HiTS Shotgun Nov 25, Dallas, TX

[mwolf]

If you were the gent with the wood-stocked 870, that was a very neat SBS.

I'm going to do a Form 1 this weekend, and clone it's twin.

Unfortunately it was not me. I was at the other end with an 870 and a 590A1. BTW.. you brought some very nice revolvers!!

[David S.]

There’s something incredibly “right” looking about solid wood furniture on a pump shotgun.

[Crusader8207]

Well stated. Agree totally. Hope it becomes an annual event

I second that. I wish I could have been at this one. Hopefully next year.

[SeriousStudent]

Unfortunately it was not me. I was at the other end with an 870 and a 590A1. BTW.. you brought some very nice revolvers!!

Ah, I remember you now.

You'll have to come back for the Revolver Roundup next year, it's a ton of fun.

[SeriousStudent]

There’s something incredibly “right” looking about solid wood furniture on a pump shotgun.

Agreed. I brought a lovely old blued steel Police Magnum with the original wood furniture. Alas, it was the lonely girl at the dance, and everybody wanted to shoot the sexy semi's.

[David S.]

AAR: HITS Shotgun


This is a course review of HiTS Shotgun on Nov 25, 2018. It focused on the defensive application of the shotgun.

This was an 8 hour class held near Dallas, TX. Weather was a bit chilly, but otherwise good. We had about 15 students with varying levels of experience. One or two guys had very little firearms experience. Several had a significant experience with sporting or hunting shotguns, but no defensive shotgun experience. This was a repeat for the rest of us.

I fell into the latter category. This is my third time attending this class, and I expect to attend again next year. I don’t have easy access to a facility that allows this kind of shotgunning, so this is all the practice I typically get during the year. I also use the class as a chance to test new gear.

Gear: Two years ago I started with a stock 18” Remington 870 Wingmaster with a long tube. After my first class I added a Magpul SGA stock so that it would lie flat when slung. Then before this class I added a FAB Defense forend/Surefire X300 a Mesa Tactical 6 round side-saddle with a optics rail and a Primary Arms Red Dot. I’m absolutely in love with having the RDS on the gun but the Mesa Tactical rail mounts the optic higher than necessary. At some point I’ll probably swap that out for a drilled and tapped rail and a separate sidesaddle.

Most others in the class were either running 870s or Beretta 1301’s, but there was a Benelli or two and a Mossberg 5XX in the class too. @SeriousStudent and @DaggaBoy brought all kinds of show-and-tell goodies too.

The class started with paperwork and student introductions. Darryl gave an abbreviated version of the famous HiTS safety briefing and launched into a discussion of why he loves the shotgun.

It’s kind of a niche weapon, but it’s the niche that many of us “Civilian Defenders” find ourselves in. The niche it falls in has a TON of overlap with home defense and many CONUS police duties, and makes it a really good choice if the operator can negotiate the negatives of the system. The shotgun is ideally suited for problems inside of 15-20 yard (pistol fight and home defense distances). The terminal ballistics are devastating with proper ammo selection and they are more politically acceptable than an AR.

The obvious negatives are recoil and capacity. “Feeding the pig” is challenging. Additionally, they are sporting guns adapted to defensive purposes, so safety systems aren’t as robust and a lot of common malfunctions may have you reverting to a secondary gun. These negatives make it make it best suited for someone dedicated to the system.

We started the range session with slugs and “patterning.” Darryl showed us what to expect from our gun and ammo selection. My shotgun will hold a fist size group with #00 FliteControl out to 15 yards, which is perfectly acceptable for my home defense use. I’d choose a different system (carbine / rifle) to defend my yard / neighborhood. Some combinations opened up sooner and some held tight further out.

Everything else was birdshot. By 1030 am we had introduced basic manipulations a marksmanship. The drills we ran were straight forward. Long gun marksmanship at the 7-10 yards we were shooting at is pretty easy, so we spent the rest of the class focusing on keeping the pig fed under increasing levels of stress. Late in the day we also did a bit of basic moving and shooting to up the complexity.

Darryl adapted the class to the students. This was a slower paced class than the previous times I’ve attended because we had newer shooters and the number of attendees required him to run two lines. This is not a complaint. It is what it is. It gave me an opportunity to really work on slow reps of the fundamentals and try new techniques.

