Getting started in Trap....

[Dave McC]

I've seen considerable interest in the thread titled Progress Report (Trap), and the E mail box had some folks with questions, so here it is.....

These are opinions, and not Writ on stone tablets.

Assuming(I know) that one is trained and competent enough to shoot safely, here's what a newcomer to trap needs to know, and to have....

A brief trip to the ATA(Amateur Trapshooting Association) website will give the rules and layout. Jerry Meyer's book on Clay Games has a nice overview, or just find your local trap range and watch. Trap's easy to learn and hard to shoot well. But, shooting trap is fun, even if you miss some. And you will miss some at first, less after a bit.

Since trap singles, AKA 16 yard trap, is shot one shot at a time, any style shotgun will work, even that overpriced and accessorized Loudenboomer SP Magnum.I'd skip rifle style sights, shotguns used on flying stuff are pointed, not aimed.Use what you want to, your field gun will work very well.

I use a pump. Chokes should be on the tight side, Modified may be the best choice for starting.

Whatever choke that will give a good tight pattern(Say 30", not counting flyers) at the distance you break birds is good. Shot size runs from 7 1/2 to 9, the smaller sizes give thicker patterns, the larger have more oomph per pellet and drift less in windy conditions. Your call here. I use an oz of 8 1/2s, 2 3/4 dram load, and a Full choke.

Patterning is a must, and one that strikes a little high is best. Trap targets are hit on the rise,so a highshooting gun is good.

Your shotgun needs to fit you. We've lots of stuff on this in the Archives, so I won't waste bandwidth on it now.Trap uses a premounted gun, so we can get everything right before calling for the bird.

Accessories will include something to hold your shells in, both before and after being shot. A hunting or shooting vest will work fine, tho in warm weather I like the purpose built belt and pouch combos better.Cooler weather calls for a vest,I've a moderately priced 10X. The belt/pouch is a Bob Allen,cost $20-30, has enough room for two boxes of shells in the top, a pocket for extras, and a mesh bag for empties. Sure, you can just eject them and leave them lay, but oft they can be reloaded to save money. Many ranges specify any shell or hull hitting the ground is theirs. Besides, if you really want to make yourself unwanted,ding an empty off the next shooter over or worse, his cherished trap gun. Folks shooting autos should invest in one of those stamped metal shell catchers or a heavy rubber band to keep the empty in the gun.

Clothing should be comfortable, and not bind your swing. Ladies will be more comfortable with bras that do not have little metal thingies for adjustments right where the butt fits. A hat is a great idea.

Eye and ear protection is mandatory at most ranges, and a very good idea everywhere. Over on Trapshooters.com, a thread relates how a shooter got a piece of a pellet in his eye. He was lucky, it didn't blind him permanently. Lots of folks use wraparound glasses or side shields. Ear plugs and muffs both work well, use what you want but USE them.

So, you're accoutured, and ready. You step up to the line, note the location of the voice mikes, and wait for your turn on the 5 person squad. As the person before you shoots, you chamber a round, mount your shotgun, and.....

If you're a shooter who keeps both eyes open,hold your shotgun about horizontally above the trap house roof. If you're a one eyed shooter like me, you hold lower, right below the forward edge of the trap house roof, to see the bird as it appears. Experiment and see what works best for you.

You're now mounted, and the gun is pointed where it should be. Look along the rib and note that everything is lined up correctly, and SHIFT YOUR FOCUS TO THE AREA WHERE THE BIRD WILL APPEAR. Do NOT look back to the barrel, a guaranteed miss. Take a deep breath to oxygenate your muscles,clear your mind of other things, concentrate on the empty air where the bird will show.

Stay focussed as you call for the bird. It will come up at a random angle,track it with your eyes.
As your eyes move, so does your shotgun. Imagine your bbl(without looking back at it) is a paintbrush and paint over the clay. When all feels good,pull the trigger.

Whether or not you hit it, maintain safety while you remove the empty. Wait until the rotation comes again to you, repeat 24 more times. Your first round of trap is now history, you're smiling and while you didn't hit them all, you had fun trying. Make safe your weapon and leave the line....

A couple of things....

Most dedicated trap guns are muzzle heavy to keep the swing moving. Stopping the gun is a guaranteed miss. Many pumps and autos have balance close to ideal for the purpose with 28" or longer bbls.

A longer bbl also has a better sight radius, moves the noise a little further away, and may give a bit more speed to the load.

While I like a shotgun less than 7 lbs or so for a field gun, no field gun gets shot as much as a trap gun.Most trap folks use 8-10 lb guns for the swing and less felt kick.

Read your breaks. If a big piece of the target flies off,note the direction. Chances are the bulk of your pattern was on the opposite side. IE, if the big piece heads straight up, your load was low, you hit with the top of the pattern. Note this, and that wonderful computer under your hat will begin to adjust, starting with the next shot like that.

