-florida-school-board-013558337.html
Totally not grooming your children…
Well shit..I am breaking down. My ancestors, greats, uncles, dads, cousins, nieces, and nephews all signed the dotted line and what is our return?
Do what we say…take it, you’ll learn to enjoy it.
Ha. Called a line for vets. Just someone to talk to. Transferred and dropped the call. I am good. I was just looking to talk, but imagine a member that was hurting or struggling. Thats it? You just hang up? For fuck sake. You even too my call back number and have ignored that.
I laugh at this. I called…was transferred to someone to just talk. Phone dropped or whatever, but you would figure, shit…thig guy be calling. Lets at least try to get a hold of him. Nothing. How the hell is that helpfully?
You ok, OBE?
suh’ fam
yo whats goody yo
Well, I went to bed fairly early, as I often do on Fridays, so I woke up early and here I am.
Now I’m a little worried about OBE. ::shouts upthread:: HEY! DUDE! YOU STILL AROUND?
Yeah, that was a little alarming.
I tried to stream Dune to my TV last night around midnight, it choked nine minutes in and my TV rebooted. Gave up and went to bed.
You mentioning the movie somehow reminded me that TT & I need to find some place to go hide from trick-or-treaters tomorrow evening, so I checked on the local movie options. Dismal, as far as I’m concerned. And I noticed the local “art” house says vax required. Hell to the no, even though we chose to get the shot.
Yeah, “papers, please” is not acceptable even if you have the papers. I wonder if the elites have figured that out yet.
Is it tomorrow?
Ill have to tell Jugsy to keep the Palatial 2X-Wide darkened.
GF is planning on handing out candy. Not my problem. I’ll be holding down my couch on the 2nd floor.
Yup. Tomorrow 6 to 8 p.m.