Any trap shooters on here?

[billybob19606]

...or any other type of clay target game shooters?

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

I used to shoot and compete a bit too. Trap is for assholes skeet is for guys who rowed in college, sporting clays is about all I can stand now with a little 5 stand thrown in.

[m4gery]

I used to shoot trap a lot. I shot my first round of skeet this summer and probably won't be going back to trap too often.

[anthony1]

Me and my brother shoot shoot clays 2-3 times a year.

[meausoc]

I used to shoot and compete a bit too. Trap is for assholes skeet is for guys who rowed in college, sporting clays is about all I can stand now with a little 5 stand thrown in.

You definitely called this one right. I recently got into trap shooting and attend a local shoot every Thursday night. Most of the people there are fairly nice but the members of the club that host the shoot are assholes. The lead FUDD threatened to remove my 11 year old daughter from the line because the Benelli SBE that she was shooting had some cycling problems due to her shooting 1oz. loads. He did not say anything to the other two fellows whose fancy over/unders kept jamming due to bad reloads. Now I would rather just shoot with my daughter and our manual thrower. Too bad because she was getting pretty good at shooting trap.

[Gutshot John]

I don't shoot trap, those people get pretty intense and it's not very social. Heaven forbid if you don't keep up with their rhythm.

Skeet is more fun and a bit more relaxed.

Five stand is more challenging and more fun. Sporting Clays is my favorite, as someone told me "it's golf with a shotgun" except I hate golf but love the challenge and different target presentations of sporting clays.

I'm actually going to shoot my first official sporting clays competition tomorrow as a benefit for Wounded Warrior.

[Belmont31R]

Trap is very fun, and there are different sub genres that may or may not appeal to you. I shot trap as a teenager, and competed across the SW us. I have won western zone ATA championships for my class and age group, shot locally in non ATA "fun leagues", and some informal sporting clays and such.



The thing with screwing people's rythms up is because its a big mental game, and its pretty cool when you get on a squad where all the guys are on the same note. It sucks when you get someone there who is fumbling around with their gun and isn't keeping up. Also sucks if you keep getting hit with empties from someones auto loader. Nothing like getting ready to shoot, and an empty pings off your arm, gun, side, and even your face/head. Its HIGHLY disrespectful in competition trap to either slow the pace down or do something that screws up your squad mates. In high level competition you will get lots of people who run 100/100 or 200/200 in singles, and causing a "pro" to shoot 199/200 would waste their time coming to the match especially when they have so much money invested and on the line.


Local non competitive ranges can be very fun. I started shooting trap at a local two field range. We had turkey shoots, fun leagues where we kept score, monthly shoots that were tracked for the year, and the club bought the winners pretty nice buckles. We also shot a lot of games for cash like 10 per person, and the winner takes the pot minus a couple dollars per person for the clays. I used to be able to clean up on the games, and pay for a months worth of shooting. These were games shooting from 30-40 yards out with the machine set on high. Used to handload special buffered 3" loads with number 6 shot for this, and it was very fun. In the winter we would huddle around a burn barrel for warmth between matches. We had a couple asses in the club but we made sure the board was not controlled by them, and made it clear if you didn't like how things were run you could go shoot somewhere else. SoCal was great for trap because we had at least 3 ATA shoots a month within an hour and a half plus the local club mentioned was 15 minutes away.


I started with an 870 express and ended up with a Beretta 682X Gold Trap. You don't have to start with a Perazzi....


Regards to the other disciplines I am sure they are fun and you should shoot whatever is the most fun to you. ATA trap is definately for the stone cold crew, and of course its going to piss people off trying to shoot a competition when you have someone on your squad not prepared to be on the range or keep up with the pace. Mentally you are going to screw people up if you have issues or your autoloader shells are bouncing off other squad mates.

[JohnnyC]

I've shot trap occasionally, but my preference is skeet. I've never really had any desire to compete. I do my serious shooting with a rifle, skeet is just a fun way to go out and have some fun. I could easily see how the pros could get upset shooting trap with someone who's fumbling around, but I just can't take any shooting sport so seriously as to cause stress. It's supposed to be fun, never forget that. It's sporting for a reason.

I'd like to try sporting clays just because it's different and seems less monotonous that either skeet or trap. I definitely couldn't shoot more than four or five rounds of skeet without needing to grab some coffee and breakfast afterwards.

[Belmont31R]

Well thats why I liked shooting in two different genres of formal competition and informal local stuff. We could screw around and shoot games at the local range, play for money, and no one took anything too seriously beyond bragging rights for a week or two.


