Independence Training AAR

Practical Shotgun April 7th


This is for the guys out there just like me that have been on the fence about going out and getting some actual training. So why are you on the fence? Like me you probably shoot often enough that you are very familiar or even “at one” with your firearms. You probably don’t shoot so much as “Train” these days. Maybe, like me, you shoot competitions so your weapons manipulation is superb. So why would you want to spend your hard earned money to have someone show you stuff that you think or believe you already know? I have the Magpul DVD’s so that’s good enough right?

After taking a Predator hunting class with Glen earlier in the year he sparked my interest in stepping out of my box and attending one of his other classes. I use a Shotgun for Home Defense so I thought that I’d give it a go and I am glad that I did. Glen is a phenomenal instructor and truly seeks out to help the students in his class. Glen has the knowledge and is able to demonstrate exactly what he wants you to achieve during his class. He does not “bag” on student’s gear nor their firearm choice and in general has a very helpful attitude.

Glen was familiar with all the Shotguns in the class, which included two 870’s, a Benelli M1 and my Mossberg 590 though when demonstrating or explaining techniques he spoke about numerous different models and makes. Glen is big on using the Shotgun as you would in any real encounter and feeding it as such. Another credit to Glen and Independence Training is he/they focus on the “Armed Citizen”. While all the instructors have military experience, as do I, we are not in a war when we encounter a criminal intent on causing us or our family harm, we are civilians and held to those laws. Their focus on this is refreshing and a good reminder of what happens after a lethal encounter.

On to the class, after a quick review of the safety rules of firearms and what to do incase of a medical emergency it was time to start shooting. The morning consisted of identifying POA with POI with slugs and buckshot. Now I say POA/POI because with the typical bead sight and smooth bore shotguns everything shoots different and anyone with shotgun experience will know exactly what I am talking about. Then it was on to drills and repetition. If you ain’t shooting you’re feeding! A few breaks here and there to drink, eat snack and reload and then before we knew it was lunch.

After lunch we got a good warm-up of everything we had learned so far and it was interesting to say the least! My favorite part was the “Urban Prone”, I hate the urban prone! I have a V-Tac barricade that I train with and I use it during the competitions that I shoot and with an AR it’s not that bad. When you up it a 12ga it is just plain awful and that is all I will say about that. Other then the fact that it was taught it was not overly focused on which I liked. We then went into some moving drills and transition drills and ended the day. For an 8 hour class Glen touched on everything you may ever need to do with a Shotgun and focused on the more important aspects and challenges you may encounter.

Now the question is did I learn anything being a fairly experienced shooter? Yes I did, and if anything else it was a great refresher of the things I did know and simply more time shooting. Having a professional eye to check me out and confirm that I was training correctly is a nice boost and I am also very happy to say that I did not learn anything that I would never do! The biggest things that I learned were simply how I had my shotgun set up with ammo. I learned a better way to stock my shell holders to allow me to feed it better and more efficient with the appropriate loads. I saw some different loads to try-out as they were impressive when patterning. I learned that the light I had mounted worked well until I started shooting. It was those little tings that meant the most to me.

I would definitely recommend this class to novice and advanced shotgunners though a novice would gain the most of course. Anyone with a shotgun that lives in AZ has no excuse for not attending this training and at the price it’s offered, even less excuse. It’s unfortunate that the Shotgun has been neglected by the “Tactical” world as it is such a versatile and violent weapon. This class has sparked a small fire in me and as a guy that was on the fence before, I will without a doubt be attending more training course. With Independence Training being local to AZ and amazingly affordable, plan on attending all of their firearms courses in the future.