Shotgun Training

[J8127]

Gentlemen, one of my (MANY) welcome home presents to myself will be my first shotgun. I am planning on picking up a basic 870 express tactical and a couple 3gungear saddles.

My first question is how much ammo do you guys go through in a typical practice session? Do you train with buck or slugs or both? I have an indoor range as well as a national park to shoot in, looking to do some "tactical" and "home defense" style training and maybe find a local class, not interested in trap/skeet.

My second question is if anyone is using the GG&G flashlight setup or if the surefire setup is the only good option. I put flashlights on all my weapons but that surefire forearm costs as much as the damn gun does. I also noticed that the right handed model puts the flashlight at 3 o'clock but I think I would rather have it at 9? (My M4 has it at 11).

Thanks

[greatnw]

I have not used but have heard from others that a TLR-1 with Streamlights mag tube rail(linked below) works pretty well and it's about 1/3 the cost of the Surefire setup. I've been considering it for my HD shotgun. Maybe somebody with first hand experiance with that particular setup can chime in.

http://www.opticsplanet.com/reviews/reviews-streamlight-12ga-extended-mag-tube-tactical-mount-69901.html

Edit: The GG&G looks like a decent option but looks like it takes up quite a bit of your foregrip real estate, again no first hand experiance so I could be wrong.

[J8127]

That looks like a great solution, thanks for that.

Can anyone chime in on how many rounds you typically go though in a practice session? slugs or buck? It seems like slugs may be better for training being that they are cheaper and don't destroy targets as fast, but I don't have any idea what I am talking about.

[pdb]

I usually end up shooting a 100 round value pack box of birdshot from Walmart ($23) on steel in various drills, then before I hit the road I check my pattern on paper with 5 rounds of my stockpile buckshot. I have a couple rolls of butcher's paper in my range box for that.

I use the Streamlight 870 mount to hold a TLR-1 on my 1100 and it's held up well: http://www.opticsplanet.net/streamlight-rem-870-tactical-mount-69906.html

Good luck!

[J8127]

Thanks for the input, another thought I had was for dummy shells to dryfire/shell change type stuff, are there any popular choice for that?

[pdb]

I've come to prefer the all aluminum snap caps to the ones with plastic rims. Running the plastic rim dummies through the action chews them up in a big hurry. I don't remember who made mine, but they weren't expensive.

[JEL458]

I shoot Rob Haught's School Drills and add a few extra things to it my self. On average, I shoot between 50 and 75 rounds during each range session. Most of that is bird or buck and I do between 5 and 10 select slug drills as well. I do all of my SG training on steel because, as you said, paper targets get torn up too quickly.


Thanks for the input, another thought I had was for dummy shells to dryfire/shell change type stuff, are there any popular choice for that?

I use these http://www.letargets.com/estylez_item.aspx?item=ST-12 from Law Enforcement Targets. I do over 100 manipulations a day with them and they hold up well. The set that I currently have, I've had for almost two years.