Visual confusion? Pretty sure I’m all stocked up with that. Retinal processing? Positioning statements in my motor center? I’m not sure I even have a motor center. Holy crap. Listening to Gil Ash via this NSSF video, I get the feeling that breaking 25 out of 25 consistently might require a little more thought than I’ve put into trap shooting so far.
And then I watched his tutorial on hold and focal points. Some of which, against all odds, I’ve managed to divine on my own over the years. Though God knows what other bad habits I’ve ingrained that need ungraining.
But checking out the OSP Shooting School schedule for the upcoming season, I see that they’ll be enlightening shotgunners with skulls full of mush at St. Louis Trap and Skeet in September. What are the odds? That may be time (and money) well spent.
I shot a lot of trap , the biggest trick is get your lead down and get on it, after some practice, it will seem like the clays are moving in slow motion, and you will know you got a hit or not before even pulling the trigger…
Sounds a lot like situational awareness and a drawing down on a threat as it relates to a DGU….
In my youth i shot a lot of trap and skeet. I’ve never tried sporting clays. It might be fun.
Sporting Clays is the best thing ever. A couple years ago I was getting bored with paper targets — even IPSC, which is awesome, was getting a little bit repetitive. After many thousands of rounds spent shooting sporting clays, I just don’t see the same thing happening. It’s like golf with a shotgun! The course I went to most has 18 stages and it’s a great walk through forest, by streams, in fields, etc. Each stage has 2 launchers and clays come at you, from behind, side-to-side, and every other possible direction you can imagine. There are even ‘rabbits’ that bounce along the ground. One stage had a 100 ft tall I-beam and clays were launched off the top of it to simulate geese. Now that I’ve moved to a new city, there are a couple of courses here that aren’t *quite* as cool but are still awesome. One stage puts you way out on a platform off the side of a steep hill and the clays come up from underneath you. Pretty sweet.
Just like golf, but highest score wins 🙂
Good excuse to get yourself an over/under, also! Lanbers from CDNN are a hell of a good deal, and the new Stoeger ones are awesome for the price as well!
P.S. — trap is fun also and it’s much more dynamic than punching holes in paper. BUT… it pales in comparison to Sporting Clays.
Depends on what you want out of the experience. If you want consistent 25 for 25s, then all the voodoo guru stuff might mean something.
Me? I’m a mediocre 21-23 kinda guy. But I’m in it for the practice. I’m never shouldered till that bird leaves the house. It’s about practice for hunting to me. I haven’t been to Pacific in about 10 years, but their sporting section used to be pretty decent as well.
Just ask Barak. I’m sure he’ll have some good pointers for you. He does it all the time right?
What kind of sights do you guys like for trap?
I used a old stevens double side by side, small brass bead sight, and some times my Mossberg 500 hunting gun & bead sight, some guys would come out with Ruger Redlabels and other guns costing $ 1000. plus.. as i said it’s all in learning and getting down the correct lead, and If you get a Lee load all press , you can save and shoot cheaper , means shooting more , used to shoot 2 to 3 times a week on my lunch hour, 2 to 3 rounds so the gun becomes part of you too…You get gun memory ….
Hit it on the way up, otherwise plan on a swiff. That sums up my advice.
I’m an 80%-er. I watched that video. Twice. I have a feeling I’ll still be hitting eight out of ten even if I do all the stuff he says.