First trap shoot!

[GM.Chief]

This last monday (7/13), my wife and I decided we wanted to try shooting skeet. We had heard from several people, including some TGT members (yes DCortez, you can pat yourself on the back), how much fun it is. So we convinced my brother-in-law to watch our kids, grabbed the 870 12 ga. and a couple of boxes of shells and headed down to the local range, which in our case is the Gun Emporium in Conroe. The gun emporium has two seperate outdoor ranges (two skeet/trap ranges, and a 30 station (200 yard, i think) pistol/rifle range) Our only experience with the shotgun up to this point was putting around 30 shells apiece through it at a concrete block at this same range. For my wife it was one from the shoulder, at which point she decided she didn't like...lol and the other 29 from the hip, which she did like. For me it was 50/50 shoulder/hip. We had a blast and so were looking forward to doing more with the shotgun. My wife actaully found she enjoyed shooting the shotty more than her pistol (can we say power-trip...j/k), because with a pistol she wants to be perfect, with the shotty it's a little more point and shoot (her opinion).
Anyways, we show up at the shop and the man behind the counter proceeds to ask us some questions. "Have you ever shot here before?" Yes, but at the pistol/rifle side only.
"Do you want to shoot to shoot trap or skeet?" Ummm...yes (lol).
"Well, which one?" Don't know, what's the difference?
He then explained the differences of each to us. So we went with trap, figuring it would be a simpler and slightly easier start for us. He offered us some lessons, which we had declined (time and money), but he gave anyways and came down to the field to help us out. He stood beside us during the whole time and offered advice to help with our stance, our aim, etc. and was just all around extremely helpful and friendly. I will say that my wife is much more natural at it than I was (just don't tell her), hitting close to 60-70% where I was maybe 40-50%. However, after about 14 shots my wife decided to call it quits, the shotgun was tearing up her shoulder, so I shot my 25 plus her 11 left over shells. The next day she had a nice little purple bruise on her shoulder...lol.
All in all, we both had a really fun time and I would recommend this range to anyone, especially first timers. The next day I purchased a limbsaver recoil to slip on over the end of the 870 so maybe that will help out the next time we go. Either way, we both plan to return and do it again. And if there's one reason to love my job, it's that when I'm not gone offshore, I get to go shooting in the middle of the week when the range is empty, which is great since I'm not much for crowded areas or an audience...lol.

If you have never tried this before, do yourself a favor and go. You'll have a blast (pun intended).

And DC, please do me the favor of NOT letting my wife try your Benelli's...LOL

 

[81aggie]

Trap and skeet are a lot of fun, very challenging hitting those little moving targets. I got into it back in my high school/college days, got to where I'd score in the 20's pretty consistently. Never shot a perfect round though, station 4 gave me fits on the skeet field!

I'm hoping to get my 11 year old son into shooting clays, he's doing well with rifle and handguns and is showing an interest in shotgunning as well.

 

[DCortez]

And DC, please do me the favor of NOT letting my wife try your Benelli's...LOL

LOL, I'll bring the Winchester if she's there.


Glad you guys had a fun time!

 

[navyguy]

the ol' purple shoulder. The limb saver will help, but also try some of the lighter loads. Trap shooters generally shoot a bit heaver load, but from the 16 yard line, it doesn't make that much difference, except to the shoulder. Since you have a pump gun, something like Winlite from winchester, (the lightest) or Xtra-Lites Winchester will make a big difference.

 

[dee]

I had the pleasure of shooting trap two weeks ago for the first time in about 4 yrs. Was pretty happy shot a 20 on the first round then shot a 19 but from the 21 yardline and shot a 22 on the last round. I was very happy since I was also using off the shelf ammo instead of reloads.

 

[hkusp1]

im a big fan of the sporting clays out at elm fork there alot of fun in fact my first job ever was out at elm fork back when the old man owned it, plus it was a great learning experience it really cheeses off the people i go with when i sweep the score card

 

[TxEMTP69]

whats the difference between trap and skeet?

 

[cbigclarke]

okay.. im going right now..... well after i shower and put on clothes

 

[navyguy]

whats the difference between trap and skeet?

Quite a bit actually. The only similarity is you shoot clay targets (Birds) with shot guns and call pull when you want them to fly.

