Trouble With Station 1 and 2

I cant say with 100% certainty obviously that all traps will throw like that but I always hold around 4" to right of centre as Dysinger and Harrison taught in their joint training video many years ago and if I get a straight bird ftom #3 it always comes up from under my barrels, never to one side or the other and follows a slight left angle aligning on the centre of the house once it has crested.
 
One thing i did think of, was the instructions on the build are right from Winchester, same manufacturer of the trap machine.
I looked at mine today, and if the trap would have been installed in the center of the house, it would be about a 4" off set. Interesting none the less,
I never gave it much thought before. The years that i shot ATA, I'm guessing most most traps were probably Winchester Western white flyers.
That's a while ago. Now there's the pat trap, etc, voice controlled, and a myriad of new modern trap machines.
If you ever get a chance, check on position of the trap in the house, and/or it's brand.
very interesting!! spank,,, very interesting.
 
hogiron said:
One thing i did think of, was the instructions on the build are right from Winchester, same manufacturer of the trap machine.
I looked at mine today, and if the trap would have been installed in the center of the house, it would be about a 4" off set. Interesting none the less,
I never gave it much thought before. The years that i shot ATA, I'm guessing most most traps were probably Winchester Western white flyers.
That's a while ago. Now there's the pat trap, etc, voice controlled, and a myriad of new modern trap machines.
If you ever get a chance, check on position of the trap in the house, and/or it's brand.
very interesting!! spank,,, very interesting.
Click to expand...

I think they are all offset .... the target needs to exit the centre of the trap house and the targets don't leave the centre of the machine, so the machine needs to be offset from the centre of the traphouse.
 
hogiron said:
One thing i did think of, was the instructions on the build are right from Winchester, same manufacturer of the trap machine.
I looked at mine today, and if the trap would have been installed in the center of the house, it would be about a 4" off set. Interesting none the less,
I never gave it much thought before. The years that i shot ATA, I'm guessing most most traps were probably Winchester Western white flyers.
That's a while ago. Now there's the pat trap, etc, voice controlled, and a myriad of new modern trap machines.
If you ever get a chance, check on position of the trap in the house, and/or it's brand.
very interesting!! spank,,, very interesting.
Click to expand...

One thing I am convinced of is those old westerns threw much nicer targets than today's automatics. I am certain they put a much nicer spin on the target resulting in a much truer flight, especially doubles. I don't recall targets falling off in a curved flight before touching down with the old westerns. Targets would land level and often hit the ground spinning before coming to a stop. I watched that many a time from the angle and distance stakes when setting a field. Now they seem to land on their edges and off flight somewhat and just break on contact with the ground. And in flight they seemed to attain a better tilt with the leading edge up a bit more exposing more target dome area . Todays machines seem to throw a flatter angled target. Its that or my eyes are worse than I thought as I am aging?!! :confused: And I may really be old school in my thinking but I do not care for the voice releases, especially in handicap moving them back and forth every station change!! :rolleyes: I liked it when the trap boy or girl released the target, did the scoring and called the ends after the lead shooters fifth round on each station. Ahhhh the good old days!! :)
 
Alright. Learned a lot today. Focused on standing more left at the first 2 stations and on keeping the stock tight to my cheek. Started my first round at station 2 and hit 3 right away. I thought "nice", then proceeded to score a 5 for the whole round. During the week I changed from cheap charger ammo to Winchester AA and had to make some adjustments for the second round. Only scored 9 total for that round. Now I was upset a bit. I was talking to the guys that were shooting with me about how I was sighting and spent a lot of time saying and showing what I do and how I do it. I only brought 2 boxes of ammo with me so was ready to go home, so one of the guys offered to loan me a box until next time so we could see if anything we talked about would make a difference. I shot 19. Turns out I was making a few very basic mistakes all around.

1. I was coming off my rail mid sight as I was aiming instead of lining up both sights. Basically I wasn't using 2 points to establish a good line and was shooting who knows where.
2. My elbow on my right arm wasn't locked so I was lifting and lowering it while I was tracking the bird and it would turn my gun enough to throw off my line of sight.
3. I stopped watching the bird and started bringing the sight inline. I was bringing the gun to the bird while watching the sight where as before I was locked on the target and relied on being in the right position when I felt I was there.

Anyway, just wanted to update with my progress.

Kevin
 
Very important to keep your eyes focused on the target and not the gun. You will see the correct sight picture in the peripheral part of your vision if you have your eyes locked onto that target. Aiming a shotgun is a big mistake. As was pointed out to you, you need to get properly set and aligned on the gun but after that your primary focus needs to be where you want to pick up the target as it comes into view and keep your focus on the target. If you are set up properly with your stance your upper body is pretty much locked in place and you are swinging the gun by swiveling at the waist. The upper body is a shooting platform and the lower body is the pivoting base.
The other thing is try not to overthink it. Stick to good basic fundamentals and practice as much as you are able.
 
9 to 19 is a huge improvement for sure!! Well done!!
Your first 25 straight will come with a bit of practice and time.
Don't worry too much about the ones you miss.
When you shoot, really pay attention to what you did to really crush and ink ball targets. Remember how you mounted the gun, and what the sight picture looked like when you pulled the trigger, and how you where positioned in relation to the house (feet placement). Then try to replicate it. Trap is a game of consistancy, doing the same few things the exact same way each time.

Cheers,

James
 
have you ever patterned your shotgun? perhaps get someone to take you to the pattern board and show you what is what. If you don't understand what I am saying then you have no idea of how the pattern board works lol. it can tell a lot about a man and his shotgun
 
yodave said:
have you ever patterned your shotgun? perhaps get someone to take you to the pattern board and show you what is what. If you don't understand what I am saying then you have no idea of how the pattern board works lol. it can tell a lot about a man and his shotgun
Click to expand...

I know what it is but I don't think we have one at the club.

Kevin
 
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