Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters The Difference Btween Rifle Loonies and Shotgun Loonies

You don't aim a shotgun. you point it, if you don't know the differance you will never be a good shotgunner.

As reported by IndyCA35 (first post):

"Rifle loonies use hundreds of different cartridges."
"Shotgun loonies are just the opposite: 95% use only two gauges (12 and 20)."

Does this mean that rifle loonies can count higher then shotgun loonies, OR does it meant that they can't count, keep forgetting what they own and, just keep adding new stuff?

Any place in the shooting world for a plain old "gun loony"? You know, the guy or gal who owns and enjoys shooting/hunting with rifles, handguns, and shotguns.

djs.
Shotgun loonies usually shoot a base 25, with many events either 100 or 200 birds.
Rifle loonies seem to peak out at 5 shot groups.

Man, THAT is irritating!!! There is one guy I know -- a hell of a nice guy and very well meaning -- that I WON'T squad with because he has that same habit of noting "where" a shooter may miss. I've had to tell him more than once, "I don't give a rat's *** WHERE I was, the question is WHY WASN'T I WHERE I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE?"

What some people don't seem to get is that you can be behind, as an example, for different and opposite reasons. It might be because you started with the gun too close to the trap and never caught up to the bird, or you may have started with the gun too far out, had to wait for the target, and had too little gun speed when the target finnally arrived. Start with the gun the correct distance from the trap and your "move to the target" will match gun speed to target speed; everything will come togather effortlessly and the target will break.

Gun cant and/or a dip in your swing using a O/U can be another reason. . .

Redeye,

Exactly. I have been around a lot of shotgun instructors, and if mostly they describe where the shooter missed then I know they're a lousy instructor.

One of the gun clubs that I belong to spends alot more of the club's money on the shotgun range than the rifle range. That's OK by the memebership because we understand that it's all in support of the shooting sports.
I'm lucky on several counts to belong to it. Being only fair with a shotgun, complete with lingering bad habits, I've really benefited from some guys that understand that not only do I need to know where I missed but why.
Here's one I found very interesting. I've got an older Remington 1187 12 ga. that I shoot better than the lighter O/U's have owned. So much so that the lightest O/U, a 7 1/4 lb. SIG, went down the road after a few years of trying. Couldn't break over 14 birds on my best day. In contrast, I've shot a perfect 25 a couple of times, and often 22-23 with the 8 1/4 lb. 1187.
Then, this last year, I broke down and bought a 6 1/2 lb. 28 ga. a Remington 870. I'd convinced myself that for those long climbs into the mountains for Blue Grouse, that would be it.
I admit to some misgivings, but I did it anyway.
On the trap range, sometimes I do as many as 18 birds, but sometime not. The important thiong was, I'm sure, a good friend was often there telling me not only where, but why I missed. In time, I learned how to call my misses too.
But when came to getting on the fast flushing birds in the field, the gun performed as well or better than anything else, even the heavier 1187.
Why ? A little weight forward balance and and the trim lines allowed it to come quickly and smoothly to the shoulder. That and ammo that shoots where it looks.
Years ago, as a 13 yr. old, I discovered the same thing. My grandfather's old Winchester 42, .410, was far deadly on close cover quail than any of the heavier 12's and 20's that he insisted were. E

I've found the biggest amount of guff that comes from either side are from those that aren't HUNTERS first or at all.

Can't relate to a guy shooting 18,342 rounds in some foreign sounding scattergun that don't hunt. No more than I can the dude with wind flags and Harrell powder measure attached to his coffee cup that don't hunt.

Steelhead, I have friends that shoot at times 700-1000 clay birds a week with the Trap, Sporting Clays and Skeet guns. You take them away from the repetition of what the clay birds are going to do with a field gun in hand and there almost worthless. Have a friend that has had a good sized hunt club (Birds) for 15+ years and has asked me to guide on a few occasions when he gets real busy, you can tell the guys that shoot tons of clays...

That CAN be the case, but not necessarily. I personally don't know how anyone can transition from shooting with a pre-mounted gun all summer to shooting unexpected, fast, feathered targets in the fall. (The rule changes in skeet and sporting clays that allow high gun are blasphemy IMO) But other than that, the fundamentals of shotgunning remain the same whether the target is called for or appears unexpectedly. A smooth, reasonably quick gun mount, weight on the forward foot, head on the comb and eyes (plural) on the target usually equals a dead target. And, having to THINK about any of this stuff as it's occurring usually means a loss.

When getting ready for hunting wild pheasants, there's nothing like wearing your hunting jacket and shooting gun down from a wobble house trap. Shoot a couple of hundred rounds on a weekend for about 3 or 4 consecutive weeks prior to season. Works pretty well for quail too.

Of course, don't forget the dog. Have him running and if possible, get him some bird work. Make sure he shoots gun down too!

MD, I have experienced what Eileen did many times [probably should be a separate thread!] Some well-meaning[or not!] duffer assuming the li'l lady needs his help! One time I was shooting my AH Fox 12 ga game gun at clays, and missing of course. A nice fellow showed me a Beretta Automatic 20 gauge, sincerely tried to talk me into buying one! He wasn't trying to sell me his gun.

I just thought of a good retort I'll try out next time this occurs...I'll just say very sweetly,"Sir, thank you so much for trying to help, but my instructor insists that I must not have any one elses input at this critical time in my training"

Probably the poor fellow won't know what to say after that.

Live pigeons will cure some of that. Isn't PC and I couldn't care less. Pen raised chukars are better than pigeons out of an electromechanical trap...if you want to downsize somebody's ego a little.

I suppose members of most sporting cultures (and those that are non-sporting) have an instinct to look one another over and especially a newcomer and their gear, degree or resume and make presumptions, sometimes correct, often times wrong.

Thankfully, most of us have enough wisdom or common sense to let time answer the thought rather than open our mouths and act the fool.

Was at the range Sunday and a guy starts piling his gear a few benches down. He pulls out a very large and expensive looking spotting scope and mounts it on a range stand.

I figured, "oh bother, another guy with another decked out AR going to spray me with brass."

After a while I looked over and there was a piece of gear between us but I could see a parkerized muzzle and bit of wooden handguard and my thought was, "oh, an M1, well, he's okay I guess."

Then I stood up and looked closer and realized it was an original condition Springfield '03 and thought, "well, now he's definitely cool. I like this guy..."

BlueDoe,

I suspect their yearning to "help" is also fed by the widespread notion among a certain type of guy that somehow men have a natural ability to shoot that women somehow lack.

My experience tends toward the reverse. I have seen a lot more women than men become very good, very quickly at all sorts of shooting, probably because women don't assume they're born with some sort of natural shooting ability.

I hate to admit it at times but, my wife generally kicks my butt at the trap range..Doesn't matter if it's playing or league, she's shot about 1/3 the years I have. In the last 33 weeks of league, she averaged 47 from the 22 and 48.5 from the 16.....She's ran 100 straight 4 times

My feeling is that I over analyze the missed shot and start correcting something that not wrong. If she misses a bird, she doesn't analyze at all, just gets ready for the next bird.

Exactly. And as a result, they will take instruction with an open mind. Years ago I did some introductory handgun classes and it was always fun to see how the gals approached it. Many of them would start off being very timid and self-conscious, but by the end of the range session they were having a ball and out-shooting many of the guys! Some sort of primal aggression release or something maybe:)