Any SxS trap shooters out there?

[Sam squanch]

Oh yeah, my neighbor who shot trap in the Air Force told me to get rid of the bead! That helped too!

 

[moonlori83]

*Gun fit is foremost.
*Keep your head down on the stock, do not lift to admire your shot.
*Keep your eye on the target not on the front bead. If you look at the bead you will check your swing and miss the bird.
* Swing with abandon and press the trigger as you pass the bird and keep following thru.
*Most all birds are missed behind if you do not follow thru. You can miss ahead of the bird but your chances are much better than shooting behind.
*Lastly and most important as you are new to wing shooting it might be best to get some practice with a regular shotgun first before trying BP.
This will give you an opportunity to learn the basics needed to develop as a wing shot quicker. The BP part will fall into place much quicker then.
It's much better when you know why you are breaking the birds or not and not blaming the gun or your load for misses.

Good luck and keep it fun!

 

[Marplot]

The best thing for you to do in my opinion is to learn how to shoot a shotgun properly. You don't aim it like a rifle you point it like you would your finger - don't look at the bead - look at the target and open BOTH eyes when you are shooting. You MUST practice this to get good at hitting flying targets. Like others have already said your shotgun must fit you so when you raise it up to your shoulder your cheek comes in contact with the stock and your eyes sight down the barrel and automatically point at the target. ALWAYS look at the target not the bead of the shotgun and KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN ON THE STOCK - do not look up and lift your head away from the stock. Once you lift your head off the stock you will miss the target EVERY TIME! Get yourself a GOOD book on trap or skeet shooting from an EXPERT trap or skeet shooter - I recommend Kay Ohye's trapshooting books. He is one of the ATA's hall of fame members and a personal friend of mine for MANY years -since the early 60's. <https://traphof.org/inductees/details/1/124-ohye-kay>

EXCELLENT advice! I suggest you also get an experienced trap shooter to give you some tips. Buy them lunch and let them know how much you appreciate their advice.

I will bet that a modern gun shooter would love to see what a muzzleloader can do. Be sure you are doing correctly before criticising your gun.

 

[Marplot]

al

*Gun fit is foremost.
*Keep your head down on the stock, do not lift to admire your shot.
*Keep your eye on the target not on the front bead. If you look at the bead you will check your swing and miss the bird.
* Swing with abandon and press the trigger as you pass the bird and keep following thru.
*Most all birds are missed behind if you do not follow thru. You can miss ahead of the bird but your chances are much better than shooting behind.
*Lastly and most important as you are new to wing shooting it might be best to get some practice with a regular shotgun first before trying BP.
This will give you an opportunity to learn the basics needed to develop as a wing shot quicker. The BP part will fall into place much quicker then.
It's much better when you know why you are breaking the birds or not and not blaming the gun or your load for misses.

Good luck and keep it fun!

Also excellent advice!!

 

[Marplot]

My O/U Beretta Diamond Pigeon misses a few on occasion! Shhhhh

 

[Whitworth]

I've only shot a little trap, Years ago I was a pretty good Skeet shooter, best run was 72 straight before missing. FWIW my advice is to practice with something that shoots smokeless, produces consistent patterns and is less time consuming to reload. Some time spent with instruction and a modern arm to speed things up will help get you where you want to be with S/S smokepole more quickly. JMHO

 

[ZUG]

ALL of the top trap and skeet shooters did not become the top shooters without THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of hours practicing on the trap or skeet range. No one is a "natural" except for Annie Oakley .

 

[Sam squanch]

ALL of the top trap and skeet shooters did not become the top shooters without THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of hours practicing on the trap or skeet range. No one is a "natural" except for Annie Oakley .

Also you need a gun that will hold up to thousands of hours of practice!

 

[Acohill1]

Also you need a gun that will hold up to thousands of hours of practice!

I have a pedersoli i paid a pretty penny for... is that not good enough?

 

[Acohill1]

*Gun fit is foremost.
*Keep your head down on the stock, do not lift to admire your shot.
*Keep your eye on the target not on the front bead. If you look at the bead you will check your swing and miss the bird.
* Swing with abandon and press the trigger as you pass the bird and keep following thru.
*Most all birds are missed behind if you do not follow thru. You can miss ahead of the bird but your chances are much better than shooting behind.
*Lastly and most important as you are new to wing shooting it might be best to get some practice with a regular shotgun first before trying BP.
This will give you an opportunity to learn the basics needed to develop as a wing shot quicker. The BP part will fall into place much quicker then.
It's much better when you know why you are breaking the birds or not and not blaming the gun or your load for misses.

Good luck and keep it fun!

