Why I chose the shotgun

One of the first articles I had done was on the short-comings of the shotgun and why it kinda sucks. Now we get the good stuff. Why I chose the shotgun, and specifically its most redeeming characteristics.

It’s hard to beat a classic.

It’s not tactical!!! While this is steadily changing, most off the rack shotguns look as they have for the better part of a century. With the exception of the Saiga, and a few bastardized versions of the 870 and 500 series that are magazine fed, a shotgun looks like a shotgun. This is not only a breath of fresh air, but an advantage is a more hostile anti-gun climate. With the ever looming hassle of pending legislation and bans on “assault style weapons”,  you’ll find the shotgun absent from these lists. I believe the Saiga was on one of these lists in 1994 at one point but am not sure of and legislation against it as of this writing. There are no scary parts on the shotgun. No flash hiders, barrel shrouds, ghost gun buttons or shoulder things that go up. The only thing less tactical than the lowly shotgun would be the good ole lever gun. (Stay tuned for that). The shotgun is much more socially acceptable.When I worked for the local court capturing bail jumpers, my first go to gun was my AK. This was when I was wet behind the ears, thought I was bullet proof and was gonna single handedly strike fear in the heart of all evil doers in my midst. I was quickly put in my place by an old  sheriff deputy that would visit. “Boy, you come to my house with that thing, the last thing I think you’re there for is to do anything peacefully. Folks you’re going after are under enough stress already”. He was right. I quickly followed  his example and got a shotgun.

Shotguns. Shotguns everywhere!!!

Omnipotence is another thing the shotgun has going for it. Regardless of what country you may go to, you will always find shotguns in racks, behind doors, in barns, and all over. Even in the most gun restrictive countries, i.e. UK and Australia, Side by Side and Over/Under shotguns are the order of the day as they are seen as sporting arms and not “weapons of destruction”. However, you can do serious business with that coach gun with a bit of proper training. So being a student of the scattergun can pay off in spades if you happen to find yourself in a bad way (Paris and Venezuela most recently) away from home.

Versatility with ammunition is a major defining factor. Given the design of the gun, there is a limitless flexibilty with the different types of ammunition that can be fired through it. I am speaking of the smooth bore varieties, and not the rifled barrels or slug guns. The most common types of ammunition being

• Birdshot: payload of small pellets, most are similar to BB’s, that will vary in size. These will be lead or steel, depending on local regulations. These are most commonly used, as stated in the name, for hunting game birds (quail, dove, partridge). There are some higher powered loads for shooting ducks and geese due to their being at great distances than the typical upland game bird. Also, there are loads made specifically for turkey. These tend to be higher power loads that produce a tighter than normal pattern. The reason behind this is because the turkey hunter is trying to hit the animal in the head/neck with as many pellets as possible in order to keep the breast and legs unscathed. Being that turkey are more difficult to hunt, these distance can be out to 40 yards and the patter must allow for maximum payload delivery on the point of aim.
• Buckshot: Round pellets ranging in size from .36 to .24 caliber in size. These are used for hunting larger game animals such as deer, boar, coyotes, and such. These are also my preferred home defense load. One pull of the trigger launches 8-9 9mm pellets into a bad guy. Thats really all it takes. I will get more in depth about ammunition selection at a later date

• Slugs: These are large, usually 1 ounce projectiles that are used to take down large game all over the world. Bears, moose, elk, boar, buffalo, cape buffalo, crocodiles, etc. These are also very effective on bad guys. However, with increased recoil, there is no margin for error.

Ammunition availability is a big deal as well. It seems that every year or two, usually around an election, there is an ammo drought. The shotgun ammo never seems to be effected by this.

A caliber/gauge for everyone in the family is helpful. The most common load is 12gauge. One step down is 20gauge. Most men are going to shoot 12ga as a manner of ammunition availability, and maybe a bit of machismo. Most ladies, with proper push/pull training, can handle a 12ga shotgun with defensive loads just fine. However, my mantra continues to be, if you’re good with a 12ga, then you can perform surgery with a 20ga. With the recoil reduced almost in half, it is a joy to shoot. Now, if only the ammunition in regards to buckshot and slug offerings would catch up, Id be over-joyed. For the kids, there is .410. This is measured in caliber, and not gauge. This shell is closer in size to a .45 Long colt and has minimal recoil.

