Sometimes I forget how long I’ve been prowling this earth. And sometimes I forget that only a few people, like me, have been shooting shotguns for more than 70 years. As a result, I tend to get preoccupied with the fine points. The esoterica. I’ve said many times that the best quality side-by-side suits its purpose better than any other mechanical device ever invented, and I still think so today. Side-bys have been with us for a couple of centuries and haven’t changed greatly in the past 150 years.
Those years have, on the one hand, been filled with refinement. That’s what makes the side-by the most refined tool ever created for the purpose of shooting flying birds. On the other hand, perfection comes with costs. Not everybody can afford or wants a best-quality side-by, and that got me thinking about what really matters in the field of shotgunning, and what the neophyte really needs to know. After all, the nuances may be complicated, but the basics are fairly simple. So here goes a shot at advice for the rank beginner.
The absolute first thing is to be safe. A shotgun can be a fearsome weapon at close range, and here are a few tips about being safe:
-Always be sure of your target and aware of the background behind your target.
-Never, never, allow your shotgun to point at anything that you don’t want to kill.
-Never put your finger on the trigger until the instant you intend to shoot.
-Never put a loaded shotgun into a building or vehicle.
As you might have guessed, I’ve couched these rules as absolutes, because they are, and following them may prevent a lifetime of grief.
The first step in actually learning to shoot is to pick a gun. The truth is that a shotgun doesn’t have to be expensive or even pretty to work just fine for the beginner. Singles, doubles, pumps and autoloaders will all work just fine. Several years ago in this column, I made the case that perhaps the break-open single-shot was the very best gun for the beginner. If you’re shooting a single-shot, you have to learn to make the first shot count. That’s hard to do with a repeater of any kind. With a repeater, it’s just too easy to adopt the “spray and pray” method of shooting. The ammo manufacturers love it, but it’s awfully expensive these days and it’s not a good way to learn the ABCs of hitting a flying bird.
In rural Georgia in the 1950s, it seemed that every kid started out with one of these imminently practical devices and it seemed that most folks who did turned out to be passable shots. In that time and place, it was an economic necessity for most of us, but if you learn how to take birds with one shot, think what you can do when you graduate to two or three.
Three-quarters of picking a gun for the beginner (or anybody else, for that matter) lies in the two criteria of “fit” and “balance.” In part, “fit” simply means that the gun must be easy to mount, that the stock is not too long or short, and that it’s comfortable to hold and swing. “Fit” also means that when the gun is mounted and cheeked, the shooter’s dominant eye is placed so that he or she is looking straight down the rib or barrel at an elevation that puts the shot charge on target without having to wiggle around when the shooter should be concentrating on the bird. This is a function of stock dimensions. The best weight will vary among individuals, but if the gun feels too heavy (and many will) it won’t work very well for obvious reasons.
As applied to the gun that you choose, “balance” means that the weight of the piece is distributed comfortably between the hands. If the weight is too far forward, the piece will be slow and clumsy. If it’s too far back, it will be “jumpy.” That means that it will start and stop too easily and won’t follow through on a crossing bird.
Balance also applies to the shooter. If you are out of balance when you’re trying to shoot, all kinds of bad things happen. Yes, I know that it’s not always possible in the field, but to the greatest extent possible, try to get a firm footing with your feet spread slightly and your off-foot a little forward of your dominant foot. You need to be comfortable when you shoot.
When choosing a gun, the 12 gauge is “king.” By varying loads and chokes, it’ll do just about anything that a shotgun needs to do. The smaller gauges work fine for small birds and close ranges, as long as they’re well-balanced and fit the shooter. They’re also easier to fit to a small person because the guns themselves are usually a little smaller and lighter. The only caution that I have is that the .410 bore is harder to shoot well for a lot of reasons. If you feel that you need a smaller or lighter gun, a 20- or 28-gauge will generally work a lot better, and with light loads recoil is no more objectionable than it is with a .410.
