“I grew up with shotguns” is a veritable cliché within the firearms community. It certainly holds true for me. From skeet to upland birds to deer, many of my earliest hunting and shooting experiences revolved around shotguns.
However, like most people, I had never taken a defensive shotgun course. While I had numerous firearms classes under my belt, they had all revolved around pistols and/or rifles.
So, when the opportunity arose, I was excited to be part of the first all-day Green Ops “Introduction to Shotgun” class. It was a great experience, despite some unfortunate technical difficulties with my firearm.
Class Content
Topics covered in the class included:
- Safety
- Discussion of shotgun setup and load selection
- Patterning
- Handling/recoil mitigation
- Loading
- Stationary drills
- Moving drills
- Cover/concealment drills
Class Experience
As with other Green Ops classes I have taken, this class consisted primarily of learning and practicing fundamental skills under the watchful eye of competent instructors. There was no pretension or gimmickry: skills were taught, stacked, and practiced under increasing conditions of difficulty and/or stress (movement, time pressure, etc.).
I was surprised by how much value I got out of the patterning portion of the class. At first glance, you might think that patterning, something you can easily do on your own at the local range, would be a waste of time in a paid training course — but you’d be wrong. You’re not likely to have a comparable opportunity to see how numerous different loads perform in such a wide range of shotguns. The instructors encouraged us to swap shells and experiment, with some surprising results. It was an enlightening experience.
One of my favorite components of Green Ops classes is the opportunity to take part in drills that would be impossible to replicate on most ranges — in particular, drills involving movement and cover. This class was no different in that respect, and I appreciated the chance to use my shotgun in an environment that was both supervised and dynamic. The drills were basic in the way that a deadlift is basic: simple enough in principle, but, just as the difficultly of a deadlift can grow indefinitely with increases in load, so the difficultly of “basic” drills increases as you race against the clock (or speedy training partners).
Through my participation in the course, I definitely had to revise some of my beliefs about what techniques were most effective or efficient. For instance, the instructors taught and encouraged us to experiment with a few different loading techniques. The methods that worked best for me were not the ones that the internet had told me would work best for my particular setup — a very interesting discovery.
Instruction
As usual, I was impressed with the Green Ops instructors. They took safety and the course content very seriously, but they did not take themselves too seriously. The class was fun — as it should be.
One challenge of running a shotgun class is that it is not realistic to expect a student to keep more than about a box’s worth of shells readily accessible on his person — and those 25 rounds go quickly! It would be easy to let this logistical problem kill the pace of the class, but the Green Ops instructors kept the course moving. When I wasn’t on the line shooting, I was replenishing the shell loops on my plate carrier and side saddle while another group of students shot. By the time I was prepared to step up to the line again, it was in fact my turn to do so. The all-day class flew by.
I also have to thank the instructors for bearing with the mechanical problems I was having with my shotgun. Unfortunately, I think the particular 870 I was using was a casualty of the tough times that Remington has experienced in the past few years. Despite two trips back to the factory, it’s still running inconsistently at best. The instructors shared their guns and offered me a few chances to re-shoot drills. These simple things helped to make sure that the course remained a valuable learning experience for me, when it could have easily devolved into a mere exercise in frustration.
Some Final Thoughts
First, if you have the opportunity to do so, I strongly recommend that you take a defensive shotgun course such as this one, even if you “grew up with shotguns.” Defensive shotgun use isn’t skeet shooting or deer hunting. This recommendation goes double for anyone for whom the shotgun is a primary defensive tool, as it is for so many households.
That brings me to my second point: despite their ubiquity, shotguns are, in my opinion, difficult firearms, especially compared to AR-style carbines. I probably saw more malfunctions — mechanical and operator-induced — in this class than in a half-dozen carbine classes combined. Shotguns require constant feeding through two different “mouths” (breech and magazine tube). Their recoil is comparatively heavy. Their controls are less ergonomic. Their range is limited, and their spread, an asset at close range, becomes a liability at longer ranges. Again, shotguns undoubtedly have certain advantages — especially with respect to terminal ballistics — but I do not believe they deserve their reputation as inherently “simple” or “easy to use” firearms. That’s all the more reason to seek good training if you plan to rely on one.
Third, there’s always a lot to be learned from paying attention to the guns and gear that others bring to classes. I found that to be especially true in this class. There was much more variety in firearms than you would find in a typical carbine course, and people were experimenting with a wide variety of solutions to the problem of keeping a hungry shotgun fed.
Finally, I regret showing up to class with a shotgun that wouldn’t run well. Unfortunately, I’d allowed Remington to convince me that the problems I was having were attributable to operator error. Alas, when I handed my shotgun to an instructor and watched him experience the same problems, my heart sank — I’m not thrilled about the prospect of a sending my gun on a third trip back to Remington. All that to say, don’t be like me: run your gun hard before class and make sure it works.
I look forward to retaking this class later this year, with a fully-functional firearm!
I paid for this class with my own money and was not offered payment in exchange for writing this AAR. Green Ops offers discounts to alumni and students who write AARs, but these offers are not conditional upon the contents of course reviews.
