Are you counting on a shotgun to defend your home but have no idea how it really patterns, how to keep it fed, or how it handles under stress?
Protector Essentials: Shotgun Home Defense is a focused 4-hour evening class that gives you the practical skills to run a defensive shotgun with confidence inside the home. This is not a bird-hunting or clay-shooting course. We’ll stay in the indoor bays at Elk Outdoors and focus on realistic home-defense distances, safe handling, loading, and patterning.
📅 Date & Time: Thursday, February 12, 2026, 5:30 PM – 9:30 PM
📍 Location: Elk Outdoors Sporting Goods LLC – Indoor Range
198 Brookfall Dairy Rd., Elkin, NC 28621
Google Maps:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/shzzj1pvSv5Adyy68
💵 Tuition: $80 per student
🧠 What We’ll Cover:
- Defensive shotgun selection & setup for home defense.
- Safe handling, admin loading/unloading, and range procedures.
- Ready positions, efficient mounting, and recoil management.
- Emergency and admin/tactical reloads (over, under, “violin-style”) from a static shooting lane.
- Patterning with limited buckshot to understand point-of-aim vs. point-of-impact at realistic home distances.
- Basic target transitions and accountability with birdshot.
This Essentials course stays in the lane and does not include positional/movement work from kneeling, prone, or around cover. That material lives in our longer Protector Shotgun I: Core Combat Shotgun class.
🎯 Who It’s For:
- Responsible gun owners who keep a shotgun for home defense.
- Newer shotgun shooters wanting structured, real-world instruction.
- Experienced shooters who’ve never patterned their gun or drilled loading techniques.
- No prior shotgun course is required, but you must be safe and comfortable operating a firearm in a range environment.
🔫 Round Count & Ammo:
- 200 rounds birdshot (range-appropriate indoor target loads).
- 10 rounds buckshot for patterning (be sure to bring the ammo you plan to use for defense; we may use fewer depending on time and range constraints).
📋 Required Gear:
- Pump or semi-auto 12ga or 20ga shotgun.
- Eye & ear protection (electronic ear pro recommended).
- 200 birdshot + up to 10 buckshot.
- Sturdy shell carrier (side saddle, belt carrier, pouch, or shell card).
- Comfortable clothing and closed-toe shoes.
- Photo ID and any range paperwork.
✅ How to Sign Up:
- Visit MiningRidgeArmory.com :
https://www.miningridgearmory.com/event-details/protector-essentials-shotgun-home-defense
- Message us here on Facebook at Mining Ridge Armory
- Message Elk Outdoors on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560838838376
- Email:
c3VwcG9ydCB8IG1pbmluZ3JpZGdlYXJtb3J5ICEgY29t
- Call/Text MRA: 704-750-0333
- Call Elk Outdoors: 336-258-8120
Spots are limited to 12 students to keep the class safe, efficient, and hands-on. Payment is required to secure your seat.
Train Real. Live Ready.
You may also like the following events from Mining Ridge Armory:
- This Saturday, 3rd January, 08:00 am, Ghost Tactics: Hijack, Extract, Communicate, Vanish in State Road
- Happening on, 20th January, 05:30 pm, NC Concealed Carry Class in Elkin
- Happening on, 7th February, 08:00 am, NC Concealed Carry Class in State Road
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