{"id":8176,"date":"2020-04-02T18:29:14","date_gmt":"2020-04-02T22:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/?p=8176"},"modified":"2021-07-27T15:50:03","modified_gmt":"2021-07-27T19:50:03","slug":"how-to-use-a-pump-action-shotgun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/how-to-use-a-pump-action-shotgun\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Use a Pump-Action Shotgun"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/category\/shooting-101\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-6392 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shooting-101-series-banner.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"159\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shooting-101-series-banner.jpg 750w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shooting-101-series-banner-600x127.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shooting-101-series-banner-350x74.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/a><\/p> <p>A bunch of people are buying their very first gun right now, so we thought it would be a good time to revisit our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/category\/shooting-101\/\">Shooting 101 series<\/a>. This time, we&#8217;re doing pump-action shotguns. Like most of our &#8220;how-to&#8221; type videos, a lot of the demonstrations don&#8217;t really translate well to text. As always, we&#8217;ve provided the full transcript below, but a lot of it won&#8217;t make much sense unless you watch the video.<\/p> <p>This one ended up being pretty long, so we cooked up some handy timecode references for easy navigation:<\/p> <p>0:02 &#8211; Introduction<br \/> 1:46 &#8211; Safe Gun Handling<br \/> 4:33 &#8211; Demo Guns and Nomenclature<br \/> 6:20 &#8211; Shotgun Ammunition Overview<br \/> 8:13 &#8211; Clearing and Unloading<br \/> 12:52 &#8211; Loading<br \/> 16:37 &#8211; Shooting Technique Intro<br \/> 17:25 &#8211; Stance, Mount, and Cheek Weld<br \/> 20:31 &#8211; Using the Safety<br \/> 22:48 &#8211; The Push-Pull Technique<br \/> 24:14 &#8211; Cycling the Action<br \/> 25:57 &#8211; Aiming and Shotgun Sights<br \/> 28:22 &#8211; Using the Shockwave and Other Stockless Shotguns<br \/> 31:13 &#8211; Wrap Up<\/p> <div class=\"entry-content-asset\"><script src=\"https:\/\/fast.wistia.com\/assets\/external\/E-v1.js\" async><\/script><\/p> <noscript class=\"idle-load\"><div class=\"wistia_responsive_padding\" style=\"padding:56.25% 0 0 0;position:relative;\"> <div class=\"wistia_responsive_wrapper\" style=\"height:100%;left:0;position:absolute;top:0;width:100%;\"> <div class=\"wistia_embed wistia_async_qhczahbotq dnt=1 videoFoam=true\" style=\"height:100%;position:relative;width:100%\"> <div class=\"wistia_swatch\" style=\"height:100%;left:0;opacity:0;overflow:hidden;position:absolute;top:0;transition:opacity 200ms;width:100%;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/fast.wistia.com\/embed\/medias\/qhczahbotq\/swatch\" style=\"filter:blur(5px);height:100%;object-fit:contain;width:100%;\" alt=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" onload=\"this.parentNode.style.opacity=1;\" \/><\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div><\/noscript> <\/div> <hr \/> <p>Hey guys, I am Chris Baker from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\">LuckyGunner.com<\/a>. I recently posted a couple of in-depth videos all about buckshot. I was planning to move on to other topics not shotgun related, but recent events have led to a lot of people becoming first-time gun owners. So, I thought this would be a good time to revisit our Shooting 101 series. This was a series I did a couple of years ago where I covered the absolute basics of how to use different types of firearms. I covered revolvers, semi-automatic pistols, and AR-15s. Today I\u2019m going to talk about how to use a pump-action shotgun.<\/p> <p>I have done many videos about shotguns, and a lot of what I\u2019m about to cover is going to be familiar territory if you\u2019ve been following us for a while. I wanted to put that stuff all in one place specifically for the brand-new, first-time shotgun owner. If you or someone you know just got your first shotgun and feel like you don\u2019t know what you are doing, this video is for you.<\/p> <p>I can\u2019t teach you how to be an expert shotgunner in just a few minutes, and I don\u2019t want anyone to think that a video can take the place of real, in-person training from a qualified instructor. However, this should get you going in the right direction so you at least know how the gun works and how to handle it safely.<\/p> <p>This is probably going to end up being the longest video I\u2019ve ever posted. There is a lot of ground to cover here and I don\u2019t want to split it up into multiple videos. Depending on what platform you\u2019re watching this on, I\u2019ll try to provide timecode shortcuts to the various parts of the video. We\u2019re going to start off with some safety guidelines, then a quick overview of shotgun ammo, loading and unloading the shotgun, and finally firing the shotgun, which will be mostly focused on recoil management and efficiently running the action.