Cost is King especially in this day and age. Your run of the mill AR is going to run you about $600. You can still get most off the shelf Remington 870’s and Mossberg 500’s for between $300-$400. I know the Mossberg Maverick 88’s typically run closer to $200.

Various Range use is another wonderful factor. Inside of the normal room, most of you shotgun loads are going to be lethal. With modern materials and technology, specifically Federal Premiums Flite Control Wad, buckshot can be used to great effect out to 50 yds. However, past 25 yds, you should really be thinking about switching to slugs to put effective hits on target. The shotgun is effective from room/hallway distance, out to the other side of a city block with the right ammunition.

Personalization of the gun to the shooter is a key in successful employment of the gun. While the shotgun is a pretty straight forward tool, there are a few tings on the market that you can add to them that give you a distinct advantage. There are a litany of sights, and stocks in order to fir the gun to a specific shooter and role. As far as defensive/offensive use, the Magpul stock set and the Rob Haught style of Scattergun Tech sights are a superb combination. However, the shotgun should be tailored to the shooter and the job at hand. Shop around and find what worked well for your size, and eyes, along with what you need the gun to do.

One Shot Fight Stopper is not something i say flippantly. The term “stopping power” is used so often that its become a joke. Mostly because it is used when referencing handguns. Often those in the  .45ACP flavor. HANDGUNS DON’T HAVE STOPPING POWER. They just don’t. However, when you are across your bedroom and a lunatic breaks the door down, 1 shot, center mass, with a load of buckshot, or  slug, will almost certainly drop the perpetrator in his/her tracks. The amount of trauma will be horrendous and chances are, there will be a significant amount of viscera to shovel off the floor and wall. Its just the way it is. The shotgun is the most devastating firearm the every day person can utilize. To quote Rob Haught “handguns put holes into people, rifles put holes through people, shotguns disassemble people”.

The shotgun can put food on the table and protect those you hold dear. I have carried one for work and still take one where ever I am. I don’t see this changing anytime soon. Its hard to beat the ole scattergun.

 

Cheap guns work.

If you have owned a gun, or even been shopping for one for more than 48hrs, you will know the wide range of opinions and the hardcore brand myopia that there is out there. The big question is, “What gun is best for my money?”. This, of course, has a litany of different answers, so lets break it down, rustle some jimmies, and see if we cant clear some things up. This article will not deal with shooting competitions, hunting, nor target shooting/recreational shooting. This will strictly deal with handguns used for personal protection.

When it comes to keeping a gun in your bedside table (although a quick access safe would be better), 90% of the guns that are currently on the market will serve this role just fine. Allow me to expand on that thought.

When it comes to keeping a gun in the home for protection, it must meet one requirement:

Shoot at least 1 magazine or cylinder of ammunition without stoppages or catastrophic failure. The average shots fired in defensive shootings is between 2 and 3 depending on who’s statistics you read. For our means, we’ll round up and say 4 shots are required to end the fight.

I can hear the screams of heresy and hate already. However, it doesnt make the fact less true.
Most of you reading this carry your gun almost every day and also will seek out training on how to use your firearm in a more effective manner in a number of given scenarios. You will go on to shoot 1,000+ rounds a year and routinely take 2-day courses that shoot 800+rds in those 2 days. You are in the upper echelon of 1% of gun owners. There are far more out there who get a gun to just put in the bedside table and never touch it again aside from maybe taking it to the range to shoot a box of ammo once a year. Not to mention, spending $400+ on a gun is out of the question for a lot of people. They just cant do it within their respective budgets.

The cost of a gun is a measuring stick of the quality of the materials used to make it, and the quality control to ensure reliability and durability. There will also be some brand-specific costs that go along with any name-brand. However, the cost largely dictate the long term reliability and durability of the gun. On the flipside, there are a few companies that have recognized the need for “good enough” guns, with a smaller price tag.

The most recognized and probably the most rebuked is the Hi-Point. The big, ugly, clunky, heavy semi-auto that has been most widley renowned as the gun of the ghetto gunfighter. However, there have been a litany of tests done and the gun has proven to be far more reliable than I myself was wanting to give it credit for. At around $150, this is a viable option if someone NEEDS a gun. There are a few others that are prolific online and at a gunstores in the budget friendly counter. SCCY, Jiminez, Diamondback, and Jennings being some of those. All are under $200, and all of them are capable of reaching and surpassing our 4 shot minimum.

