An introduction to shotguns, Part I:

A shotgun (Tofange Saachmei) shoots what's called a "shotshell". Shotshell comes in many different kinds. The shots or pellets (=Saachmeh) in them can be very small or very large, depending on the application. Small shots (called No. 9, 8, 7) are used fot shooting upland birds like doves (kabootar vahshi), quail (belderchin), grous (gharghaavol) etc. Larger shots (No. 6, 5, 4) are used for shooting big birds like duks (morghaabi), goose (ghaaz) and turkey (Booghalamoon vahshi).





There is also a type of very large shot called "buck shot" which can be used for shooting big game or defeding yourself againest thiesfs etc:



Finally, you can shoot a "slug" shell from a shotgun. A slug is essentially one big shot (see the first diagram above). A slug is exteremly powerful at short range. It can drop any person a few meters back or blow big holes in a wall! It's not acuurate though. You can not hit targets more than 50-70 yards away with it unless you are very lucky!

So, as you see, a shotgun is a very powerful weapon as it can fire many diiferent kinds of ammunition.

An Introduction to Shotguns, Part II:

Shotguns are made in several different types and in different calibers. Actually, for shotguns the word "caliber" is not used, instead the word "gauge" (pronounced like "page") is used to measure their barrel's diameter. The most poular is "12 gauge" but "16 guage" and "20 gauge" and "28 gauge" shotguns are available too. The smaller the gauge number, the more powerfull the shotgun is:



A shoutgun action (galan-gadan) can operate in several ways. The most poular models are:

1-Pump Action: You have to push a pump-like slide under the barrel to shoot each shel. This is like in Terminator movies:





2-Semi automatic: It fires each shell as soon as you pull the triger (maashe) and then reloads by itself. My shotgun (held by my friend Mina in the picture below) is of this type:





3-Break-action: This type has two barrels and one or two tirgers. So, it shoots two shells and then you have to reload it by yourself. There are to types of break action shotguns:

"Over & Under" and "Side by Side"

I the picture below, the gun held by Dr Tirgari on his sholder is his Beretta O/U. The gun held by me in my hand is his Merkel side by side. This type is old and less popular these days but many people still like it beacuse of its traditional look and feel. Personally, I like over/under and semi-automatic shotguns




Ok, that's enough for one day. We'll continue our lessens about thinsg that go BANG BANG!! later...

Thank you! I hope you like the stuff I write about shooting. Tomorrow, I will introduce different rifles (tofange golooleh zani) and their applications!!!

I will continue the lessons soon. Here are some quick answers to Majid's questions:


1- MP5 (made by Heckler and Koch in Germany) and Uzi (originally made by IMI in Israel but now made in many other countries) belong to the category of firearms known as "sub-machine guns" (mosalsale dasti). These guns generally fire the same ammunition as handguns (9mm Parabellum) and are effective only at short range (less than 100 yards). They are mainly used by police and special forces not by the army and obvously not for hunting!


2- Best quality sporting firearms (aslehe shekari) are made by Germany, Italy, England, Austria, Belgium and US. The most famous manufactures are:

In Italy: Beretta, Benelli (maker of my shotgun ), Perazzi, Gamba

In Germany: Mauser, Merkel, J P Sauer, Heym (maker of my rifle ), Krighoff, Blaser, Carl Walther

In Austria: Steyer-Mannlicher (the rifle you see held by my female friend in the above picture is a Mannlicher Model S)

In Belgium: Fabric National
In US: Winchester (now closed ), Browning, Colt, Remington, Weatherby, etc.

In Englad, there are some small manufactures that make very high-class rifles and shotguns which are more suitable for display in meusums of modern art than taking to the jungle! For example, a "best quality" shotgun or rifle made by James Purdy or John Rigby can easily reach the price tag of $50,000!!!


4- All the small arms used by the US Army are made by private manufactures.

An Introduction to Shotguns - Part 3:

In this part I will explain how to shoot a shotgun and what the common applications are.



Shooting a Shutgun:

A shotgun generally doesn't have a "sight" (abzaare neshaane giri). So, to hit the target you have to point the barrel(s) in the direction of the traget and fire!

This sounds easy but it's actually a very difficult task and needs excellent hand-eye-brain coordination. A good shotgun is like a tylor-made-suite (kot va shalvaar ke khayaat dookhte baashe):

The shape and length of its stock (ghondaagh) must match the shooters body:



Also the gun's weight must ballance perfectly at the points where the shooter holds it. If everything is desgned properly, an experinced shooter can look at the traget and then bring up the gun to his shoulder without taking his eyes off the target and the gun will be perfetly pointed to the traget by itself:








Hunting Birds with a Shotgun:

When hunting birds (like ducks) the shooter must hit the bird while its moving fast in the air so he mut be very quick in aiming. Generally, you have less then 2 seconds to bring the gun up to your shoulder, aim and fire!

When shooting at flying birds, the hunter must swing his gun till it's aiming at a point a few feet ahead of where the bird is flying, fire and continue swinging for another second before he brings the gun down. If you don't follow this procedure, you will always shoot behind the bird!! The exact amount of "lead distance" needed depends on the speed and the distance of the bird being shoot. It's takes a lot of experince to learn how much lead is needed!





Other Applications:

A shotgun is a very powerful weapon if loaded with proper ammunition. It can be used for hunting small game (Roobah, Khargoosh, Shoghaal etc.) who generally run fast. In this case the range is limited to about 50 yards.

Here is a canadian Linx that one of my female friends from Northern Ontario had shot near her house with a shotgun:



A shotgun can also be used for hunting big animals (like Ahoo or Kherse Siah) in thick forests (jangale anbooh). In such forests, it's not possible to make long distance shots so a shutgun loaded with "buck shot" or "slug" is an ideal weopen. The range is again limmited to 40-60 yards.

A shotgun is generally NOT used for hunting grizzly (kherse ghahvei) or Moose (Gavazne Canadaee). Such animals are hunted using powerful rifles (tofange goloole zani).




Shotguns are also used by police or army for fighting at "close range" like inside a cityblock or buildings or thick jungles . In such cases, a shotgun is much more useful than a rifle (a rifle's bullet goes "through" the body of the person shot at short range so it might kill other people):




OK, that's enough about shotguns for now. Next, we'll talk about rifles!