ATA you have people who take it very seriously, rules are rules, and I don't really think it would be a good idea to go out there and not know what you are doing or know the rules (both said and unsaid). You can always shoot at an informal range like I started out on, and shoot practice. Most ATA ranges only hold matches one weekend a month so you have 3 out of 4 weekends a month to shoot on your own. No reason to go out there screwing everyone else up or not being able to keep up with the pace.

FWIW most ATA shooters I knew where good guys, and welcomed new shooters. With anything theres the couple asses who would chew you out for things but that was not the norm. I went out there as a teenager, and they were very welcome of me because they knew its a dying sport, and most of the shooters were older. Shotgun sports always needs new people to keep things going. I don't mean to make things sound like newbies would be unwelcome just that until you get the hang of things informal matches or clubs would probably be the best course of action, and even can be some of the funnest types of trap.

[luckybychoice]

and sporting clays,i agree that getting into the rythm is important of trap,i am fortunate i guess that i am in a good group of guys,mostly retired LEO,FBI,and construction guys like me.I don't golf,Trap and clays are a great couple of days of the week,i to started with a Remington 870 and currently shoot a Mossberg Silver reserve in 12 gauge,nothing fancy,my money is spent on shells and range time.Oops old thread,guess i'm an asshole.

[Kain]

I shoot trap, been shooting since about 2003-2004, there abouts. Down here, at least, things tend to be a little laid back as long as things with the machines run smooth and the scorekeepers know what they are doing. Use to be really good, with price increase on shells and college and then work I haven't had as much time to compete. Took a bunch of awards when I was shooting heavy, including State Singles Champion back in 2007, while shooting as part of the then AIM program, kind of shut down a petition at the time to run the youth shooters out of the state shoot for Georgia, which I thought was bullshit. Most of the guys I shoot with are good guy though, don't know how many times I have seen guys break guns and one of the guys I know go running to their truck to pull out a spare gun for the guy, and these are also the guys who run the state Amateur Trap program. Have run into my fair share of pricks though, but that is with any sport in all honesty. Trying to get my Coach certification so I can help coach my local 4H.

And you don't need a high dollar shotgun either, I ran my first 100 straight with a Ruger Red Label and as a sub junior with a 196 was only 2 birds away from State champion at the time. Seen a lot of guys who have won with 870s, still want an 870, though I want the police model to add to the inventory.

[blasternank]

I thought trap was fun til I tried skeet and that was great until I did sporting clays and game over. I can still shoot skeet and enjoy it but trap really bores me. I'll shoot it with buddies occasionally but that's it now.

[ache_d]

If it is orange and fly in any form in the skies over N WV or S PA I'll shoot it! Already about 1k rounds through my shotgun in the past 3 months. Love it! Though I hate when you get a trapper who rubs your sack all day trolling for a tip...But when you mix your good buddies and shotguns bookended by some clays you can't ever go wrong!!

[ache_d]

but I don't like to shoot "informally" much. I need my score card to reference my quality, or lack there of, through out the day.

[OldState]

IMHO, the shotgun sports are the most fun one can have with a firearm. I like them all but the have the most access to trap and skeet. I wouldn't say trap bores me but I prefer skeet. Also, with skeet I can bring my Dad or a friend that doesn't have a shotgun as he can shoot mine.

Both of my clubs have very very serious clays cliques and all of them are very nice. I first started shooting skeet with my best friend and the hardcore regular guys always asked if we wanted to join them. They would then basically give us free lessons for as long as we wanted.

Too many people in the tactical crowd like to bash the traditional shooting sports which is sad. After seeing some of the tactical/practical guys shoot I started thinking it was out of jealousy. Most suck. The Bullseye and CMP shooters often out shoot the regulars at IDPA and our carbine/military rifle matches.

[Kain]

I've heard and seen a lot of bashing of shooting sports, but one thing I always look at with the 4H club I came out of and work with is that its a way to bring a kid into shooting that teaches them to be safe, smart about guns, and gives them a good stepping stone as well as the ability, if they do stay with it, to make connections and network because you do get to meet people from all walks of life. Besides, trap and skeet are good for basic training at shooting moving targets and if the shooter is smart it should be able to translate to shooting targets while on the move by teaching them to us a negative lead, at least in theory. At any rate, someone with some shooting experience, regardless of what that is, is going to be easier to train to shoot other platforms well, since they do have basic principles of trigger control, sight alignment, stance, weapon fit understood and they aren't scared of the weapon which is the biggest issue I see when trying to teach anyone now a days to shoot.