Trap Shooting

Articles 

Trap 

When it comes to trap you either love it or you hate it.

Dedicated trap shooters – the folks who live and breathe the stuff – have it down to a science. Even more than skeet shooters, trap aficionados have been known to make the most minute tweaks to their guns between rounds because the targets didn’t break hard enough. 

And the very same folks wouldn’t even consider shooting skeet, sporting clays or 5-stand – not wanting to taint the cosmic balance of their trapshooting consciousness.

So, what the heck is it about trap? 

Unlike skeet, the trap shooter is essentially a lone wolf. 

Whereas with skeet you can smoke and joke with your shooting pals as you congregate around each station, when you’re shooting trap it is only you at the station. The other shooters tend to become mere annoyances – hence the blinders worn by dyed-in-the-wool trap shooters on the stems of their shooting glasses.

When you call “pull” in trap, it seems to resonate through the entire brain cavity of the trap shooter.

But it wasn’t always that way with trap. It was less clinical — a genuine blood sport.

Trapshooting can be traced back to England in the late 1700s. The earliest targets were live pigeons, released from cages called traps. In the1800s, trap shooting migrated from the auld sod to the new world – when live pigeon shoots were staged across our great land.

Trap historians will point to the year 1831 as the first American live-bird trap tournament at the Sportsmen's Club of Cincinnati. 

By 1866 trap shooters were trying to move away from birds to inanimate targets – perhaps as a means to standardize the sport. Man-made targets removed the vagaries of a thinking target – an important development in emphasizing the shooters’ skills. After all, if all the targets are the same, well there goes about 1,000 excuses as to why you missed it.

Over the next 15 years or so, target material evolved from glass to ceramics. In hindsight it would be easy to see that glass targets could never have the sailing dynamics of a clay saucer. But fortunately, the fathers of trap figured it out – or else we’d still be shooting at glass globes filled with feathers (really).

The trap house is 16 yards from the line of 5 stations.

When you walk up to the line and call “pull” randomized targets are thrown at an angle not to exceed 22 degrees. The targets fly at about 41 mph. In a perfect world, the height at which the targets are thrown is a constant 10 feet higher than the trap house.

Five targets are thrown at each of the five stations (using up the entire box of 25 shells). Each shooter takes one shot, then the next shooter on the right has their turn, etc. until a total of five are taken at each station. After each shooter has shot five rounds at a station, they move to the right – with the shooter at the last station (#5) walking to station #1 at the end of the round. 

Standard trap is probably the only shotgun sport that uses a single-barrel configuration (since you’re only permitted one shot per target). There are exceptions, which you’ll see in a moment. Trap guns have high ribs designed to smash rising targets.

To make the game tougher, you can move further back from the 16-yard line in a game called handicap trap. By its definition, handicap trap positions you 19 to 27 yards from the trap house. It’s the same 5-station rotation only further back. 

Now it’s time to get out your O/U trap gun.

We start getting into two-shot trap with Double Trap. That’s where you stand at the 16-yard line. Two targets are thrown simultaneously along set paths of about 35 degrees left and right and you have to nail them both.

Wobble Trap is also a two-shot game. In Wobble, the targets are thrown at extreme angles – screaming to the right and left and launching skyward at a jet-fighter trajectory. They also oscillate or wobble. 

Want an even bigger challenge? Try shooting Wobble from the skeet positions. The angles become even harder and the distance from the trap house grows as you move to the center – peaking at station #4 when you’re about 27 yards from the trap house. 

But that’s child’s play compared to Olympic Bunker Trap. According to the rules set by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF), you get to shoot a bird launched from the trap house at 76 mph using a 7/8-ounce load – which is anywhere from 1/8 to ¼ of an ounce lighter than the load used in other trap games.

The Olympic target is harder, engineered to handle the higher target speed. It’s also slightly smaller than the standard American trap target.

Let’s see…fast, strong targets using a small load. Why not add another person to the squad and spread the pain?

Instead of five stations, Olympic Bunker Trap features a squad of six shooters who must adhere to strict guidelines about moving between stations.

Rather than shoot five shots at each station, Olympic Bunker Trap requires you to take one shot per station before rotating to the next pad.

