AAR: Defensive Shotgun with Practical Firearms Training

[Wayneard3413]

This was my first shotgun class. My past experience with a shotgun has mostly consisted of shooting qual courses and blowing stuff up with one while laughing haha.

With previous pistol, carbine and unarmed training I saw a hole that needed to be filled and quickly jumped at the chance to attend this class. I have only attended one other course with Pat, Rob and Bart but that one weekend was enough to let me know that I would not be dissapointed with the level of training and proffesionalism of their staff.

Being a shotgun class my gear was pretty basic. For the first part of the class I wore my M&P in a JMC RskTkr holster on an Ares Gear Ranger belt. For the dynamic portion of the class I swapped that out for a Peters Custom Holsters Spada on an ATS Tactical war belt. Cold weather gear simply consisted of a PCU level 5 jacket (which was great for the beautiful weather we had, the last few hours I actually just wore a t shirt). Ear pro consisted of an older pair of Peltors with a bit of hook and loop to mate up with a Midland camera.

The day started out with Pat taking the students into the classroom to go over range rules/safety, nomenclature, the various shotgun rounds available, weapons manipulation basics, sling options, add on accessories, modifications, various sighting systems, use of force concerns and a short section on mindset and situational awareness.

After that we took a short break before hitting the range. The first thing we did was line up so that we could have one last chance to check out our weapons and gear to see if there would be any immediate problems. We then split up into two different relays.

The first relay then proceeded to the range to find how their weapons/ammo would pattern at various ranges. Pat provided us with a print out so we could document the patterns at each range line. He explained the benefit of this in a situation where you would have to prove in court that you knew where all pellets of that "9 round burst" would go if used in real life. This was a real eye opener. I had brought along Federal's full power LE 9 pellet 00. After firing my first round at 7 yards Bart came up saying "you were supposed to use buckshot" thinking that I had fired a slug. At that distance there was only one large hole. The pattern consistantly stayed tight, allowing shots out to 25 yards with only one pellet going high and striking the target in the face.

This process took a little time but I agree with Pat that it would prove more than worth it for both the knowledge gained and the possible criminal/civil issues it could help with.

This was the last time we would shoot on paper as the rest of our shots would all be on steel. The next drill consisted of "fire one, load one" tables so we could work out any hand jive issues. This quickly built up to two and three round drills. The constant being that after firing your shot(s) you would scan the area for more threats, place the weapon on safe and then reload to replace any rounds fired.

We then started working support side transitions. After that came single hand shooting and weapons manipulations to show us how to keep a shotgun in the fight even if you have lost the use of one of your arms.

Next up was incorporating movement. This started out with facing drills, turning both 90 and 180 degrees to find and engage your target. We also went over firing from various kneeling and prone postitions.



Then came movement to fire, either doing the "combat glide" or rushing to a point before taking your shots. This meant not only getting to your designated point but also keeping your muzzle covering the threat area at all times.




Then came shooting while on the move. Hollywood would have you believe that you can simply point the shotgun in the general direction and make your hits. Moving at even a moderate pace while trying to land shots on a 8" plate with a gun and ammo that was producing a 4" pattern meant you had better be doing your job on the sights, trigger and properly moving to make your hits.

We then started working with slugs. First off we fired on steel at about 50 yards to see where our guns and loaded were hitting compared to our POA.



We then quickly found ourself taking shots out to 75 yards and beyond. We shot drills that consisted of clearing a plate rack before doing a slug select drill to engage steel targets up on the hillside.

http://www.youtube.com/user/wayneard3413?feature=mhum

By this point most shooters were starting to run low on shot loads so we switched over to slugs to work around cover with. We were put behind a couple pieces of cover that would prove to have use getting into some rather unorthodox shooting positions.



The first was a vertical piece of cover. We were told to make one hit standing from each of four positions. Standing and kneeling strong hand and then the same off the support side of cover.

YouTube - PFT Barricade Drill

YouTube - PFT Barricade Drill

After that we went to a step barricade that would have us trying to contort ourselves down behind cover and make our hits, during this time Pat would come along with his "ass whooping Singaporean training whip" to keep us honest when we had a bit too much of ourselves sticking out from cover.

YouTube - PFT Shotgun Course - Wayne Runnin the Step Barricade

YouTube - PFT Shotgun Course - Wayne Runnin the Step Barricade

At this point we had quickly ran out of daylight. All that was left was a class photo, police our empty hulls and then shake hands before packing up for the ride home.

The main thing I took away from this class was the knowledge that I had really been short changing myself by waiting so long to actually train with the shotgun. While the carbine and pistol has been my bread and butter over the years there is something strangly rewarding about the clang of a solid ounce of lead hitting a target down range. Although the shotgun has taken a backseat to carbines in recent years it is still amazing to see the devasting amount of power a single press of the trigger can deliever.

From now on I will try and make it out for a shotgun class at least once a year. It was great getting back down to train with Pat, Rob and Bart again and I am already making plans for my next class.

[Wayneard3413]

Seems as if I put the same video in there twice... Here is the slug select drill again.

http://www.youtube.com/user/wayneard.../1/F0pZZp71wJg

[mustangpalmer1911]

Very nice review. Looks like alot of fun.

[Wayneard3413]

Couple more pics one of the instructors sent me today...