First Round of Trap

[Spinner]

Well, after many weekends where I intended to get out and try some clay games but just never seemed to get around to it, I finally got my bum inot gear and visited my local gun club.

The club has 6 skeet fields, 6 trap fields and an olympic trench set up. They are restricted in the hours they can shoot because although the club was established 20 something years ago in a rural area, subdivision of farms into small blocks has encroached on the gun club. Practice is available from 9 am to 3 pm on Saturdays and from 12 noon on Wednesdays until sundown (which in summer with daylight savings time can be around 8:30 pm).

A friend (Neil) who has just got back into shooting trap in February after a 20 year absence said he'd meet me at the club and walk me through it. We met in the club carpark at 1 pm on Saturday and after buying 50 targets and a couple of boxes of ammunition (28 gram (1 oz) trap loads of #7 shot) we wandered off to #1 trap field where a small squad were finishing up a round.

Neil gave me some pointers while we watched the squad finish up. Two C grade shooters were waiting for the next round so I joined them to make up a squad of 3. Neil worked the trap release for the squad and stood behind me to coach me. With three shooters my turn seemed to come around quite quickly and I had little time to think about what was going on or what I had to do. I just did what Neil told me to do - stood comfortably with my feet pointed in the directions he advised, held the gun where he suggested, looked where he told me to look and shot from instinct mostly.

I used a field gun, a Bettinsoli O/U with fixed chokes marked mod and full. The gun fits me reasonably well and didn't malfunction at all during the round. It has a solid plastic butt plate rather than a soft recoil pad, but I didn't really notice the recoil at all (until towards the end of the second round).

I absolutely dusted some of the clays but there was a moderate breeze from right to left which meant I had to read the targets and helped contribute to some misses. All in all I thought I did quite well though. I shot 20 out of 25 targets (though granted some were just chipped).

Of course my second round was nowhere near as good as I rushed shots, misread targets and generally forgot to listen to my coach .... I only shot 16/25.

I think I'm hooked. Its winter here so its getting dark by the time I get home from work ..... so shooting on a Wednesday is out at the moment, but I think I'll be back up there on Saturday for another couple of rounds. Come summer I'll be able to shoot on Wednesdays as well. Neil says he's happy to coach me ... he reckons its helping him with his basics as he's on the verge of breaking back into A grade. I got to score two rounds and release for him for one round as well as learnt how to load the trap. I think I've just found a great way to spend some time in the weekends (as if I needed something else to occupy my time).

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[sm]

Well...I tried to tell you [ remember that email l-o-n-g ago?] can't say you were not warned? Well in a way you did...I suggested skeet...oh well some folks I swear.

So what is this deal about Neil borrowing your copy of Brister's book...what I swear...you mean to tell me an old shotgunner still learned something from that "older" publication?

I better mark my calendar and lay down. Not used to hearing something I suggested worked...two in same dealie...oh my.

Hey I am estastic for you my friend, I really am. You made my day Sir- thanks!

I think for most folks a modified and full on a O/U is fine. Neil may be that good with Full and extra Full.

Humm...you shoot his 101...don't come fussing at me...you will hear , once again..." I told you so".

 

[Spinner]

Hey sm

Yeah, an older shotgunner wanted to learn from Brister. I think he was impressed because I turned up with a small patch of tape on my glasses (having worked out I sometimes have cross-dominance switching problems) and I knew about what sort of chokes I'd need for trap, etc. I think after watching me bust 20 clays he figured that maybe there was something of value in this book that I'd read.

I'm still intending to write that review of Brister's book, but figured I'd better try it out first. I'm not sure Neil will let me tell anybody around here about Brister's book ..... I think he'll want to keep it a secret

And yeah, I know you told me "Get thee to a gun club!" ..... sometimes I just need a kick in the rear end to get me moving. I would have tried skeet, but Neil suggested trap might be easier for me to start with. I might convince him to show me skeet after the club champs (in a couple of weeks) when he's (hopefully) graded to A.

I noted with interest that the trap we were using can be set to oscillate vertically as well as horizontally ..... isn't that wobble trap? Might have to try that too. They occasionally run 5 stand as well ..... I might have to spend a bit of time at the gun club.

I might need to convince wifey that she needs to come too ..... 'cepting she'll probably shoot the pants off me. Might make buying more shotguns and ammo easier tho

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[Dave McCracken]

Thanks for making my day. Glad you had fun, now repeat as often as possible.

Try ALL the games, they're all fun.

 

[sm]

Spinner

I would recommend a recoil pad for that Bettinsoli O/U . Being fixed Choked Mod and Full is fine for trap. Sounds like the fit is good for you.

You'll need something more open choked for skeet, that 1400 have a Skeet choke? I know many guns and related items are severely restricted down there - but once again it is proven it is the shooter - not the shooting iron.

Two other older publications by Fred Misseldine I like, Score better at Trap and Score better at Skeet. I have perused the first, I had the second book and cannot find it. [I gotta find it]. These deal with mindset, to shooting stances for each station, hold points, and where to break the birds. There is a section "why you miss" the various stations and how to correct.

I recomended these three books to some folks Once upon a time [tm], these folks had used a shotgun to hunt - some. they wanted to learn defensive shotgunning, and get involved in shotgun games. Kicking, cussing and threatening to have my ears checked I had them read the book and shoot skeet. What does clay targets have to do with defensive shotgunning and shotgun games?

The light bulb came on, they later attended some real training schools and were much much better prepared than the other attendees. They have other books say from Awerbuck...funny how some basic stuff is across the board with the shotgun.

For starters they had guns that fit, they were intimately familar with their shotgun and had the stamina to stay shooting without getting tired and thus getting sloppy when mounting incorrectly to produce flinch and then recoil. Experience shooting with others and pressure of competing. It all adds up.

IF you get these Misseldine works...don't let the wife read before you do, women pick up on shooting quite well...us guys have to stick together on some stuff.

BA/UU/R and have fun my friend.

 

[Spinner]

I feel like I absolutely cannot fail with shotgun games .... I have so many coaches. Not only do I have somebody standing behind me being my physical coach but I have this wonderful resource and the services of these selfless cyber-coaches at my disposal as well. I just can't lose!

Thank you people for your encouragement and support.

Spinner

 

[Dave McCracken]

You've very welcome, Spinner. This is one wonderful resource indeed.