How Many Shotguns Do You Own? How Many Do You Shoot Well?
Bill Miller 09.29.14
What is your approach to shotgunning? Are you the legendary one-gun man or woman? There’s wisdom in the warning, “Beware of the hunter or shooter with only one gun! He or she probably knows how to use it!”
Then there is the “golf bag” approach to shooting. The golfer doesn’t play an entire round with only a driver or solely with a putter. His or her bag carries a dozen or more clubs each meant for a specific distance or type of shot. Ever watch a professional golf tournament? That selection of clubs allows them to perform some amazing feats. The caddy even makes suggestions on the right club for the shot at hand.
The primary advantage of using one shotgun for all your shooting is familiarity. The one-gun-shooter undoubtedly knows his or her one shotgun intimately. The feel of the mount and swing, the balance of the gun, the location of the safety, the step-by-step loading process, the trigger pull, and more all become instinctive through repetition.
A few seasons back, I was on a one-gun mission testing the then new Beretta 400 Xplor Unico. I shot it for everything I did for an entire year—without internal cleaning—just to see how it would perform (which turned out to be flawlessly!) Trap, skeet, sporting clays, and hunting—I was shooting the A400 a lot!
One evening, some buddies and I had finished our sporting clays league rounds and decided to take some more targets for practice. Our game faces were off, so we talked and joked between shots. On a final station, I just plain forgot that I was getting a report pair. I loaded only one shell, broke the first bird, and turned to walk off the station, already trash talking my companions. They, of course, reminded of the second bird in the pair now in the air.
I spun back into the stand, pulled a shell from my pouch, loaded without looking, closed the action, mounted, and broke the bird before it hit the ground! Familiarity with one gun (and a little luck) can make you look mighty good!
However, my long-term approach to shotgunning tends toward the golfer’s. Careful selection of and practice with a purpose-built shotgun ultimately puts the right tool in your hands when you need it.
For example, a 32- or 34-inch barrel on a target shotgun really helps maintain swing and forces essential follow-through to increase scores on the trap and sporting clays ranges. However, I certainly don’t want to deal with that long barrel when I’m investigating a noise downstairs in the middle of the night while my wife calls 9-1-1. Nor do I want to have to navigate those long tubes through an alder thicket looking for a dog on point.
Nothing is better for a home-defense shotgun than a compact, reliable pump equipped with a laser and light for better aiming and target identification. Yet when shooting skeet, five-stand, or doubles trap, pumping the action is a hindrance to a well-placed second shot, and what would you possibly use the laser or light for on clays?
There are also situations in which side-by-side barrels offer distinct advantage over the narrow sighting plane of an over/under, semiauto, or pump—namely in thick cover on close-flushing birds. And what about turkey hunting? As a runner-gunner, I want my turkey gun light, short, and fast, and I want it to sport rifle sights, a red-dot, or even a scope. The slug gun for deer is another completely different set up I like to leave accurized season to season.
The “right” answer to shotgunning probably falls somewhere in the middle. It makes sense to own a number of shotguns purpose-built to the different types of hunting and shooting you enjoy. The key is to shoot each one of them enough to build the kind of familiarity that makes the one-gun shooter so good!
Take the lesson from the pro golfers and learn to master every club in the bag—or, in your case, every gun in the safe!
Tip of the Week
An undeniable delight of golden fall days in the woods is lunch on the tailgate. A picnic there—shared with the hardworking dog—is a reward for everyone! Only thing that can ruin it is pesky mosquitoes. You know, the ones that somehow avoided the frost and are now meaner and nastier because of it. Pack your ThermaCELL to help keep them at bay! ThermaCELL insect repellants are not meant to be used right next to open food, but that’s no problem. The 15-foot-by-15-foot 3D zone of protection offers plenty of coverage to keep the bugs from ruining your autumn tailgate picnic!
Bill Miller’s least favorite question is, “What is your favorite kind of hunting?”
He dislikes it so much because any answer may hint he’s willing to give up one or more of the lesser favorites. But if you press him really hard, his answer will be, “I really like anything I can hunt with a shotgun and over good dogs.”
At an early age, Bill became shotgunning addicted. Instead of an allowance in cash money, Bill earned shotgun shells for his chores around the family home. Then on Sunday afternoon’s he would haul an old Trius Trap out to the field behind the house on to the make shift “trap range” he’d mowed into the tall grass with the push mower. Then his dad would join him to supervise the shooting of the shells earned during the week.
About the same time, at age 11, Bill figured out he wanted to make his living experiencing outdoor adventures and sharing them with others. He wanted to be an outdoor writer. In the decades since, he has lived and continues living his dream.
He travels widely enjoying adventures close to home as well as on five continents. He shared his adventures on national networks hosing and producing shows for NBC Sports, Versus, Outdoor Channel, Wild TV, Sportsman Channel and others. He appeared on ESPN for 13 season on "Shoot More, Shoot More Often." During the production of “The Shooting Sports” for ESPN, Bill was honored to shoot frequently in the company of members and coaches of the USA Shooting Shotgun Team.
In 2012, participated in the Armed Forces Entertainment Outdoor Legends Tour to Afghanistan to entertain men and women serving in the military -- in his words, "...it was the greatest honor in my career and a life changing experience. His latest venture is a new book, "Reflections Under the Big Pine" he co-authored and published with K.J. Houtman.