<\/p> <h2><strong>Safe Gun Handling<\/strong><\/h2> <p>Before we get into the shotgun specifics, we need to start out with a couple of basic guidelines for safety. And safe is a relative term. Anything we do with firearms is inherently dangerous. Every time you pick up a gun, you are making life and death decisions. Fortunately, we can mitigate a lot of that risk by following the four basic rules of safe gun handling. There are different ways to phrase these rules, but here\u2019s my summary:<\/p> <p><strong>Rule 1:<\/strong> Treat all guns the same way you would treat a loaded gun. You cannot ignore the other three rules just because you believe a gun is unloaded.<\/p> <p><strong>Rule 2:<\/strong> Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction. That means, if it were to fire, it\u2019s not going to hurt anyone and it\u2019s not going to damage anything you can\u2019t afford to replace.<\/p> <p>At the range, that generally means pointing the gun either at the target or at the ground in front of the firing line. At home, you should only handle the gun in a designated area where you\u2019ve got a safe backstop.<\/p> <p><strong>Rule 3:<\/strong> Keep your finger away from the trigger until you are ready to shoot something. Pretty straightforward, but that\u2019s the one people seem to have the most trouble remembering.<\/p> <p>Anytime we\u2019re gripping the shotgun but we are not actively aiming at a target and preparing to fire, we will have our trigger finger straight and glued to the side of the receiver. We don\u2019t just want our finger off the trigger, we want it as far away from the trigger as we can reasonably get it. If you\u2019re left handed and you\u2019re running a sidesaddle on the gun, you\u2019ll have to adjust that technique. Just get the finger up as high as you can. Some lefties will wrap their finger around the bottom of the trigger guard. You might want to consider using one of the shorter 4-shell sidesaddles so you can get your finger up here.<\/p> <p><strong>Rule 4:<\/strong> Know what you are shooting at and what is behind it and around it. That goes for the shooting range or anywhere else you might need to use your gun.<\/p> <p>This is especially important with shotguns because we are not usually firing a single projectile that travels in a straight line. We&#8217;re firing many pellets that gradually spread out the farther away they travel. We are morally and legally accountable for every pellet that leaves the shotgun. Never fire the shotgun unless we are sure of where those pellets are going to end up. That means we have to aim the shotgun and a home defense gun should have some kind of bright light on it so we can be sure of our target when it\u2019s dark.<\/p> <p>There\u2019s a lot more to using a gun safely than just these four rules, but if you follow them, you greatly reduce your chance of unintentionally hurting yourself or someone else.<\/p> <h2><strong>How to Use a Pump Action Shotgun<\/strong><\/h2> <p>There are multiple ways to do just about everything I\u2019m about to show you. These aren\u2019t necessarily the correct or only methods for handling and operating a pump-action shotgun, and the way you use the gun is going to change depending on the context. I\u2019m approaching this from the perspective of self-defense. Some of what I\u2019m going to show you will still be relevant if you\u2019re using the shotgun for shooting clays or hunting birds, but some of it won\u2019t.<\/p> <p>My demo shotgun here is a Remington 870. It\u2019s probably the most common pump-action shotgun on the market followed closely by the Mossberg 500 and 590 series. Some of the basic controls and techniques are a little different on the Mossbergs, so I will demo those with this gun here. This is a Mossberg Shockwave, it\u2019s basically a 590 with a birdshead grip in place of the shoulder stock.<\/p> <p>I don\u2019t recommend the stockless style shotguns like the Shockwave or the Remington Tac-14, especially for beginners, but they are really popular. So in addition to showing you the Mossberg controls, this will give me the chance to demo a couple of shooting techniques that are unique to the stockless shotguns. I\u2019ll be covering that at the very end of the video.<\/p> <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shotgun-parts.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-0\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8181\" src=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shotgun-parts.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1500\" height=\"554\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shotgun-parts.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shotgun-parts-600x222.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shotgun-parts-1024x378.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shotgun-parts-768x284.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shotgun-parts-350x129.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\" \/><\/a><\/p> <p>If you\u2019re new to all of this, I don\u2019t think you need to get too bogged down with trying to remember what every little part on the shotgun is called. But you do need to know a few of the major ones just so you know what I\u2019m talking about when I refer to them. This is the stock, also called the buttstock or shoulder stock. This is the barrel and beneath it is the magazine tube or mag tube. This part that moves back and forth is the forend. The big part in the middle that everything is attached to is the receiver. And all of the moving parts inside the gun together are referred to as the action.