Steve mentioned that he doesn't teach much on slug select anymore because it's difficult to identify situations where slug select is a really relevant skillset for the people using the gun. Especially given the advent of flight control.
I don't work much with slug select either. I don't use it in Home Defense Shotgun because slugs are pretty inappropriate for home defense situations. I do a little bit of slug work in Shotgun Skills, but primarily so people understand how to select a slug that works for their intended purpose and that slugs don't necessarily shoot to the same point of aim as buckshot.
From my Shotgun Skills course description:Tim, I'm not trying to get on you or anyone else's bad side here, I promise. This isn't about me saying how awesome I am or anything. I've said in almost every post that there are better folks than me and I'm just looking to improve. I started this thread by naming several folks, you included, that I consider experts on the shotgun and looking for direction for improvement.
From what I heard in the podcast, most of what you and the others see in class are beginner shooters who just struggle to manage recoil, feed the gun, and run the gun. OK, got it. That's the same thing we see in beginner pistol classes too. But at some point we have more advanced pistol classes for guys who know how to do that stuff and we begin to push them and teach them how to push themselves for faster draws, faster transitions, sight tracking under recoil, faster reloads, and all the other skills.
I try to make people who are competent in the defensive use of a shotgun into people who are proficient by pushing their speed, accuracy, and manipulations.The basics will be reinforced, but students will be pushed to improve speed and accuracy with the shotgun on single targets, challenging multiple target arrays, and in competitive timed shooting. The course is designed to take the user from basic competence with a shotgun into true proficiency with the most powerful defensive firearm readily available in the United States. Shotgun Skills will also cover the application and use of slugs, use of the shotgun in close quarters, and the basics of approaching corners with a long gun. At the end of the day students will shoot an abbreviated slug and buckshot qualification similar to law enforcement shotgun qualification courses for the shotgun.
But I do it from a defensive focus, meaning using guns people actually use for duty or defensive use and the equipment that is realistic for their task.
I talk in depth about manipulations...but the manipulations are based on working with realistic carry of spare ammunition and successfully getting it into the gun under even adverse conditions by using techniques that are slower than anything you will find in 3 gun, but that tend to work splendidly well under any conditions and, crucially, work really well when people aren't doing hours of dryfire to sustain them. They're focused on making sure people aren't dropping a shell that they likely need pretty badly since time is of the essence and they aren't carrying very many spares.
So it has no value to a 3 gunner.