Trap shooting: The elusive straight away target

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pacobillie

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I am predominantly a skeet shooter. I usually score between 21 and 24 shooting skeet. I shoot trap on occasion, and I am reasonably good at it. My typical trap score is also between 21 and 24. Almost every bird that I miss at Trap is a straight away target at either position 2 or 4, which are typically the easiest birds to hit for a beginner, as they require no lead at all. It is almost like I cannot bring my brain to shoot at something with no lead. I like to see the target when I pull the trigger. Covering the target with the gun is counter-intuitive. At skeet, the only target that you do not lead is 7 low, which I know in advance that I must not lead.

Any ideas on how to improve.

I use the same gun for both disciplines: a Browning Citori 625, which fits me perfectly.
 
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I shoot the same gun and love it! You might want to lock the thrower to throw only straights from one of those positions and shoot a couple of rounds at that shot only... This will help you see and feel that shot, then go back to regular rounds. Repeat until you're comfortable with them. Good luck!
 
Remember they are not generally straight aways, the rotation on the bird will put a slightly right curl on the bird. Often people will shoot left of a "straight away" bird. As you start your swing it is going straight, but by the time you finish and the shot gets there it has started to move off to the right.

Another problem people can have is blowing over the top of a straightaway, not sure on how to correct that.

I'm not a great trap shooter either, so hopefully someone has better advice, but that's my experience.
 
the way I do it is I just wait it out until starts coming down or shoot it as soon as you see the bird. Long shots are harder because by the time the shot gets there the bird usually dropped a few inches so you are basically shooting over it. It is exactly as LOW house 7 in skeet.

Good luck!
 
I have been shooting and missing straight aways for off and on for nearly 50 years. For me a straight from 4 has caused more zeros than the hardest angles. Blowing over the top or just not moving my gun seems to be my downfall. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast but actually having target clearly locked in focus before any move to the target is a must for me. I see many otherwise very good shooters miss by shooting at the streak before the target is in focus.

pacobillie I can not know what happens to you with the straight away without actually seeing you shoot.
 
You might try patterning your gun and checking for point of impact. Point of impact is checked at 13yds it will tell you if your gun is shooting high or low left or right. Pattern your gun at 30-40 yds this will tell you how well your pattern is. Try different loads. Patterning a gun for Trap comes second to gun fit which is always the most important thing.
 
Keep your head down on the stock. Or, as the trapshooters put it, keep the wood on the wood.
If I miss a straightaway target, I have almost certainly picked my head up. Even a fraction is enough. Focus on a good mount and make sure your cheek/jaw/head or whatever part you put on the stock is solid. Make sure you see where the target is going before you move the gun, then you have less chance of picking your head up.
 
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