<\/p> <h3><strong>Ammunition Overview<\/strong><\/h3> <p>Shotguns are one of the most versatile firearms we have because they can fire several different types of ammunition. We could spend all day talking about shotgun ammo alone. Like I said, I recently did a couple of videos just about buckshot. But for now, you don\u2019t need to know everything there is to know about shotgun shells. What you do need to know is that there are three basic types of shells and the effect they have on the target is very different. There\u2019s birdshot, buckshot, and slugs.<\/p> <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shell-types.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-1\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8182\" src=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shell-types.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1500\" height=\"481\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shell-types.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shell-types-600x192.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shell-types-1024x328.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shell-types-768x246.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shell-types-350x112.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\" \/><\/a><\/p> <p>A round of birdshot is loaded with anywhere from a few dozen to a few hundred tiny lead or steel pellets. The largest birdshot pellets are just under a quarter inch in diameter. The smallest are not much bigger than a grain of salt. Birdshot is used for shooting birds and other small moving targets at a range of about 40 yards or less.<\/p> <p>Buckshot is similar to birdshot except the pellets are larger and there are fewer of them. Most buckshot pellets are between about a quarter and a third of an inch in diameter. Depending on the size of the pellets, you\u2019ll usually get anywhere from 8 to 30 pellets in a shell. Buckshot is used for taking medium sized game, and for centuries, has also been the shotgun load of choice against human targets. The useful range of buckshot varies, but beyond about 40 or 50 yards, it becomes very difficult to reliably hit a target with buckshot.<\/p> <p>A shotgun slug consists of a single large lead projectile. It basically turns the shotgun into a very powerful rifle, although with shorter range and less accuracy than most rifles. Slugs give the shotgun more penetrating potential and increase the effective range of the shotgun to roughly 100 to 200 yards.<\/p> <p>If your primary interest is self-defense, you will probably want to keep your shotgun loaded with buckshot. When you\u2019re practicing at the range, you can use mostly birdshot because it\u2019s a lot more affordable, but you should also occasionally practice with your buckshot as well.<\/p> <h2><strong>Basic Operation<\/strong><\/h2> <h3><strong>Clearing and Unloading the Shotgun<br \/> <\/strong><\/h3> <p>Anytime we handle the shotgun, the first thing we need to do is clear it. That means we\u2019re going to check and see if it\u2019s loaded and if it is, we\u2019re going to unload it.<\/p> <h4><strong>Activate the Safety<\/strong><\/h4> <p>The first step is to make sure the safety is on. For the Remingtons, the safety is this button right behind the trigger. Press it in from the left side so that you can\u2019t see the red ring.<\/p> <p>The Mossberg safety is on the back of the receiver just forward of the stock. Make sure it\u2019s in the rearward position so you can\u2019t see the little red dot. The safety will block the trigger so it can\u2019t be pulled, but we never want to rely on that completely. We still have to follow all of the safe handling guidelines we just talked about.<\/p> <h4><strong>Check the Magazine Tube<\/strong><\/h4> <p>Okay, now we can check the magazine tube for ammunition. The easiest way to do that is to flip the gun upside down and visually inspect the opening in the tube. On the Remington, this little flappy thing here might be in the way. That\u2019s the shell lifter, sometimes called the elevator or carrier. Just hold it down so you can get a good look into the mag tube.<\/p> <p>On the Mossbergs, the lifter won\u2019t be in the way so you will have an unobstructed view of the mag tube. On either gun, you should see the follower &#8211; it might be silver, or black, or red, or some neon color depending on the specific model you have. If you\u2019re not in good lighting, it might be hard to tell if you\u2019re looking at the follower or at the base of a shotgun shell, so don\u2019t get in a hurry when you\u2019re doing this.<\/p> <h4><strong>Check the Chamber and Lifter<\/strong><\/h4> <p>If you don\u2019t see any shell in the mag tube, your next step is to make sure there\u2019s no shell in the chamber. Flip the gun back right side up, and vigorously run the forend to the rear. If the forend is locked in place and won\u2019t open, you\u2019ll need to hold down the action release. On the Remingtons, that\u2019s on the left side of the gun right here in front of the trigger guard. On the Mossbergs, it\u2019s behind the trigger guard. Just press and hold that and you should be able to open the action.