This last monday, my wife and I finally got a chance to shoot our 870 12ga. Had a blast!!! Neither of us had ever shot one before and were both a little worried at first, but in the end we had so much fun we didn't realize we had gone through 60 shells until we couldn't reload anymore. We had originally purchased it for HD, so 85% of our shots were from the hip and after the first couple shots we got pretty damn accurate. She feels confident in using it if she ever needs to for SD, although she wasn't quite as jazzed about the shoulder shots. We both feel we had definitely built up the recoil in our minds quite a bit more than was necessary. The range master was also really helpful beforehand giving us alot of advice and encouragement. I love getting help from people who know what they're talking about and who aren't begrudging you for not "knowing" in the first place. You can't beat personal experience though. Can't wait to do it again...heck, I kinda wanna try their skeet range and see how that goes.