shooting a 12-gauge from the hip properly?

[RP88]

I remember hearing something about the 'smart' way to shoot a shotgun from the hip properly (as in, to shoot it from the hip without the gun flying back enough to break your fingers with the trigger guard)

anyone know exactly how? I'm guessing you would pinch the stock under your shoulder with your arm and hold on tight?

I figured I should learn about such firing stances.

Thanks.

 

[rbernie]

I am unaware of any viable technique to do so. I am also unaware of any rationale for wanting to shoot like this.

Under what circumstances would firing from the hip be useful?

 

[6_gunner]

Its not that hard to absorb the recoil. Just grip it tight at waist level and you won't have to worry about breaking fingers or anything. Recoil isn't the problem; the problem is trying to hit something. Heck, I've shot scatterguns one-handed and didn't break any fingers. Didn't hit anything either, though. Shoot from the hip for fun at the range if you want, but shoot from the shoulder for any practical purposes.

 

[DJW]

hip shooting

Actually skeet shooting from the hip is not near as difficult as you might think. You hardly need any lead and it is lots of fun.
DJW

 

[tntwatt]

Shooting from the hip is mostly a movie world showboating move. But....

I dislocated my left shoulder on a jump in the late 80's. I couldn't lift my left arm(weak side), could still use my right. I was a corpsman and a short barrel shotgun was one of my choices for primary weapon. Though I still carried a rifle. Until this incident I couldn't see any reason to shoot from the hip.
Since then, I not only practice with weak side but also with potential injury firing positions. Very few rounds are fired, it is more to familiarize the body with every possible shooting position. In reality, these shooting positions are last ditch OH SH** solutions for absolute worst case scenarios.

 

[cowssurf]

I would also say that shooting a 12 gauge from the hip, or even one handed isn't so difficult, as long as it is with target loads. But I'm not strong enough to shoot slugs or 00 buck from the hip without getting my middle finger slammed by the trigger guard. My solution with slugs and 00 buck is to shoot from my shoulder.

 

[birdbustr]

I agree with the others here. There is almost no conceivable reason to shoot from the hip, unless you are just burning up ammo attempting to shoot some clays. "Breaking Fingers" Come on, someone is feeding you a load of bull. There is no reason to fear shooting any caliber or gauge firearm if you hold it tight to your shoulder and place your foot back to keep you balanced from the recoil.
The only times I have ever seen someone get hurt from shooting is when they weren't holding the firearm correct.

 

[Zach S]

I normally raise it from my hip to my shoulder.

I tried hipshooting but all I wound up with was a sore wrist and unbroken clays.

 

[HB]

?????

No help on the OP's question but:

Actually skeet shooting from the hip is not near as difficult as you might think. You hardly need any lead

I understand that shooting instinctively is doable if you keep your gun's position consistent, but how does shooting from the hip change the amount of lead needed?
I've never tried it but it sounds fun

HB

 

[Auburn1992]

I do just as it comes naturally to me. I brace myself forward and hold my arms tight.

 

[41magsnub]

It's easy enough to shoot that way comfortably, just hitting something is a different story.

 

[Gary A]

Actually skeet shooting from the hip is not near as difficult as you might think. You hardly need any lead

I understand that shooting instinctively is doable if you keep your gun's position consistent, but how does shooting from the hip change the amount of lead needed?

Maybe he meant amount of lead as in lead shot not "leed", since with little chance of hitting anything, there is really no reason to waste shot.

 

[sacp81170a]

I've actually drilled reloading, clearing jams and firing a pump shotgun "from the hip". Well, not quite from the hip, more like using the elbow of the weak hand to brace the stock of the shotgun against your side to hold it steady while firing. You can achieve good hits with slugs out to about 25 yards with a little practice. You then grab the slide, place the butt of the stock between your thighs and rack the slide to eject the spent round and feed a new one. An altenative method is to use the armpit of the injured arm to hold the stock for racking the slide. It's a great education learning how to run all your weapons from an "injured but not out of the fight" perspective. A real firefight is a bad time to learn new techniques.

 

[RP88]

the reason the finger-breaking came up is because, when shooting from the hip, there isnt anything to absorb the recoil from the back of the gun (no shoulder there to stop it), so it could jam back past your hip and smash into your fingers. On your shoulder, that cannot possibly happen since the gun goes back into your shoulder and stops far before it would come close to taking a finger with it.

I also figured that shooting from the hip would be good for, say...a close-quarters situation that was just a little too close to take a proper shouldering or stance, or if injured as said above. That was the only thing I figured it would be of use for, even though it is an unlikely situation (but so is having to shoot someone). I would prefer shouldering though since it is a sturdier way of shooting, though, just so nobody thinks I think that hip-firing is a good choice. I always shoot from the shoulder, and I either have a recoil pad or a hand towel between the stock and my shoulder

 

[Fred Fuller]

Learn a proper 'low ready' position and the appropriate reactions therefrom, and hipshooting won't be an issue. If you can't get into a good shotgun class pronto, try viewing Louis Awerbuck's Combat Shotgun video as a source of information, till you can make it to a class ( http://www.paladin-press.com/detail.aspx?ID=1367 ).

lpl/nc