Fifteen trap machines throw the exact same targets to ensure consistency among competitors. Each shooter gets two lefts, two rights and one straightaway.

So you may have gathered by now that trap shooters are a tough crowd. That’s why it’s important to follow the rules of etiquette.

First, come properly equipped. Don’t be one of those bozos who places his box of shells at his feet and is always bending down to retrieve one. Make sure you have a pouch.

Don’t pick up spent hulls until after the entire round is over. As you may have gathered, less movement is better when it comes to trap.

And speaking of trap, you’d be well advised to keep yours shut while a game is in progress. Trap shooters really like to concentrate hard. No idle chatter, please. 

If you’re using an auto-loader, make sure your ejected hull doesn’t hit the trap shooter next to you (or worse ding their $15,000 Silver Seitz). Get yourself a snap-on ejector guard (they’re cheap).

Don’t walk between stations with a loaded gun, even if your O/U is cracked open. Only load your gun when it’s nearing your turn to shoot.

Basically, be a good citizen and the trap gods will smile favorably upon you. 

If trap shooting sounds like a visit to the dentist give it a try before you reach a conclusion. It’s a great sport for getting into the zone and letting the world recede for the next 25 shots.

• Shooters tend to believe the pros are geniuses with special privileged talents, and it’s true, but so have you the inner genius within. It only needs coaxing and development to bring it forth but you must mentally be open to it.
• Genius is not just knowing more than everyone else nor is it a matter of privileged natural high intelligence. It is purely the ability to break out of the rut of closed-cycle thinking and generating ideas. This breaks the old bad habits and allow you to begin to learn through experimentation. Example: To find a better way to break the target for there is more than one way to do so.
• Genius thinking is not rigid, it is flexible and will readily leap from one idea to another. In this way you begin to make connections other shooter’s cannot see. Experimentation of trying new techniques expands the thought process which allows you a deeper insight to the game. Suddenly, you begin to see valid solutions where you saw no way out of the problem before. Practice sessions now become technically oriented and experimental. You begin to see what you are doing right and wrong.
• Geniuses do not think small, but go beyond the tried and true to develop a new way of doing things. They even question “conventional wisdom” and find much of it myth and in error fundamentally. Begin to question what you have been told for many years and look at the flip side of the coin, “Is it possible I have been mislead?” This will open a new dimension of thinking for you and from this point you learn the inside truths.
• Practice tip: Go to post #3 and break the target a different way than you always have. You will be convinced there is a better way! Try shooting it faster, slower, put more or less distance between you and the target before pulling the trigger, see if you can put the sight bead on different locations and still break it. Can you still break the target using the sight beads? Try eye pre-focus techniques before calling for the target. Try different eye and gun hold points. Which of these experimental techniques make it the easiest to kill the target? Try various combinations to discover the formula for that post! Write it down on paper as “Plan Post #3″ and reflect on it before shooting that post again.
• You can’t add ideas to a mind that already knows it all! A closed mind knows nothing but what it sees. It has no ability to see within or beyond that which is hidden from view. Genius is simply opening up oneself to “new ideas” and “new concepts” and be willing to explore them to see what develops. Thinking without action is useless.
• Thinking like a pro is simply becoming an expert novice. Read that again. Be willing to learn the basics all over again. Have the courage to question all that you see and all that you do. Be willing to allow the myths you have learned over the years to pass away in order to discover what you don’t know. Learn a new way to do things. Break out of the slump with new knowledge!
• Since you have read this article everyday you have had small ideas pass into your mind. These are moments of insight and they must be captured before they vaporize. Carry a pen and paper with you or tape recorder and record these jewels of wisdom. Every genius who ever lived and modern day inventor carries a pencil and paper! Inspirations are wispy thought-energies floating about in the Universe. It’s why two inventors will invent the same product in opposite parts of the world simultaneously. The patent office is full of such coincidences. The knowledge is there to those who listen to those small insightful thoughts. Most people simply let these thoughts pass them by. Harvest your flashes of brilliance! When an idea surfaces, jot it down and put it to practice and see how you can apply it.
• Be prepared to work. Your ideas will require hard work and may likely take years to master the final form.
• Be stubborn and single-minded and unswaying in your belief of your idea. If the idea makes sense you can make it work. Example: Canting a shotgun is frowned upon in trap shooting but you an make it work! Be willing to challenge conventional wisdom and prove it wrong. Example: Using the shotgun’s sight beads to shoot targets is also frowned upon, but ask yourself, “How can precision be developed if nothing is being aimed?” “Certainly, something is being aimed for if there were no aim shot/target alignment could never intersect.” “What is secret to aim the shot so I can break the target with mechanical efficiency?” “Is eye/hand coordination truly the secret or the demise of many?” “What are the secrets the pros use?”
• When something does not work do not simply discard it. Explore further to find the reason why. Perhaps the theory is correct but the application is wrong. Try a new technique to see if it can be incorporated into another idea. Keep working on the problem until the solution is found to make it work!
• Ask for advice from knowledgeable sources. Geniuses always ask for advice. They explore the ideas of many and formulate new ideas from this pool of knowledge. Example: If you are experiencing problems in your shooting ask professional shooter’s questions. Don’t be shy and reserved. Ask you you will receive.
• Give your knowledge freely and more shall come to you. Hoard it and it will consume you with frustration. What goes around comes around so be helpful to other people, and people will come to your aid. The pros share there knowledge between each other and among close friends and some give formal shooting lessons. The law of give and take is a real law with real power that can produce real results…good or bad! Giving gives more. Taking takes all then leaves you with nothing in the end for there is no one left to give.
• Stop being a pessimist in your thinking and guard your words. Doubt creates more doubt and it will show up in your shooting performance and scores. Be realistic, yet positive. If you keep saying, “I am ill” or “I am going to miss targets as usual in this big event” it will happen as you have decreed! The pro understands the power of his/her thoughts and takes great caution to correct negative thoughts with positive affirmations.
• The solutions to your shooting problems are already within you. The answers are there and only need be explored with an open mind. The more ideas you shut out the less genius you will experience. The saying, “It doesn’t take a genius to shoot trap targets” will have to be revised. It does require genius thinking.