And while some trap shooters need to work on their people skills and manners, most are fine folks who will go far out of their way to help a newcomer with good manners and who is willing to help set up, pick up empty hulls and in general, be the kind of person we all would like to have around, and to be. A little effort here can reap great rewards.

Hope this helps, good luck and good shooting....

[BigG]

Thanks, Dave, for an excellent piece on the funnymentals of trap! I plan to try my hand at clays tomorra and will try to keep in mind your excellent advice.

[David Scott]

Where's the link to the ATA website?

[Dave McC]

Sorry, Dave, I'm a technodunce. Dunno how to implant those. It is trapshooters.com, so punch it in and go...

[MiniZ]

Dave, thanks for the tips. I have been out of the game for 17years or so, so it was good to have a refresher(I had a great day today. I think I have a new firearm obsession).

Zane

[Seeker]

Geez, I guess I been doin' it the hard way.

I inhereted a a couple of 870 Wingmaster Pump actions, a Remington handheld flingy thing ( fer tossin' the pigeons) and a box of pigeons (the pigeons were wrapped in newspaper that was printed before I was born).

I been goin' out in the yard and tossin' the clays, setting the flingy thing down, bringin' the 870 up, following the clay, then firing. I don't have the funds to join a club and I live in the country and con'rt have anyone that wants to play nearby.

I break about 75% using target loads. I think they are 25 to 50 yards out by the time I drop the hammer. The targets are sometimes still on the rise when I blast'em but lots of times they are falling.

What's the routine with a Trap House? How far are the clays when they break? Are they going away from you or crossing?

[David Scott]

For those web links:

http://www.trapshooters.com/

I also found tis one useful:

http://www.shootata.com/

[BigG]

Welp, Dave, I did my first ATA shoot today. 18, 17, 16, 17. I found I was closing my eye sometimes causing me to miss. I think I'm a natural two eye shooter. South River Gun Club was Perazzi City today. My polymer 1100 looked like a stepchild next to all that stump wood.

[Dave McC]

BigG, bet you shot better than some of those Perazzi toters. It's not what you're shooting, but how.A friend that shoots the Geezer League has more shotguns than he can recall,including Purdeys,Parkers, Fox,etc. We oft shoot next to each other, he with some masteriece of lethal art and I with my upscaled pump gun. We score about the same, and much hilarity ensues.

Seeker, my kids have that hand thrower down, hint, hint(G). At real 16 yard trap,most targets are broken between 35 and 40 yards out.Mostly they're still rising.Unless you truly live deep in the boonies, there's probably a trap course within an hour's drive. Take a look around. Jerry Meyer's book,The Clay Target Handbook gives a good overview of all the clay sports and some tips.

MiniZ, there's a whole lot worse obsessions. As I remind my Wonderful Wife, I'm out there in the fresh air, doing 50-100 reps of lifting a 9 lb weight, and then getting more exercise pulling on the MEC handle. Getting a nice tan, too.

[Dave McC]

Up for the newbies...

[dfm]

Having shot registered for over 15 years now it still cracks me up to hear people talk about beating someone shooting a (fill in the name of any high dollar trapgun) with their 'ole pump or auto that they've hunted with for years. Let me clue you in as to why some folks like the expensive items:

1.) They like the way they look.
2.) They like the way they feel.
3.) They like the way they look and feel.

I've never heard anybody berate or make fun of someone shooting a Wal-Mart special. Or tell someone that they can't compete well unless they have a high dollar gun. So why some guys continue to bring this up is beyond me.

Sort of like a trophy wife. She probably doesn't cook or sc**w any better then an average looking one. But she sure will turn alot of heads and make most guys drool.

dfm

[Dave McC]

You forgot #4,DFM, They buy the high dollar stuff to make up for the fact that they're not hitting them all.Checkbooks are not good substitutes for expertise, but some folks keep trying.

This attitude is found among mid level shooters, not among new ones or the truly proficient.

And like the best trapshot I know says, it ain't the gun....

[Crazyquik]

I make most of my breaks at around 30 yards. I rarely have breaks out at 35+. I guess I just shoot fast....

I know because I'm 16 yds from the house, and the grass is mowed at our range ~15 more yds. So when the chips fall in the first couple yards of the tall, unmowed grass; that bird was shot around 30 yds.

J.

[Ron L]

One thing that was drilled into me years ago. "Keep your wood to the wood." Meaning, keep your head down and your cheek on the stock. If you raise your head as the target's going up, you'll miss every time. Trust me on this.

[bggwind]

Thanks for this info - I'm a total noob as I did some trap shooting in the Scouts many moons ago.

I beloing to a Sportsman's club in S Jersey that has an active and vibrant community of shooters, so I'm hoping to get involved.

