New Trap Gun

[dieselchief]

Winchester has their imported pump gun in a trap version. about 550, remington express trap are sold about the same. trap is shot one shell in the chamber, one shot at a time. you can easily pocket your empties with a pump. some clubs have a hit the ground rule it aint yours anymore.
...by the time you are good enough to shoot trap doubles and I am not, you will be giving out advice not asking for it. once again a trap gun of any configuration is where you need to start. skeet, sporting clays, upland birds, waterfowl different thing different tools.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

My advice is to buy a used quality gun for two reasons other than you get what you pay for. The first is you might find out trap isn't your thing and you can easily sell it and move on The second is you find out that trap is your thing and you can easily sell it to buy your next shotgun....lol.

 

[eastbank]

i tried useing my ithaca 37 at trap and it was not as easy to use as a win-rem-moss pump. shells in and out with ease.

 

[Scribner]

Trap guns are somewhat different than other shotguns because they are built to help hit a rising target. skeet, 5 stand, & sporties are shot with a gun more like a hunting shotgun.

As a Midwesterner, I see used 1100’s - not trap 1100’s - for about $400. I bought a barely used 1100 Sporting used with 5 chokes & a spare barrel for $500. I see used Wingmasters for about $250 and smaller gauge is more. At those prices, they do move quickly. I have only ever held one used 870 TB. The shop was asking $400. I don’t shoot trap enough for a dedicated trap gun.

if you drift away from here, on dedicated trap forums they rate Mossbergs as good for 70,000 rounds & 870’s for 250,000 rounds, but many outlive that.

 

[mokin]

Side notes:

There is a guy on here that shoots trap very well with his Maverick 88.

I tried that once. I hit the first target and missed the next 12 or so....

Occasionally a guy will show up with a tacticool shotgun and do very well. It's mostly about having fun..

 

[Blue Brick]

I tried that once. I hit the first target and missed the next 12 or so....

Occasionally a guy will show up with a tacticool shotgun and do very well. It's mostly about having fun..

 

[entropy]

Where are you guys finding 1100s under $550?

You're on the wrong side of the state. Out here on the Mn border. $550 will get you a nice 1100 around here, I find them for less, but either the wood needs attention, or they need a rebuild.

I think you're going to shop the used market to even stay close to your budget.
The classic trapguns dont come cheap.
I coach a HS trap team. Some kids have appeared with tristar guns. They have performed well but (I think)not made in USA .

Used model 12s, 870s, 1100s, A390s, bt99s 4es, are $1k or close to it......but, will be hold your money together.

TriStars are made in Turkey; they have a reputation (well deserved) for not holding up in the long run. They also have an adjustable comb that has drop. Adjustable combs, or any non-adjustable Trap comb should be parallel.

One of my friends' sons tied him Thur. night with a 21 with his BPS, and another friend's daughter kicked her Dad's butt with a 24 with her Grandpa's old Ithaca 37. She had a sore shoulder after 3 or 4 rounds, though. I have offered her the use of my 1100, but she insists on using her old Ithaca 37.

 

[entropy]

I tried that once. I hit the first target and missed the next 12 or so....

Occasionally a guy will show up with a tacticool shotgun and do very well. It's mostly about having fun..

I shot Trap for a year and a half with this.......


Had a 21.5 avg the first year. Got the 1100 Comp the second year, upped the avg. 22.8.

 

[kidneyboy]

You're on the wrong side of the state. .

Every so often I think that's true

 

[DocRock]

Remington 1100 that you have handled and that someone who knows what they are doing has worked with you and said fits you. Respectfully, if this is your first shotgun, you don't know what constitutes good fit. Poor fit will produce poor results. Period.

 

[entropy]

i hear about top scores with field shotguns, single-pump-semi at the clays games, but do not see that at the clubs i shoot at 3 times a week. but it would be the exception, not the rule if they do. a man who can do well with a field shotgun at trap-skeet-sc,s, would indeed be a good shot in my mind.

Ever hear of Rudy Etchen and Vic Reinders? Rudy shot 870's for years winning the Grand more than once with one. Vic shot a Remington 31, both shot Singles, Handicap and Doubles with them. When I started shooting Trap in 1977, the predominant guns were The Winchester Model 12 and the Remington 870 and 1100. You saw a lot more Perazzis and Kreighoffs at the Grand or State shoots, but your average club had one or two shooters with them. Our club had one guy that had a Ljutic (not the gun I shot back then, he wouldn't let anyone touch it) and one had a Remington 3200. (Precursor to the Kreighoff K32) One bought a brand new model form Browning, called the BT-99.

i tried useing my ithaca 37 at trap and it was not as easy to use as a win-rem-moss pump. shells in and out with ease.

Both the BPS and the Ithaca 37 are easy to load, but you have to know the trick. Both the boy and girl I mentioned in post #32 have no problem loading their bottom feeders. Nor do I when I shoot my 37.