Ive been shooting with my smklss single shot 12ga along with my ML and im def alot better with that. With the reg shotgun i can hit 1 or 2 out of every 4 birds and i find it much easier to aquire a target and get a good shot with the single shot. The SxS kinda just throws me off...

 

[ZUG]

Also you need a gun that will hold up to thousands of hours of practice!

Most if not all of the top shooters have their guns given to them by the top makers. My point is high quality shotguns last for thousands and thousands of rounds and if they get loose then it can be fixed. Low budget and cheap guns are throw-aways. Back in the early 70's - 70-71 Krieghoff gave a K-80 San Remo grade O/U to Kay Ohye to shoot - for free. There were only two in the US at that time the other one went to an upcoming shooter in CA - I don't know his name maybe it was Dan Bonillas. My dad and I were going to a trap shoot in Atlantic City and my Winchester 101 had not arrive in time for me to use so Kay loaned me the Krieghoff San Remo to shoot but he said, "DO NOT LET IT OUT OF YOUR SIGHT" - man - I was on top of the world with that gun in hand at the line that day.

 

[Marplot]

Most if not all of the top shooters have their guns given to them by the top makers. My point is high quality shotguns last for thousands and thousands of rounds and if they get loose then it can be fixed. Low budget and cheap guns are throw-aways. Back in the early 70's - 70-71 Krieghoff gave a K-80 San Remo grade O/U to Kay Ohye to shoot - for free. There were only two in the US at that time the other one went to an upcoming shooter in CA - I don't know his name maybe it was Dan Bonillas. My dad and I were going to a trap shoot in Atlantic City and my Winchester 101 had not arrive in time for me to use so Kay loaned me the Krieghoff San Remo to shoot but he said, "DO NOT LET IT OUT OF YOUR SIGHT" - man - I was on top of the world with that gun in hand at the line that day.

A krieghoff is almost as good as a Perazzi!
But, need to get off the unmentionables!

 

[Sam squanch]

I have a pedersoli i paid a pretty penny for... is that not good enough?

Mmmmm…. Get spare lock parts if you can. If you shoot every weekend- something will fail, no offense. Or have the locks rebuilt by a pro.

 

[Acohill1]

Mmmmm…. Get spare lock parts if you can. If you shoot every weekend- something will fail, no offense. Or have the locks rebuilt by a pro.

okay good to know.... I've been looking at older percussion shotguns honestly id like a 38" fowler but money doesn't grow on trees. guess I've always wanted to learn to gunsmith so i may get my opportunity. Any advice on scalping a nice gun from an antique auction? i see a bunch out there with guns that look okay but I'm not an expert by any means i wouldn't even know where to begin picking out a nice old shotgun other than looking a price and what the seller tells me :/

 

[Ponderosaman]

Something is fundamentally wrong with your shooting. If you really want to see if it’s the gun, have someone who can hit consistently shoot a few targets with it. I am wondering if your left eye dominant and shooting right hand. That would make it very difficult to hit targets. There is a difference in timing that made muzzleloaders harder for me, but with a few shots, I get used to it.

 

[Acohill1]

Something is fundamentally wrong with your shooting. If you really want to see if it’s the gun, have someone who can hit consistently shoot a few targets with it. I am wondering if your left eye dominant and shooting right hand. That would make it very difficult to hit targets. There is a difference in timing that made muzzleloaders harder for me, but with a few shots, I get used to it.

I'm pretty sure i'm right eye Dom. I'm right handed too. I've tried shooting left handed bc I thought I had this issue and I could immediately tell I was focusing with the wrong eye. Also I close my left eye when I get too drunk

 

[andy52]

If your thrower is adjustable slow the bird down some until you get the hang of it.

 

[Acohill1]

If your thrower is adjustable slow the bird down some until you get the hang of it.

It's at a gun club so I have no control. My brother is a member maybe he could make a request to slow down a course for us.
They are wary about MLs there and only let me shoot in one place. It's kinda smack dab in the middle of a bunch of neighborhoods.

 

[andy52]

It's at a gun club so I have no control. My brother is a member maybe he could make a request to slow down a course for us.
They are wary about MLs there and only let me shoot in one place. It's kinda smack dab in the middle of a bunch of neighborhoods.

Got it, fortunately, I have my own range with a motorized thrower mine has an adjustment for speed of travel.
I shoot much more with modern shotguns but I do have a few muzzleloading SxSs and can break birds with them. One of these days I think I'll get a flinter SxS and see if I can break a bird with it.

 

[Acohill1]

Got it, fortunately, I have my own range with a motorized thrower mine has an adjustment for speed of travel.
I shoot much more with modern shotguns but I do have a few muzzleloading SxSs and can break birds with them. One of these days I think I'll get a flinter SxS and see if I can break a bird with it.

One day I'll have my own range... omega day