Introduction to Shooting Sports, Firearms and Handling

Shooting and the shooting sports are some of the most popular recreation activities in America.

Shooting is a lifetime sport. You can learn to shoot at a very young age and continue to enjoy shooting until you are very old.

You do not have to be big, strong, fast, or a star athlete to shoot and learn to be a good shooter.

Girls enjoy shooting as much as boys. Shooting is a safe sport and fun for everyone.

Shotguns are some of the most popular sporting guns today. Shotguns are used in hunting and for clay target shooting in the sports of trap and skeet.

The most dangerous part of any gun is the end of the barrel, called the muzzle.

The reason they are called shotguns is that they shoot small round pellets called shot.

The shotgun barrel is smooth on the inside. The barrel is called smoothbore.

A shotgun is used for shooting sports and hunting where you shoot at moving targets at close range.

A shotgun can do a lot of damage and is dangerous if mishandled.

Types of shotguns include: Pump Action, Break Action, Semi-Automatic, Single and Double Barrel, and Over and Under.

Before you take a shotgun into the field, you must know how your gun works.

Shotguns use different sizes of ammunition or shells. Each size is called a gauge.

Popular shotgun gauges are 10, 12, 16, 20, 28 and 410.

A choke on a shotgun controls how fast and how wide the shot will spread once it leaves the end of the barrel.

Types of chokes include: Open, Modified, Improved, Improved Cylinder, and Full.

Whether you are shooting from close or far away will determine the type of choke you will use.

Some shotguns have an adjustable choke on the end of the barrel, while some have fixed chokes that cannot be changed.

Because a shotgun is shooting hundreds of shotgun pellets, sights are not necessary.

Your aim is necessary when throwing one stone, but not necessary when throwing a handful of stones. Therefore, you point a shotgun rather than aim it.

Shotgun barrels were once made by welding twisted wire together. These were called Damascus barrels.

Today's barrels are solid steel. Be sure that your barrel is solid steel.

Damascus barrels are not safe and should not be used. Modern shotgun ammunition will blow the Damascus barrel apart.

Make sure all shotgun barrels are free of dirt. Do not shoot a gun if the barrel is clogged.

An obstruction in a shotgun barrel will cause the barrel to shatter.

Shotgun pellets come in different sizes. Each size is numbered. The largest is Size 000 Buck Shot. The smallest size is Size 12.

The reason shot sizes are different is because the shotgun is used for hunting different kinds of game. The shotgun is used to hunt deer in some states. It is also used to break clay targets.

You need large size shot pellets when hunting, but you only need small pellets to break clay targets.

Shotgun shells also have different power. Magnum shells are powerful shotgun shells. These shells will fire the shot pellets further than the regular shot shell.

Shotguns can also fire a single projectile called a slug. A slug is a large piece of lead that may be copper encased or held in a sabot that is in the shape of a ball or bullet.

Slugs are used mainly to hunt large game.

Shotgun shells have five major components: Case, Primer, Powder, Shot, and Wad.

It would be dangerous if a .410 shell were placed in a 20 gauge gun, or a 20 gauge shell in a 12 gauge gun.

The shell could fall into the barrel and become lodged there. The shooter could possibly make a mistake by placing the correct size shell in the gun and firing the gun with the barrel clogged by the other shell.

This is the reason why you never carry two different size shotgun shells in your pocket while shooting or hunting. Carry only the same gauge shells as your gun will shoot.

The major difference between rifles and shotguns is found in the barrel.

The rifle barrel has grooves cut into the inside of the barrel. These grooves are called rifling.

The rifling causes the bullet to spin as it passes through the barrel.

However, it should be noted that some shotguns may have rifled barrels for shooting slugs in sabots.

Rifles only shoot one bullet at a time, where shotguns shoot many pellets.

The rifles and bullets, like shotguns and shot shells, come in different sizes. These sizes are called calibers.

Calibers run from .17 up to as large as .50 caliber or larger.

The caliber of rifle and bullet you use will depend on what type of shooting you are doing. Twenty-two caliber is ideal for target shooting. .30-06 is a popular caliber for deer hunting.

Like shotguns, rifles come in different sizes and models including: Bolt action, Lever action, Pump, and Semi-automatic.

The safety on any rifle or shotgun is no guarantee that the gun will not fire when the safety is ON. Because a safety is mechanical, it may break or malfunction.

Rifle ammunition comes in different sizes. The larger the shell, the more powerful it is.

There are two major types of rifle ammunition: Rimfire and Centerfire.

Rifle ammunition has four major components: Case, Powder, Bullet, and Primer.

In rimfire shells the primer is built into the case.

Rifle bullets can travel long distances. For example, a .22 caliber rifle can fire the bullet more than one mile. A .30-06 caliber rifle can fire the bullet more than three miles.

It is important that you know what is beyond your target. A bullet can travel and hit a person, a house, a car or a building a mile away or more.

Always be sure of your target and what is behind that target.

Pneumatic guns, whether spring air, single-pump or multi-pump pneumatic, use air to fire pellets and BBs.

Most of these guns use a pump to put air into a chamber. The air is stored in the chamber until the gun is fired.

The air that is released forces the BB or pellet out of the barrel.

Pneumatic guns can fire BBs and pellets at different speeds. The speed or velocity can depend upon how many times the gun is pumped and how much air is stored in the gun's air chamber.

A CO2 gun or pre-charged pneumatic gun uses liquid gas (carbon dioxide) or compressed air that is stored in a metal bottle or reservoir.

Some CO2 guns use a single-use, disposable bottle.

When the bottle is placed in a CO2 gun, the seal on top of the bottle is punctured. This lets the liquid turn to a gas.

When the trigger of the CO2 gun is pulled, a set amount of gas is released from the bottle into the gun. This gas pushes the BB or pellet out of the gun barrel.

Some CO2 guns designed for competition use a larger refillable cylinder that will hold enough CO2 to practice and finish an entire match.

Following the manufacturer's directions, the cylinder can be refilled and re-installed into the gun.

Pre-charged pneumatic guns store compressed air, as their propellant, in a removable cylinder or built-in reservoir. Following the manufacturer's directions, these bottles or built-in reservoirs can be re-filled.

BBs and pellets are the ammunition of air guns, CO2 guns, and pneumatic guns.

The Daisy AVANTI Champion is a spring air BB gun.

The Daisy 499 can be shot indoors.

This gun, like the rifles and shotguns, must be treated with care and respect. Always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction.

To operate the gun: Put gun on safe. Cock the gun by pulling the lever forward until it clicks. Bring the lever back into position. Load a BB into the barrel. Aim at your target. Take gun off safe. Squeeze the trigger to fire.