As followers of ThruMyLens know, I’ve been spending quite a bit of time honing my rifle skills this year.  I’ve taken two courses (Tactical Rifle I and Tactical Rifle II) so far this year, and will be taking the third class in the series in just a couple of weeks.  With all rifle practice and training I’ve been doing this year, it occurred to me that I’ve been neglecting my Saiga 12 shotgun.  So, to rectify this oversight on my part, I brought it along during my range visit on Saturday – a beautiful Fall day here in Ohio:

Here’s a photo of my Saiga 12 semi-automatic shotgun (bottom) with my two AR-15’s:

A few more photos of my Saiga 12:

Perhaps I’m a little biased given all the work I’ve done to this shotgun, but it’s the sweetest shooting shotgun I’ve ever used.

I decided I would practice shooting at about 50 feet from the target, behind cover:

The zero on my Aimpoint PRO optic was slightly off  causing me to shoot a bit low (but nicely grouped).

Those 12 gauge slugs make slightly bigger holes in the target than .223 rifle rounds as you can see in the above photo.  With a few clicks of the vertical adjustment control on the Aimpoint PRO, I was shooting center of target…not that you need to be that precise with shotgun rounds.  🙂

Hopefully sometime in the next year I’ll have the opportunity to take a tactical shotgun course.  I have to admit that as much training as I’ve had (and very much enjoyed) with an AR-15, I’d be inclined to reach for my Saiga 12 before my AR-15 to deal with a home invader.  With the 20 round drum I have for my Saiga 12 (loaded with Winchester PDX1 rounds), I feel like I’ve got a much better chance for a 1 shot stop with a 12 gauge.

Stay tuned for more articles about my adventures with the Saiga 12!