Shot trap for the first time today

myob said:
That would make sense now. I can see how IC would work for first shot on double trap. But I'm still slow on the second shot so I still need a full. LM on second shot is pro grade stuff.
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Yes I am an IM or F shooter for the second shot on doubles as well. I don't get across to the second target near as quick as it takes to be an accomplished doubles shooter but damned its fun burning 50 rounds of ammo that quickly!!

The top shooters have a saying, "you shoot singles for glory, handicap for money and doubles for fun". No truer words were ever spoken about trap shooting.
 
the spank said:
Yes I am an IM or F shooter for the second shot on doubles as well. I don't get across to the second target near as quick as it takes to be an accomplished doubles shooter but damned its fun burning 50 rounds of ammo that quickly!!

The top shooters have a saying, "you shoot singles for glory, handicap for money and doubles for fun". No truer words were ever spoken about trap shooting.
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My experience shooting trap on a regular basis was only once a week for two months this summer, and I only shot ten rounds or so of doubles, but I was able to shoot as high as 47 using M/F. I averaged 43-44. I actually enjoy shooting doubles, much more than singles.
 
Just a quick point about the beads. And sighting

When you shoot a shotgun, you should be focusing on the target, not at your sights. Fit the gun to your shoulder, weld your face to the stock achieving the proper sight picture, then call for the bird. All you should see is "bird". Focus on the bird. Your eyes will follow the bird and your swing will follow where your eyes tell you to go. It is all automatic. Look at the bird.

Pistol shooters, on the other hand, focus on the Sights, and see a blurry "target" behind the sights. Exactly the opposite to shotgunning.

As for guns, my daughter and my wife both shot my Browning OU fairly well as it was a heavy gun which took up a lot of the recoil. Use light target loads for your wife and a heavy target gun and she will enjoy it more. 30" barrels are fine for trap. M or IM is a good place to start with chokes.

have fun
 
Bigbubba said:
Just a quick point about the beads. And sighting

When you shoot a shotgun, you should be focusing on the target, not at your sights. Fit the gun to your shoulder, weld your face to the stock achieving the proper sight picture, then call for the bird. All you should see is "bird". Focus on the bird. Your eyes will follow the bird and your swing will follow where your eyes tell you to go. It is all automatic. Look at the bird.

Pistol shooters, on the other hand, focus on the Sights, and see a blurry "target" behind the sights. Exactly the opposite to shotgunning.

As for guns, my daughter and my wife both shot my Browning OU fairly well as it was a heavy gun which took up a lot of the recoil. Use light target loads for your wife and a heavy target gun and she will enjoy it more. 30" barrels are fine for trap. M or IM is a good place to start with chokes.

have fun
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The first thing that I do if my shotgun has interchangeable beads, is to remove the hi viz bead, and replace it with the small white bead. I concentrate on the target, and I don't want some silly glowing bead distracting me.
 
Shot my first round of real trap today (in the lessons, the instructor turned off the oscillator). Shot a 20 on my first round with my Citori Crossover Target :) I LOVE this sport! Unfortunately I got there late and so was only able to get in one round, so maybe it was beginner's luck? I was having issues with stand 1. My instructor had told us that we needed a different foot stance for this station, but I can't remember what it was? Can somebody enlighten me? My wife was scared off by all the other shooters there so didn't participate unfortunately.

P.S. I love my Citori. I was worried about the rock-hard recoil pad, but once I put on my jacket, I didn't even feel any recoil! Don't even need an adjustable comb, it fits great!
 
Foot stance on station 1 for me as a right hand shooter is to rotate my body slightly right so that if I were to hold my gun out in front of my chest in a natural hold position a bird hunter would use while walking up flushing game my barrel(s) is on the same target flight path as the hard left. This allows me to move to a hard right target without pushing the gun off my cheek and a nice smooth pivot from the waist to chase left handers.
 
So looks like it was beginner's luck haha. I've since gone a couple more times now and I'm not consistently shooting in the 'teens. The ones I have the most problem with are when the clays are thrown horizontally (e.g. all the way to the left or right). As I'm trailing the bird, am I supposed to be directly underneath it still, or trailing from the side?
 
jermyzy said:
So looks like it was beginner's luck haha. I've since gone a couple more times now and I'm not consistently shooting in the 'teens. The ones I have the most problem with are when the clays are thrown horizontally (e.g. all the way to the left or right). As I'm trailing the bird, am I supposed to be directly underneath it still, or trailing from the side?
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Shoot where the target is going to be, so don't trail the target, swing through it.
 
So I'm supposed to be ahead of the bird?

But at all times my barrel should be underneath the bird though correct? Since POI is above the barrel?
 
Nobody can tell you where your hold should be. You need to pattern your shotgun to see how high the pattern is in relation to the rib.
Secondly, you have to keep your head down on the stock. The phrase on the trap field is "Keep wood to wood".
If you are swinging smoothly and not stopping, your hard left or right birds will break just at the point the gun is one or two bird widths past the clay bird when swinging through. Everyone needs to find their own pattern of hits for their speed of gun movement.
Novices tend to be aiming the gun too much, and stopping at the point of firing, which leaves your shot behind the bird.
Mighty few people miss the bird ahead of its trajectory.
 
jermyzy said:
So I'm supposed to be ahead of the bird?

But at all times my barrel should be underneath the bird though correct? Since POI is above the barrel?
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How can you shoot where the target will be unless you shoot in front of the target? As to whether to hold below the target, that depends on the point of impact with you shooting the gun.
 
Langley F&G eh? I was super surprised at the location when I went to shoot there. A gun club right next door to a school!
Trap shooting is a pile of fun, but don't miss out on trying skeet while you're at the club. Head over to the skeet field and talk to Bob Hunter. He's a very friendly and helpful gentleman, who enjoys introducing new shooters to the sport.
This is not intended to discourage you from shooting trap, but to encourage you to try out all the clay games. They're all very fun.
 
I know many trap ranges have a minimum barrel length requirement, do they usually make exceptions for smaller stature ladies?
 
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