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Daniel Horner & Robbie Johnson - Shotgun Reloading

DANIEL: Reloading your shotgun in three gun competition is going to be what takes you from being a good shooter to a great shooter. Today we’re going to talk about the side saddle reload. The side saddle reload is the easiest way for a new shotgun shooter to learn to load a shotgun. Now let me show you how to do the side saddle reload.    We’re going to start with the shotgun shouldered. As we begin to load we’re going to release with our strong hand grip and roll the shotgun over with our weak hand. We’re going to trap the butt stock against our chest with our strong hand elbow.  Once we’re in this position all that’s left to do is pull the shells from the side saddle and insert them into the magazine tube as quickly as possible.  Once we’ve completed this we just push the shotgun back out with our weak hand as we reacquire our strong hand grip, putting us back in a very stable shooting platform. ROBBIE: Now that’s a fast side saddle reload, but now I’m going to show you a technique that’s even faster. I’m going to show you the off-the-belt-reload, or most commonly referred to as the weak hand reload. I like using the weak hand reload because it allows me to keep my strong hand on the gun and my eyes on the targets at all times.  When setting up your shell caddies for the weak hand reload notice I have the first caddy I load from generally in the center line of my body.  I start to load from here and work my way around to the left. The most important thing about the weak hand reload is to grab the shells the same way every time. I like using my index finger as a guide. I lay it on the front edge of the shell caddy. Once I pull the shells out and lift them up to the loading port, the back of the shells are going to rest on my ring finger. I’m going to use my index finger and my thumb to guide each shell into the magazine tube like so.  Remember, when doing the weak hand reload, slow is smooth and smooth is fast. A good way to gauge your performance is to maintain a rate of one second for every shell you load. For example, it should take you 8 seconds to load 8 shells. Now lets see what I can do.    Wow! That was two shots and eight shells loaded in 6.35 seconds. That means from shot-to-shot it only took me 5.54 seconds to load eight shells. Now that is a fast reload! Remember, no matter what method you decided to choose when loading your practical shotgun, practice makes perfect. Until next time stay Army Strong.   CLICK HERE FOR PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION Related Links: Shot Shell Speed Strip Carriers at Midway USA Shot Shell Carriers at Midway USA Shot Shell Speed Strip Carriers at Brownells