Figured I'd poke this thread back to the top :-)

[oneounceload]

Here's a link to gun clubs in oregon:

http://www.claytargetsonline.com/list.php/OR

Here's the main page:

http://www.claytargetsonline.com/index.php

Since clubs come and go, call to make sure they're still open and what the schedule is

[BigJimP]

Dave did a nice job laying out the basics on Trap shooting ... and over the last 5 or 6 years there are a lot of good DVD's out too - for Trap, Skeet and Sporting Clays. Sunrise Video has a lot of them - and here is a link

http://www.sunrisevideo.com/

like Dave said, you can shoot Trap with any shotgun - but because on a Trap line you are standing adjacent ( about 6 feet to left and right ) of other shooters - shooting a gun with a barrel less than 26" is really tough on the shooters around you because of the muzzle blast from a short barrel. Call ahead if you intend to shoot a shotgun with a barrel of less than 26" and make sure it is allowed at the club.

The "convention" on Trap guns today - with O/U's is 32" barrels, single barrel specialized Trap guns 32" or 34" barrel - and most guys are shooting guns in the 9 1/2 to 10 lb range these days - because it helps with follow thru on a game where you have limited left to right gun movement - but many of us shot a lot of Trap when we were just starting with pump guns with standard field barrels of 28". Like Dave said originally - be a shooter that other shooters enjoy being around, by being courteous, with proper gun handling and nobody will care what gun you shoot - anymore than you care what they shoot.

[zippy13]

Dave mentioned one item of kit some newbies may not be aware of: Eye shields or blinders. I'm thinking of those sort-of-pear-shaped paper gimmies that slip on your shooting glasses. As BigJim mentioned, at singles (16-yard trap) the fellow next to you is pretty close. If he's got a gun and ammo combination that puts out a lot of particulate matter, you may wish to put those gimme blinders on your glasses (especially if there's a little bit of a cross breeze).

I keep several pairs of blinders, courtesy of Federal ammo, in my gear bag. If I'm squadded next to someone with an autoloader, I'll frequently slip them on my Decots. If you've ever been stuck squadded next to someone shooting a I'll put some sting in your eye special for a 100 ATA targets, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Of course, there are those of you who may wish to use your blinders all the time to help focus you vision and concentration on the targets, not what's peripheral.

[Dave McC]

An 8 year old thread is read and found worthy....

Note I was not the Mod then. Just a contributor.

These days I use a Beretta O/U more than a pump, but I'm no trapshooter.

Just a shotgunner.

A pump will work. So will just about any shotgun you know like you know the path from recliner to fridge.

It should, for best results, have a weight forward balance, a longish barrel and somewhere around a LM choke for new shooters.

Later, I urge a tighter choke to teach us to get ON the targets.

Glad you liked this.....

[olddrum1]

Well said. I might add that in Trap it behooves the shooter to have quality shooting glasses and adequate hearing protection. I have seen several trap houses with the paint shot off due to a person pulling the trigger with what they think is a misfire only to remember that their gun has a release trigger when it is lowered and they release the trigger.

[oletymer]

Bet you shot better than some of those Perazzi shooters?
Give me a break Dave, not around here.

[halfmile]

Mid level guns like Beretta and 90T Remington are just as good as the high dollar ones. You don't need a 10 thousand dollar gun to shoot good scores.

But a light inexpensive gun will tire you and cause missing. Most shooters started with pumps and autos, of one brand or another. Right now there are some VERY price Beretta autos designed for trap.

But the Break action guns are the hockey stick that works for most experienced shooters. I do have a nice old 1100 I shoot occasionally but the 90T is the daily driver.

HM

[BigJimP]

You guys are missing the point ...... its good to have nice guns ...

when I bought this Trap gun - I assured my wife " it was absolutely necessary to have this gun, for me to remain competitive " - ( even though I don't shoot registered Trap )..... but no reason for me to point that out ...(even though I doubt she bought it, she still said ok, and rolled her eyes ..) - but she said ok / so it was ok.

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/...4&d=1235594177

I'm still holding out for a new Krieghoff Skeet gun for my birthday in a year or so too / but it's only going to be about $ 25 K ..... ( not sure how to justify it yet ..) but I'll come up with some half-assed excuse ...(and she expects nothing less from me ..).

[oneounceload]

Jim, Jim, Jim.........forget that Teutonic pig on a shovel and get you an Italian piece of art - one that Zippy can show you how to properly use.....

There is nothing like a finely balanced made to fit gun to just make you go .....AAAAAAHHHHHHHH......(I'm STILL waiting for mine!)

[BigJimP]

Now, now ..... I can't play with those.... italian things .... they make me break out in a rash. Besides, the tuetonic ---- are made to fit "a buffalo" ... "real guns, for real men"....

Zippy looks good in those sleak italian things / but they're not for big guys ...