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Consistency and habits are essential to good scores. Bending over and digging shells out of a box will mess up your pre shot habits. The teaching always has been that if a shell is dropped, leave it, pull another from your pocket or vest and pick up the dropped shell after shooting. Dropping to pull a shell out of a box on the ground is like breaking the teaching 25 times a round.
 
I don’t want swept with the muzzle of any firearm open or closed at any time. It is irresponsible.
So in your opinion, are the lives of the gold and bronze medal winners of this recent ISSF Grand Prix in danger from the silver medal winner in this picture?

Image
 
So in your opinion, are the lives of the gold and bronze medal winners of this recent ISSF Grand Prix in danger from the silver medal winner in this picture?

Image
Yes. The tenant of gun safety. All firearms are to be treated the same. Publicity pictures of that caliber are directly opposed to all gun safety ethics. I don’t care if it is the Olympics or in the back yard.
 
Don’t bother me shooting sporting clays and 5 stand.

Trapshooters are too easily disturbed…
Yes...yes they are. I don't shoot trap much, but I'm pulled from SC courses a few times a year for open shoots with buddies. Once, even as the gentleman to my right watched me snap in a shell-catch, I was issued an aggressive warning. "That shell doohickey better work!!...I don't want my super-duper, triple secret, quintuple-X, feather-crotch, insane-burl stock getting dinged!!". I simply assured him that this shell catch works "more often than not"...he shot horribly🤣. Gotta remember that strategic tactic.
 
Is it legal, and safe, to have your box of shells on the ground, then bend down and pick up a shell and load it into your gun?

Thanks,
Randy
I had attended a coach's training course a couple of years ago. The instructors of the course highly discouraged this practice. Every time you bend over the blood rushes to your head and the pressures in the eyeball increase changing how fast your eyes can refocus. He said that it takes about 90-120 seconds for the eyeball pressure to get back to normal or what it was before you bent over. He personally was having eye problems and this was explained to him by his eye doctor.
So, if kids on the line drop a shell we discourage them from bending over and picking them up, leave them until the round is done.
I personally like to keep my focus out in front of the trap house, watch every target being thrown, and concentrate on the next target. My shells stay in the box in my pouch and I take one shell out at a time and when the row of 5 is gone I know its time to move to next station. I feel for that next shell, never look into my pouch, or side to side to what else is going on, eyes are always focused out front.
How can you concentrate on what you're doing if you are constantly bending over picking up shells and all that fiddle farting around?
 
This is blowing my mind. I’ve been loading my o/u this way. I never considered it affecting my shots.
apparently, It is not about whether the practice affects your shots or not. Rather, the issue is how dangerous it might be for your open O/U to “sweep” somebody as you reach down for some ammo to grab.

:rolleyes:
 
Yes. The tenant of gun safety. All firearms are to be treated the same. Publicity pictures of that caliber are directly opposed to all gun safety ethics. I don’t care if it is the Olympics or in the back yard.
So these 3 HOA winners at an NSSA event in California are each guilty of sweeping?

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Randy,

Since you posted this on the Trap forum, I will assume your questions pertain to Trap. Is it legal? I could not find any rules in the ATA Rules & Bylaws Booklet that address it one way or the other, so the answer would be yes, it is legal (not prohibited) to do it. Is it safe? That would be entirely dependent on the person doing it. If the person doing it is completely mindful of controlling the shotgun to always point in a safe direction, then yes, it would be safe to do it. If the person doing it isn't mindful of controlling the shotgun to always point in a safe direction, then no, it would not be safe to do it. Just one man's opinion. :)
 
At any ATA shoot the rule you would be at risk at is "disrupting the harmony of the shoot". Or doing something some other competitor would consider disruptive and file a complaint with management or worse, file one with the ATA. Most disrupters do receive discipline from the ATA in the form of losing members rights, including attending for a determined length of time. Six months would be common. Not certain if something like this has ever happened since most ATA shooters are experienced, follow rules and common ethics.

Also know that most all trap ranges adopt comprehensive ATA rules out of convenance. Same for NSSA and NSCA rule being adopted for skeet and sporting. In the case of non-registered local shoots management may not enforce all the ATA rules and have preference to those shooters involved in the controversy. The guy everyone knows, likes and respects will get the nod.

BTW..... anyone bending over picking ammo on the line would be considered a complete newby needing advise. If just trying to be a jackass, the club and management doesn't need any more of those.

Maltz
 
Why wouldn't it be? Sorry, I don't understand the question.

Edit: I didn't read the Thread category first and realize it was a trap shooting discipline that was being discussed. I get it now.

It is a real disturbance to most to have someone bending over to get shells from ground level while shooting.
It's even more disturbing to be standing next to a shooter with a simi-auto shotgun and getting hit by empty hulls in the face or landing in the hands.
Mike
 
It's even more disturbing to be standing next to a shooter with a simi-auto shotgun and getting hit by empty hulls in the face or landing in the hands.
Mike
That used to happen fairly often when I shot a lot of 5 stand. After a while I just learned to ignore it for the most part.

Back on point, I don't shoot trap, but can see how a shooter bending down to pick up his live shells would be a disruption to the other shooters.
 
Is it legal, and safe, to have your box of shells on the ground, then bend down and pick up a shell and load it into your gun?

Thanks,
Randy
1. Is it legal? Yes
2. Is it safe? Depends on how careful you are when you bend down

Opinions omitted
End of answers.
 
Discussion starter · #38 ·
Thanks for all your answers. I referee Trap for our leagues. We get a lot of new shooters, and I feel I have to keep an eye on them. Someone told me I shouldn't let them bend down, take a shell out of a box, then load their gun, so I was wondering what the ATA's rule was.

I certainly will discourage picking up shells from the ground and then loading. The problem is that some of the shooters do not have shell holders.

Randy
 
At any ATA shoot the rule you would be at risk at is "disrupting the harmony of the shoot". Or doing something some other competitor would consider disruptive and file a complaint with management or worse, file one with the ATA. Most disrupters do receive discipline from the ATA in the form of losing members rights, including attending for a determined length of time. Six months would be common. Not certain if something like this has ever happened since most ATA shooters are experienced, follow rules and common ethics.

Also know that most all trap ranges adopt comprehensive ATA rules out of convenance. Same for NSSA and NSCA rule being adopted for skeet and sporting. In the case of non-registered local shoots management may not enforce all the ATA rules and have preference to those shooters involved in the controversy. The guy everyone knows, likes and respects will get the nod.

BTW..... anyone bending over picking ammo on the line would be considered a complete newby needing advise. If just trying to be a jackass, the club and management doesn't need any more of those.

Maltz
Iam a trap shooter, I keep a spare pouch in my bag, I make it available to shooters in cases like this. It shows respect to my squadmates and helps educate others. Seems simple enough.
 
So in your opinion, are the lives of the gold and bronze medal winners of this recent ISSF Grand Prix in danger from the silver medal winner in this picture?

Image
I would say no...but, that a concern may be found in sweeping a barrel, perhaps from being in a hurry, on the line with shooting actually ongoing.
A celebration photo is hardly the same or, the same mindset.
The question originally posed.....involved that actual on pad shooting, eh?

The "respect for squadmates" mentioned above by TH40 is a sound idea which should be far more popular.
 
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