O"BROTHER!

If you understand the mechanics of properly shouldering a firearm, you will find out holding your elbow out is not a very good idea. By holding your elbow out you decrease the muscle mass in your shoulder and having a butt to bone contact including a little muscle that right in the joint.

The key word is “PLACE”!

If you’re right handed, with the firearm elevated to shoot now with your right hand “PLACE" the butt of the gun into your shoulder. To find out if you "PLACED" it correctly, with the firearm still elevated to shoot and "PLACED" into the shoulder reach out with your right hand parallel to the gun as close as you can get it and notice now where the butt of the gun is at. You will notice it’s located now just inside the shoulder joint. This is where you want it and you must “PLACE” the butt of the gun in that same location each and every time without fail! Some competition shooters will stick a piece of white tape on their shooting jacket to mark that location.

Now since you located that location pull that gun into your shoulder tight and now you’re ready to ROCK N" ROLL with the best!!

When shooting my 338 Win Mag just wearing a T-Shirt I hold my elbow tight to my side with no bruising

To each his own way!

Hey David deferent world isn’t it when you get another shooter mixed in with the bunch B)

I shot some clays in Texas when I was younger, didn't shoulder the shotgun correctly (not a cheap gun, thankfully), and bruised my arm badly, though not so badly as this. Probably saved by the fact that I was using a 20-gauge with a good recoil pad, that and one of the guys I was shooting with helped me correct my form half way through.

And Clay, I gotta side with Petzal on this one. DO put your elbow up and out. That's how my form got fixed.

Looks like that one is going to leave a mark. Looks like it hurts like hell too. You would think that one of his buddies or even a stranger would correct his form or maybe offer a few suggestions... Could advice though. But as for the cheap gun... i would just change that to make sure that the gun is not cheap in quality. There are some good deals out there for decent guns, as stated in the cheapest turkey guns article earlier this week.

That's nasty but the only problems with shooting damage I have had comes from rifles. Nice facial gashes seem to be all to common when I shoot a buddies rifle or shoot from a dumb position. Maybe a helping factor in absorbing shotgun recoil is that i weigh 290 pounds or I'm to dumb to acknowledge the pain.

Isaw someone get an almost identical bruise on a duck hunt once. He got the butt of the gun tangled up on his coat, mis-mounted, and shot anyway. His upper arm, like that one, looked like an eggplant after just the one shot. He was shooting 1 1/4 ounce, 1330 fps loads out of a Beretta 390. For what it's worth, he was a very experienced trapshooter

"If you understand the mechanics of properly shouldering a firearm, you will find out holding your elbow out is not a very good idea. By holding your elbow out you decrease the muscle mass in your shoulder and having a butt to bone contact including a little muscle that right in the joint."

That sounds like baloney to me. It certainly doesn't square with my rifle training when I was young, and it's the opposite of every piece of instructional advice I've ever seen given on the range. It also doesn't square with my personal experience. Holding my right arm parallel to the ground with elbow out puts more muscle in contact with the rifle butt and locks it in place so that it WON'T slide off onto my biceps and cause a hematoma like the one illustrated.

That's good advice, Mr. Petzal. Also, keeping your elbow up provides a steadier shot, does it not?

Somebody forgot to tell this dude it doesn't take 2 ounces of shot to break a clay target.

Cheap shotguns?

My Father used a Winchester Model 12 full choke and won a many AAA State and Regional Matches!

PO”BOYS CAN SHOOT TOO!

While sighting in my recently scoped BPS 12ga. for slugs,(3"high-velocity) I somewhere in the process developed a sore shoulder, then poor shooting form. Something like this resulted. I figured since i was shooting from sandbags, it didn't matter where i shouldered my gun, so i shouldered it to any spot that wasn't hurting! End result...One sore shoulder, bicep and ego.

wow that had to hurt. thats why i always buy good guns and i always make shour that it is in the right spot before i shoot it.

Ouch!!! I have had some yellow and purple shoulders from extended 12 gauge magnum buckshot shooting marithons, and from running a 100 rounds through the 300 MAg during a day of shooting, but never seen anything like that. Proper shooting stance and posture should be taught young and often, until it is no longer even thought about, just done on reflex. Dumbest thing I ever did was at the ignorant age of 18 I thought I would look cool shooting a 12 gauge with 3 inch 00 Buck loads with one hand pistol style, darn near broke my wrist not to mention scraping up my gun as it fell on the ground.

