Shotgun Instruction

KM - My wife wears a progressive lens.....she winds up looking through the top where her distance section is...........it isn't the best, but she is making it work at the time
 
I don't know if it was buried in the thread or not - but that 870 is going to shoot flat - most trap guns shoot a little high or the shooter makes allowances like adding comb height, covering or passing the bird, etc. Check your pattern and see if you need to adjust your POA. Also - the choke will make a difference (IMHO). Lastly - as you have discovered, your gun fit needs fixing. If it is hurting you - you will be anticipating getting smacked instead of finding your target and correct lead.
 
I am doing so bad at this point, little things like blurry vision and shooting flat are meaningless. As for scores, and who is counting, I shot 7/25 twice the other day WITH NO choke.

It's a cyllinder bore and it isn't threaded for chokes and my guess if I don't shoot real quick the shot will spread so fast the chances of hitting the bird are rather slim, even if I had a clue what I was doing.

Right now I am just trying to get fundamentals down and then will worry about scores; the big fundamental being avoiding breaking my shoulder. I have a feeling much will fall in place with a few modifications to the stock; especially shortening the LOP. Along with that and some basic instruction I don't expect to become a Top Gun but I think I will do a bit better than 7. If I like this thing as much as I think I will, I may not want to sink much moolah into it but put something into a second hand sporter.

I have an idea what you mean by covering the bird and all as one guy explained that I am shooting so late that the clay is falling. As is, I keep trying to aim the dadburn thing rather than point and squeeze.

Anyway, removing the pad and checking the fit has made me feel much better about the gun. Thanks.
 
A couple things....


First, kudos to the regulars,especially Jim, Zip and 1 oz, who are taking the time to help out a newbie.

Well done!

Next.....

Klawman, when I started seriously shooting trap back around 2000, I used a wonderful 870 TB trap gun. With the controls and "Chops" identical to my defensive and hunting tools, practice with it was practice with the others.

And if you're seeing all the rib, or top line when mounting, my guess is you're not getting a good cheek weld. Make sure you get consistent and firm contact.

I wish you lived in MD. Betcha I could fix this up in 30 minutes at the range......
 
Dave McC; You folk definitely deserve kudos and have all been great and I have no doubt you could spot what is going on right quick.

Anyway, absolutely no cheek slap and there is no rib. This is just an 18" cyllinder bore defense barrel with bead. I have sarted looking into a used ribbed barrel

I have sent an e-mail to a local "certified" NSCA instructor to see about lessons, but have yet to hear back, and am trying to find out about group beginner skeet classes.

Meanwhile I may run into a shooter that will spot things or one with a short LOP gun I can try. I think it may be too early for me to shoot, but I am going out to the range and just watch what others are doing. Just in case I may grab a box of the low recoil stuff oneounce has suggested.

I also noted that the worse bruising is from the more pointed lower part of the standard Remington butt pad (the "toe"?). I have read where one guy being dug with the point was told to round it off, but before I do that I want to see if the proper cure is something else.

Thanks Dave.
 
BigJimP said:
You are a little older than I am ....thank you ....I knew there was someone out there ... ...besides Zippy13 of course …
Click to expand...

Yep, I'm even a pinch older than Dave McC, our esteemed moderator. My first round of Skeet was about 47 years ago. Having be brought up in a home without guns, my only training had been rifle and pistol in the military, I was on my own with a shotgun. I spent many years as a practitioner of trail and error shotgunning, even won a few shoots. Perfecting my errors, I had reached a ceiling and stagnated for many years. It wasn't until I was able until to buddy-up with an All-American shooter, who identified my errors, that I was able re-learn and started making progress, again.

TheKlawMan,
At our age, you don't have twenty years of trail and error to waste, before you get serious. You have one advantage over the young new shooters: you know that you don't know, and want to do something about it. We've all seen brash young men who think high testosterone levels will instinctively make shooters out of them -- I was one of them back in the day.

