Advice

Transition from Shotgun to Handgun during a Firefight

You cannot bring too much firepower to a gunfight. However, unless the fight is choreographed by a Hollywood producer you can only fire one weapon at a time. Therefore, to carry on the fight if the weapon you are firing such as a shotgun fails for whatever reason, jams, or runs out of ammunition you need to transition to another firearm, a handgun for instance.

If your shotgun fails and you are within handgun range then it is better to sling your shotgun and engage the enemy with your pistol. This may give you time to fix the jam or to begin a combat reload. You cannot allow the aggressor to advance on your position as you fiddle with a jammed weapon. You need a sling to maintain control of the shotgun. If you do not have a sling, you have drop the weapon to engage properly with your handgun. You really do not want to give up control of the shotgun if it can be helped.

Transitioning From One Target to Another While Firing

You may be faced at some point with multiple targets, multiple targets that are shooting back at you. Most firing ranges are set up so you only focus on one target at a time unless it is a specialized training facility. You fire, the buzzer goes off and you bench your weapon, it is synchronized to some extent, firefights are not. Therefore, most shooters focus on becoming proficient while shooting at one target in a controlled environment.

Common Mistakes Made While Shooting

Keep in mind that however common, mistakes do lead to accidental discharges. Lack of, or poor training will lead to mistakes being made. Careless behavior leading to an injury when a shooter knows better should be considered negligence and not be considered an accident caused by a mistake. When you know better and still do not follow proper safe handling procedures then you are negligent.

Shotgun Slug Change Over Drill

Slug change over drills can seem somewhat elaborate depending on your weapon, and some may question why it is needed to begin with. If you do not believe in the need for a slug change over, it is unlikely you would ever master the technique. It is not typically something you do as a hunter, but would perform during the defense of your family and property.

Shotgun Shooting Positions

Shotgun Shooting Positions

You can literally shoot a shotgun from any position however, some positions are better than others are. In an ideal world, you would have a choice but everyone knows ideal never enters into the equation when it comes to a firefight. Therefore, to be prepared you have to practice and conduct drills in various positions, such as prone (lying on the ground), kneeling, standing, shooting around corners and so forth. Keep in mind in a firefight someone is shooting back, so cover and concealment is an important part of surviving. One position you will need to practice and become proficient at is shooting from cover. Cover is protection from rounds while concealment is out of the shooters’ vision.

Shotgun Training (Shooting from a Low Port)

Shotgun Training (Shooting from a Low Port)

Toe to toe shooting is not an option, in any firefight and you always have to make sure you make a small or even an invisible target while being able to return fire. To practice set up your shooting area using 50-gallon barrels as cover. Place the targets at various ranges to simulate the aggressors’ movement. Remember, when in a tactical situation you will only know what to do according to your level of training, so if you only trained one way that is what you will do in a firefight.

Kneel and shoot around the barrel. Once all rounds are downrange, begin loading as you swing around to the other side of the barrel still kneeling. You should have reloaded by the time you have swung around to the other side. You will notice of course that your body is in the wrong position, for firing left or right handed depending on which side of the barrel you started with. You will not be able to sight on the target you initially fired at; this is simulating movement by the intruder. Fire all rounds downrange and then reload as you move to the next barrel and set of targets that are set at a different range and angle to your position.

Shotgun Training

Shotgun Training

In your home, you will be shooting around furniture, doorways, over, and around counter tops. You may have to get into the prone position to safely fire from around a corner. Learn to fire left and right handed. The ejection of shells across your dominate eye (left-handed shooter firing a right-handed weapon) may distract you at first. If you practice, you will soon realize if you have to perform, a slug change over, the ejection port is facing you if you shoot left-handed. Remember the safety will be different if you switch hands to fire. Learn to fire offhand because you may have to fire with either hand at some critical point.
Practice until you can be reloaded and ready to fire as you move into a new position and always have eyes on the target. Reload by feel only and if you have practiced with a slip on stock shell holder make sure you always have it attached to the weapon. Some can reload from a belt pouch, but fumbling at the belt can take up time, but whatever works for you should be used.