 

 

Greg Ellifritz did a superb write up related to this: https://www.activeresponsetraining.net/an-interesting-experience-at-the-shooting-range?fbclid=IwAR0eXGUZYEotdw3h6vDPfyUR01edqGjkMTZnlmZpGVA9ddQPBpMFlf7LyLg

 

Again, the requirement is that these guns be able to fire at least 4 shots without a catastrophic failure. A catasrophic failure being the gun malfunctioning in a manner that isnt easily fixed by either racking the slide, or ejecting the magazine, racking the slide to clear chamber, and re-inserting a magazine.

If you find yourself owning some of these guns, you will need to carefully choose defensive ammunition. Being that most defensive ammunition is higher pressured (it will have a label with +P, or +P+ present), you will want to select an ammunition that your gun is rated for (reference your owners manual or put your google-fu into action). Fire at least 20rds of this ammunition in your gun and if the gun chokes, you will need to select a different ammunition. If push comes to shove, high quality FMJ ammuntion is almost always available and will almost always feed reliably. However, you will need to be cognizant of shot placement as lack of expansion and small wound cavity wont allow for margin of error, and what is beyond the badguy you are shooting as FMJ has a higher rate of over penetration than hollow-point ammunition. (pictured below is a FMJ (Full Metal Jacket on the left and JHP (jacketed hollow point) on the right.)

These guns do not to claim to be the war-fighters gun of choice, or to have hell and back reliability, however, they are good enough in a pinch. Sometimes, thats all that someone needs. I do not espouse that these guns are superior in some kind of underdog manner to guns of higher quality. I personally carry a Glock 19 and keep it by my bedside. However, if i were to find myself in a bad way, I would not feel out gunned if i only had one of these guns listed above in my possession.

Disclaimer: I’m not saying buy a shit gun so you can spend more on video games or VR Porn. Be smart. When it comes to the protection of yourself and loved ones, quality is key.

Dont skin that smoke wagon just yet

I was at the gunshop today and was discussing 20ga vs 12ga (I’ll get back to that at a later date) when the topic of escalation of force came up. This is a topic that I don’t feel is discussed enough. Most likely because it doesn’t stroke the ego nor does it feed into the machismo of a lot of gun culture.

1. When you are out and about, and you have all of your tools, gadgets and death-ray on you, you should, first and foremost, be aware of what is going on around you. That doesn’t mean stare everyone down like a deranged lunatic. It simply means, take notice of what is happening around you. Does someone look out of place or menacing? Is someone giving you hard looks? Are there any emergency personnel around (Police, EMT’s, Firefighters(most firefighters are cross-trained as EMT’s) that you could go to if something bad happens? Where are the entrances/exits or main areas of travel? Where will I be going in the case of an emergency? Keep in mind, that people tend to run toward the same door or direction they came/entered from in an emergency. There is almost always a back/side door (usually through the kitchen if you’re in a restaurant or the “backroom/loading dock” of most major stores) that you can get to and get out from quicker and easier. For those of you who are familiar with quality firearms training methodologies and tactics as it relates to mindset, you will know that this is Condition Yellow of Jeff Coopers color code. You should be in yellow for the vast majority of your day. Excluding when you are asleep of course.
   

When you find yourself encountering a potential threat or in an uncomfortable position, you need to know your options.

2.Verbally acknowledge the potential threat. (This could be as simple as putting  both hands up toward your chest, palms out and saying “Could you stop right there please?)         I am a fan of “Back up, feels like I’m about to throw up”. This is disarming without being threatening and if they continue to advance, some flags should start going up. A great class to take to get a more detailed grasp on this is “Managing Unknown Contacts (or MUC*pronounced muck*) with Craig Douglas of Shivworks.

3.The threat or badguy is still advancing after your verbal acknowledgment and it is obvious that bad things are to be expected, this is when I suggest we start using physical, less lethal, tools. Here is where pepper spray shines. Pepper spray utilizes the body’s own reactions to irritants to allow you an opportunity to get away from the altercation. There are several versions of spray, and several delivery methods. My personal favorite and what I suggest is the SABRE Spitfire. It is easily kept on a keychain and the delivery method is in a cone shaped mist. I like the mist because it is easier for the assailant or threat to inhale and isnt easily wiped off or avoided. It is accurate within 10ft. The only drawback is that it can be blown back into your face if the wind is blowing in that direction. Once you spray someone, immediately get out of the area and into a safe place and then contact the police. (If you happen to not have your spray on you, a quick fingertips forward thrust into the eyes with your off/weak hand can gain you a few valuable seconds if you connect. This is covered in depth in Craig Douglas’s ECQC and EWO classes)

