BBroadside
Member
Yesterday I just took advantage of a $15 90-minute course for absolute beginners at shotgunning. Hitherto I had only fired a shotgun with slugs, rifle-like at a paper target. Actually I've never shot at a moving target at all. So shooting the orange pigeons was quite a blast, and I was quite pleased to hit almost half of them.
First problem: my shoulder had a noticeable mark on it, red vertical lines which I assume are broken capillaries. Is this because
(a) I was holding the shotgun wrong (i.e. not in the pocket - they are located on my shoulder sort of above the center of my bicep - draw a line parallel to my armbone, from mid-bicep upwards and you hit the bruise), or
(b) I am new to the sport, while experienced shotgunners don't bruise as easily because their bodies adjust?
Second problem: my hearing hasn't quite recovered in my right ear. No pain or tinnitus, it's just that everything to my right is oddly quiet. My right ear was the one that the earplug went into the furthest - it was practically buried in there and took some tugging to get it out. My ears never rang, and the actual shooting sound was surprisingly quiet; I think I just stuffed in the earplug (Silencio) too far (although I didn't feel like I was pushing very hard). My guess it that I squished some wax around and need to use one of the earwax removal kits; the earplug looked complete when I pulled it out so I don't think there's part of it still in there. Is this a known problem with some kinds of earplugs?
I've used plugs lots before (usually combined with muffs), shooting pistols or in factories, but never had this problem.
First problem: my shoulder had a noticeable mark on it, red vertical lines which I assume are broken capillaries. Is this because
(a) I was holding the shotgun wrong (i.e. not in the pocket - they are located on my shoulder sort of above the center of my bicep - draw a line parallel to my armbone, from mid-bicep upwards and you hit the bruise), or
(b) I am new to the sport, while experienced shotgunners don't bruise as easily because their bodies adjust?
Second problem: my hearing hasn't quite recovered in my right ear. No pain or tinnitus, it's just that everything to my right is oddly quiet. My right ear was the one that the earplug went into the furthest - it was practically buried in there and took some tugging to get it out. My ears never rang, and the actual shooting sound was surprisingly quiet; I think I just stuffed in the earplug (Silencio) too far (although I didn't feel like I was pushing very hard). My guess it that I squished some wax around and need to use one of the earwax removal kits; the earplug looked complete when I pulled it out so I don't think there's part of it still in there. Is this a known problem with some kinds of earplugs?
I've used plugs lots before (usually combined with muffs), shooting pistols or in factories, but never had this problem.