Shotgun Training

Shotgun Training

Facing straight on to the target makes you a target. Intruders and shooters that target groups of people typically fire from a standing position and if you are at a standing position, you are a target. Getting below the field of fire is critical, and you must be able to return fire from that position, whether it is prone, squatting or kneeling. Of course, the recoil will throw you off balance if you are properly positioned. It takes practice and dedication to fire from any position but you have to deal with the reality of the situation and have the training to adapt to it.

One Handed Pump Action Manipulation of Your Shotgun

One Handed Pump Action Manipulation of Your Shotgun

Vitaly Pedchenko, Shotgun Instructor

Vitaly Pedchenko, Shotgun Instructor

A situation where you would need to work the pump action on your shotgun one-handed would include an injury to your arm or hand or if you are helping someone to safety. You will need to cycle the weapon and fire the weapon one-handed. It does not work as it does in the movies and some have practiced the manipulation with a loaded weapon resulting in a few holes being blown in the roof of garages and hunting lodges. Practice with an empty weapon because the only time you would need to cycle the pump action is if you are in a life-threatening situation. The weight of the weapon will be less of course without shells loaded. Practice and become proficient with both hands not just your shooting hand. You do not know which hand or arm will become injured.

Nearly all pump actions are a back and forward motion of the forend to cycle. The forend is connected to the bolt by one or two arms. Having two arms mean a more precise cycling and reduces binding. It also makes cycling with one hand easier.

The forend is not centered on the weapon so the weight is below the pump action, which means the weight has to be picked up and then released so the action can cycle by holding the forend. The weapon has to be picked straight up and then jerked to some extent to move the pump action back and then forward. This is accomplished under normal circumstances by the non-shooting hand grasping the forend and racking back then forward.

Grasp the forend with whatever hand you want to start with. Try to move the action by moving your hand up and down. Once you get a feel for the movement jerk the weapon to rack the action back then forward. Both the back and forward actions will have to use the weight of the weapon to move the pump action through its cycle. This action is made difficult because the pump action has to move back first and then forward. It is a downward motion with the hand and then upward motion to bring it back in the other direction.
Another method would be to prop the weapon against your hip to rack the pump. This will require some practice as well because once the weapon is against the hip you have to keep the stock from sliding off your hip when pulling back. It would be extremely difficult to place the weapon stock against your stomach to perform this move.

You can place the butt on the ground/floor and balance it enough to work the action. This too does require practice because the weapon will tend to roll away from you as you pull down. Keep in mind you are only using one hand to perform this maneuver and with an injured limb your balance will be off.
The movies show the individual walking or running and cycling the pump action. This would be difficult to perform while moving quickly. If the action is, loose from wear it may slide much easier. Some have stated they feel one-handed manipulation can damage the action. This is not something you want to worry about in a firefight. However, excessive practice with the weapon may wear the action faster than normal not to mention the wear and tear from all the times the weapon will be dropped during practice.

Proper Trigger Pull

Proper Trigger Pull

Vitaly Pedchenko, Shotgun Instructor

Vitaly Pedchenko, Shotgun Instructor

You can have your sights lined up perfectly, then jerk the trigger, and of course miss the mark. Trigger manipulation is something you must work on for better control. Your sights may be perfectly zeroed and you have sandbag supports but if you jerk the trigger, you will miss. You can pull to the left or right, fire high and fire low with poor trigger control. An excellent way to practice your trigger pull is by using snap caps, which are cartridges without primer or shot that allow you to dry fire without damaging the firing pin.

Use the snap caps to know how much slack is in the trigger. New shooters get impatience when they depress the trigger slightly and nothing happens, and then they jerk the trigger to get a response. Many have said that the shot should be a surprise. It should not be a surprise if you practice and know how much slack you have. Steady pressure and over time it begins to feel like the weapon fired on its own. You can fire more quickly without jerking but for practice sake take it slow and feel the slack being taken up.

You may have to fire quickly in any number of situation but it does not mean you jerk to make it fire faster. Simply apply steady pressure faster. Your trigger finger has a joint at the end, one in the middle and one where it meets the palm, which means the end of the finger can move independently from the rest of the finger. Some shooters’ trigger placement is past the first joint meaning just flexing the tip will not fire the weapon. To pull the trigger with two joints of the finger over the trigger essentially means you are moving more than just the trigger finger to pull. This is not control, you cannot feel the slack and really cannot feel how much pressure you are bringing to bear and will end up jerking the trigger. Just use the tip where all you have to do is flex the joint without moving the whole hand or finger; this will give you greater control.

