Shotshells for practice?

[Nightcrawler]

Should I practice my shotgun shooting (usually done against bottles of water at varying distances) with buckshot instead of birdshot? Is the pattern/range/spread different between, say, No. 4 shot and the 100 round value pack of 7 1/2 shot I bought from Wally World for sixteen bucks?

 

[PreserveFreedom]

I usually use birdshot for anything non-serious. It's so much easier on the budget. It couldn't hurt to finish off your practice session with a little bit of buck. If you are buying the bird shot in bulk, Wal Mart usually sells 250 round cases for under $30 in 12 or 20 ga. The only problem is the aluminum bases. I have had problems with them sticking in my chambers. I think that is the same ammo as in the 100 round packs though.

 

[Dave McC]

I go with Erick here(since lights aren't the subject,heh,heh...). The more you shoot,the better you shoot, and cheapo loads mean more shooting.

FYI, we introduced rookies to the 870 with #8 loads when I instructed. In my own practice, I use them also, maybe 90% of the time.

Besides those water bottles,try a few paper grocery bags set up on sticks. They duplicate the size and shape of the human torso. Nice and cheap!

 

[Nightcrawler]

I have this idea...

(my friends Matthew, Dave, and I, that is, all of whom now own 12 ga shotguns) where we'll have the shooter face away from the targets while they're being set up, with the magazine tube loaded, saftey off, chamber empty (cruiser ready). Then, we'll set up a certain number of targets (depending on the shotgun's capacity) behind his back, at varying ranges, but all in his field of view (though some will be at the edges). Then, once the setup guys are safely out of the way, we'll yell "go!" and time the shooter with a stop watch, to see how long it takes him to acquire and knock down all of the targets. I figure practicing that enough will eventually give us instinctive target acquisition and point shooting skills.