In April I bought a shotgun, mostly for home defense and animal control since we live out in the woods away from everybody. It’s a 12 guage shotgun with an 18 inch barrel (Remington 870), also known as a riot gun. Today we all (all 6 of us) went for a gun safety and use class and then practiced at a shooting range (same place for both). The range is located way out in the boondocks. As the instructor gave us the safety class he regularly spit his chewing tobacco into an empty plastic bottle. He said he keeps a shotgun between his mattress and box spring, but that no one would even dare attempt to enter his house. He was a rough-looking character and at first seemed like he felt awkward. I doubt that he had ever had a family come for lessons. But he warmed up fairly quickly. We used different kinds of shot in order to get used to what the different types feel like. The #00 Buckshot had the biggest recoil, but I also had some “reduced recoil” buckshot that didn’t kick as much as the real stuff. We also used #9 bird shot. We learned the normal stance as well as shooting from the hip.
Shotgun and Shooting Range
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Wow, did the recoil bruise anyone? So how does the saying “Shooting from the hip” relate to really shooting from the hip?
According to our instructor, you only use shooting from the hip when you are close (within about 7 yards) because your aim isn’t as good. But you save time by not having to raise the gun to your shoulder.
so I guess it does have a connection.
Thus the phrase… “shooting from the hip”… not aiming carefully. By the way the instructor looks like me with a beard. And I used to spit in a cup to lose weight during wrestling season.
Hmmm – I think you’re all crazy!
Spitting in a cup makes you lose weight?
The first time I tried it I was quite nervous or excited or both because afterward I was shaking! But the second time felt more comfortable. Shooting from the hip was easier, but shooting from the shoulder felt more powerful. My arms got tired holding it up. I felt like my arms were just long enough to reach the action to slide it. I am glad we did it and it was fun!
Only temporarily. I could lose up to 1 1/4 lbs per day if I kept it up all day. Sometimes that 1 1/4 lbs was all I needed to beat the scale to get on the mat. Pretty stupid, huh. BTW, Alan, I agree with you.
I meant that I agree that WE are all crazy. That probably didn’t come across quite right.
I once spent an afternoon shooting skeet and it was a lot of fun. My friend then put what he called Turkey shot in the gun and I almost dropped the gun when it recoiled…I still hurt thinking about it.