Advice for a new, young shooter?

[Pyd]

My son (9) has been shooting clays with me at our range and in the backyard for about a year, off of a foot released launcher. He is pretty good, on some days he will do 12-14.
Recently I signed him up for a youths trap league thinking I would be the proudest daddy out there. Well, the variable of shooting off a trap house seems to have really affected his game, now the young fellow who hit more than he missed is lucky to hit 3. The only difference I can find is the fact that the clay is no longer leaving from our feet, so I am thinking it is the distance between him and the house when the clay leaves.
He always seems to wait as long as he can before he pulls the trigger, so from both the manual launcher and the house there is little difference in the yardage between his shots.
I am confused and do not have the knowledge to try to guide him properly. The instructors at the range say he is very consistent but always seems to shoot under the bird, he insists he is shooting over it.
He is shooting a Remington 870 youth Jr. that fits him well, modified choke.
Any advice that you guys can share would be appreciated.
Thanks
David and Hunter

 

[bdft]

It sounds like a problem with gun fit. Kids sometimes grow pretty fast.

 

[kimmer82]

When you shoot at a trap club. you will stand @ 16 yards away from the thrower. by the time your son will be able to hit the clays, it will be 20 yards plus depending how fast he shoots.
he can try the IC /C choke if you want. any choke will do perfectly fine at 16 yard trap. just gotta make sure that you son i able to hit the clays before its fallin down. It is very hard to shoot down a clay when its fallin down. the distance will be more then 30 yards and even many adults will miss it.
Trap thrower also randomly throws target and your son will have to smoothly go along the clay and pull rather then the little manual puller by his feet going in one direction. I think your son got used to where the clay is going to be flying and just aiming the gun and pulling trigger. Maybe get a hand thrower and launch hard as you can randomly and see how he does.
and keep in mind,

I would say the first step is to pattern your sons gun at 16/20/25 yards and see which pattern is suatable for him. and patterning will also tell you where exactly your son is aiming. most if the gun are different and even if his sights are at the bulls eye, the pattern might be below, above, left, right of the dot.

and keep in mind that foot released launcher and Trap club launcher are totally different and will have a huge effect on your sons game. hope this helped little but hey! as long as you and your son is gettin some good ol Father/son time!!

 

[HangFire88]

Sounds like an good time to get a coach to do some one-on-one; lock the trap machine to throw straights and put him on the post 3. Practice hitting the same straight away shot over and over and the coach can work on sight picture, gun hold, timing, swing, etc. Once he "sees" what he should be doing, try locking the machine for a consistent left, then right and then greater oscillation up to regulation. This should help a lot. An hour or two should make a world of difference.

 

[hogiron]

It actually sounds like he can not catch up to the speed the trap machine throws targets. Quite a difference between the launcher at home and the trap thrower at the club. I wouldn't get too excited about it, he's only 9. There's a lot of stuff going on, and if he enjoys the game, he'll catch on soon enough.
My boys also shot at a young age, and were not very good when they stated, now some 15 years later, they hit what they want.
Not knowing were the bird is coming from, is also an issue, that will eventually be second nature. Like someone previously suggested, get to the trap club for practice, and set the machine for straight a ways and stand on post 3. That will do two things for him, get him used to the speed, and be he'll be more confident knowing were the bird is coming from every pull. Once he starts hitting those consistently, he'll be on his way. It takes time.

 

[justachip]

Check with the club but what we did when the trap field was not busy we moved up closer to to the house and set the machine on straight away to start.This helped because the house throws way faster than my spring thrower.When my kids hit them we moved back or sideways to change the look and we are still learning but having FUN.Straightaways and incomers at the skeet field were good to.We all smile when the clays break.

 

[Beretta687EELL]

Trap targets from a regular trap machine are supposed to travel at 42 - 43 mph. Most of the targets he has been shooting have very likely been significantly slower. I suspect he is shooting behind and below the target as it is moving and rising faster than what he is used to shooting at.

