Lee Weems - Social Shotgun - Martin, GA 02/25/2018
COURSE OVERVIEW
The course is billed as:
“This class focuses on the use of the shotgun as a personal protection or duty tool. Basic operation, combat loading techniques, ammo exchanges (select slug drills), patterning, and transition to a pistol are covered.”
It does all of those things.
INTRODUCTION
Prior to this course I had no formal shotgun instruction and I had fired maybe 100 rounds of shotgun ammo in my lifetime. I self-taught myself certain things using dummy rounds prior to this course.
EQUIPMENT
I shot a Remington 870. Of note, it has a +1 extension, a Vang Comp Detachable Side Ammo Carrier, and a factory “DEA barrel” with XS low-mounted rifle sights. I used no belt-mounted carriers. I shot Federal 7 1/2s and Speer Lawman low recoil 00B (FliteControl wad).
REVIEW
This course builds the student a foundation of solid shotgun manipulation skills and quickly translates that manipulation skill into live performance. Students start with several hours of dry fire work. Lee starts at a very basic level: how to load and unload a shotgun. I had no shotgun background whatsoever, and while I knew enough to not rack the shotgun repeatedly to empty the tube, my technique was not sure. Though it’s probably no revelation for somebody who grew up with an 870 in their hands, the technique Lee teaches for unloading the tube was eye-opening for me. Lee comes across as having an intimate knowledge of the Remington 870 and shotguns in general, and for somebody with absolutely no shotgun background, that person will learn little tricks to work the gun.
Lee next teaches mounting the gun. He teaches two techniques: low ready and high ready. Low ready is something I thought I was familiar with, but Lee improved my ability to mount the gun through simple coaching. He also teaches high ready, with the gun’s muzzle in the eyeline and tracking where the torso goes. He gave contextual reasons for why each ready position is useful. Overall, however, I much preferred the low ready for my use.
Lee then moves into combat loading. He divides this world into two parts: emergency loads (through the ejection port) and speed loads (into the tube). He presents several techniques for each, for both brass-up and brass-down side saddle loads. No shooter used a butt cuff or belt carrier that I observed, but I’m sure Lee has techniques for those as well. I chose to use brass-up shells for all loads, something I picked up from Darryl Bolke’s shotgun posts. Lee presents no orthodoxy: he encourages students to try several different techniques. I adopted the “Metro load” for my speed loads, which he credits to LAPD’s Metro Division and Darryl. It involves pointing the base of one’s thumb at the chest and keeping the fingers up, moving to the side saddle, pushing the shell up with the thumb, and transitioning to a syringe grip to push the shell into the tube. For emergency loads, I came to class with a self-taught under-the-receiver load that was fumble-prone under pressure. Lee and his assistant instructor quickly sorted that out.
The final part of dry fire is slug select drills. Lee taught several methods, but the two I preferred were the “Gunsite load” and the “Magpul load.” However, Lee stresses that for private citizen defensive use, Flitecontrol has made slugs all but moot. In today’s ammunition world, slugs have been relegated to breaking stuff.
Lee gave some tips on shotgun storage and ready conditions. He teaches cruiser ready and stresses that shotguns are not drop safe; one should not store the gun with a round chambered for that reason. He gave philosophical reasons for using the safety vs. not using the safety. One takeaway I learned was the suggestion of downloading the magazine tube by one. My thought was that shotguns are no different than pistol mags and leaving them loaded won’t hurt anything, but Lee submits that a full load will wear out the magazine spring due to the different properties of the tube magazine as compared to a pistol or rifle magazine.
The class then transitions to live fire. This was a visual representation of the value of dry fire: for somebody who was effectively a blank slate prior to this course, I was able to transition pretty seamlessly into live fire and remain competitive with the rest of the class.
Lee’s live fire curriculum always forces the student to be loading. You will get plenty of reps in for both emergency loads and speed loads. Most drills start with an empty gun, requiring the user to emergency load the weapon – and thus getting another rep in. Of note:
- We again worked emergency loads, firing entire side saddles through the gun using nothing but emergency loads. Once again, he kept us loading….
- We shot the classic “Rolling Thunder” drill. I completely fell apart on the cadence for my first run, as the stress of keeping things straight led me to fumble. The second time through I took a deep breath and stuck to doing what I’d been taught as smoothly as I could. It held together.
- We shot a drill on five steel targets, starting with four in the tube to require an emergency load for the fifth shot. From my observations, most students saw improvement in their times on this drill from the first to the second run. I was able to stay competitive with most of the shooters in the class.
- Lee taught pistol transitions using techniques for both sling and non-sling use. I have no sling on my gun and was able to try both methods using a borrowed sling. Philosophically, I don’t see myself needing a sling for use in the home, nor do I see myself having a holstered pistol with the shotgun. Nevertheless, it was a cool thing to do and I had the opportunity to try both sling and no-sling techniques.
- Lee has every student pattern their buckshot at various ranges. He repeatedly sings the praises of the FliteControl wad, and its benefits are apparent when compared to other buckshot. Most students saw slug-sized patterns within 10 yards and 2-3” patterns at 15 yards.
- Lee finishes the course with a Georgia POST shotgun qualification he’s modified to make slightly more challenging. All students appeared to pass.
Overall, it was a very good course. Lee is very efficient with his time, and none of our time appeared to be wasted. He teaches nothing extraneous, nor does he demand techniques orthodoxy from his students. There’s no flash to it, just simple stuff that works well. At $100, it’s an absolute bargain for the quality of instruction received and I highly recommend the course to those looking to learn the shotgun.
