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I might not have talked about it, but I do enjoy shooting. I've tried air pistols and bows, and today I added "shotguns" to that list.
It was purely a coincidence - my office occasionally sends out sign-up emails for lessons. A few weeks ago they sent out an email for clay target shooting with shotguns. I immediately signed up without even checking where the place was. It's a good thing that I did, because the class ended up having 44 people and had to be split up into 2 sessions.
We had a pretty good trainer, who taught us the basics of how to handle a shotgun: loading, aiming, firing, discharging. I still remember the various holds he taught us - the slung over shoulder (hunter), the slung over arm (girlfriend) and the carry in hand (handbag) holds. XD
He also told us some of the history of clay target shooting. I learned that clay target shooting started with live pigeons. Apparently they'd put the pigeon under a hat, and when the shooter said "Pull" the hat would be pulled off and they'd shoot the pigeon as it flew away. Cos of that, the machine that fires the targets only works if you say pull.
I don't know whether it was because we had good trainers or something else, but I found the shotgun the easier weapon to master. The shotgun didn't feel like its full 4.5 kg, even though I did have a bit of an issue with pushing the barrel to load the shot, but I was able to do that in the end. I didn't have the recoil fighting me as I had with the pistol - my shoulder is a bit achy from where I braced the gun, but otherwise it's ok. I was able to aim, and I got my first two shots right off the bat. I fumbled the rest because I was thinking too hard, but once I figured out my problem (I tend to shoot slow, so instead of looking at the sight I have to look at the muzzle) I was back to nailing the target again. It was nice to see the target shatter! I did it 4 times out of 20, which is twice as good as the performance of an average beginniner.
That's why the shotgun would be my weapon of choice. And as one of the girls at the lesson said, it's great training for the zombie apocalypse!
It was purely a coincidence - my office occasionally sends out sign-up emails for lessons. A few weeks ago they sent out an email for clay target shooting with shotguns. I immediately signed up without even checking where the place was. It's a good thing that I did, because the class ended up having 44 people and had to be split up into 2 sessions.
We had a pretty good trainer, who taught us the basics of how to handle a shotgun: loading, aiming, firing, discharging. I still remember the various holds he taught us - the slung over shoulder (hunter), the slung over arm (girlfriend) and the carry in hand (handbag) holds. XD
He also told us some of the history of clay target shooting. I learned that clay target shooting started with live pigeons. Apparently they'd put the pigeon under a hat, and when the shooter said "Pull" the hat would be pulled off and they'd shoot the pigeon as it flew away. Cos of that, the machine that fires the targets only works if you say pull.
I don't know whether it was because we had good trainers or something else, but I found the shotgun the easier weapon to master. The shotgun didn't feel like its full 4.5 kg, even though I did have a bit of an issue with pushing the barrel to load the shot, but I was able to do that in the end. I didn't have the recoil fighting me as I had with the pistol - my shoulder is a bit achy from where I braced the gun, but otherwise it's ok. I was able to aim, and I got my first two shots right off the bat. I fumbled the rest because I was thinking too hard, but once I figured out my problem (I tend to shoot slow, so instead of looking at the sight I have to look at the muzzle) I was back to nailing the target again. It was nice to see the target shatter! I did it 4 times out of 20, which is twice as good as the performance of an average beginniner.
That's why the shotgun would be my weapon of choice. And as one of the girls at the lesson said, it's great training for the zombie apocalypse!
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