Parts of a Shotgun

Video Transcript

"We're going to have a little short course on parts of a shotgun. Going to start out with this particular one is a Charles Daly and it's called an over and under shotgun, that means that the two barrels that it has are stacked one on top of the other. Once again, first thing we open it, look in the back end, make sure it's unloaded. In case you didn't see how that happened, most of these have a little lever on the back. Push it one direction, pull down on the barrels by the forearm and it opens up. It allows you to see that it's unloaded or loaded. It allows you to load it. And when you're ready to shoot, just snap it shut. You have two barrels, one on top of the other, they frequently have a screw in choke, that choke allows you to determine whether the shot pattern spreads real quickly or whether it holds together for a long time, for longer distance shooting. That's the choke that goes in the end of the barrel. Some barrels don't have them, they're choked at the factory. There's a front sight on it, a lot of shotguns have a mid-range sight, this particular one doesn't. This high piece you can see is called a ventilated rib. It raises your eye just a little bit off from the barrel, makes it a little bit easier for a person to have a good sight picture with a shotgun. This wood piece up here is called a forearm. It's the front portion, good place for a hand to grip. If you were holding onto barrels they get really hot, really quick. You wouldn't like it a bit. That's the forearm, these are the barrels top and bottom, you have here little devices that kick back automatically. They can be one of two things. They can be ejectors or extractors. Extractors simply pull the empty cases back and leave them right here allowing you to pull off by yourself. Ejectors pop them all the way out by themselves, so sometimes you'll see people shooting, when they open it up, the empties go boop! This is the - of course the buttstock. Part that goes to your shoulder, most of them have a recoil pad on the back end of it to cushion that kick a little bit. And this main portion here, this is the receiver. This is the main part of the shotgun without which nothing else works, it holds everything together. This particular shotgun has two triggers. One for the upper barrel, one for the lower barrel. Slap it shut, some people have enough control to put both fingers in there and pull one at a time. If you don't have that kind of control, probably shouldn't try it til you get used to it, 'cause it will hurt. Two barrels at once is not fun. This gun has a device right here, when it's activated it allows you to pull the forearm off, take the barrel off, take it all apart. That's the main parts of an over and under shotgun. Next we're going to talk about a semi auto shotgun, all the parts are basically the same. Front sight, chokes, barrel, this has a ventilated rib as well. Forearm, buttstock, recoil pad, receiver. Difference is this has a sliding bolt. It also has within the forearm a place for cartridges to go waiting to be used. So you load it down to the bottom with the loading gate. Activate the bolt. The first time, it puts first round into the chamber. From then on as you pull the trigger, it fires. Once it's empty, the bolt locks back, lets you know the gun is empty, it allows you to load it again, it has a device on the side when you push that, it's going to slap the bolt forward and if were in the proper condition it would charge it with the first round. Very basic, very similar, but yet there's some differences in it that make quite a difference in a semi auto. Pump shotgun, this particular one is a Mossberg with a long magazine, it holds eight rounds instead of three as this one holds. This one has the same thing, barrel, choke inside, magazine tube, receiver, end buttstock and lower recoil pad. The difference in this is it has to be manually pumped every time you want to shoot it. Once you've pumped it open, checked it, you load the rounds in this long tube, takes eight. Here's device right here that frees it. That charges the first time, every time you shoot it, you got to pump it again, shoot it, basic parts all the same, totally different front sight, and this particular one has a rifle sight for a rear sight. This was designed for hunting large game such as deer. Some of the eastern states - that's all you can use. That's what this was made for."