Trap is more of a long range game. All targets are going away from you, rising, and sometimes a bit left or right, but they all come from the same bunker on the ground in front of you. You use a tight choked 12 ga. The nearest in shooting line is 16 yards. That is, the bunker they are launched from (the clay targets),is 16 yards from where you are standing, and you'd be breaking them at 35-40 yards. (they move fast)

Skeet is more of a close range game. You use very open chokes. "skeet choke" or even no choke or "cylinder" are common. With skeet you move from station to station around a semi circle and "birds" come from a High house and a low house, and most are crossing shots. All usually broken within 30 yards. You've got to swing fast. Most of the shooting stations stations require only seconds to track the target and shoot. But, they fly exactly the same way every time, so after you've done it awhile, you know exactly how to track and when to fire.

Both games are challenging.

HTH

 

[Big country]

whats the difference between trap and skeet?

I don't know either. I know there is a difference I just don't know what it is.
Thanks Navy Guy, now I know.

 

[TxEMTP69]

Quite a bit actually. The only similarity is you shoot clay targets (Birds) with shot guns and call pull when you want them to fly.

Trap is more of a long range game. All targets are going away from you, rising, and sometimes a bit left or right, but they all come from the same bunker on the ground in front of you. You use a tight choked 12 ga. The nearest in shooting line is 16 yards. That is, the bunker they are launched from (the clay targets),is 16 yards from where you are standing, and you'd be breaking them at 35-40 yards. (they move fast)

Skeet is more of a close range game. You use very open chokes. "skeet choke" or even no choke or "cylinder" are common. With skeet you move from station to station around a semi circle and "birds" come from a High house and a low house, and most are crossing shots. All usually broken within 30 yards. You've got to swing fast. Most of the shooting stations stations require only seconds to track the target and shoot. But, they fly exactly the same way every time, so after you've done it awhile, you know exactly how to track and when to fire.

Both games are challenging.

HTH

Ahh K thanks.... I've shot clays before but was long time ago when I was in Boy Scouts. I have no clue what choke if any is in my shotgun, I know it came with several but no clue which is what... I need to do some research I guess.

 

[navyguy]

Ahh K thanks.... I've shot clays before but was long time ago when I was in Boy Scouts. I have no clue what choke if any is in my shotgun, I know it came with several but no clue which is what... I need to do some research I guess.

It should be stamped somewhere.

 

[GM.Chief]

Mine is labeled on the outside of the choke. You have to remove it to see which is in there.

 

[Big country]

Mine is labeled on the outside of the choke. You have to remove it to see which is in there.

I shoot flying things with an 870 also, and I like to leave my modified choke in. I have the improved cylinder choke to and I don't use it much now that I have the modified. If I were to shoot a trap or skeet competition I would likely use the improved choke tho.(The IMP gives a wider pattern) A helpful hint about choke tubes, (I read this in a Field and Stream a while back) if you don't have your choke tube wrench in the field you can use a quarter to tighten or loosen them. It is a PITA but it can be done at least on my 870. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

 

[juwaba98]

A helpful hint about choke tubes, (I read this in a Field and Stream a while back) if you don't have your choke tube wrench in the field you can use a quarter to tighten or loosen them. It is a PITA but it can be done at least on my 870. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

I've never used a wrench on my chokes. I stick my finger in the end and twist. That's it. I use knurled extended chokes most of the time and all they get is the simple twist, but finger tight is all they ever are even with the flush chokes. I've shot over 1000 (yes 1000, made for an intense week) rounds in one day without a problem. YMMV, but I shoot a lot of clays.


Edited to add: Yes a quarter will work in a bind.

 

[Big country]

I like to tighten mine down a little bit. And WOW! That is a lot of shells.

 

[juwaba98]

I like to tighten mine down a little bit. And WOW! That is a lot of shells.

I wasn't even shootin' the cheap stuff either. Federal Gold Medal Papers. Yum. I love the smell of those. I went through 18 flats (flat=10 boxes of 25rds/box) of shells that week.

 

[GM.Chief]

Did your shoulder swell to the size of a beach ball when you were done? lol

 

[dee]

Did your shoulder swell to the size of a beach ball when you were done? lol

If he's shooting that many rounds he has a gun that fits him and does alot to reduce recoil its almost a have to when shooting that much.With the right mods. all you do is hear the gun go off.

 

[GM.Chief]

Sounds like it's time to go shoppin'. Woo-hoo...lol