Oddly enough, after all that I’ve said here, I think that the 16 gauge is my personal favorite if I limit its use to upland game. It nearly equals the 12 in performance and 16s tend to be a little smaller, lighter and slimmer. To me, it seems to carry and shoot a little better. And besides, it just has class!
Choosing barrel length is a little more complicated because a repeater will have a greater overall length (by about 4 inches) than a double or break-open single if barrel lengths are equal. And that affects the gun’s balance. For example, a 30-inch side-by-side is usually about the same overall length as a repeater with a 26-inch barrel, hence doubles and repeaters balance differently if the barrel lengths are the same. Just remember that, as a general rule, shorter barrels are a little quicker, but longer barrels will carry-through better on passing targets.
My all-time, most favorite all-purpose gun is a side-by-side double that weighs a shade less than 6 1/2 pounds with 29 1/2-inch barrels. It’s quick enough for flushing birds and still has enough momentum to carry through on crossing shots. The one combination that I cannot abide is a butt-heavy gun. The damned thing is an abomination that doesn’t carry well in the field and won’t shoot well either, because it tends to stop and start too easily in mid-swing. If that happens, you’d better get used to missing a lot!
Choke is something that you need to consider, but it’s not as critical as you might think. By varying your ammunition, there’s not a lot that you can’t handle with a double that’s choked improved cylinder in one barrel and modified in the other. Open chokes allow your pattern to open up more quickly and are best for close shots. Tighter chokes make tighter patterns and allow slightly longer shots. Screw-in choke tubes give you the best of both worlds, because you can change your chokes any time you wish. I like ’em on repeaters and over/unders, but I’m just too much of a traditionalist to accept them on side-by-sides—just doesn’t suit my sense of aesthetics—but feel completely free to disregard that little quibble if you don’t suffer such a heightened set of sensibilities.
When it comes to actually learning how to shoot, you’re pretty much on your own, no matter what the instructors say. Don’t take me wrong, a good instructor may very well help, but they aren’t all good and every instructor I know seems to have a different teaching system. Besides, the method that works great for some types of shooting may fail miserably on another type of target. I once sat in on a session by an instructor who was “certain death” on clay birds that day but “fell on his face” miserably the next day on live birds.
You have to learn how to mount the gun properly and bring it effortlessly to your face and you have to learn to lead the bird unless it’s a straight-away. Unfortunately, there really aren’t a lot of those and every bird is different anyway. The problem is that nobody can actually tell you how much to lead a bird. There are, quite literally, millions of combinations of angles, distances and speeds, and each one requires a different lead. Moreover, we all see the birds a little differently. The sad truth is that you have to figure it out for yourself.
Start behind a crossing bird and swing through until you have a lead that feels good. Just remember that very few birds are missed by shooting too far ahead, so start your barrel behind and swing through the bird until it feels right. If you miss, which you’ll likely do a lot at first, try leading the bird a little more next time and keep on until you find the “sweet spot.” After about 40 years and a few million shots, it’ll start to come naturally. Clay birds are useful for getting the basics, but they don’t fly like live birds, and you’ll have to adapt to live birds when you switch over.
Nearly 80 years of shooting a shotgun have convinced me that you can’t think your way out of missing. You have to develop a memory bank of shots until you have most combinations of speeds, angles and distances comfortably lodged in your subconscious, then your subconscious will tell you where to shoot and it’ll become more natural. When you fall into the inevitable slump, don’t try to think your way out of it! The more you think, the worse it’ll get, so just “shoot your way out of it!”
So there you have it—“learning to shoot in a nutshell” or, “everything I could think of to tell a rank beginner in 1,800 words or less.”
Of course, I’ve left a lot out, because the nuances of shotgunning are endless, and the purpose here is to quickly introduce the total neophyte to the basics. Never mind that he or she will need an advanced course after about a week! You can save the effort of a letter, ’cause I already know!