SafetySouth General Defensive Shotgun Class Review

Took the Safety South Defensive Shotgun Saturday and let me say this is a great class and Bo is a great teacher and very thorough in his teaching process.

The class starts with a classroom session discussing safety, shotgun types, ammunition types, storage, combat loading, unloading and ready condition, “cruiser” ready. After the classroom session we transitioned to the range to start the live fire portion of the class. He encourages everyone to seek different manufacturers of ammunition for the class as the variation of patterns can vary greatly.

Live fire started with patterning using birdshot at different yardages and combat reloading and tube loading to help keep your gun topped off. We shot both positive and negative targets which helps with accuracy and understanding how much your shot spreads at different distances.

We next transitioned to steel targets and remained on birdshot and focused on dealing with threats and different loading (combat loading, combat loading and tube loading). We performed combat reloading until the threat is dealt with and shooting from “cruiser” ready and dealing with threats.

Next we moved to buckshot patterning on different manufacturers ammo at different yardages. This is a very eye opening process if you have never done this and it is also interesting to see the difference even between gun manufacturers. Bo is very thorough in getting everyone to review other class members shot patterning and discuss effectiveness of the pattern in a defensive situation.

As we continued with buckshot we wrapped up that portion shooting a qualification round at different yardages and we used the honor system to score (you had to score 90%).

Finally we moved to shooting slugs. Again, we shot the qualification course which consisted of combat reloads at different yardages. Again, we scored on the honor system (you had to score 100%).

We wrapped up the day with a little fun. Bo set up dry wall in different configurations (dry wall, dry wall and ply wood, aluminum skinned door) and we got to shoot through them with the three different types of ammunition. Interesting to see the different types of penetration and then transfer that to your house and how you could impact your family or neighbors depending on where you live.

Overall a very good class and a more knowledge to use as I continue down my training path. Shotgun classes are hard to come by in the area and I would highly recommend taking Bo’s class if you get the chance.

Excellent write-up. Was the class hosted at the Air Guard base?

David, yes it was at the base in Smyrna

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Here is my take on the class: I agree with my new fly fishing buddy: I felt safety was handled very well.

The class had a decent mix of rookie to veteran shotgun shooters. I felt Bo did a good job of explaining the basics and working with the newer shooters while at the same time keeping things interesting enough for the more experienced shooters. He took plenty of time during the various tasks to explain what was happening and why.

I’m guilty of not spending enough time doing patterning and accuracy tests with my shotgun. Having hunted all of my life with shotguns I feel I can shoot them pretty well. But, getting on known distances and seeing how various rounds shot was very eye opening. I brought a lot of different ammo (6 different brands of slugs and 6 different types of 00 buckshot. The slugs were fairly close in accuracy but the 00 buck was all over the place. More about that in a minute…

I think the time we spent patterning at different distances, and more importantly, talking about the real world application of distances in your home was worth the price of admission all by itself.

At the end of the day, I had a great time, felt completely safe while doing so, learned a lot about the practical self defense application of a shotgun and made a few new friends. So for me the class was a success and a great value.

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When I get home and can get all of the various rounds listed I will report how my shotgun did with various rounds. For now, Hornaday TAP 00 buck and Brenneke slugs were the best out of my gun. I shot a Remington 870 with an 18 barrel and an improved cylinder choke.

One other thing is that this was the first time out with my new trijicon ghost ring sites. Having only shot over a single bead all of my life I was curious to see how I would like these. The short answer was I liked them a lot. I need to get back out to the range and really dial in the distances but I was very pleased with how quickly I was able to acquire the sight picture with these sights. I can’t wait to get back to the range with some more Brenneke slugs and really fine tune the sights in.

Mark

Anyone know when the next class is and how I can get more info? I'd like to take the next class!!

I found it!

http://www.safetysouth.net/faq.htm

At least I think I did!!

Thanks for the kind words, Steve & Mark !

I'll post a few snapshots tonight if *%#@!$%((*&# Verizon gets my internet working again !!!!!

Originally Posted by JoeNashville

Anyone know when the next class is and how I can get more info? I'd like to take the next class!!

We'll run another one in the Spring (March or April) unless we have sufficient interest before then.

Mark A. performing an open port "Combat Load"

Dang, I look good in pictures!