Take the time to observe your fellow shooters on a range sometime and you may notice the entire hand moves when some shooters pull the trigger. The more mechanics you employ to depress the trigger means less control. It is not the weapons’ sight but your trigger pull many times that causes you to miss.

Experienced shooters find the spot on their fingertip for the best pull, which is usually on the side of the finger where there is limited cushion and more sensitivity.

Your index finger needs the thumb for most jobs, so when the trigger finger has a job to do the thumb wants in on it. It can be difficult sometime to isolate the two because the opposable thumb is needed to pick up coins for example, or to grasp items tightly. This is called sympathetic movement, when one moves the other tries to move as well. You must keep the thumb from moving by having a tighter grip where the thumb makes contact with the weapon.

Zeroing Your Weapon: Shotgun, Rifle or Handgun

This is updated post about zeroing of the firearms.

You finally have the rifle out of the box and are anxious to shoot it. You cannot wait until you get to the range. Once there you set up the target, the silhouette at 25 meters looks close enough where you could throw a stone and hit it. You fire a round, scope it, and see that it missed the black. You try again and same placement. You move the weapon and find your shots are even farther from the black almost off the target completely. You blame the weapon and yourself. However, you may not realize that you have to adjust the weapon to you. The weapon may or may not have come from the factory with a mechanical zero or what some may call a battle sight zero. You have some adjustments to make.

Remington 870 Ejection Window Modification

I’ve heard about this Remington 870 modification several times. I was not sure about it because it requires modification of the ejection window and it cannot be undone. This is the most radical way to improve reliability of your Remington 870, so if you don’t have many issues with extraction you don’t need it.

Custom Firearm Grips from Rat Grips

Custom Firearm Grips from Rat Grips

Rich has posted very useful information about Rat Grips on Remington 870 Forum:

Custom Firearm Grips with Rat Grips

Custom Firearm Grips with Rat Grips

Wanted a new grip for my AR to get betting trigger finger placement, and even the Ergo grip wasn’t enough to stop me wrapping my finger around the trigger completely… so thought I’d try a custom one.

Moldable Grip System from Rat Grips

Moldable Grip System from Rat Grips

http://ratgrips.com/ (yeah, the video’s are a bit too tacti-cool for me, but skip the intro and turn the music down and the how-to’s are pretty straight forward)

These are plastic pieces that you heat with a heatgun to make them soft and sticky, pop them on your gun and mould to the shape of your hand/cheek.

You’re going to want to use the glove provided. That molten plastic burns like hellfire. And it’s as simple as that. Heat the plastic, stick it on, mould where you want it to go, and voila. The longer you spend, the better it’ll look. Well, it won’t win any beauty awards, but it’ll be damn comfortable!

Not too keen to put it on my lovely Claro Walnut Wingmaster 870, but might interest some people. The pads they do would make a great custom cheek pad.

Tapco Shotgun Chamber Safety Flag

Tapco Shotgun Chamber Safety Flag

Tapco Shotgun Chamber Safety Flag

Tapco Shotgun Chamber Safety Flag

Safety flag is inexpensive but very useful tool. Chamber safety flag shows others that your shotgun is unloaded and chamber is empty. That makes everybody comfortable.

Safety flags are mandatory on competitions of a high level and with big number of competitors. You can carry your shotgun ONLY with safety flag installed.

Tapco Shotgun Chamber Safety Flag is made of bright polymer composite. It fits into the chamber of a shotgun perfectly. Very simple and useful tool. I recommend having several spare flags because they can get lost and you will have to buy one on the range (where they sold at ridiculously high price).

Remove Before Flight Shotgun Chamber Safety Flag

There is one modification which will make your safety flag look terrific! Just add a simple $2 “Remove Before Flight” keychain to your safety flag and here’s how it will look like:

Remove Before Flight Shotgun Chamber Safety Flag

Remove Before Flight Shotgun Chamber Safety Flag

This also serves one more purpose. It is much more difficult to loose chamber safety flag with bright red keychain. This is funny but useful addition to your chamber safety flag! :)

Recommended Product:
Shotgun Chamber Safety Flag

Shotgun Chamber Safety Flag

 Get Tapco Shotgun Chamber Safety Flag here: http://tinyurl.com/c75plg7
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