4.If for whatever reason the pepper spray wasn’t effective, or you couldn’t use it and there is a legitimate threat against your life or the lives of others, now you can bring your gun into play(a knife is also a lethal option but is a really nasty and complicated option that I don’t suggest unless there are no other options. KNIVES ARE NOT LESS-LETHAL OPTIONS). Once this happens, there are still more options. Just because you have pulled your gun DOES NOT mean you have to use it, but you should be prepared to. Simply yelling STOP!!!!!! while presenting the gun might very well solve the problem at hand. There are many different ways for the situation to go. You prepare for this by taking quality training and utilizing dryfire exercises. I suggest Claude Werner’s 1000 days of dryfire. As far as quality training, I would be happy to help anyone I can. I also would highly recommend Craig Douglas of ShivWorks, Paul Sharp and his MDOC system, Claude Werner, Tom Givens of Rangemaster, Clint Smith of Thunder Ranch, John Farnham of Defense Training International, Paul Howe, Steve Fisher of Sentinel Concepts, Jeff Bloovman of Armed Dynamics, Mark Luell of Growing Up Guns,(Super) Dave Harrington, Reid Heinrichs of Valor Ridge, Jeff Gonzalez of Trident Concepts, and the list goes on and on. I have trained with several of these folks and would gladly send my loved ones to them for quality, realistic, robust training to trust their lives with.

A violent or volatile encounter is much more complicated than a 4 step process. I tried to boil it down to the main points of

• Be aware of your surroundings
• Let them know that you see them
• Have a less lethal option
• Have a lethal option
• JUST BECAUSE YOU SKIN YOUR SMOKE WAGON DOESNT MEAN THAT YOU NEED TO MAKE NOISE WITH IT

Hopefully this made sense to everyone and gives you a template for an escalation of force when presented with a violent or volatile encounter.

Thank you for reading. Share this if you found it helpful.

Best wishes to you as you pursue a classical education in violence.

 

Fit for your Fight

This past weekend, I was lucky enough to attend the Shivworks: Edged Weapons Overview course. Its a 2-day course that is very physical. (AAR will be coming soon). I am not the most out of shape dude, but I could stand to drop 30lbs and improve my cardio. As we slugged through 2, 9-10hr days, some areas of conditioning became apparent in their importance in regards to fighting for your life.

For those of you who read this blog, there is a good chance that you are a “Student of Violence”( coined from Sonny Puzikas), or you are invested in advancing your classical education in violence. You shoot realistic scenarios and drills with your pistol, rifle, shotgun, have field expedient emergency medical skills and are training in some kind of unarmed combative. Here is where the first area of fitness/conditioning is.

GRIP STRENGTH!!!!!!! Grip strength aids in all of the aforementioned activities. Good grip strength will significantly improve your shooting right off the bat. When it comes to medical uses, the one thing that comes to mind, is putting prolonged pressure on a wound to stem bleeding. In a combative nature, it goes without saying. Grabbing an elbow or leg in order to pass your opponent and gain ground advantage, trapping the arms to subdue a suspect, the list goes on. After having a training knife knocked out of my sweaty, tired paw, along with having to attempt to control my opponents knife wielding limb, grip strength became an obvious avenue for improvement.

Hand Grip Thing-ma-jigs: Easy to use. Grab one and squeeze away.

Farmers Carry: Pretty much grab some heavy things of equal weight like dumbbells or fill up 2 ammo cans with gravel or sand, and walk around with them.

Back/Lat Strength: When it came down to maneuvering out of holds, clearing a fouled knife stab, or getting a hit that would rock the bad guy on his ass, Back and Lats are where its at. These are big groups of muscles that up until about 4 years ago, I completely ignored out of ignorance and “not wanting to injure myself”. Get your back and Lats tuned up. You’ll be a much better person and combatant because of it. You can pull with much more power than you can push.

Rope Pulls: Just get yourself a good sized rope and tie heavy stuff to one end, and pull your heart out. Rowing exercises are good for the back and lats as well.

