12 Gauge Fun

Got my first shotgun (an auto) not so very long ago, and took it out to the range for a try.

Scared the hell out of me. I actually crossed myself before pulling the trigger on the first round of high-brass.

First off was five rounds of target load #8 bird. Failed to cycle, so I cycled the next four with the charging handle. Ran like 7 rounds of #4 field loads next. Much more recoil, but I managed it.

Then it was time for 5 rounds of 2 3/4 #4 buck. The gun seriously jumped, but it was controllable. I wasn't shooting for accuracy or sighting in or anything, just function testing. I held the gun a little tighter, fired off another round from the rest, then stood and ran the next 3 from standing off-hand.

Two Brenneke KO slugs were next. Felt about the same as the buck, maybe more vertical movement on the recoil. Then two Winchester SuperX slugs. More fields loads, more buck, finished up hand-cycling 5 rounds of birdshot.

The guys at the range were great. 2 of them, looked like they were from Benjamin Martin's militia in The Patriot. Real rough looking. They let me fire off 3 shots from a scoped H&R .243 single shot. I have to own one of those. Then they let me shoot a cylinder through a single action .357. Beautiful gun, great trigger. I did decently well with it at 25 yards too. I can't imagine going into combat with one, like people used to.

Packed up, headed home, and cleaned the shotgun out. Very dirty, so I'm glad they provided a wire bore-brush with the gun.

I have to get out and try tinkering with the gas system to get it to take the birdshot. Probably do that tomorrow.

I've figured out a .30 spam can holds 134 rounds of 2 3/4 shotgun shells, so I've got to buy up enough to fill a box each with slugs, birdshot (field or target, tomorrow will decide) and #4 buck. Probably order 2000 rds of 9mm tomorrow too. I'm going to do another one of my late night ammo stockpiling sessions next Saturday. Not only is it a way to celebrate Patriot's Day, but it's also prom night for a lot of highschools in the area.

When everyone else is out doing stuff with the opposite gender, Vincent watches war movies and boxes up ammunition. It's kind of a tradition.