14 Trap Shooting Lessons 

• Inspect your gun and clothing. Make sure no gun settings have changed, point of impact, comb, buttplate, etc. The shoulder padding on your shooting vest can imperceptibly alter the length of pull over time creating shoulder-crouching and a misalign swing. Wear the same shoes you use in competition as you do in practice. Wearing different shoes can alter your stance by adding or detracting height that will alter your gun hold point and defeat learned muscle memory. Inspect your shooting glasses. Prescription lenses should be updated yearly for corrections.
• Before you shoot, take a ten second visualization of calling for the target swinging smoothly and seeing a perfect sight picture and the target exploding with authority. Visualization is a powerful technique professionals in all sports disciplines use to reach perfection. It is instructing the mind what the desired result is to be; a command to perform to maximum ability. If you miss a target? Replay the shot by visualizing a perfect shot, so you won’t miss the next target.
• Watch the prior squad’s targets, tracking them smoothly with your eyes before you shoot. This will stimulate your eye muscles to focus your vision and prevent lazy eye syndrome on the first trap you shoot. It will successfully import target behavior patterns to your subconscious mind increasing performance.
• Observe the concentricity of the trap house in relation to the station posts. The trap house should be centered as observed from post #3. This is one of the trap shooting secrets professional shooters are fully aware of and many shooters are not. It results in shooting traps perfect and then blunder on the misalign traps into a losing score. To the discerning eye and with experience you’ll discover the trap house and the stations are slightly out of alignment. The trap house may be shifted to the left or right of the stations. Adjust your stance position otherwise the target will exit at a strange angle and you will miss the target. If the house is shifted left, adjust your foot placement a bit left so you are standing square to the trap house. Do not shift your gun or upper body left or right to compensate, shift your stance so your swing will remain in perfect alignment. This one tip alone will serve to gain you many high scores!
• Before shooting a competition beware of the practice trap! Amazingly, these traps are not always set to competition settings and may throw soft slow targets and targets with a solid face. The traps can be out of alignment too. It is good to warm up at a practice trap, but only if you are aware that the event traps you shoot may throw faster targets and targets with shallow razorblade angles.
• Look at your targets before you shoot them! In competition shooting events walk to your assigned traps to detect targets traveling in variations from trap to trap. Trap one could be perfect, but trap two the targets may be flying lower or higher, left or right of normal. This is caused by improper trap alignment or settings. Setting can be changed to throw a legal target, but alignment cannot be changed at this time. Compensate by adjusting your gun and eye hold positioning on the trap house. Reading these two books Trap Shooting Secrets and Precision Shooting — The Trap Shooter’s Bible will give you detailed instructions to compensate and resolve many trap shooting problems.
• Have a sense of inner authority within when you step on post. Be confident and assured that your visualization exercise will come to pass. If in doubt, visualize again right now the target exploding. Stand firmly with confidence and control holding the gun with absolute authority. When it is your turn to shoot, shoulder the gun with intimate authority so you and the gun feel as one unit. It is important to feel the gun as being a part of you, not just an object in hand. You and the gun are now one and the gun can not do anything without your command.