Cardio: Ah, yes, the dreaded C-word. I don’t think there is anyone on earth that despises cardio more than myself. I run with the grace and style of a newborn elephant. After running drill after drill of just grappling with opponents and getting in and out of fighting position, there wasn’t a person in the class that wasn’t gassed. Glad to not be alone, but I still was aware of my own short comings in the area of longevity in the aerobic capacity. Contrary to what we might tell ourselves, just being able to move a lot of really heavy stuff isn’t the show stopper. You have to be able to stay in that fight. If you are gasping like a 90-yr old asthmatic in a CS chamber after 1-min of grappling, then its time to face the inevitable. Now, there are ways to improve your stamina without having to lace up those running shoes. The key is to get your heart rate and respiration rate up there and keep it there for an extended period

Jump Rope: Just get out there and do it. Set yourself to go for 5 2-min rounds with maybe 30 sec rest in between. Increase the number of round or duration accordingly.

Hit the Heavy Bag/Spar: Same as jump rope, give yourself a moderate number of 2-3 minute rounds and get things pumping. Keep your feet moving and keep those hits firm and effective

This is not an all inclusive list of course. This is what occurred to me for areas of personal improvement. Being that I work on the road and rarely have access to a gym or equipment, this is a comprehensive list that you guys could implement into your own plans for getting into fighting shape. Leave any more suggestions below and be sure to share this if you find this helpful.

-Chris

Headshots with shotguns

I wrote a short rebuttal to a Facebook shotgun forum’s topic that covered the use of birdshot as a defensive choice of ammunition: “Birdshot is for incapacitation of poultry. Small poultry. Whenever I hear about the fear of “over penetration” against a hostile target, I shake my head. I want that bad guy to stop what he is doing as quickly as possible. How do I do this? By making his blood pressure drop rapidly or by stopping the brain’s communication with the vital organs. In order to do that in the most effective way possible, I must aim for the most arterial parts of the anatomy and the brain stem. Those parts are protected by layers of skin, muscle tissue, and bone. Once the shot has penetrated these mediums, the remaining energy of each piece of shot is minimal. Use buckshot or slugs. They work.”

One of the Buckshot U subscribers poised a comment in response: “what about headshots??……keeps the shot up high away from the kids…also instant stop…..i have seen #1 completely penetrate a mans head at 85 yards…and there are 16 of them…will #4buck do that?…..#4buck seems to be gaining popularity”.-Tim H.

When it comes to headshots, especially with a shotgun, the issues are 2-fold.

1. When you need a headshot, you need it in the worst way. You need it to be 100% effective with no damage to bystanders or hostages. In order to effectively incapacitate the threat, you must destroy the brain stem (medulla oblongata) that sits at the back of the skull where the neck and skull meet.
2. The brain is protected very well by the skull. Most of the bones of the skull are thick and are concave. For a shot to be effective, the rounds must be placed at the base of the skull, directly behind the ear, or into the nasal/ocular cavity. Otherwise, the rounds have been known to skip off of the concave surfaces of the skull, become lodged in the hard palate, or enter between the skin and the bone, traverse around the skull, and exit the other side with only superficial damage to the target.

Either way, you want the shot to go deep inside of the head and terminate into the brain stem.

There was a mention of a headshot being utilized to change the angle of the shot to sail over the height of a child. While this would be correct, somewhat, this is assuming that some of the buckshot, or the slug, has missed the target and has very little between itself and the innocent bystander. What would be much more effective, would be to use your sights, use the properly patterned ammunition for the given distance with your gun, and follow through. If you are genuinely worried about the shotshell payload smoking through a human head or torso and into the next room, you can take a knee and alter the angle of the shot to a  much higher trajectory than a standing shot to the head. I also would bet that the target isnt expecting you to angle out of your doorway only 3ft from the floor, versus an average of 5.5 ft.

#1 or #4 Buckshot, along with slugs can be used to great effect in headshots, as long as the shooter has patterned their specific load with their gun at various ranges.

Granted, some turkey or waterfowl loads may very well prove effective in deterring the badguy, they are made with land/water fowl targets in mind. It is the combined weight of the projectiles along with the size of them that causes the damage to the intended target.

Buckshot and Slugs are for bad guys. Simple as that.