<\/p> <p>At this point, if there was a shell in the chamber, it should have ejected when you opened the action. That would look like this. Just in case, you\u2019ll need to visually inspect the chamber to make sure there\u2019s nothing in there. Also take a look at the shell lifter. That\u2019s the part that lifts the shell from the mag tube to the chamber. If there was a shell (or multiple shells) in the mag tube and you missed it when you checked, that first shell will now be on the lifter. Usually, you can just tilt the muzzle down slightly, rotate the gun 90 degrees, and the shell will drop out of the ejection port. Now we\u2019re going to check the mag tube again because apparently we missed the shell that was there the first time. Okay, now I\u2019m satisfied that the gun is unloaded.<\/p> <h4><strong>Unloading the Magazine Tube<\/strong><\/h4> <p>If there were shells in the mag tube when you checked it and you want to unload them, there are a couple of ways to do that. The quickest way is to just hold down the action release and run the action back and forth until shells stop coming out. But that\u2019s not really the safest way to do it, especially when you are anywhere other than a shooting range with a safe backstop in front of you. That\u2019s basically loading and unloading the gun multiple times which presents a lot of opportunities to make some pretty big mistakes. There\u2019s a safer way to do it.<\/p> <p>This method is easiest with the Mossbergs. Make sure the action is closed. Then flip the gun upside down and look just to the right of the shell in the mag tube. There\u2019s a tab that\u2019s holding the shell in the tube. That\u2019s the shell stop. Press that inward with your thumb, and the shell will pop out. Then slowly ease the shell out of the tube. Repeat that process until you see the follower.<\/p> <p>On the Remingtons, the process is similar, but if you try to go straight to the mag tube, the shell lifter is in the way. You can hold it down and get the shells out, but there\u2019s an easier way. What I suggest is, open the action first. Now you will have a shell on the lifter. Tilt the muzzle downward and rotate the gun 90 degrees and that shell will fall out.<\/p> <p>Leave the action open and flip the gun over again. Now if you push on the lifter, it will pop all the way down out of your way. The Remington has shell stops on both sides of the mag tube. If the action is open, the stop on the left should be the only one that\u2019s holding the shell in the tube. Push that out of the way and the shell will pop out of the tube and you can slowly guide it out with your finger. Repeat that until you see the follower.<\/p> <p>Okay, so the mag tube is empty. Action is open. Nothing in the chamber, nothing on the lifter. Safety is on. The gun is clear. Now we can clean it, we can do some dry practice, we can put it away for storage or whatever else we need to do with it. In this case, we are going to load it.<\/p> <h3><strong>Loading the Shotgun<\/strong><\/h3> <p>There are different procedures for loading the gun. I\u2019m not going to be doing emergency or speed reloading. I\u2019ve <a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/reload-defensive-shotgun\/\">covered some of those techniques in other videos<\/a>. This is just everyday administrative loading without any time pressure. I\u2019m going to demo this with these dummy shells I&#8217;ve been using. These are available in several places online. I recommend you get a set of these so you can practice loading and unloading the gun safely at home.<\/p> <p>First, open the action and tuck the stock under your arm for support. Take the first shell in your other hand and just pop it into the action like that. Now, close the action. Your chamber is now loaded. At this point, if you were to push the safety off and pull the trigger, the gun would fire. But we\u2019re not ready to do that yet. We have to load the mag tube.<\/p> <p>Grab your next shell, push it up into the action and pin it there with your index finger. Use your thumb to push the shell into the mag tube. Make sure the shell goes in all the way past the shell stops. If you don\u2019t, the shell will pop right back out. Your thumb will need to actually go into the mag tube a little bit like that.<\/p> <p>On the Mossbergs, again, the lifter won\u2019t be in your way, so this will be pretty easy. On the Remingtons, just use the knuckle of your thumb to push against the lifter and keep it out of the way. Keep your thumb bent like this. If you don\u2019t, the lifter is a lot more likely to pinch the tip of your thumb and that gets really old after loading a couple of boxes of shells. Repeat that process until no more shells will fit in the mag tube.<\/p> <p>Now the gun is fully loaded. The forend is locked in place. When we\u2019re ready to fire, we disengage the safety. Press the trigger. The gun goes bang. After the trigger has been pressed, the forend unlocks. Before we can fire again, we have to open the action. That ejects the spent shell from the chamber. The next round is now sitting on the shell lifter. Push the action closed and now that round is in the chamber and the gun is ready to be fired again.<\/p> <p>You can keep firing until you\u2019re out of ammunition, or you can reload the mag tube before the gun is empty. As long as there is room in the mag tube, you can fill the gun back up.