I am coaching for a combined school Trap team, as well as for 4-H Trap. (A lot of the same kids) We shot in sleet the first week, and snow last week. So far I've noticed a few things;
1. There is very little actual coaching going on. The head coach does, when she gets out to the line, and one other gal, too. All the guys, myself excepted, just pull, score and guide the kids on loading the traps.
2. The boys mostly do not take instruction well. I'll tell them a tip, they do it the rest of that station, (and shoot better) then go back to missing. I told a stringbean that when his 6'5" self aims straight out, he's letting the bird get a head start out of the trap. He aimed at the top of the Trap the rest of that round, then the next, went back to aiming straight out. Needless to say his score dropped back down, too.
3. A lot of the kids are shooting guns that either are way too big for them, or in the case of one, just taken out of the box and fired. (You might get away with that in the summer, but not in sleet and snow.) The one kid had a brand new Maverick 88, still had preservative in it, even the second week. His dad swore up and down he'd 'gone over it', yet I could see the preservative, and the gun had about 12 FTF's per round. The kid is a natural shot, and to his credit, he'd hit the bird after two 'click' s. I told him to get it into a gunsmith, but I doubt he did. I missed last night's practice, maybe he'll have it working by Monday.
4. The kids, for the most part, did not dress for the weather. One girl shot her two rounds in the snow in a polyester UnderArmor shirt and her Trap vest.
5. The basics were not covered well at the orientation, from what I've observed. (I wasn't at the orientations, I came in at the first practice.) I intend to rectify that by handing this out next Monday:
"Right now, you're standing facing the target with the shotgun loaded, safety on. Your feet are roughly shoulder width apart, and you advance your support(the foot on the same side as the hand that supports,rather than fires, the weapon) side foot about a foot or so.The shotgun is NOT at PORT ARMS, but pointed safely downrange. AS you bring the rear portion of the shotgun up to your shoulder, you swing the firing side elbow up and out, so that arm ends up roughly parallel to the ground. This forms the POCKET, where the butt of the shotgun goes.As the butt goes into the pocket, your cheek automaticaly goes to the comb of the stock,making contact and becoming the rear sight of the shotgun.
As the shotgun is mounted, lean into it, causing your support side knee to bend further, until you are ALMOST overbalanced. This provides some give to the recoil and speeds recovery. Make sure the butt is fully in the pocket, no butt showing over the top of the shoulder, but not anchored well below the top either. Make sure you're using the the support hand to not only hold the weapon up, but are actually pressuring the butt into the pocket with a slight rearward push.
Now, when you're ready, take the safety off and fire. Notice how the kick is tolerable and you move back into firing position almost automatically. If you need to cycle the action of a pump,this can occur as the recoil cycle is happening, losing no time for repeat shots. After firing, reapply the safety, and reload as needed,keeping the muzzle pointed safely downrange.
As you get better at this, you can progress to heavier loads, but do it by stages. Turkey loads and heavy slugs need great form and control.
And you may worry about looking silly bending that front knee that much, but you won't hurt."
Some of you might recognize it, it was posted on here many years ago.
Big Dog 1955; I shoot a Super Full Remchoke, at 16 or yardage. I did buy an IM this winter, might pop that in for 16.
