The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Gunset Training Group or its affiliates.
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I’ve been reading reviews about SYMTAC Consulting’s Shotgun Skills class for years. Every single one has been positive.
Tom Givens speaks highly of SYMTAC’s founder – Rob Haught – and Rob’s son – Matt. My friend Jonathan Willis of the Gunset Training Group spoke highly of them. So when Jonathan asked me if I wanted to co-host them, I decided it was time to check that particular class off my bucket list.
If you’re well versed in the private sector firearm training world, then you’ve probably heard of SYMTAC and the Haught family. If you’re haven’t heard of them before, just do a search in your favorite search engine for them and you’ll find plenty of reviews to read. Rob Haught has been training citizens and law-enforcement officers for years. If you have ever heard of the “push/pull” technique, then you’re at least passingly familiar with Rob’s legacy. He’s been a teacher and advocate of the push/pull technique for decades.
If you aren’t familiar with Rob or the push/pull, then let me be the first to introduce you. Push/pull is a method of mitigating and controlling the recoil of a shotgun that involves pushing forward on the forearm of the shotgun while pulling back on the grip of the shotgun as you are pulling the trigger. If you do this correctly (which I struggled with), the recoil from firing the shotgun is greatly reduced. Bruised and sore shoulders become a thing of the past when you master the push/pull technique.
For a frame of reference, I like to think I’m a competent shotgunner. I’m an Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission (OPOTC) certified shotgun instructor, 3 gunner and I’ve taken a couple of shotgun specific classes over the years. The OPOTC shotgun instructor course was a joke. I learned most of what I know about running a shotgun from 3 gun. Shotgun skills, specifically shotgun loading skills, make or break 3 gunners. After shooting Benelli M1s and Remington 1100s in 3 gun for a couple years, I decided that box magazine fed shotguns were my cup of tea because they require less reloads.
Since box magazine fed shotguns aren’t prevalent in law enforcement, I’ve always tried to remain competent with tube fed shotguns since that’s what is taught in the basic police academies. I’ve always used the commonly taught method of pulling the shotgun into your shoulder with both hands when I shoot and teach shotguns. I was glad to finally get formal instruction in push/pull.
TRAINING DAY 1 – TD1 started as most classes do – paperwork, introductions and setting expectations. Rob and Matt brought Bob Mefford with them as an AI. During the class introductions, Rob was up front with the class about a situation that had been going on and that he and Matt may have to leave on short notice. He explained that Bob would stay and finish teaching the class should that happen. As the co-host I had been briefed earlier and frankly, I would not have blamed Rob one bit if he had just cancelled the class and rescheduled it. Fortunately, Rob and Matt were not called away on short notice. Nevertheless, I respect the hell out of them for how they handled things.
After the intros, we had a safety brief. Before class started, Rob asked me to do the brief since it was my range and would know the procedures we would be using. I instantly delegated this to Jonathan Willis. JW teaches a class called Real World Trauma and is a Paramedic Instructor. He is much more qualified to handle medical emergencies than I am and has taught at my range before so he knew the drill. In addition to JW, we had at least 2 other paramedics and a nurse in the class, so I was very comfortable leaving the medical stuff to them. After the safety brief we hit the range.
On the range, Rob and Matt gave a short presentation on the how and why of “push/pull”. I could spend paragraphs talking about push/pull, but a deep dive into push/pull isn’t the point of this article so I’ll keep this part of the article brief. Push/pull isn’t rocket science, it’s just a way to use isometric tension to reduce recoil. The concept is simple, but correctly performing the method was not easy for me. Rob described it at one point as trying to “stretch” the shotgun and used a visual aid to describe what he meant. Rob was quick to point out that the visual aid idea he was using originated with class Top Gun Zach Cox, an Apache Solutions instructor. Giving credit where it is due is the right thing to do and Rob was quick to point out instructors whose idea/comment/whatever he has adopted. I appreciate that in an instructor because ripping off other instructors is a problem in the industry.
So why did I struggle with push/pull? Several reasons, I think. Some are my “fault”, others not so much. First, after 30+ years of doing it a different way, I struggled with having to re-wire my brain and actually think about doing different things with my hands. Second, I’m competitive and I hate being last at anything. Which made me rush through the technique when the line started shooting. Which made me get frustrated about how I was doing since I am not a natural push/pull kinda guy. All of this is on me. I should have slowed way down and focused on the technique. But I hate being last.
Second, Matt quickly identified a problem I didn’t know I had – my 1301 setup. For push/pull, shorter stocks are better. I have added the Limbsaver recoil pad and the Magpul SGA adapter needed to run it to my 1301. Even without adding any of the other spacers to the stock, these two things added to the length, which made my SGA stock too long for my short arms. Matt suggested this “Fighting” Kick Eez pad for my SGA as a way to solve that particular problem. One of the other students had a Mesa Tactical AR adapter on his 1301. I tried it on TD2 and really liked how it changed things. I may end up going that route in the future.
Third, the Zhukov forearm on my 1301 is slick as snot as it comes from the factory. Since applying forward pressure on the forearm is key to a proper push/pull, this was a huge issue since my hand (even with gloves) kept sliding forward. Fortunately, I had access to some serious non-skid tape (think skateboard tape on steroids) and was able to have that delivered to the range around lunch time. One problem solved.
Other 1301/Zhukov users who had stippled/lasered or skateboard taped forearms didn’t have the same issue. A couple other guys also used some of the skid tape on theirs to solve that issue.
