So your keen to learn the skill of putting large holes in ppl hey? well here are my assorted tips and tactics for using the marvelous shotgun.
RELOAD:allways try and keep your shotty on full shells because if you get some loopy spammin bugger who jumps about like a madman your gonna need all your shells to cap the bitch, so whenever your running around and there are no enemys in sight pop a few shells in coz it aint got a terribly good reload speed and in the heat of battle hearing that empty click noise will generally result in your death.
ITEM CHOICE:i personally when using the shotgun, go in for a kevlar vest because u have a lot of tiffs with spammers and pesky M4'ers and the like and due to this your health cops a lot of punishment and that added safety of kevlar is a real necesity, however if you are in a deathmatch or CTB it is sometimes a good idea to use a bandolier just so you can have that extra bit of punishment to dish out. Slippers i suppose can be used to creep up on campers but if thats your gameplan i suggest a handcannon. I dont need to comment on using a silencer..............
GUNFIGHTS:when you run around a corner allways be carefull to have your gun at the ready because u never know who your gonna run into and this is often a way that allot of your frags will occur, but be carefull to check before you shoot because if teamdamage is on and you use those ole' hair-trigger reflexes your gonna piss of an awful lot of people or be frequently kicked it is also good to check because if not, there is a chance you will run out of ammunition fairly quicky coz remember(unless u got a bandolier)you only have 14 shells and its good to conserve.
*Snipers:When fighting snipers i find the best tactic to use is to strafe as you approach(if there at distance)and jump{though this will affect your aim}so i often wont jump once i get within about 10-15m of em. But basically just DONT STOP because you will be dead before u can say "whisteling dixy"and a good way to avert there scope is by being a bit of a lunatic, though often just strafing from side to side as you approach will be enough to avoid their bullets. If you are trying to shoot at a sniper on a rooftop or in a window or something my advice is: DONT, maybe take the occasional potshot as you run past but a shotgun is not a weapon for killing at range, it is for killing up close and personal, if u want to kill someone without getting into a crazy gunfight i suggest you focus your attention elsewhere.
*Mp5's and M4 users:with automatic weapon users my advice is to try and avoid em untill there nice and close. If you run round a corner and see some M4 user and hes to far for you to kill try and find another way to get to him, or jump and strafe like mad towards him but watch it 'specially with M4 users coz they have a tendancy to blow your legs off as there rifle rises while it fires and a legless shotgunner is an absolute sitting duck and you will find yourself real dead real fast. One good tactic 'specially againt some player with no clue as to what there doing is to wait till they run out of ammo because allot of players have a tendancy to hold down the trigger way to long, and will run out of ammo shooting at the wall your behind, they are then prime targets for you to jump out and annihalate while they reload. If your in close i find, specially with spammers that running around them in circles is the best way to avoid copping a shalacking this way u can either allow them to exhaust there ammunition or u can take random potshots and pray, these can often be very destructive as one hit at that range and they aint gettin up.
*Shotgunners:i find fellow shotgunners to be a combination of the easiest and hardest enemys you face, there are a couple of reasons for this for one it is compleatly touch and go, first in first served. For this kind of work you really have to be alert because it is generally a frenzy of avoiding the others random bursts of buckshot in this situation you can jump and hope for a lucky kick or stay on your feet and strafe in circles, or a combination of the two, NEVER RUN FROM A FIGHT unless you are bleeding to death, grossly outnumbered or limping and theres a spammer on your tail. Otherwise you will be shot in the back and die without a fight.
*Pistol users:with pistol users most hits are fluke as there is not terribly good accuracy with pistols so due to this pistol users will often keep their movement to a minimum therefore i find strafing on approach is a must and be unpredictable, once you get close though, they should'nt be a problem.
*Knivers:well i find these bastards to be the most wild and unpredictable of the lot and my advice is to KEEP YOUR DISTANCE you dont have to be to far away a good tactic if there throwing them is to strafe back and forth as this makes you a fairly difficult target, and just destroy them with a few rounds at about 5m with your shotgun 2 or 3 shots even if there only half or quater hits should have them dead pretty quickly.
*Handcannons:with handcannons its often allot like shotgun duels and is therefore at extremley close quarters, but fortunatley with handcannoners they have a very slow reload speed so i find what i generally do is try and run them round in circles then pause after you hear them shoot and blow them away.
IN CONCLUSION:i suppose the best thing to do now is go out and try things for yourself im still learning new tactics all the time, and i suspect with somemthing like this you could keep on learning forever and you probably will to, if you stick at it long enough :).