New shooter learned a lot on the range

[Gear Dog]

My wife gave a Mossy Persuader for Xmas and I was so tempted to start buying parts. Well I hit the range first to see what it could do and I'm glad I did. After 50 rounds I called it quits because I knew my shoulder & arms were going to be sore. The range master was great with instructions and made me feel very comfortable with my new toy. I was shooting birdshot primarily with a box of 00 mixed in
I kept the targets 5 & 10 yards figuring in a HD situation that was the distance I would be shooting. The RM had me practice loading, chambering one and pointing at the target while loading the rest of the rounds. This was a great drill considering I don't keep it loaded at the moment. I'm looking at getting a shotlock or something similar to keep it loaded next to the bed.
He also had me work on follow up shots, recoil, reload, aim, fire. It was a great overall experience and learned more than I thought about HD.
So that being said what I plan on getting is a good light, some type of low light sights.

Because my wife may need to use it the plan is simple and functional.

 

[ripjack13]

Howdy Gear Dog and welcome to the club.
Thank you for taking the time to introduce yourself. Please feel free to jump in on any conversation, anywhere, and let us know if you have any questions. We hope you enjoy it here with our laid back, relaxed approach at Mossberg Owners.
We're here to help, not hinder.

ripjack13

 

[LAZY EYED SNIPER]

Congrats on the great first time out Gear Dog!

I look forward to reading more about your experiences with your new Pursuader...

 

[Water Monkey]

My wife gave a Mossy Persuader for Xmas and I was so tempted to start buying parts. Well I hit the range first to see what it could do and I'm glad I did. After 50 rounds I called it quits because I knew my shoulder & arms were going to be sore. The range master was great with instructions and made me feel very comfortable with my new toy. I was shooting birdshot primarily with a box of 00 mixed in
I kept the targets 5 & 10 yards figuring in a HD situation that was the distance I would be shooting. The RM had me practice loading, chambering one and pointing at the target while loading the rest of the rounds. This was a great drill considering I don't keep it loaded at the moment. I'm looking at getting a shotlock or something similar to keep it loaded next to the bed.
He also had me work on follow up shots, recoil, reload, aim, fire. It was a great overall experience and learned more than I thought about HD.
So that being said what I plan on getting is a good light, some type of low light sights.

Because my wife may need to use it the plan is simple and functional.

Welcome! Real world shooting is an eye opener for sure.

Take a look at a video I posted in this forum on what you might want to consider on the home defense shotgun.

Get that woman out with you to the range. She needs to know how to operate it and deal with recoil. You want her prepared if the moment of truth ever rears its ugly head.

Periodically I do drills with my woman at home with dummy rounds and then we hit the range to get those drills using live rounds. Things that go bang changes the mindset significantly compared to rounds that don't.

 

[Gear Dog]

I do plan on getting her to the range soon. She was supposed to come with me but had to pick up the kids. I made a few dummy rounds filling spent shells with pennies. I'm wondering how she will do with her long nails, loading it.

 

[catnphx]

After 50 rounds I called it quits because I knew my shoulder & arms were going to be sore.

Welcome!!

Take a look at many of the threads in the Ammo sub-section; look at the discussions on the low recoil rounds ... these might help save your shoulder. I'm suprised you got 50 rounds down range because it took my old shoulder about 10 before it started getting sore.

http://www.mossbergowners.com/viewforum.php?f=37

 

[Rossignol]

Congrats on an awesome Christmas present! The 20" Persuader was my first shotgun!

You're off to a great start and I like you're creativity on the dummy rounds, good thinkin!

In addition to low recoil loads for HD there are a couple things yoou can do without spending any $$$ at all to reduce the perceived and felt recoil. You can stand with your shoulders square to the target, leaning forward slightly into the gun and with your knees bent slightly as well. Rather than shouldering the gun the way traditional sport shooters do, move the butt of the stock in somewhat towards your chest so it seats in the "pocket" created between your shoulder an chest if not just slightly over your pec. While keeping a solid cheek weld sighting down the bore, simultaneously pull back on the grip and push forward on the forend.

I apologize if this is redundant and you know all this already, but for me it made a huge difference almost immediately where s the first time I went out my shoulder and cheek both were sore for a couple days.

 

[Gear Dog]

Thanks for the tips. They did teach me the proper stance at the range. Leaning forward with the weight of the shotgun felt a little awkward at first, but got easier after a few rounds. I'm hoping to get to the range again sometime this week so stay tuned.

 

[Tom396]

The push-pull technique makes all the difference in the world to me, if I'm going through a lot of rounds. Take care. Tom Worthington.