Shotgun time
Oct09
When I teach newbies to shoot, I normally start with pistols and rifles. This teaches them that no, pistol and rifle recoil is manageable, even for bigger calibers. It’ll kick a bit, but it’s not like the crap you see in movies. Then I have them try a shotgun, and they discover that yes, shotguns really do kick that hard.
Are you tired of me talking about shotguns yet? Too bad.
After all my yammering about how only a malfunctioning firearm will discharge unsafely without human action, uh, oops. TL;DR: If you own a Walther PK380, you need to click on that link.
For no real reason, I’m posting this video, because I love Mythbusters, and this is one of their more WTF videos.
I don’t see the “oops” here. Even the broken Walther won’t shoot unless you pull the trigger. It’s just that the safety doesn’t “safen” anything. We’re not supposed to “rely” on mechanical safeties anyway, right?
mechanical safety = thing which will break at some point, according to my CCW instructor.
Your instructor has it right. The only safety you can rely on is the one between your ears.
Unfortunately, that leaves an awful lot of folks out.
you forgot the safety attached to your hand. 🙂
I usually start all new shooters on .22 caliber. I’ve got two lever actions (one scoped) a bolt action and a semi auto. Nice thing about this is I can set them up and teach then the basics of shooting, the safety rules, and teach them the various sights, while at the same time, teaching them the various actions of firearms.
Once they show me they’re pretty proficient with that, I take them to the large bore range. Hand them my Marlin in .35 Remington or my K31. The straight pull is usually enough to get a few odd glances too.
Once they’ve gotten the hang of that and want something tougher I pull out the K98 and the Mosin Nagant 91/30 with PU scope mount.
I can shoot my Mosin all day and just feel it a little in the morning. That K98 though, if I hold that thing so much as one little bit off or don’t have it on my shoulder right it eagerly let’s me know that I screwed up. Went from 22 to that one day and didn’t have it tight enough, literally saw stars and had a tear come to the eye.
If they still want more then I bust out my Ithaca and the Winchester Trench gun. No trigger disconnect on either of them, hold the trigger and every time the pump goes forward the gun fires. That’s usually enough to satiate the recoil craving for them.
No one to this day has taken me up on my offer to fire the 8 gauge though 😀
Ha!
I introduced my girlfriend to the Winchester 1300 Defender 12 gauge last weekend. She is 6’1″ and not frail at all, so she wanted to try and thought she could manage it… I forgot that the ammo I had was 3 inch magnum buckshot. Three rounds downrange and she was DONE and cursing.
I fired the remainder of the shells so my shoulder would also look like hamburger in the morning.
In all fairness, she handles the .357 like a champ and can put rounds downrange all day long… but Dat 12Ga!!!
Naw, splatterguns go Boowhoom! Obama goes Choom.
Interesting: It seems that Heidi cycled the gun under recoil and returned it to battery flat on her back. Good technique. This grrrl has promise!
BTW, lead shot or rod in the stock attach hole adds weight near the CoG and really soaks up the recoil. That, and Winchester FeatherLites help my wife when she shoots her SxS in Cowboy.
Most 12 ga pumps tend to “push back” in my hands, automatically helping cycle the action. Some people say I have to stiffen my front wrist more, but my accuracy has never suffered.
I think we’d all agree that the lightest kick shotguns are the .410/ .380 bore/ .22 bore (yea..I know my bores from my gauges).
Thing is, even the .410 has harder recoil than most rifles. In my opinion, anyway. That’s the thing about shotguns.
“AssHault Shotgun?” How inadvertently brilliant!
We just watched the first “Expendables” on Netflix last night.
I want the gun the black guy had.
Wow, all that from a 20 gauge?
The first shotgun I fired was my 12 Gauge JC Higgins. I started with birdshot, which did nicely on recoil. It wasn’t until firing buckshot and slugs that it hurt.
Really digging Failure to Fire. I used to work in a gun shop as a teenager. Quite a difference from Two Lumps 🙂
Recoil varies from person to person, I’ve noticed. For instance, I refuse to fire Mel’s 10 gauge any more, because that sumbitch hurts like fucking hell to me. Mel doesn’t really mind it. She also competed in TKD for years,a nd is used to having people kick the shit out of her. On the other hand, I don’t mind 20 gauge slug, but other people tend to complain about it.
Hey, I started shooting with muzzleloaders. Once I picked up modern firearms, I kept wondering when I was going to feel this “kick” everyone was talking about.
My first memorable “kick” from shooting a cartridge gun was my husband’s 45-70. As I recall, my shoulder ended up bruised. XD
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