My neighbor (older than me) got his first shotgun last year after some dogs savaged his livestock. I took him to my gun club for an introductory lesson. Two fields from us there is a manual trap set up for casual practice, and two young men were launching targets for each other. One was a novice and the other a first-timer. A typical case of the blind leading the blind -- ripe with enthusiasm and short on experience. As we watched them, I'd say too my neighbor, "Watch, he'll miss the this one." After the guy missed, my neighbor asked how I'd known. The guy's mount had been so awkward, there was no way he was going to get shot anywhere near the target. They were great examples of how not to mount a shotgun.

You are wise to be seeking some basic instruction, you don't want to be like the awkward young men shooting holes in the sky. An advantage to your age is the old boys at the gun clubs will take you seriously when you ask for help. As clayman mentioned, the NSSA/NSCA has an instructor certification program. In Orange County, Roger Blickham [(949) 498-8736], of San Clemente, is listed. I met Roger some years ago when he and his son competed at the SoCal clubs. In his younger days he was a Class-AA Skeet shooter and no-nonsense kind of guy.

Something that's often overlooked: In addition to schooling in the fundamentals, try to shoot with folks who are better shooters and watch and learn. Big Jim's shooting buddy is an older more experienced shooter. I'm sure, even with Jim's vast experience, he still picks-up a nugget every now and them. Unfortunately there's a dark side to shotgunning: we've all seen the show-off novice trying to impress the less experienced with well-meaning but worthless suggestions.

When it comes to seeing over the top of your glasses, you aren't alone. The Decots Big Jim mentioned are known as Hy-Wyd -- as the name implies the Hy is for high. I've been wearing the same Hy-Wyd frames for over twenty years. When my prescription changes I get new Decot lenses, and send the frames in for refurbishing (free, IIRC).
 
A big plus to Zippy's comments - trial and error doesn't begin to describe how I learned about guns either. One thing I have found as I shoot sporting - I tend to shoot to the level of the folks I am shooting with. One group has scores about like mine and another is a group of AA/M class shooters, including one in the NSCA Hall of Fame - when I shoot with those guys, I must be intuitively picking up some pointers, because my scores are always higher - they can also diagnose a problem I am having or give me hints on how to tackle a certain target......
 
Sounds good, guys. Yes, I learned by now the benefit of learning and listening. And today was a good day. I watched others shoot for a couple of hours and shot a round. (My shoulder felt pretty good but I was prepared to walk off the range if it bothered me.

NO PAIN! Of course I paid great care to mounting the butt inboard of where I was improperly resting it before, as well as a few other fundamentals AND I BOUGHT A BOX OF WINCHESTER LOW RECOIL 26 GRAM AA 980 FPS as suggested. The price at Turners was about the same as online if you include shipping.

I didn't hit worth beans but that wasn't my goal, which was to mount the same everytime in the proper part of the shoulder. I am still going to add weight (and look for a deal on a long barrel), but will try a standard 1 oz target load in a few days.
 
Last edited:
Zippy, I wasn't shooting formal skeet and wasn't even on a range but I was shooting clays thrown by my Dad 50 years ago off the road on somebody's land between Newport Beach and Corona. I think it was what is now Tustin.

I was looking at Blickham, but I believe San Clemente is in San Diego County south of Oceanside and I am up by what was the El Toro Marine Corp Air Station. There was an old guy at Prado today and I think he may have been an instructor. He sure could shoot. I may ask about him.

Meanwhile, I will e-mail Blickham. I am probably only going to want to take a class or two and he is probably worth an extra hour or two of driving. Besides, I have been thinking of setting up some kind of pro bono office hours for the guys at Pendleton and need to talk to someone.

[Doh! Me stupid. San Clemente isn't much past Dana Point. The little light went on whan I noticed that we have the same area code.)
 
Last edited:
Oneounce. I think it helped for me to try to show my son how to hold the gun, even though his body type is different and he is a couple of inches taller. I also began drilling with the flash lite in the barrel and pointing along the top of the wall into the corner. (My wife hasn't seen me do it.
She will probably freak and call the guys in whit jackets to tqake me away when she catches me doing that.)
 
If you cannot afford personal coaching, try video taping yourself shooting. Just seeing yourself from a different POV can help.