I strongly recommend this course and I’ll take it again in the future.

[SeriousStudent]

It was a whole lot of fun! Both of my nephews reported they had an excellent time, and learned a great deal.

Everyone left with the same orifice count as when they arrived. Always a plus, when dealing with shotguns.

And I do love show & tell! Next year I'll have three more SBS's, and the coach gun will be tuned to perfection. I was polishing the action, and replacing the firing pins and hammer springs tonight.

[KPD]

accidental post here. My apologies.

[OldRunner/CSAT Neighbor]

AAR: HITS Shotgun


This is a course review of HiTS Shotgun on Nov 25, 2018. It focused on the defensive application of the shotgun.

This was an 8 hour class held near Dallas, TX. Weather was a bit chilly, but otherwise good. We had about 15 students with varying levels of experience. One or two guys had very little firearms experience. Several had a significant experience with sporting or hunting shotguns, but no defensive shotgun experience. This was a repeat for the rest of us.

I fell into the latter category. This is my third time attending this class, and I expect to attend again next year. I don’t have easy access to a facility that allows this kind of shotgunning, so this is all the practice I typically get during the year. I also use the class as a chance to test new gear.

Gear: Two years ago I started with a stock 18” Remington 870 Wingmaster with a long tube. After my first class I added a Magpul SGA stock so that it would lie flat when slung. Then before this class I added a FAB Defense forend/Surefire X300 a Mesa Tactical 6 round side-saddle with a optics rail and a Primary Arms Red Dot. I’m absolutely in love with having the RDS on the gun but the Mesa Tactical rail mounts the optic higher than necessary. At some point I’ll probably swap that out for a drilled and tapped rail and a separate sidesaddle.

Most others in the class were either running 870s or Beretta 1301’s, but there was a Benelli or two and a Mossberg 5XX in the class too. @SeriousStudent and @DaggaBoy brought all kinds of show-and-tell goodies too.

The class started with paperwork and student introductions. Darryl gave an abbreviated version of the famous HiTS safety briefing and launched into a discussion of why he loves the shotgun.

It’s kind of a niche weapon, but it’s the niche that many of us “Civilian Defenders” find ourselves in. The niche it falls in has a TON of overlap with home defense and many CONUS police duties, and makes it a really good choice if the operator can negotiate the negatives of the system. The shotgun is ideally suited for problems inside of 15-20 yard (pistol fight and home defense distances). The terminal ballistics are devastating with proper ammo selection and they are more politically acceptable than an AR.

The obvious negatives are recoil and capacity. “Feeding the pig” is challenging. Additionally, they are sporting guns adapted to defensive purposes, so safety systems aren’t as robust and a lot of common malfunctions may have you reverting to a secondary gun. These negatives make it make it best suited for someone dedicated to the system.

We started the range session with slugs and “patterning.” Darryl showed us what to expect from our gun and ammo selection. My shotgun will hold a fist size group with #00 FliteControl out to 15 yards, which is perfectly acceptable for my home defense use. I’d choose a different system (carbine / rifle) to defend my yard / neighborhood. Some combinations opened up sooner and some held tight further out.

Everything else was birdshot. By 1030 am we had introduced basic manipulations a marksmanship. The drills we ran were straight forward. Long gun marksmanship at the 7-10 yards we were shooting at is pretty easy, so we spent the rest of the class focusing on keeping the pig fed under increasing levels of stress. Late in the day we also did a bit of basic moving and shooting to up the complexity.

Darryl adapted the class to the students. This was a slower paced class than the previous times I’ve attended because we had newer shooters and the number of attendees required him to run two lines. This is not a complaint. It is what it is. It gave me an opportunity to really work on slow reps of the fundamentals and try new techniques.

I strongly recommend this course and I’ll take it again in the future.

Thx for taking the time to post a well done AAR David but for some reason I'm not surprised as I was just looking again @ the vids you took of me @ our May Jedlinski class & I still owe ya one for those amigo.

That said I'm glad to see the high # of students @ this one but also sorry I couldn't mosey over for it as I've made them all since 2014. A 2019 version w/ SG 1 day, then pistol the next like DB mentioned in our May class, well that would be a can't miss IMO.