After introducing push/pull to us and making sure we had a handle of the basic concept, Rob and Matt introduced us to the two ready positions they use – “outdoor ready” and “close quarter ready”. Time was spent describing when it was appropriate to use each position and then we shot from each position.
Ready positions took us to lunch. After lunch we started working on pivots, turns and movement. Matt would demo each technique and then we would try them out. To end TD1, Rob and Matt covered reloading the shotgun. They showed us 3 techniques – “in position” (which has several variations), “out of position” and the “violin”. In position reloads are when using your non-dominant hand to feed the shell into the tube. Out of position reloads are when you use your dominant hand to feed the shells into the tube. And the violin is when you use your dominant hand to feed the shells, but now you have the stock up over your shoulder. Pictures are worth a thousand words.
By the end of TD1, we shot around 200 rounds of birdshot. After a quick debrief, we headed home.
TRAINING DAY 2 – TD2 started on the range with a review of what Rob calls “zones of employment”. These zones are basically the distances through which different techniques are to be used. The zones cover up close and personal all the way to “it’s slug time”. After that Rob had us shoot a series of warm up drills that reviewed everything we did on TD1. Then we jumped into “short stocking”.
Short stocking is a method of shooting a shotgun in close quarters quickly when you don’t have the time and/or room to properly shoulder the shotgun. Although you can short stock without using the push/pull technique, push/pull makes it much easier to control. I like the short stock technique, but the weird angle of the SGA grips, short fingers, lack of dexterity in my wrist and the placement of the Beretta 1301 safety made it awkward for me. There were several Tactical Defense Institute Instructors in the class and one had the Mesa Tactical AR stocked 1301. I tried this out during the short stock block and it made all the difference in the world.
After learning the basic technique, we added a transition from the short stock to a regular push/pull position. After covering the transition, we ended the morning running Rob’s coin drill. Rob pointed out he got the idea for the coin drill from pistol-training.com founder Todd L. Green’s (Rob’s friend from his Team Beretta days) F.A.S.T. The drill consists of 5 slugs and IDPA targets at 3 and 10 yards. It includes a reload. Auto loaders have 5 seconds. Pump shooters have 6 seconds. Anything out of the -0 area incurs time penalties. We had 1 coin earner in the class, who ran an 870. It was an impressive run. I ran my run with a raw time of 5.06, but had time penalties which brought my time to an 8.06.
After lunch we got into some different shooting on the move exercises. Any time shooting on the move exercises are part of a class, they slow down the tempo of the class since only 1 or 2 shooters can safely participate at a time. This was no different. Shooting on the move (SOM) is something I do a lot. I’ve been competing in USPSA/IDPA and 3 gun for over 30 years and we do a lot of SOM in USPSA and 3 gun. SOM is probably the only part of the class where I didn’t come away with some tidbit I can use or pass on when teaching. Rob and Matt adhere to the “don’t cross your feet” during lateral movement school of thought. I abandoned that school of thought years ago, but understand the thought process behind it.
After SOM, we ended the class with a man v. man shoot off consisting of 3 steel targets at different distances. At the start, your shotgun had 2 rounds loaded. So the reload was critical to your placement. It was best 2 out of 3. Winner stays in. Fortuna was on my side and I ended up in the final against Apache Solutions’ Zach Cox. For the final, Rob and Matt changed things up and we started with just 1 round in the gun. Thanks to a miss on one of Zach’s runs, we ended going to the 3rd run. I tried to game the 3rd run and ended up crashing and burning. Oh, well. It was fun. Damn safety.
Before I wrap things up, let’s talk about the students and gear in this class. There were a lot of industry professionals in this class. Adam Roth of Aridus Industries was in the class, along with one of his employees. Apache Solutions, the Tactical Defense Institute and the Gunset Training Group all had instructors in the class. All of them were great guys and I know them to be fantastic instructors. Pretty impressive and switched on group. I’m in the “you never stop being a student” camp and wonder about instructors who never go to classes after they become an “instructor”. We also had a Beretta employee in the class. Of the 17 students, 14 were running Berettas (13 -1301s and a single A300UP) and the other 3 were running 870s. There were a couple gun issues, but the worst was an OEM 1301 bolt handle that sheared off. Fortunately, Aridus Industries employee Brandon P hooked the student up with a replacement so they could continue. My personal 1301 ran great. I had one round that didn’t fire during one of the man v. man rounds, but I just cleared it and went on so I’m not sure what the deal was. The Rusty Nut Designs low mount Aimpoint mount really makes the over the top loading method easy.
All in all, I ended up shooting around 400 rounds of mixed bird shot, buck shot and slugs. I used Federal Top Gun birdshot, mixed Wolf and Stars and Stripes buckshot and some Fiocchi Defensive Dynamics slugs.
FINAL THOUGHTS – How an instructor handles things that don’t go according to plan can be telling. Late on TD1, a safety issue popped up that Rob and Matt had to address. They addressed the issue with the student in question and with the class. After class that day, Matt checked with me to make sure I was good with how the issue was resolved. I had no issues with how it was handled. Had Rob and Matt blown it off, it would have been a different story. No one got hurt and it was a learning moment. End of story.
This was a good class. Lots of learning occurred. If you have a chance, take this class. You won’t be wasting your money. I plan to get out on my own and work on what I learned in class. I’ve got a couple ideas about setting up my shotgun differently to make push/pull work better for me, but I have to wait for some of the Aridus goodness that Adam, JW and Zach were T&Eing in class to hit production. Story of my life.
UPDATE – coin winner Justin Carroll’s excellent review of this class can be read here.