<\/p> <h3><strong>Cruiser-Ready Condition<\/strong><\/h3> <p>Let\u2019s say you want to have the gun loaded and ready to use but you don\u2019t want to actually have a round in the chamber. A loaded chamber is a good way to carry a handgun that\u2019s going to be on your person in your immediate control with a holster that totally covers the trigger guard. With a shotgun that\u2019s in your safe or your closet, a loaded chamber presents some additional risks. You might reach for your gun in a hurry in the dark and accidentally grab the trigger. Your cat might start pawing at the gun under your bed. The gun might fall over and discharge in your closet because unlike most handguns, shotguns are not totally drop safe. To mitigate those risks, you can store the shotgun in what\u2019s called the cruiser-ready condition. That\u2019s with a full magazine tube and an empty chamber.<\/p> <p>Start by clearing the gun just like before: nothing in the mag tube. Nothing in the chamber, nothing on the lifter. Then, after you have triple checked that there\u2019s nothing in the chamber, close the action, point the gun in a safe direction, disengage the safety, and press the trigger. That will unlock the action. Now, you just load up the magazine tube and it\u2019s ready for storage. If you need the gun in an emergency, all you have to do is grab it and rack the action to chamber a round. You don\u2019t have to mess with the action release, because the action is already unlocked.<\/p> <h2><strong>Shooting Technique<\/strong><\/h2> <p>Let\u2019s talk about shooting technique. This is really important with shotguns because they are so powerful. When you fire the gun, the pressure generated inside the shell that pushes that heavy load of pellets out of the barrel at high speed is also pushing the shotgun against you. That\u2019s what we call recoil. If you don\u2019t learn to manage recoil effectively, at best, you\u2019ll be shooting very slowly, and at worst, you\u2019ll end up with a black and blue shoulder and you\u2019ll develop a bad flinch and never hit what you\u2019re aiming at.<\/p> <p>It doesn\u2019t matter how big you are, if you don\u2019t have good technique, this gun will push you around. But with the right technique, even smaller statured people can manage a shotgun well. I\u2019m a smaller than average male and I do okay with a shotgun. Here\u2019s my friend Annette. She\u2019s only about 5\u20194\u201d and she knows her way around a 12 gauge. It\u2019s all about having the right technique.<\/p> <h3><strong>Stance<\/strong><\/h3> <p>Good recoil control starts with a solid stance. Stand with your feet at least shoulder-width apart, maybe a little more. Your dominant side foot should be slightly back. Lean forward at the waist. You want an aggressive forward posture with your weight resting on the balls of your feet. Now we\u2019re going to mount the gun.<\/p> <h3><strong>Mount<\/strong><\/h3> <p>You might be tempted to place the stock on your shoulder or just inside your shoulder at the joint and blade your body toward the target. I don\u2019t recommend that. Instead, bring the stock inward. Get it on the outside of your pectoral muscle, or even further toward your centerline if you can. You want the stock off your shoulder and off of where your collar bone sticks out. Keep your shoulders closer to being squared with the target, not bladed. This is going to allow you to absorb that recoil with your whole upper body so it\u2019s not all going into just one bone or joint.<\/p> <p>Keep your elbows pointed down, not sticking out to the side like this. Place your thumb along the side of the stock, not wrapped around the back. That way, if you do get a less than perfect mount or you have to fire from an awkward position, you don\u2019t run the risk of popping yourself in the nose with your thumb.<\/p> <p>Mount the gun up high enough so that when you aim, you don\u2019t have to bring your head down to the gun, the gun is going up to your head. If you have to scrunch your neck down a little that\u2019s not a big deal, but you want to make sure you\u2019re not craning your head over to one side in order to aim down the barrel.<\/p> <h3><strong>Cheek Weld<\/strong><\/h3> <p>Bring the gun up to your eye-line and rest your cheek against the stock. We call that a cheek weld. You want the same points of contact with the stock every time. If you have a consistent mount and a consistent cheek weld, aiming the gun will be a piece of cake. It will just automatically point at whatever you\u2019re looking at, and you only have to use the sights to fine tune your aim.<\/p> <p>With a good shoulder mount, go ahead and pivot the muzzle down about 45 degrees. This is the low ready position. It\u2019s kind of the default position when you\u2019re ready to shoot but you\u2019re not actually aiming at a target.<\/p> <p>When you\u2019re ready to fire, simply pivot the gun up to eye level and the index finger can move from its resting place on the receiver to the trigger.<\/p><p><\/p> <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shotgun-mount.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-2\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8188\" src=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shotgun-mount.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shotgun-mount.