Practical shotgun is a discipline where shooters engage metal, frangible and paper targets using section 1 (multi capacity) shotguns with a variety of shotgun ammunition whilst moving. It is based on Practical Pistol and the stages are very similar in design and scoring.

If members are interested and would like more information they can contact Mark Vizard at lpsc.enquiries@gmail.com

More About Practical Shotgun

In 1997 the tragic events in Scotland dictated the demise of handgun shooting in the UK. Media hype and Government spin destroyed a large number of peoples chosen sport. The majority of those handgun shooters, especially practical shooters gave up shooting for good as handguns were their chosen shooting discipline, but a small number decided to try out a different route for the same satisfaction and fun.
Practical shotgun, or PSG for short, has been around in the UK for some time and shooting centers like Thornlands actively promoted the use of multi shot shotguns in 'action' type shooting and gave basic saftey courses for people who fancied the same buzz with a long gun in the 1990's. In those days pistols were king and only a few really shot both on a large scale. When handguns went so did the majority of centers like Thornlands and there wasnt a natural conversion to shotguns, as it just wasnt the same in most shooters eyes.
In the last five years or so Practical Shotgun has had a re-birth and has been regularly attracting newcomers to its ranks because people are starting to realise that a dynamic shooting disipline, where time, speed and skill all count is still out there for the taking.
So what is PSG ?
Practical shooting was devised in the 70's in the USA and now has an international following with the majourity of the world being members of the International Practical Shooting Confederation or IPSC for short. In the UK the British wing is called the United Kingdom Pratical Shooting Association (UKPSA) and it is the UKPSA that puts on the majourity of pratical matches in the UK. There are a number of good independant non UKPSA PSG clubs in the UK that have lots of members who do this discipline although nationaly speaking these clubs dont tend to come together for competition etc.
Practical shooting with a shotgun is where a shooter is tested in a course of fire where all the shooting skills are required to shoot down a number of targets. Being a good shot and being able to hit a target is only a small part of the overall picture. Accuracy is just as important as speed, as well as the ability to move with your overall plan of how to shoot the stage and implement that plan ensuring an economy of motion, time and reloading skills to achieve the maximum number of hits in the quickest time. Sounds complicated ? Well sometimes it can be !
To put it simply - you shoot targets as quick as you safely can, and whilst moving to your next shooting position (if needed) you load your shotgun with further rounds (if needed) and continue shooting until all the targets have been hit within the range parameters and briefing.
Sounds dangerous ? Its not. Practical shooting has the best safety record in the UK and prior to taking part, each UKPSA competitor has to either attend a 2 day comprehensive safety course or if the club is not in the UKPSA, pass a safety check where newcomers are accompanied until deemed safe. On each course of fire a Range Officer accompanies the shooter and is primarily there to ensure safety regulations and secondly to time the shooter. In line with this the UKPSA and all PSG clubs have extensive safety rules where if infringed the competitor could be disqualified from the match.
A Typical Course of Fire.
In PSG there are three types of stages - Short, Medium and Long. A competition will comprise of a mixuture of all types - and depending on the size of the competition can be up to 14 stages. In International matches the number of stages are in the 20's shot over a number of days.
A short stage usually comprises of between 6 - 10 targets. An example would be the shooter standing with a loaded shotgun at waist level in a start position. To their front is 6 steel plates at 7 meters and on the start signal they shoot them down, with this the shooter would move 3 meters to their left and shoot the remaining 4 plates down through a door sized apature. This course of fire should take the average PSG shooter about 10 seconds to complete ! Remember everything is against the clock.
A medium stage, would be on the same lines but target numbers increase from 10 - 20 targets at varying ranges and shooting positions. A long stage can comprise of anything up to 28 targets and involves a lot of moving, sweating, huffing and puffing and reloading ! And there isnt anything that compares to the fun.
What shotgun do I need to take part ?
Most clubs have 'club' guns that can be lent to new members, so having a Section 1 shotgun on a firearms license is not essential to take part - however sadly club guns, by law, can only be section 2 shotguns and therefore not hold more than 3 rounds - so you only really get a feel for it. Newcomers can take part with shotguns on shotgun certificates and get the feel for the sport with their own guns - however these shooters will soon be applying for a FAC shotgun as 3 shots does limit them against guns with a capacity of 14 !
The types of guns most common are semi auto and pump actions. The semi auto is usually regarded as the best as they are simple to shoot, light in recoil and they do all the hard work in cycling the actions in under 0.1 of a second, where as a pump gun is labour intensive, kicks more and harder to master. However there are a few guys out there who shoot pumps faster, better and more accurately than top shooters with semis - and to watch them is very very impressive.
The guns are placed into three catagories depending on size and capacity of the gun. Standard catagory is for semi / pump guns that have a maximum capacity of 9 shots and is largely aimed at uncustomised guns that simply have an extended mag added. Modified catagory is designed for guns that are smaller than 1320mm's, so these tend to be semi or pump guns that have a high capacity mag tube added that usually add up to around 14 shots in the gun. Open catagory is where anything goes ! Any size gun, any custom attachment desired, Red Dot sights, loading devices, box magazine fed - whatever ! In the European Championships in Italy in 2003 Open shooters were seen with guns that were about 6 feet long, Aimpoint sights and held over 20 shells. Strong arms are a nessessity.
There is a lot of speculation about what make of gun is best for PSG. In the semi auto catagory the Remington 11/87 & 1100 models feature highly in the UK with over 90% of people using them. The other 10% are made up with Benelli M1 Super 90's, Benelli M3's, Fabarm, and newly introduced to the PSG circuit - the Winchester Super X2 and Browning Gold. On the pump front there is a mixture of Remington 870's, Winchester 1200's and of course Mossbergs.