The Difference Between Shotguns, Pistols, & Rifles for Target Shooting

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Don Snyder, Executive Director of the National Skeet Shooting Association, on behalf of expertvillage.com. One of the things that we wanted to talk to you a little bit about is the difference between rifle, pistol, and shotgun shooting. When you shoot a rifle or a pistol, most of those have got a front sight and a back sight, and you normally align both of those sights and you look down and put those on your target before you squeeze the trigger. Shotgun shooting is somewhat different because the rear sight of a shotgun are your eyes. It's extremely important to look at the target that you're going to be shooting as opposed to the shotgun. As a matter of fact, once you mount a shotgun, once you're comfortable that you have the barrel aligned, depending upon the shot, you need to move your eyes to the left, to the right, or above the shotgun depending upon the shot. One of the things that you don't want to do is look down the barrel. This is a common mistake that's encountered by dove hunters and they wonder why they are unable to hit a moving target and one of the reasons is, is the primary focus is on the barrel of the shotgun. They're trying to shoot it like a rifle, as opposed to a shotgun. When you're shooting a shotgun, you have to sort of imagine that you're playing ball, you're catching a ball. And one of the things that you do when you catch a ball is that you have to keep your eye on the ball so that you can move your glove to the right, to the left, to above. When you're shooting a shotgun, if you can keep your eyes on the target, it doesn't matter where the target goes. If it's a dove, for example, and it goes this way, if you're not looking at the barrel, you can go that way with a shotgun, you can go down, you can go around, you can actually draw a picture out there depending upon where the bird is going. And the same thing applies when you're shooting a shotgun at clay targets. Based on varying conditions, wind, etc., they'll go up, they'll go down, they'll slow up, etc. The key is, is to always look at the target, and when you're looking at the target you can go with the target, you can engage the target, and you can hit the target."