Squeaky Wheel Seeks Grease

You can find Part 1, with my initial impressions, here.

In Part 2, I’m going to focus on what was taught, and my perception of it, from the standpoint of someone who admittedly has limited experience on the subject.  How did I feel the information was presented?  Did I feel like I had any unanswered questions?  Did it seem as though the instructor was successful at transferring knowledge to myself and the other students?

As I mentioned in the previous entry, I was pleased enough with the class that I would most likely take it if I were to ever purchase a shotgun.  In fact, this class made me WANT to purchase a shotgun, something that hasn’t been accomplished by anyone or anything else before, so kudos to Range Master and Tom Givens for that much, for what it’s worth.

As I also mentioned, I took eight pages of notes, and while I can’t share ALL of that information in here, for fear of some sort of infringement on intellectual property rights (no, that’s not a joke), I CAN go over, in short, what was covered.

First, what did the classroom look like?  Well, it was carpeted, had two loveseat-style sofas in it, which faced a desk alcove that was presumably for business purposes related to finances (meaning paying for the classes and such).  This was just as you entered, to the rear of the classroom.  There were four rows of tables set up, with approximately 4-5 chairs per row.  The tables were to the right of the room.  There was a multi-media setup to the front left of the room, with a projection screen, projector, and PC to run the powerpoints.  The classroom was fairly full, but the arrangement helped for it to not feel cluttered, and I felt, from my position on one of the couches, that my visibility wasn’t compromised.

On the walls were various posters with things like a description of the Awareness Codes, membership fees, tips for aiming, and gun anatomy.  They were bright and easy to read, and the girl in me noticed that they matched each other.

The class opened with a short introduction and verification that everyone had brought ammo (12ga birdshot) with them.  Then Tom jumped right into the class without any further dilly-dallying.

The “official” syllabus (and Powerpoint) said that the following topics would be covered:

• Home and Business Defense
• History (of the shotgun)
• Selection and Modification
• Accessories
• Ammunition
• Shooting Technique

After a brief overview of this list, a video was played featuring the Gunsite Training Facility in Prescott, AZ (founded by Col. Jeff Cooper).  The purpose of this video, as far as I could tell, was to give an example of some basic things that would be covered in the class (stance, mounting, loading).  It was a video that mainly covered things that were taught in tactical training for police officers, so obviously there were things that weren’t going to be taught in the shotgun class for civilians.  Like learning to sweep a room, or beat the crap out of someone with your gun if they try to grab the muzzle when you enter a room.  A real shame, that.

The types of stances covered were:  low ready and high ready.  The “low” and “high” refer to the muzzle of the gun:  in low ready, the butt of the gun is already in mount position, in the hollow of your shoulder joint, and the muzzle is pointed downward at about a 45-degree angle.  In high ready, the butt is against your hip, while the muzzle is in your direct line of sight.  When you look around while holding your gun in high-ready position, the muzzle should always stay in line with your eyes, so that you can just pull the butt up into the mount position and fire away - this reduces valuable time wasted lining up the shot.

Unlike firing a handgun, you don’t want to lean into your stance when holding a shotgun.  It screws with your balance, because the recoil’s spread out over a larger area.  Stand up straight, raise the gun to your cheek, and make sure your dominant leg (i.e. the one on the same side as the shoulder that’s housing the butt of the gun) is positioned slightly to the rear, to steady yourself.

After these things were covered in a bit more detail, loading was brought up.  The four types of loading a shotgun are:

• Ejection-port loading
• Magazine loading
• Combat loading
• Unloading

Gotcha on that last one, eh?  Seriously, though, these things are pretty much what they sound like.  Ejection port loading is putting a round directly into the ejection port for immediate firing.  Magazine loading is pushing rounds into the back of the magazine.  Combat loading is just doing these things while the gun is up to your head in mounted position.

Unloading a shotgun is slightly more complicated than unloading a handgun - there’s pushing of lever-things (called “lifts” - I’m not entirely retarded) and pulling the fore end back partway, and really, unless I was able to practice doing it, there’s no way I’d remember how, so I’m going to leave that one alone for now.

Sights were discussed - bead, ghost ring, and those similar to the ones on most semi-automatic pistols were shown, and the merits of each pointed out.  It was hard to tell if Tom’s preference was to ghost-ring sights or to front/rear sights - he extolled the virtues of each.

The stuff that I paid the most attention to (because, being a college student, I will naturally kind of zone out if I know that the information isn’t something I’m going to need to recall immediately - thus, the stuff that I might use more quickly becomes the stuff I mentally make it a point to remember) was regarding the length and size of shotguns that are best for home protection - obviously while staying in the arbitrary guidelines of the government.

Anything shorter than an 18-inch barrel is verboten.  Uh, okay, random, but noted.

18 inches is actually the suggested length, in this particular class.  20 inches seemed to be the maximum recommended.

A good way to figure out what barrel length would be good for you is to stand up straight, hold the pistol grip in your dominant hand, (finger off the trigger, obviously), and lower your arm to your side.  If the gun touches the ground, it’s probably too long.  If you’re not sure, try to slowly swing your arm, still maintaining your grip on the gun.  It should clear the ground - if so, then you’re probably good to go.

As I mentioned in the previous entry, the length of the stock is important for ease of use.  It was pointed out in class that many shotguns will have a stock length of around 14 inches or more when they’re purchased, and the first thing you need to do before shooting is figure out how long your stock needs to be, and get it adjusted.  For example, given what I experienced on Saturday, I would likely need to get a 12-inch stock put onto whatever shotgun I purchased.

(note:  Phil’s Gun Shop, on Summer Ave, was pimped as THE place to get this sort of thing done.  They don’t have a site, or else I’d link to it.)

Gun slings aren’t recommended for home use, due to snagging.

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The anatomy of a cartridge was discussed, along with the trajectory of birdshot and buckshot.

Apparently the “wad” (the material between the gunpowder and the payload [i.e. the "little lead balls" that actually penetrate the target]) can hurt someone pretty badly from 9 yards.  It ripped holes in the targets during range time.  Scary.

12ga 00 Buckshot was touted as the best home-defense cartridge (in 2.75″ shells).  FYI.

There was a lot of discussion about the size of shot and what it means that led up to this assertation, but really?  You can look it up, and it gave me a headache.

Bug-out bags for home defense were pointed out - I know that’ll make a few people on my blogroll happy, eh?

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Really, aside from talking about things like the billiard effect (the first shot that makes contact with anything is pushed further in by the shot that follows behind) and seeing gross pictures of the result of it, everything else covered was just a really in-depth discussion of what I pointed out above.

To answer the questions I posed above:

1. How did I feel the information was presented? - I felt that it was presented well.  As I mentioned previously, Tom didn’t screw around, and told us what we needed to know in the most direct way possible, while still making time to joke around.
2. Did I feel like I had any unanswered questions? - Nope.  Like I said about the unloading process, I’m one of those folks who needs to DO something in order to have any idea how it works.  I can watch all day long, but until I actually try, I’m going to be pretty clueless.  But in terms of understanding the material, I feel like I did, and I don’t feel like anything was glossed over or passed too quickly.
3. Did it seem as though the instructor was successful at transferring knowledge to myself and the other students? - Yep.  Two students seemed like they probably could have used a bit more time with some very basic things like paying attention to what they were doing, but the great majority of the class seemed to “get it”, and perform well at the range as a result of what was taught in the class.

Stay tuned for Part 3, when I talk about the actual range experience.  That entry will likely be shorter than these past two have been.