OnSight Firearms: Defensive Shotgun
oftllc.us
June 9, 2019
Maynard Rod & Gun Club
maynardrodandgunclub.com
oftllc.us
June 9, 2019
Maynard Rod & Gun Club
maynardrodandgunclub.com
Weather: Beautiful sunny and HOT. Sun all day no cloud cover. 82 degrees in the shade.
Clothing: Shorts, knee pads, T-shirt, hiking boots, hat & sunglasses.
Remington 870 (20 gauge), Extended Magazine tube (7+1), XS Ghost Ring Sights, Mesa Tactical Urbino Tactical Pistol grip Stock, SOE Single Point Sling. M&P 2.0c w/ rmr in a TXC Victory OWB, Mean Jean leather belt.
Round counts: birdshot (300+/-), buckshot (50+/-), slug (25+/-)
Time: 8:30am – 5:30pm
Cost: $160+10 (range fee)
Backup guns if main guns go down: Remington 870 (12 gauge) & Glock 19
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Shout-out to Jon Green for setting this class up and making it happen. Thank you Jon Green, YOU ROCK SIR. Jon is the Director of Training for GOAL (Gun Owners’ Action League, A Leading Voice For Massachusetts Gun Owners) www.goal.org If you are reading this review YOU SHOULD BE A MEMBER OF GOAL. Become a member and help keep the Second Amendment alive in Massachusetts!
Students started showing up around 7:45-8:00 unpacking and setting up their gear. One student was setting up a large canopy for shade and he had the brilliant idea to bring two large floor fans for comfort (‘cause it was expected to be a hot one). The class was small at 6 people including myself, ranging in ages 35ish -55ish.
Ben introduced himself and collected the insurance waivers and range fees. We went around the group telling the group our name, occupation and what we wanted to get out of the day. For me, it was fundamentals and getting more practice feeding the beast smoothly.
Safety briefing: Ben talked us through the range orientation, what to do if there was a training accident and medical was needed. People were given jobs in the unlikely event something happened. Who to call, the correct words to say and the words not say.
We started off with unloaded guns at the 5-7 yard line, Ben showed us and explained the parts the shotgun and the different rest and starting positions we were going to use on the range. Ben demo’d how to load one directly into the ejection/ loading port both overhanded and underhanded. Once we had motions down we loaded up some birdshot and shot the center mass of our target.
Before each drill, Ben would explain it, demo the entire drill and explain it again. I like that teaching approach. I like to hear the instructions and then see it being done correctly. There was absolutely NO ego with the instructor or any of the students. We were here to learn and he was there to teach and have fun.
We moved back to about 7-10 yards and practiced loading one shell of birdshot directly into the loading/ejection port and running the forestock chambering the shell and firing into the center mass of the steel target. We did the overhand and underhand method multiple times until we were comfortable getting that first shell directly into the barrel smoothly. Watching others on the line, it was apparent from the students' skill and competency levels were higher than other classes that I have taken in the past. I thought to myself this was going to be an interesting day and I better pay close attention. We examined the birdshot patterns from 7-20 yards on the freshly painted steel targets. Birdshot is really not the best for defensive ammo choice for anything further than 5ish yards. We shot a ton of birdshot, single shots, multiple shells, direct loading into the ejection/loading. (FUN!)
We shot from standing, kneeling, rested kneel, double kneeling, sitting, on your side and prone. We learned how to turn safely with the gun and engage the target. Face left, Face right and about-face. Prone is hard. I had a lot of trouble working foregrip when my elbows were on the gravel. SUCKED to me on those drills.
All throughout the morning, we were constantly being reminded to FED THE MACHINE. Keep topping off - adding more shells in the magazine. “..If you are not shooting, you should be loading Ben would be constantly reminding us…” We seemed to be always shoving shells into the magazine every opportunity we had.
We switched out steel for paper targets and our dump pouches from birdshot to buckshot. We learned that not all buckshot is created equal. Ben showed us how Federal Flight Control 00 (FFC00) really holds super tight even at distance. Our low end 00 had much larger spreads than the FFC00. Amazing load for buckshot. *EYE OPENING* Oh yeah… the BUCK is harder on your body. OWEE! We pattern our buckshot from 5 yards to 20 yards from all positions, Standing, kneeling, and sitting. Thankfully not from prone.
