Summary:
The sport of shotgunning has a rich, fascinating history. From British royalty to pirates to modern warfare and policing, shotguns have played an intricate role in the modern history of the world. Included here are a detailed history of the shotgun, including its Olympic history (skeet and trapshooting,) the history of the shotgun itself, and information about youth and shotgunning, including facts about the Amateur Trapshooting Association (ATA).

Details or Sample:
The World of Shotgunning

The quality most inherent and valued in the sport of shotgunning is the social aspect of the community. A large part of the sport entails trekking through wilderness for hours, and sometimes days at a time. Having trusted, loyal companions at one’s side through whatever may arise is part of the foundational experience of shotgunning. Shotgunning is a dignified, noble pastime with a fascinating history and rich tradition. Let’s explore the details of this beloved sport.

The History of Shotgunning

A history of shotgunning is really a history of the shotgun, the hunter’s choice weapon. Before the shotgun, guns were fairly small, handheld weapons that were called hand cannons by the soldiers who used them. The first large gun available to the common citizenry was the musket, which was also a more accurate shot to the delight of the soldiers and hunters who used it. However, loading the musket was still as tedious and time-consuming as arming the smaller hand cannons.

Then the royals in England developed sport-shooting. Primarily, the royal family and cultural elite preferred hunting birds, which were tricky to shoot with muskets. While muskets were the most accurate guns of the time, they were still not accurate enough to knock a quick bird out of the sky.

The new bird-hunting craze went by the name Fowling. In order to make this type of hunting easier, manufacturers came out with a new sort of ammunition, which replaced the standard single ball with several smaller pellets. That way, depending on what game they hunted, they could adjust what type of ammunition they used. Instead of using large, heavy balls to blast quick birds, they used smaller, lighter pellets that shot through the air faster, improving the accuracy of the guns.

Even the great General, George Washington used this type of ammunition. During the Revolutionary War, he instructed his men to use nothing but this type of ammunition called “buck and ball” to improve their shooting accuracy.

There formed a new demand on the marketplace. The ammunition was more accurate and aerodynamic, but the old-fashioned musket was outdated. Manufacturers invented a new kind of weapon, one with a longer barrel. It was called the Fowler, and it was lighter than the musket, and the barrels were even longer than those of the modern shotgun. Sometimes, the barrels of the old Fowler could be longer than six feet.

The six-foot barrel phenomenon spawned from the myth that a longer barrel made the bullets go faster. In fact, the opposite is true. A short barrel makes the shot scatter sooner and provides a more deadly blast. Also, swinging a six-foot long barrel through the air, trying to catch a bird in your sight, is a lot harder than maneuvering a small shotgun. The new compact Fowler went by the name The Blunderbuss. Everyone from the Queen of England to treasure-plundering pirates used the Blunderbuss.

As the years progressed, people began to call the Blunderbuss by the more suitable name: shotgun.

The double barrel shotgun

Two shots are better than one. That was the logic that inspired the double barrel shotgun. Instead of having to pause to reload after every shot, the double barrel shotgun permitted an individual two shots, and consequentially a more deadly blast, instead of having to stop and reload after the first shot.

The Civil War

A major advantage the Union had over the Confederacy during the Civil War concerned the modified shotgun, a new model that broke open, which allowed faster reloading time. Because the gun opened differently, new self-contained cartridges also needed to be invented. The result was a new, easy, fast way to reload the guns, which gave the Union a major firing power advantage.

The most feared cavalry units during the Civil War where the soldiers on horse back who were armed with shotguns. Between the speed they obtained whilst on horseback, and the deadly accuracy and stopping power of their shotguns, the shotgun-armed calvarias could decimate almost any foe. Indeed, that is why shotguns appear in almost every legendary war. Even the men at The Alamo used shotguns during the Texas’ War of Independence with Mexico.

Daniel Myron LeFever was the genius behind the hammerless shotgun where external cocking levers first appeared on the side of the shotgun breech. The invention was so popular that LeFever was able to open his own company in 1880, The LeFever Arms Co., and he later patented the very first automatic hammerless shotgun. LeFever would also later invent the mechanism that automatically ejected the shells when the breach opened.

The next major improvement to the shotgun came when John Moses Browning, the most famous and excellent gun maker in the history of the world, invented the pump-action shotgun. In pump-action shotguns, a person pumps the handle which extracts the spent shell and inserts a new one in the chamber.

Shotguns were the primary weapon during the Civil War because most soldiers brought their own weapons from home, and most civilians owned shotguns because they were ideal for hunting and protection against intruders. The guns were also easy to repair, clean, and maintain because of their basic structure.

Shotguns were so essential for protection that many stagecoaches in the Wild West had a man who sat beside the driver with a sawed-off shotgun resting on his lap. He was the Wild West’s version of a security alarm. If trouble arose, he protected the driver, riders, and their possessions. This is where the term “riding shotgun” comes from.

During World War One, soldiers were issued shotguns with the added feature of a bayonet strapped to the top of the barrels. The weapons were so effective against the enemy that the Germans tried to outlaw their use so as to prevent further casualties among their ranks.

The shotgun in late 20th century

The shotgun was still used in modern battles such as the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The navy still uses shotguns, especially when boarding hostile ships.

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Written by: AllieK1983
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