This nimrod must have shot hundreds of rounds with the gun mounted on his bicep. There's just no way a few rounds would do that and it must have hurt like heck every time he shot. Bet he has a good case of the flinches now. I wonder what his first clue was that something wasn't right? To Happy Myles: I to get hammered on my middle finger when shooting a double rifle. This is much more painful than the recoil on the shoulder. Is there anything to do about this?

A buddy of mine had a similar but not as severe bruise last hunting season like that. He did it with 3 1/2 00buck out of his 835. Said a buck was dogging some does on the mountain and about ran into his lap. He said it was shooting across his body and didn't shoulder it correctly. Not quite as embarrassing as the scope cut(idiot mark) or at least its easier to hide.
You can do that with an expensive shotgun too. The clays club at my alma mater was well stocked with nice shotguns but lacked greatly in talent and shooting form in general.

I don't look at myself when I shoot of course, but when I shoot offhand I try to neither have my elbow out at a 45 angle nor down against my ribs but rather at an angle, sorta southeast with a nice pocket in my shoulder for the buttstock.

TO steve182, three words for ya dude " Caldwell Lead Sled" all the sighting in, none of the butt-kicking.
TO MR.Petzal, YES,OF COURSE NOT, HOW CHEAP ARE WE TALKING HERE? Mossberg/Remington cheap? or The K-Mart Toquorise(spelling?) SPECIAL that sold before the ANTI's got to them.

Exactly why I shoot a helluva lot of 410 and 28 ga at birds and clay targets. If I shoot a 12, it is with Winchester feather lite loads. 24 grams of shot at 1,000 fps will fold doves and quail cleanly and smoke the crap out of targets.
Michael

I would have to agree that there must be something more to this story.
It looks to me as though he was still mounting the gun when he pulled the trigger. Doing something like that could explain the damage that it did. If the gun was still in front of him it would definitely come back into your arm with a lot of force.

Never had a problem with any of my personal weapons BUT, in 1959, as an 18 year of weighing 139 lbs, (I am 58 pounds heavier now {8^( ) I fired the infamous M-1 Garand about 500 round in Fam and Qualification and with that %&$#IN steel buttplate My right side looked like that even though the DS was telling me what to do and I did what he said. never happened later though.

Del in KS I'm flattered by your question, but not being a writer, and my command of the The King's English isn't so good either, I find it embarassing to attempt. Additionally, I feel it may appear as braggadocio to some of our less fortunate bloggers whom I respect and enjoy so much.

Man! That looks like it hurts real bad!

The lessons to draw from this are:
1: Always mount your gun correctly.
2: Never shoot sporting clays. ROOKY ALERT!
3: Never shoot a cheap shotgun. LMAO over this one!

O” really!
One out of three right is not good!!

Cliff68

I bought fingerless shooting gloves from Uncle Mike(most catalogs have something similar) then tape a piece of foam on the appropriate finger. Looks a little strange, but keeps the tears out of your eyes. Kindest Regards

alabamahunter
I hear’ ya, after watching Jeff Foxworthy numerous of times he strikes me the kind of Sportsman you want to be around. He may be entertaining but his outdoorsmenship is genuine and unique. Perhaps Esquire magazine can learn and take a few pointers off this fine Gentleman!

I must agree with Clay on this one. Keep the shoulder down it also is steadier. Some folks bruise easier than others as does fat, work out a bit and you will have a firm platform to mount the firearm as well as stronger upper body helps aim steadier. Besides I have fired a few weapons off the bicep when wearing body armor alot of shots) and I wasn't even tender so I think there is more to the story.

Competitive shotgunning is also know for inducing detached retinas mostly in some of us older guys. I figure heavy recoiling rifles can create the same problem but don't receive as much credit due to the fewer number of shooters of such weapons. Personally I have "floaters" in both eyes which get disturbed after a morning of trap or maybe 50 rounds of .338 or .416. Certainly there are sports injuries associated with almost any activity in which we choose to participate. I never did prefer checkers or knitting over hunting and fishing so if there is an accompanying risk or price I have to deal with it. I have seen dove shooters with bruising similiar the one portrayed in the blog but never knew them to have any internal injury.