Pistol Grip Only (PGO) shotguns: Not for everyone

Lately, the pistol-grip only (PGO) shotgun has been gaining a fair amount of publicity. I would personally equate this to the PGO being featured in media hotbeds, like, The Walking Dead. The typical method advertised in the use of this ray of death is as follows:

1. Chill the bad guy’s soul with a death stare

Viggo is sick of your shit

2. Rack that thing, point in the same general direction of what you arent a fan of, and blast that fool!

Ka-Chunk

3. Problem solved…hopefully

Shotgun bullets is bad fo yo health. (Not as bad as a 6’2 Austrian killer robot with an M-79)

Unfortunately, this is not at all how things go. In fact, the vast majority of the public have the wrong idea of how the PGO is meant to be used.

Ithica 37 Stakeout

The first commercially avaliable PGO (to my knowledge) was the Ithica 37 Stakeout. It gained some notoriety as being the signature weapon of Ricardo Tubbs from Miami Vice. The Stakeout was used by a few law enforcement agencies, most notably the NYPD during the Jim Cirrillo “Stakeout Squad” days. It was also fielded by US troops in the Vietnam War. In these circumstances (laying in wait behind a grocery store counter or playing Tunnel Rat) the target would typically be no more than 10 ft from you. Shooting at a man sized target at such a close distance allows there to be a margin of error in point of aim and sight picture. Also, these weapons were wielded by men who were reasonably strong and fit. PGO’s have since become rather popular and are in pretty heavy circulation. They have gained significant ground in use by the military ground troops as the battleground has shifted from the traditional countryside to a much more urban setting. PGO’s are being used as a method of breaching obstacles, instead of engaging hostile targets, for the most part.

19th SF Group breaching with a PGO Mossberg 590

19th SF Group training.
PGO held in place with Rare Earth magnets

The PGO excels at breaching door hinges, door locks, and similar objects. This is done by pressing the barrel, sometimes a standoff device attatched to the barrel or magazine tube, against the object to be breached, angled out to avoid sharpanel hitting the breacher, and firing. The main issue with these guns is that recoil management is a nightmare and sometimes painful, especially when full power loads such as buckshot or slugs are used. This problem is skirted by utilizing proprietary breaching rounds. These rounds recoil about the same as a standard round of birdshot.

Commercially available breaching rounds

You have probably seen numerous videos online featuring, usually,  a petite young woman, a child of around 13, or some goober who should know better, hip-firing a 12ga PGO and this usually results in the gun being thrown backwards and the user being scared senseless. Sometimes the shooter decides to hold the gun up to their face in order to gain some kind of sight picture and this normally results in the recoil driving the grip of the gun into the mouth the shooter, who drops the gun and examines the tooth and blood loss that has been inflicted upon them. I will go back to who the PGO’s were originally used by: Old school cops, and Tunnel Rats. Strong men who have trained endlessly with these weapons. PGO’s are meant to be shoved into door jams and fired with purpose. It is in this role that they excel.

Now, PGO’s can indeed be used in a personal protection role, especially when in extremely confined spaces, such as a vehicle. In a car-jacking situation, the first solution is to hit the gas. If you find yourself hemmed in and bad guys are on the move, a PGO is a sure way to put a serious monkey wrench in the works of the would be assaulters. It literally becomes a point and shoot weapon, as your sights will not be in your eye-line and the distance to the target will be 0-5ft. When it comes to traditional personal protection/home defense, a standard shotgun with a stock that fits you will be much more effective and easier to use than the PGO in all but the tightest of spaces.

PGO shotguns have their place. In the hands of capable, knowledgeable professionals. Tricking your girlfriend or much younger sibling into shooting one so you can have a few laughs, is juvenile and petty. It is a tool that has a specific use and even more specific way it is to be handled.

2-Day Combat Shotgun Course Description

Buckshot University
Combat Shotgun Course
The shotgun has been a proven fight stopper for quite a long time. The universal availability of it, along with the diverse selection of ammunition makes it a superb choice when defending your life, loved ones, liberty, and property; It is with this in mind, that this 2-Day course will focus on only proven, robust weapons manipulations and tactics. No filler. No flash or flair. What you can expect to learn over the 2 days:
• Universal firearm safety
• Positive stance/gun positioning
• Anatomical points of aim
• Ammunition selection
• Correct sight picture
• Methods of loading
• Malfunction clearance
• Patterning
• Changing ammunition in a fight
• Various shooting positions from the left and right shoulder
• Handgun transition
• Shooting on the move
• Shooting from cover
• Shooting with only one arm
• Hostage shots
• Multiple threats
When you have completed the course, you will be more confident, competent and effective with your shotgun, when that dark time comes. If at ANYTIME, something in the class is unclear, please ask any of the instructors and we will assist you with whatever the issue happens to be. All of us are students of violence and are constantly trying to improve. Any suggestions or recommendations are welcomed with open arms.
Once you have completed this course, we strongly recommend that you take additional shotgun courses that are offered. Take as many as you can. Learn the different methods that people offer, and apply the ones that best fit your situation.
“You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor
look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the
spectres in books,
You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things
from me,
You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self.”-Walt Whitman, Song of Myself

