Good shotgun training?

[jlw]

I think a 1 or 2 day shotgun class is just the right length. The joke was, with a 5 day class, that they managed to cram 2 days of material into 5 days of class. When you spend 1-2 days checking your patterns, you get the gist ....

I did a 40 hour shotgun instructor course at GPSTC years ago. We quickly did patterning. I will admit to one afternoon being spent shooting trap.

[Tom Givens]

Tom,

I have an M2 with a short tube and a long bbl. How long a tube do I need to take one of your classes? I also have a Mossberg 930 JM with 24" bbl. I am thinking of taking a two day class pistol/shotgun in the fall.

Thanks.

As long as your magazine holds at least 4 rounds your gun is good to go in our drills.

[Chuck Whitlock]

For LE trainers looking to get an instructor ticket punched, the NRA LEAD program as long as Mark Fricke is the instructor is what I would recommend over most of the government agency schools.

I second Mark Fricke ref the NRA police instructor training program

I would train with Mark again.

[Cecil Burch]

Tom also has a really good DVD on the shotgun:

http://www.rangemaster.com/publications/training-dvds/

[DocGKR]

Bill Jeans, Rob Haught, Scott Reitz, Darryl Bolke (HiTS), Steve Fischer, Tom Givens are all good choices. Chris Costa gave an LE class here a couple of years ago that was actually quite good.

[Dagga Boy]

Steve Fisher was listed in my original draft that got lost. I have not had an actual shotgun class with Steve, but I know he does a good job of teaching the gauge. This would also be true of Mike Lamb as well.

[45dotACP]

Wow, thanks for all the references guys. So now I have a gear question...my shotgun is a 20 gauge Mossberg 500...seeing as I'm a huge newbie to shotgun training, would that be an inappropriate choice?

It's sorta my "do it all" scattergun, wearing a rifled barrel for hunting season, and a shorter barrel for skeet, as well as a longer tube for trap/hunting.

[HopetonBrown]

If you have a <20" barrel it's fine.

[Chuck Haggard]

The 20 gauge Mossbergs are pretty decent guns, and if you end up with a 12 that's a Mossberg they work exactly the same.

[jlw]

Looking back over this thread and at the schedules of the names mentioned, there don't appear to be many offerings above some very good fundamentals classes.

I reckon its hard to sell shotgun classes with so much of the market being carbine crazy.

Wasn't there talk on this forum some time back of trying to put together a Shotgun Summit?


* Scotty Reitz does have some top level shotgun classes on his schedule, but once travel costs and time are factored in to get from GA to CA and back for a two day class, they are pretty much out of range.