On Memorial Day Weekend, very bright and early at 5 am on Saturday morning, I met up with Tosh and we drove down to New London, Ohio to attend Definitive Training Solutions - Definitive Shotgun Class.
We arrived at the range at 7:45 and checked in to the class, and did the waivers etc and got our gear set up and set out.
With 16 students attending, it was a full class.
Shotguns ranged in the pump department from a couple Remington 870s, a couple few Mossberg 590s, including two in 20 gauge brought by the two female shooters attending the class.
In the semi-auto category, there vast majority were Beretta 1301s, one Beretta A300, and my Tavor TS-12.
Only three years ago, at MDFI's shotgun class, the Benelli M4 series dominated. Now there was not a single one on the line.
The class began with a safety brief and an introduction to what we would be doing and some note-taking on shotgun usage.
We then began by patterning the shotguns with our choice of high-quality buckshot.
Two words when it comes to quality buckshot - Federal FliteControl.
Some people tried cheaper buckshot and the difference - in their own shoguns when they tried FliteControl was night and day in terms of putting buckshot on target.
We patterned at 5, 7, 10, 12, and 25 yards.
Using FliteControl, as seen above, the Tavor TS-12 kept some nice tight patterns, and even at 25 yards kept all the shot on target.
The ladies using the 20 gauges had major issues patterning. Neither of them had the rare 20 gauge flitecontrol buckshot, and the buckshot they had looked like it had been thrown all over the target at 5 and 7 yards, and most of the shot was off target when shot from farther away.
Interestingly, the malfunctions this class were all with the pump shotguns - both of the ladies' Mossberg 20s were new and had issues including the end cap working loose on one and the safety coming loose and off on the other. First time for both of them using shotguns and they brought these new to class and both needed lubrication. After some teething troubles, they worked but were simply not as accurate as the 12 gauges on the line, especially with buckshot.
In short, ladies certainly can, and probably should, handle 12 gauge shotguns for defense for the benefits from FliteControl alone, and for the much better ammunition choices that are available when using a 12.
Other malfunctions included some jams when port-loading a Mossberg 590, which was caused by the angle the gun was held at the time and was easily solved accordingly.
The Tavor TS-12 ran like a champ, zero malfunctions.
After the buckshot patterning, we switched to bird shot for the rest of the day.
Lots of manipulation drills - loading via both the magazine tube and port, including under pressure during rolling thunder and Peel drills tom get used to moving with a shotgun.
We had an awesome lunch prepared for by the range owner and his wife and it was great - absolutely top rate hospitality and great people.
We also did one handed-manipulation and reloading drills as well.
We finished up with a drill under competitive pressure which was fun, but the drill as structured didn't let me use the benefits of the Tavor to its fullest extent - namely its multiple tubes for very fast reloading. Instead, I had to load ammo that was loosely in my pockets compared to others who had them on cards secured via velcro on the gun. This pocket retrieval was notably slower.
The next morning, I installed the cards on the sides of the Tavor. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
After the end of the class day, the entire class went out to dinner together. The Tosh and I headed back to the hotel and got ready for Day 2.
It was a great start to the class. We prepared to slug it out on Sunday.