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shotgun-mount-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shotgun-mount-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shotgun-mount-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shotgun-mount-350x197.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><\/p> <h3><strong>Get a Shorter Stock<br \/> <\/strong><\/h3> <p>The problem you\u2019re probably going to run into at this point is that your stock is too long. I hate to tell people that they have to go out and buy even more stuff before they start practicing with their new gun, but in this case, it really makes a huge difference. The standard stock that comes with most shotguns is so long that if you bring the gun inboard, off your shoulder, you will probably have trouble reaching the forend. It\u2019s really hard to square up to the target and get your whole upper body behind a gun with a stock that\u2019s too long.<\/p> <p>If you\u2019re more than six feet tall, this probably won\u2019t be as much of a problem, but I know some very tall shotgun enthusiasts who still prefer a shorter stock. If you can, buy a youth stock or a Magpul stock like this one and remove all of the spacers. It will make this technique a lot easier.<\/p> <h3><strong>Using the Safety<\/strong><\/h3> <p>Now, what about the safety? When should it be on, when should I disengage it? Well, if this was an AR-15 or a handgun with a well-designed thumb safety, I would say that the safety should be on anytime you\u2019re not actually aimed at the target. Gun up, safety off. Gun down, safety on. Unfortunately, some of our shotguns make that difficult.<\/p> <p>On the Remingtons, the safety is here behind the trigger guard. If we have our finger up on the receiver where it should be, when it\u2019s time to fire, we\u2019ve got to go all the way back here, push the safety in, and then go to the trigger. That is surprisingly difficult to do if you\u2019re under a lot of pressure. If you\u2019re left handed, it\u2019s not any easier. You\u2019ll have to use your middle finger to reach around and hit the safety.<\/p> <p>Some people keep their finger on the safety ready to disengage it. That\u2019s faster, but I\u2019m not really comfortable with that. I don\u2019t want to get into the habit of having my finger that close to the trigger when I\u2019m not ready to shoot. I\u2019ve got an oversized aftermarket safety on this gun so I can hit the safety with the inside of my knuckle. Still not really ideal in my opinion.<\/p> <p>With the Mossbergs, this isn\u2019t as much of a problem. You can run the safety with your thumb and keep your finger away from the trigger. It works just as well for lefties. But if you\u2019ve got a stock with a pistol grip, it\u2019s a different story. You won\u2019t be able to reach the safety at all unless you completely break your firing grip on the gun.<\/p> <p>So, if you find that the safety is difficult to use or that using it compromises safe trigger finger placement, I think it\u2019s okay to just leave the safety off when the gun is in your hands and you\u2019re in a ready position. I only say this very reluctantly. It\u2019s probably not a great idea for some people. It\u2019s an imperfect solution to deal with a sub-optimal safety design.<\/p> <p>This is another reason I like to store the gun in a cruiser ready condition. If I\u2019ve got the chamber empty, it\u2019s not a problem that the safety is off. I can grab the gun, rack in a round, and I\u2019m at a ready position with the safety already off. If I need to put the gun down for some reason, I can flip the safety on at that point.<\/p> <h3><strong>The Push-Pull Technique<\/strong><\/h3> <p>Okay, back to shooting the gun. Besides a good stance and mount, the other key to recoil management is the push-pull technique. Just before you press the trigger, push the gun away from you with the support hand and pull it in toward you with the firing hand. It should feel like you\u2019re trying to tear the gun in half.<\/p> <p>Make sure the stock remains snug against your body. If you leave any gap between you and the stock, the gun will have room to accelerate into your body and instead of a slight push, the gun is going to hit you and that\u2019s not very comfortable. But either way, if you push out on the forend, you\u2019ll reduce the felt recoil against your body. You don\u2019t need to push-pull all the time, you\u2019ll wear yourself out that way. The moment before you decide to fire, you give it a quick push-pull.<\/p> <p>I\u2019m going to fire a couple of rounds without doing a push-pull. Watch the front of my muzzle and see how much it rises. Also pay attention to how far my upper body gets pushed back.<\/p> <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/push-pull-demo.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-3\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8184\" src=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/push-pull-demo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"908\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/push-pull-demo.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/push-pull-demo-496x450.jpg 496w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/push-pull-demo-768x697.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/push-pull-demo-350x318.