We broke for lunch and all gathered under the canopy in front of the fans. (f***ING BRILLANT!) Man, it was hot under the direct sun. Even though we all had applying sunblock all morning we were all pretty much red boiled lobsters. Ben hung out chatting with students during the lunch break. Very personable and approachable. He has so much knowledge, just listening to his conversations I pick up tips… Never mind the super interesting stories he has….
After lunch, we loaded up with slugs. AHHH YES! Love those huge bullets. Heavy recoil! BIG FUN! We shot slugs at various distances. I was pleasantly surprised that I was making most headshots at 25 yards. YIPEE!....But my reloads are still super awkward and sloppy.
We practiced slinging our shotgun while transitioning to the pistol when the beast runs empty. I had issues with reholstering my pistol. I am not used to wearing an OWB holster on my strong side. I have been carrying AIWB and under a little bit of stress, I was fishing to re-holster. (Good thing to learn in a class)
We learned how to safely move forward and backward on the range with a loaded gun and shot on the move while paying attention to the other shooters on the line while at the same time feeding the beast with shells.
The drill that stands out in my memory was the last man standing drill: the first person would fire 5 shots, the next person would then fire 5 rounds. Down the line, until the last person fired. Person number one would have to have the gun loaded and fire his 5 rounds. If your gun was not fully loaded by your next time up, you were out. After round number two I was out. The other students were too fast and skilled for my slow-ass reloads. We did one-handed shooting while the support hand was digging for shells. Tough to keep that shotgun up straight with one hand at the end of the day.
We cleaned up the range and sat down under the canopy for a debrief. Looking around, we were dirty, some bloody (boo-boos) from catching thumbs on the magazine while loading. We were sore, hot and tired BUT we all had big f***ing grins on our faces…. We went around the group finding out what people liked, learned and did not like about the class. We all seem to have LOVED the class and no one had a bad thing to say about anything except the MF’ing sun and heat. Mother Nature can be a bitch!
We had a range of abilities and I was in the lower portion of the group. All the guys were super cool and safe all day long. Ben never had to stop the line for being unsafe. All of the shotguns made it through the class, even the one semi-auto 930. It ate low brass all day. (impressive)
This was such a fun class. I love Ben’s teaching style. I had taken this class before, and it seemed to be completely different and new skill building. We did a few of the same drills, but different location, a different bunch of students (same bad jokes
) felt different. New drills were added.I really liked Ben. He is super knowledgeable, skillful, funny, humble and sometimes appropriately inappropriate. As the day goes on his jokes go downhill. He is a down to earth dude, that is easy to talk to fun to be around. Ben really cares about his students and he takes the individual time to adjust us when we need an adjustment. Ben walked the line and gave everyone personalized attention and modification where needed. [I have taken classes where the instructor yells at you and sometimes humiliates you in front of the class if you are not doing something exactly correct. Ben is not one of those instructors. If you need to be adjusted or corrected he does it respectfully and treats you like a human being. NOT ALL INSTRUCTORS are like this.]
I think Ben DeWalt and OnSight Firearms Training is one of the best training companies and best-kept secret within the training community. Absolutely take his class if you have the opportunity. This was the fifth class (2x shotgun, 2x pistol and a medical) I have taken from Ben and I WILL take many more. I always have so much fun in his classes compared to other classes.
My takes:
- My shotgun ran excellent. The 20g was easier on my body with the high round count.
- My support hand index finger and thumb were all cut up from loading the magazine. Need to round those sharp edges.
- The single point sling worked out much better for me than the two point I ran last time.
- Federal Flight Control Buckshot is the way to go. Really great performing round.
- Love the rifles sights vs the bead.
- Wear your knee pads. Maybe get elbow pads for prone on gravel.
- Shells from a dump pouch were faster than a side saddle for fast reloads.
- Need to work on reloading smoother. ##
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