Also, coaching is worth it if you are ready for it. I gave my brother some pointers an how to stand and pivot better and this shooting got a lot better... until he dropped back into his old habits. So, in his case, it is better that he didn't pay for those leasons learned because he didn't keep them up.
 
Orange County Shotgun Ranges

Thanks MarkJ. Actually that web page is our of date. The OC Sheriff range doesn't permit shotguns, which is no surprise since it is indoors. It is pretty safe that indoor ranges that alow shotguns are the exception and before going call, if thye say nothing about shotguns being allowed or not.

I believe Insight, which is actually in LA County, will permit some shotgun useage but with there ammunition.

Prado, is a few miles outside of OC, but it has a shotgun range permitting traps and skeet. That is the only one I have been to with my 870.

San Gabriel seems to have closed. I shot back there in 1960.

A shotgun club not much further from Orange County than Prado, which is not on the list, is Raahauges in Corona, LA County. As far as I know there is no place to shoot an SG in Orange County.

I think I will call the OC Sheriff and ask where the shoot there shot guns.

Thanks.
 
Times have changed that much out there? I used to go to a place with my cousin, he lives in Huntington beach. One of his buds is an older gent shoots trap and skeet. Guess it has been awhile since I was last out there. We used to shoot once in awhile, then go for a motorcycle ride on ortega or the angeles crest. Always wanted to run mullholland but I never got to it.
 
Yeah. The times they are achanging Bob Dillon. I don't think it is so much anti gun phiolosophy as it is the value of land. Whatever, the list oneounce provided looks up to date. Just returned from Prado and jammed up my shouleder some more, but after putting 75 rounds down and shooting a personal best for me. Shot a month old 870 Express exacly like mine, but without the 2 shot extension and with the 28" remchoke vent rib barrel. Weird, I thought it fit me better, but everything but the magazine extension, the barrel, and it did have the sport forearm, was identical. I have the LE forend and it may be that I have to reach further for it with my weak hand. Perhaps the forend made it easier for me to balance it and pull it properly into by shoulder. (The kid 26 year old that owned it had shot skeet for a while, and even though this was trap, shot pretty well with it and with my riot style). Like a lot of you guys have said, there is a lot to be learned from the guys at the range, including from trying their guns.
 
reloading

i gave up reloading shot shells .i had a lee load all and was doing good untill i priced walmart 12 ga shot shells and gave up the trouble of reloading now some may say its fun and it is ,I just got tired of pressing shells and chaseing folks out of my ammo room with lighted cig /cigars .accidents happen so walmart was my way out ,now im selling my rossie shot gun side hammers 12 gage coach gun and going back to target shooting , hay we all have to ahve fun
 
I here you merbenz. I have been thinking about loading my own shells, but as long as my pump eats the cheap stuff from WM I don't see where it. Right now I seem to be working through the issues I have been experiencing with kick back as a nooby (just tried out my new Remington Supercell Recoil Pad), but if they continue to plague me I may have to shoot the more expensive low recoil stuff and then it may prove worth loading my own. (Was watching some reloading video on Youtube and I hadn't realized how little there was to it.)

You said something about having to chase smokers out of the room when reloaiding. I got a laugh out of one of the reloading videos in which the guy's reloading bendh was next to his HVAC.
 
Currently, I can run off a box of reloads for about $4. That's not much savings over the value packs, but I get better ammo. The stuff I reload almost exclusively is a 7/8 oz, 1200 FPS load that kicks you know what on clays but is easy on my arthritic self.

My 20 gauge reload is similar, just a little cheaper.

Last Saturday, I had some new shooters to instruct. One was a mature female of less than 5' tall and 100 lbs. She was fearful of the kick, having shot only her husband's 12s. I loaned her the little SKB 20 and two boxes of my reloads and watched her as she busted her first clays. Big grin, no pain. I thought I'd have to wrestle her to get my gun back.

After I left, her husband bought her a 12 gauge White Onyx with 28" barrels. And some 7/8 oz ultra lite loads.

Next time I take them out, I'm bringing a little NEF single with a 12" LOP and some 3/4 oz training loads for her two youngest kids to try.

And that's the big advantage of reloading. Tailoring the shot cloud to the mission and shooter.....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top