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/a><\/p> <p>It makes a big difference. If you\u2019re a larger male, you can probably get away without doing a push-pull, but I guarantee you will be able to get back on target quicker with a push-pull. If you\u2019re well under 200 pounds like me, push-pull is almost a necessity for shooting a 12 gauge without getting a sore shoulder.<\/p> <h3><strong>Cycling the Action<\/strong><\/h3> <p>Besides recoil management, cycling the action is the aspect of pump shotguns that\u2019s most likely to trip up beginners. When you press the trigger, the gun goes bang, then you can cycle the action and fire again.<\/p> <p>Vigorously pull the forend back as far as it can go and then vigorously push it back forward again. \u201cVigorously,\u201d because that\u2019s the best way to avoid a malfunction. If we don\u2019t open and close the action completely and don\u2019t use enough force, we might end up with a spent shell stuck in the action or an empty chamber or a number of other malfunctions. So rack the gun like you mean it.<\/p> <p>And rack it immediately after the gun fires. Gun goes bang, back all the way, then as soon as the forend stops, push it forward all the way. As the instructor Tom Givens says, it should be \u201cBOOM-chunk-chunk.\u201d The \u201cchunk chunk\u201d is not something that happens before the next boom, it\u2019s part of the follow-through from this boom.<\/p> <p>What this looks like for most people who are untrained and inexperienced is \u201cBOOM\u2026 chunk\u2026 chunk.\u201d They don\u2019t have good recoil management. The muzzle lifts way off target and they need a second to recover after the \u201cBOOM\u201d before they can even think about the \u201cchunk-chunk.\u201d<\/p> <p>But that won&#8217;t happen when you do it because you\u2019ve got a solid mount and a good push-pull. The gun\u2019s just going to move slightly and while it\u2019s recoiling, you\u2019re going to use that opportunity to run the action: \u201cBOOM-chunk-chunk.\u201d After you\u2019ve cycled the action, go right back into a push-pull and get ready to fire another shot if you need to.<\/p> <h3><strong>Aiming and Shotgun Sights<\/strong><\/h3> <p>Like I said at the beginning, we are accountable for every pellet that comes out of the gun, so we absolutely do need to aim the shotgun. Inside of 50 feet or so, the pellets haven\u2019t had enough time to spread into a big cloud of shot like we would fire at a bird or clay target. If you fire a round of buckshot across your living room, the spread of the pellets is probably going to be smaller than a basketball.<\/p> <p>It is very easy to miss completely if you don\u2019t aim the shotgun. Even if you don\u2019t miss completely, I wouldn\u2019t consider it acceptable to miss at all. If you fire a shell with nine pellets of buckshot and hit your target with five of them, where do those other four pellets go? Could they hit your spouse? Your dog? Could they go out the window and into your neighbor\u2019s house? You\u2019re accountable for that. Aim your shotgun.<\/p> <p>Aiming the gun is easier if we have a good stance, mount, and cheek weld. But we still want a reliable sighting system. Under the pressure of a life and death emergency in the middle of the night, we need all the help we can get. There are generally four types of sights for shotguns. The simple bead sight, rifle style sights, ghost ring sights, and electronic red dot optics. The latter three are pretty straight forward, I won\u2019t go into a lot of detail with those.<\/p> <p>With a red dot, you just put the dot where you want the pellets to go. Extremely easy to use and they work in all lighting conditions. With the rifle and ghost ring sights, line up the front post with the center of the rear notch or aperture and then put the front post on the target. If you get sights with the tritium glow in the dark inserts, they\u2019re also pretty good in low light, but not as quick or easy to use as the red dot.<\/p> <p>Bead sights are a little more tricky. To line up a bead, the top of the receiver becomes the rear sight. So when you look down the barrel, the top of the bead should be just below the target and you want to see that bead centered on the receiver with the bottom of the bead touching the top of the receiver. The mistake people most often make is to aim too high and their shot goes right over the target. When you\u2019re aiming with the bead, you shouldn\u2019t see any of the barrel. If your bead has a base or a pedestal, you shouldn\u2019t see any of that, either.<\/p> <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/bead-sight.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-4\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8186\" src=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/bead-sight.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/bead-sight.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/bead-sight-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/bead-sight-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/bead-sight-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/bead-sight-350x197.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><\/p> <p>When you get the hang of it, a bead sight is very quick and simple but of all the options, it is the most difficult to see in low light. There are some aftermarket sights available that can go over a bead sight to make it bigger and easier to see. Some of them also have a tritium insert like this one from XS sights. I think this can be a huge improvement to a home-defense shotgun without spending a lot of money.