• To solidify this one on one connection with the gun, control cheek pressure to the comb. This pressure must be felt to obtain shot consistency. If you apply too little or too much cheek pressure the eye/rib alignment will be altered resulting is hit and miss shooting; shooting above or below the target. Cheek placement must also be consistent. If your cheek is placed a tad to the left or right will allow the gun to shoot away from the target you see; shooting to the left or right. You now have learned that seeing the target and eye/bead alignment can be dead on, yet you can still miss the target all due to improper cheek pressure and placement. Feeling cheek / comb pressure is extremely important to maintain proper eye/rib alignment and for repeatable accurate shots!
• Pay attention to the squad rhythm. Is it fast, slow, smooth or choppy? Mentally you must make adjustments to your own setup pacing, not alter your set up timing, but to be “aware” that an irregular squad’s timing can sneak into your setup forcing you to hurry up. A fast shooting squad should be avoided. If you can’t avoid it, then make sure you maintain your own internal and external timing. forget about everyone else and just start your timing factor when the prior shooter calls for the target. This will reset your setup timing to remain consistent. A slow and sloppy squad’s timing can be managed only when you are aware of the problem. Those who feel there is no problem will drop targets! Watching a shoot off you will see good shooters miss targets due to unfamiliar squad timing altering the shooter’s normal set up and timing. Awareness is concentration.
• Do not focus or mentally respond negatively to distractions. Gun jams, misfires, background noise is all part and parcel to the game. The moment you allow yourself to be distracted your score will suffer. Learn to block out distractions by listening and observing them, then they will no longer be distractions, just normal sounds and events.
• Pay attention of where the shooters on your squad are breaking the targets. If the shooters are breaking them quickly, be careful. If they are breaking them at strange or irregular distances from the trap, be careful. What’s the point here? Know that the squad can have a powerful influence on a shooter that is not totally focused on natural timing factors. Maintaining control of your set up and where you normally break the target must be maintained. If you slip here you’ll be influenced by the squad and start breaking targets sooner or later than you usually do. Lost targets will result.
• Control your breathing. Take a relaxed deep breath prior to calling for the target. Incorporate this into your set up routine. Oxygen supplies a burst of energy to the eyes which will allow you to see the target sooner and with increased clarity. It also helps to calm the mind and body. Controlled breathing will help you whenever you become tense.
• Raise your eyebrows just before or when you call for the target. If you look in the mirror you may see your eyelid covering the iris of your eye. This happens to a severe degree when under stress when the forehead tenses and compresses downward like when you are shooting your last trap or in a stressful shoot off. Twenty percent of light gathering vision can be lost. Vision reduction will make the targets appear dim and fast flying with trailing comet tails and will create a surprising number of missed targets. Eyes wide, than call. You will see an improvement in your shooting performance and whenever you are under tension if you incorporate the technique in your practice sessions now.
• Control emotions. The target you are shooting is only a target you have obliterated many times before. Place no association on the target assuming it has more value than all the other targets you have shot today. This means no counting targets. No mental imaginations of winning or losing if you can only hit this target. If you miss a target, learn to reset your mind that the miss never happened. This will help you avoid making corrections in a registered shoot. Flush the mind of emotion and shoot like a machine using the same precision techniques you learned in practice. Everyone misses targets. It just happens. Accept it. Overcorrecting leads to experimentation and more targets unnecessarily lost.