Sporting clays, I've never shot. I have shot trap a bit, some with a field 1100, some with an 870, and some with a trap grade 1100. All of these have their own distinct requirements as far as to where my elbow is pointed. My trap gun has a very high comb and longer length if pull, requiring my arm to be level with ground, but it is also a very soft kicker, with the custom shop venting in the barrel and a Limbsaver recoil pad. The field gun, on the other hand, is shorter on pull, and no muzzle brake, and I've found that the most muscle mass in my shoulder is produced when my arm is at about a 45 to my body. Thus, I shoot each gun to their respective requirements. I've never hunted with the trap gun, but I have shot trap quite a bit with the field gun, and did pretty well with it.
My experience with heavy recoiling rifles has proven what Clay said. My best stance for accuracy and endurance,(I fired 121rnds in one day through my .338),is with my right arm against my ribs. I'm sure that most every shooter has a best stance for him, the problem is finding it. My instructor was a retired drill Sergeant, who insisted I "use proper form", but when I began to shoot the '03, he showed me how to put the muscle in my shoulder to best use for absorbing recoil and holding steadier on target offhand. Hey, it works for me.

Happy Myles,

NOS but how long do you plan to make us wait for some stories of your exploits hunting big game in Africa and other parts of the world?

Never had this happen with a shotgun, but have beat up my shoulder with a brass-butted Hawken. That gun took all the fun out of muzzle loadng.

With all due respect, Clay, because you are obviously a more experienced shooter than me, I'm going with Dave's high elbow because
1. That's how my dad taught me to shoot, and
2. It is tougher to MIS place the butt of the gun with a high elbow than a lower one (try it), especially when wearing a coat. The high elbow also contracts the shoulder muscles, bunches them up, which seems to help with the kick as well.

The guy in the photos with the lividity under the skin didn't get that way from not knowing how to mount a gun; he got it from unintentionally MIS mounting a gun. I've had one torn rotator cuff and that was one too many. High elbow it is for me.

this is ridiculas,

the price tag of a gun doesn't mean it will shoot well. nor does it mean that it wont cause bruising like the picture above. what happened to that guy was a mishap in mounting his gun in order to fire it. mistakes do happen and everyone makes mistakes.

i personaly dont think that a "cheap" shotgun is to blame for that bruise. more than likely there was an error in his shooting machinics and also fat bruises more easily than muscle and it looks like that guy has never shot a bow or hasn't lifted anything in a while, and this could be a while due to the white beard (look in the top right corner) bottom line i am saying it was due to shooting machinics not a cheap gun.

and peztal maybe you should go take a few economic courses at your nearest college so you can learn a few things the cheap guns you are talking about are probably more safe than your damn expensive ones. this is due to the fact that the manufactorer decide to make a million of them rather than a hundred of them it's all about supply and demand.

Skeet shooting at its best

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MedwJscqH5Q&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Ffieldandstr...

I see most of us took the bait.....

LOL

This guy needs leasons in mounting a shotgun t his shoulder. Ha he never heard of LIMBSAVER pads? Always put that butt end hard against you shoulder prior to pulling the trigger an as stated, use the off Elbow as a rest held tight againt your side of hip.I am 73, weigh l28 lbs and shoot regular, but no wounds as this picture shows. This guy needs to go to school or use reduced recoil Ammoand a good pad. Will admit a shotgun will produce more recoil than most rifles, like my 06's.He needs to go to a ll00 Rem Auto or simular Auto.

I can agree that only one of the points is correct! Apparently i do it wrong by shooting my lower cost guns but I still go out and out shoot all those multi thousand dollar shotguns!!! And i dont know maybe its just my poor college student perspective again but Sporting clays are fun and they are a lot better for off-season shooting than american trap because of the changing direction and angle!

Clay as you know the M12 shoots tight thats why I love them as far as the Marlin 120 goes love them to, a friend has one in a 10 gauge that shoots like a house a fire.

Looking at this guys arm closely, it didn’t happen on the same day! Also chances are he also put heat on it making it worse!!