<\/p> <h3><strong>Firing the Shockwave and other Stockless Shotguns<\/strong><\/h3> <p>The last thing I want to cover is firing one of these: a shotgun with a birdshead grip. I did a video a while back where I called the Shockwave mostly useless. A lot of people took that literally and got a little upset. Obviously, they\u2019re not useless, that was hyperbole. But a lot of these guns are being sold to inexperienced shooters and I don\u2019t think that\u2019s wise. These are like the .38 Special snub nose revolver of shotguns. They\u2019re appealing because they are small, light, powerful, and relatively simple to operate. But they are much more challenging to shoot proficiently than their full size counterparts.<\/p> <p>That pesky little issue of shot accountability really comes into play when you\u2019re shooting without a shoulder stock. Without much trouble, you may be able to fire this gun from the hip and hit a tin can at 20 yards because you\u2019ve got a three-foot wide cloud of birdshot. But that does not mean it\u2019s equally easy to hit a human target across the room with a load of buckshot and not expect to have at least some of those pellets fly off into the great unknown.<\/p> <p>So, we\u2019re not going to fire this gun from the hip, even if the owner\u2019s manual says to. We are going to hold the gun up at eye level and aim it. You can get a laser sight for these and that does make hip firing a more viable option. I still don\u2019t think that\u2019s ideal because if the laser dies, you\u2019re back to guessing where the pellets are going.<\/p> <p>So, I suggest you hold the gun up just beneath your dominant eye and then push it out a little away from your face. From here, you can see your sights and aim properly. Keep your thumb straight along the receiver and when the gun recoils, even if you have poor recoil control, the grip will come back beside your cheek, you won\u2019t smack yourself in the face. But if you\u2019ve got a really good push pull going just like I talked about with the stocked shotgun, that won\u2019t be a problem anyway.<\/p> <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shockwave.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-5\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8185\" src=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shockwave.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"510\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shockwave.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shockwave-600x383.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shockwave-768x490.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/shockwave-350x223.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p> <p>When you cycle the action, you don\u2019t have a stock braced against your body to counteract that rearward motion. If you have a brand new gun, the action is going to be kinda stiff. Racking it without a stock might be awkward. Instead of bringing the forend back and forth, you might consider keeping the forend in one place and moving the gun with your strong hand. Or maybe a kind of hybrid technique where you bring the two hands toward each other.<\/p> <p>With some practice, you can get pretty good at running the action and recoil management. It\u2019s really aiming the gun responsibly that becomes the most difficult part of this. With the stocked shotgun, your mount and your cheek weld are doing half of the job of aiming for you. When you take away the stock, you lose that advantage. So you really have to pay attention to what your bead or sights are telling you about where those pellets are going.<\/p> <h3><strong>That&#8217;s It!<\/strong><\/h3> <p>If you found that at all helpful, you might want to check out our other shotgun videos. We have a playlist of those on YouTube, or you can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/category\/defensive-shotguns\/\">find them on our blog<\/a> at Lucky Gunner Lounge. Just click on &#8220;shotguns&#8221; under the series tab on the menu at the top of the page. You\u2019ll also find full transcripts of all of our shotgun videos there and some additional shotgun articles.<\/p> <p>Guys, I know the ammo market is crazy right now with all that\u2019s going on. We are doing our very best to get more in stock, but it&#8217;s flying off the shelves just as fast as it comes in. Hopefully, things will calm down soon and then you will be able to get any of the shotgun ammo you might need from us at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/\">LuckyGunner.com<\/a>.<\/p> <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A bunch of people are buying their very first gun right now, so we thought it would be a good &#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/how-to-use-a-pump-action-shotgun\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,330],"tags":[183,326,247],"class_list":["post-8176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-defensive-shotguns","category-shooting-101","tag-how-to","tag-shooting-101","tag-shotguns"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - 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