2-Day Combat Shotgun Gear list

Buckshot University
Combat Shotgun Course
Gear List
• Pump action or semi-automatic shotgun with sling (Over-Under and side by side shotguns are allowed, but you will have more difficulty with some of the drills. Bring the gun that you use, we’ll go from there)
• Semiautomatic handgun with at least 2 magazines, along with the holster and magazine pouches you carry them in
• 100rds pistol ammo (Factory loaded ammo only. NO RELOADS)
• 500rds birdshot (Factory loaded ammo only. NO RELOADS)
• 25rds buckshot (Factory loaded ammo only. NO RELOADS)
• 25rds Slug (Factory loaded ammo only. NO RELOADS)
• ANSI rated Eye protection (Safety or ballistic glasses)
• Ear protection (Electronic muffs are preferred)
• Gloves (optional)
• Sturdy belt
• Season appropriate clothing that you don’t mind getting torn and dirty (No open-toed shoes)
• Knee and elbow pads (optional)
• Rain gear
• Pen and Paper
• Sunblock and bug spray
• Hat with brim (Optional-Helps keep sweat and the sun out of your eyes)
• Drinking Water
• Lunch for both days

We shoot every day, hot or cold, rain or shine. Unless there is lightning or a weather siren goes off, we are shooting.

If you have allergies, or are under doctor’s orders to take medication let us know; please bring your medication with you and take it as usual. DO NOT stop taking your meds because of a class.

Shortfalls of the Shotgun

This is going to be a 180 from what most bloggers or subject writers will normally do. I will state the hard, proven, and verifiable facts against my position of the shotgun being a very useful, tactically sound weapon of modernity.
What immediately comes to mind is the lack of ammunition capacity. The vast majority of “off the shelf” shotguns, be it, pump action or semi-automatic, have a capacity of 4+1 (4 rounds in the magazine tube and one round in the chamber). There are a few newer models that come with quite an extensive on-board payload, such as the Keltech KSG with a 12+1 capacity. It accomplishes this by having 2 magazine tubes. This, of course, is a noted exception. With an industry standard of 5 rounds of ammunition, these things run out of gas in a hurry. Especially when you take into consideration, in comparison, that even most compact pistols hold between 7 and 12 rounds. Things get really hairy when you run your boomstick empty before the bad guy has even gotten halfway through his magazine, or worse, when your partner hasn’t gotten to cover yet. Something else to think about is how much ammo are you going to carry. 120 rds of 00 Buck weighs significantly more than 120 rds of 556 or 762. While there are a plethora of chest rigs, and drop rigs that will hold at least 4 rifle magazines, the only production rig for shotguns is the SOE 12ga Micro Rig and the BCS Tactical Shotgun Shell Chest Rig. A Dozen or more companies make the elastic shotshell bandolier and shotshell sling, but neither of these are anything I would advocate using.

SOE 12 Ga Micro Rig in use.

Once you find yourself in a gunfight, I would hope that the first thing you would do would be to jump behind adequate cover as soon as possible. So, you have planted yourself behind a concrete divider and are rocking a rolling. Making the exploits of John Rambo seem like a defunct Disney movie. Guess what happens now Superstar? That booger eater with the Tech 9 sizzles a round through your bicep, shattering your humerus and rendering that arm void. Since all you have is your Dept. issue 870, you now have to work this thing with one arm. Aside from bolt action rifles, there is no other gun that becomes more of a pain in the ass to operate single handed than the pump action shotgun. Its not impossible, its is just very difficult and takes many hours of training to get proficient at it.
Lets throw you another curve ball. You are blasting away at Capt. Cocaine hiding behind that car, and you get a click and no bang. You go to load a round through the chamber and notice that the angels have pissed in the flintlock of your musket and you have a double-feed (insert your poison of what type). There isn’t much you’re going to be able to do with both hands on a good day whilst in the middle of your fight, much less with one operable hand/arm. Sucks. No way around it. Hope you didn’t run your pistol dry.
Lets bring it to the range. Shooting a 12ga shotgun isn’t a cake walk. This thing has quite a punch when you press the bang switch. After a day of shooting, most of us are left with some moderate soreness and maybe even bruising. The factory bead sight on this thing is a damn joke. Even El-cheapo j frames and mouse guns have a front and rear sight to speak of. Not the case with the shotgun. Unless you do some at home gunsmithing or send it off, that brass or brushed steel bead is all you have to work with. I bet you’re missing your AR or AK with notch and post sights, and not to mention optics.
The shotgun has some serious shortfalls to make up for. Low ammo capacity, limited ammo carrying options, difficult to run one handed and clear malfunctions, significant recoil, and crude sights. These are things to take into consideration before you make the shotgun your go-to problem solver.
I wont leave it at that, of course. The next entry will be a rebuttal of those issue I have brought up. Stay tuned.

