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Originally posted by sigfreund:

I wasn’t going to get into the grammatical aspects of the issue, but now that it’s been brought up, that is another thing.

“Soft” in the sense of a “soft shooter” is an adjective modifying “shooter” which in that expression is a gun, i.e., a noun. In that context therefore, what it implies is that the gun is soft, or to use a couple of synonyms, that’s it’s squishy or malleable, or perhaps flaccid (to return to one of my antonyms). That, of course, is not what people mean by the expression. What they’re referring to is how it shoots, not the “shooter.” That means the proper modifier would be an adverb in a phrase such as, “It shoots softly,” as you correctly pointed out and used—but which most people don’t.

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Originally posted by tigereye313:
What do we have if we don't have semantics?

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Originally posted by YellowJacket:
I've heard "soft shooter" to refer to low recoiling shotguns my entire 40 years on this planet. Makes perfect sense to me.

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Where did “soft shooter” come from?

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Originally posted by jljones:
I’m running new furniture on my shotty. Makes it a real soft shooter.

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What’s next? “Oh, Pet, the Hoppe’s and 700X I’m using with my Alien meld together ever so wonderfully to form the most delightful fragrance”?