I never talk with my mouth full. 
M-24, M-16 & Mini-14 selective fire at Ft. Benning. When I was a L.E., I was a sniper (AKA “Team Threat Control” to be politically correct) on the S.W.A.T team. I still have the Remingtion 700 built by the Remington custom shop. One sweet baby ;D Consistently 1/2 MOA. We practiced daily at 300, 600, 800 & 1000 meters and had a “running combat course” @ 100 meter. That was fun! Qualified with 18 out of 24 in a 24" bull @ 1000 meters. Talk about pressure!
Our Motto: “If you run, you’ll only die tired”.
M-P5 & 1911A1 @ Camp LeJune through their 2 week civilian law enforcement training program
Thanks for the tips. I’m really just a beginner, so there’s a lot for me to learn (I actually had to google “vertical stringing”). I did download the U.S. Army Pistol Marksmanship Training Guide yesterday.
Gotta say I love shooting rifles, always have. I’ve only shot a pistol a few times and my shooting sucked. My preferred weapon has always been a shotgun though… whether hunting or any other reason. If I owned an AA12, I don’t know what could make me happier at least in the sense of owning and using a firearm. Check it out… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4ebtj1jR7c Take a chill pill before you watch it if you’re easily excited. 
I would like to have a .50 cal too but I probably couldn’t afford to shoot it and as much wilderness as there is here in MI… there aren’t that many wide open space to really test my ability for accuracy with something that big… 500 to 700 yards is about the longest clear shot in my neck of the woods.
I got better by banging away with brick after brick after brick of .22 ammo. The skills translate up to larger calibers pretty well- for the most part.
Although, even .22 ammo is going up in price too.
I just like anything that goes BOOM. ;D
While not an AA12, the Saiga IZ-109 (if I have that number right) is an extremely “fun” shotgun! Recoil isn’t too bad, sights line up nicely, and 10 round stick magazines are sweet! They have 20rd drum mags but they are quite costly. Mine is officially “converted” with a number of made in USA parts, but I haven’t done the full pistol grip conversion yet. I do have a Dinzag Arms bayonet lug mounted, though! A bayonet certainly ramps up the “mean”. Its essentially a very large Kalashnikov action, and feeds extremely reliably in my experience. Never much cared for that huge AK safety lever, though.
Also, check out the new Kel-Tec KSG shotgun. Bullpup layout with twin selectable underbarrel tube mags…pump action as opposed to gas operated like the Saiga. Clever little design, as is usually the case with George Kelgren and crew. My advice with Kel-Tec is to avoid getting the first revision off the production line, unless you don’t mind sending it home, but my 3 Kel-Tecs (P3AT, PF9, PLR16) are great firearms.
‘I just like anything that goes BOOM.’
tuburcle, I feel the same way, I just got this: conspiracyx0.tripod.com/weapons2/454.htm
Very big boom and still easy to handle!
Tannerite is a BLAST!
I just took my new .40 S&W to the range last Friday. Had a blast. Need to learn the proper grip and get consistent.