Each shotgun is an individual

When you delve into the world of precision rifle shooting, you will notice the attention to detail that is paid to the ammunition that is fired through a specific gun. For similar reasons, you should be doing the same thing with your shotgun.
There is a plethora of defensive ammunition made for the shotgun. For our purposes, we will focus on buckshot and slugs. The most common buckshot is 00 (pronounced “double aught”) and 000 (pronounced “triple aught”). 00 buck consists of normally 9 .33 caliber balls, with 000 buck being around 8 .36 caliber balls in a 2-3/4″ shot shell. Slugs are normally a solid piece of lead or other hard material, and weighs in around 1 Oz. For this lesson, we will concentrate on rifled slugs only, as smooth bore shotguns use rifled slugs and are more prevalent than rifled “Slug” barrels which utilize sabot slugs
Each of the ammunition manufactures have their own methods and materials for loading their shot-shells, and there for the pattern or spread will vary between different brands of ammunition that you run through your guns. The wadding, cup, buffer, shape of the shot or slug, and powder, will vary even with the same brand of ammunition, depending on what the characteristics are of that specific load.For example: The general load of buckshot from Federal Premium will vary in pattern and ballistic characteristics from their flite control buckshot or low recoil LE buckshot, etc. Same for slugs. A generic foster slug from Remington will shoot and pattern differently than their more boutique or specialized slugs such as their high velocity or managed recoil slugs. Each brand, and each type inside a brand will have its own patterning and ballistic characteristics. Now, lets add your shotgun to the mix.
As the vast majority of shotguns are manufactured by an automated process, the overall measurements will be very similar. Same with high power, precision rifles as was mentioned earlier. However, during the manufacturing process, each barrel will undoubtedly garner its own minute differences in concentricity, uniformity, size, etc. As is with long range rifles, these microscopic variables in the barrel cause ammunition to act in different ways. If you were to shoot 2 identical Remington 700 .308 rifles with the same type and batch of ammunition, the patterns will differ from rifle to rifle. The same goes with the shotgun. Each shotgun is an individual unto itself. I have personally shot 2 identical Remington 870 12 GA shotguns, each outfitted the same and using the same ammunition. There was a difference in the pattern and coefficient between each gun. Not so much that it would greatly effect using either one for a defensive purpose, but enough that you must familiarize yourself with the gun and the type of ammunition being used. This rings especially true when you are shooting slugs past 15 yds, or buckshot past 7yds. Both can be used to take “hostage shots” and in such a situation, the shooter must be intimately familiar with the gun and ammo combo that he is employing.
Military and police snipers write up ballistic cards for their rifles, and it details the POA/POI (Point of Aim/Point of Impact) that can be expected with a certain brand or several brands and lots of ammunition. I am a proponent of doing the same thing with the shotgun. Buy 3 boxes of buckshot and 3 boxes of slugs and as you shoot them (from a rest) take note of the pattern you get with each one. When you decide on which buck and slug are best for you, write the information on a 3X5 card, laminate it, then tape it to the stock of your shotgun. Repeat this with each shotgun that you have. This will not only give you confidence in the weapon and ammunition, but it will provide a quick visual reference versus trying to remember what gun/ammo combo you used. With shotguns that come with adjustable sights, include your windage/elevation as well.
The shotgun is not a lazy, or dumb man’s weapon. It asks a lot from the shooter. When you do your part and put in the time and effort, the shotgun will shine as a true bastion of firepower, efficiency, and complete system.