 

[George P]

Are you planning on shooting with any degree of regularity? The cost of ammo and targets will quickly exceed the price of the gun, so buy once, cry once. If you still insist on a pump, I would go with a 870 WINGMASTER in trap model format, not the cheaper Express and definitely NOT a field model.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

The 870 Wingmaster Trap is a beautiful gun. With that said, I don't want one or any other pump gun because I like to shoot doubles and a pump would lower my scores. Sure, I have seen some good doubles pump shooters, but I probably wouldn't be one.

 

[cfullgraf]

Anyone can compete in any of the clay games with a budget priced shot gun. The issue is with the reliability of the shotgun.

The fit of the shotgun with the shooter is important for good scores. The high end shot guns have this adjustment built into the price while bargaing priced shotguns including the fitting include the cost in in different ways.

For the casual shooter in clay games, the choice of a good shotgun is considered between a good reliable competition gun versus a good affordable shotgun. One has to decide what is important.

In my case, I shoot skeet with my Citori Grade III Skeet gun, with sub grade tubes. I shoot mostly 20 gauge as I do as well with the 20 gauge as I would do with 12 gauge. My gun has had probably 10,000 or so rounds thorough it and I am concerned that I may have a failure with it.

Back to what I posted earlier, serious competitors in clay games put alot of ammunition through their guns. One has to decide what they may shoot at clay games and purchase a firearm to be able to handle the ammunition load.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Concerned with a failure with a Citori in 10k rounds?....That's just getting broken in.

 

[eastbank]

yes my bt-100 has at least 45,000 rounds thu it, factory-reloads with the only thing done to it is cleaning. to me the ithaca-browning pumps under loaders are great hunting shotguns. but i don,t remember seeing more than a dozen at the clays games in close to 50+ years.

 

[George P]

In my case, I shoot skeet with my Citori Grade III Skeet gun, with sub grade tubes. I shoot mostly 20 gauge as I do as well with the 20 gauge as I would do with 12 gauge. My gun has had probably 10,000 or so rounds thorough it and I am concerned that I may have a failure with it.

At ~90K rounds, my Gti was popping open once in a while so some new firing pins and springs and it was GTG for less than $100 (and even cheaper if you do it yourself), Gun now approaching the ~350K mark and looking like it might need it again; while not opening on firing, the top lever is creeping closer to 6:30. Bought that gun when being discontinued in 1994 for $1000........when you factor those hundreds of thousand of rounds AND targets, you're looking at over $250k spent over 35 years.............

 

[Jim Watson]

A rabbit gun with a stick on or strap on comb will get you started.
A real trap profile stock, probably a Monte Carlo or an adjustable comb and butt stock would set you up at least for singles and handicap for a long time. Boyds has an adjustable stock for $175, which ain't much in that game.

 

[cfullgraf]

Concerned with a failure with a Citori in 10k rounds?....That's just getting broken in.

You and George P are right.

Actually, my Citori may have a few more rounds than 10k, but not many. I just feel like I'm on borrowed time even though I know the Brownings do well.

Things will get better when I have a spare skeet gun. I have a new 725 Skeet that I'm planning to send off for tubes in the near future. Then I'll have a spare.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

As long as the lever is to the right of the serial number, you are a long way from a rebuild. I'd keep a set of springs and firing pins on hand and repair as needed.

 

[StationOps]

Thanks for all the replies. I understand buy once, cry once, but, still, I won't be getting a Remington 1100 Competition ($1150 about). Some stores have Remington 1100 Competitions for $499, but they don't have the adjustable stock.

Leaning towards a Remington 870 Trap gun, but will take my time, shoot some more. The Boyd's adjustable stock option as an add-on after shooting for a bit appeals to me. The longer I wait, the more shotguns will come back into the market.

What about the Remington 1187? The internet says its a minor upgrade to the 1100. Is it used in trap?

 

[entropy]

Thanks for all the replies. I understand buy once, cry once, but, still, I won't be getting a Remington 1100 Competition ($1150 about). Some stores have Remington 1100 Competitions for $499, but they don't have the adjustable stock.

Leaning towards a Remington 870 Trap gun, but will take my time, shoot some more. The Boyd's adjustable stock option as an add-on after shooting for a bit appeals to me. The longer I wait, the more shotguns will come back into the market.

What about the Remington 1187? The internet says its a minor upgrade to the 1100. Is it used in trap?

Not as a Trap Specific gun. It is made as a field gun; the improvement was to the gas system to (supposedly) be able to have 100% functioning with shells ranging from light Trap and Skeet loads to Magnum duck and goose loads. You'll see guys shoot 11-87's for Trap, but they are their regular field guns.

 

[rust collector]

I will always go for a solid used gun over new if it fits and functions well. Berettas are built to last, and the a300 is built in the US.

 

[Bill M.]

Easy question. Just buy a Rem Classic Trap pump. Look until you find one.

 

[v35]

A guy showed up at my trap club last year with a gun so beat up none of us could make out what model it was. He bought it at a hardware store for $80. As I recall it was magazine fed? Might have been a bolt action also.

Anyway he shot a better score than anyone else on the squad that day.