First, pattern the gun at 13 yards from a solid (benched) position. This is to make sure you know where the gun is shooting ... is it shooting left or right of centre? is it shooting high, low or on the aim point?

Pattern his gun with the various chokes that he has at the distance that he is shooting the targets. This should be between 35 and 40 yards from the post to the target. You may find that there are holes in the pattern with a modified choke at that distance. My experience has not been good with Remington choke tubes. You may want to also look at a couple of aftermarket choke tubes, like Briley or Trulock. Once you are confident in the equipment and ammunition go to the trap field.

As indicated by other posters the trap machine should be locked so it doesn't oscillate from side to side. I feel that locking it on a hard left and starting on post 5 is the best. This is almost a straight away target, but not quite. Once he is smoking targets from post 5, move to post 4. He will start to get the concept of lead and how much he needs to lead the target to the left as he moves from post 5 to post 1. Then set the machine to hard rights and start on post 1 and work your way to post 5. This way he will be able to see and shoot all the targets that he may get once the machine starts to oscillate. Periodically, when he is shooting like this do not release a target when he calls or slow pull the target. This will show if he is moving the gun prior to seeing the target. He should not move the gun until the target appears.

The other thing to work on during this process is to make sure he has the correct hold points and is looking in the correct area for the target.

 

[struff55]

Don't start patterning the gun and get caught up in all that nonsense modified choke is fine for 16yd targets . Its all about timing and that is what has changed don't bother with the standing closer to the trap house either. if you can lock the machine on straight aways thats perfect also you can slow the targets down that will help him find the targets. once he gets the timming he will do fine.

 

[straightshooter]

Is it safe to assume you've checked which eye is dominant and are confident he's a right-handed shooter? If so, does he shoot with both eyes open? If not, make sure he starts shooting with both eyes. One-eyed shotgunning is a difficult habit to break and a significant handicap.

Again, assuming you know how to check gun fit and have done so, the next step would be to teach him an appropriate stance; left foot forward (RH shooters), back foot turned out slightly for stability, knees loose, comfortable. Then instill in him a regimented gun mount. This is critical. Trap is a game of consistency. To achieve it, you have to replicate the mount perfectly each time. Keep the elbows up a bit, to permit easier swinging from side to side from the waist.

Explain to your son that one points a shotgun, one most definitely does NOT aim a shotgun. This is why fit and consistent mount are so important. At the conclusion of the steps of assuming the stance at the line and mounting the gun, be sure that his head is straight, not tilted. Now, he should be looking straight down the rib, or right across the receiver at the bead, in the case of a gun with no top rib. [When practicing - making absolutely certain the gun is not loaded - you can position your eye just down range from the bead and you should see about half of his pupil above the rib, if the fit and mount are correct.] Ideally, the process of taking his stance, mounting and aiming the gun becomes a routine that he uses to focus his attention on the repetitive detail of it all, all while eliminating thoughts about all else.

Now he aims at the house (Yes, aims, just like a rifle. Waddaya mean contradiction.). The point of aim should be about one foot below where the target would be expected to first appear as it clears the house. Now, he focuses past the gun at the point where the bird will first appear, reaches carefully for the trigger with his finger, takes a final moment to be sure he's ready, and calls for the bird.

As his eyes follow the target, so too will the gun. At the instant he catches up to the target, he pulls the trigger. The lead automatically calculates itself in the sense that he catches up quickly to straightaway shots, so he won't be swinging hard and the lead will be minimal, as it should be for a straightaway. The angle shots will require more movement, faster acceleration to catch up to them, thus producing a greater speed differential when the eyes/gun pass the target. Bottom line, tell him to ignore lead, it takes care of itself. Concentrate on following the path of the target and firing at the instant you catch up.

Lastly, don't get discouraged. It's supposed to be fun. Like anything else, practice makes perfect.