[870TB]

I just recently started shooting trap again after a 20+ years absence from shooting sports. When I shot last I had an 1100 field gun and shot trap to get sharpened up for hunting.

I recently started shooting trap again with a field grade 12 gauge but only hit in the mid-teens out of 25. Two weeks ago I found a used trap gun (an 870TB) and shot a 20 out of 25 the first time out with it. Since the best I ever got with the 1100 was a 21, I didn't think that was too bad!

I always hear guys talk about "floating the bird" with a trap gun, so I patterned the gun and found it didn't really hit much higher than a field gun for me. Maybe a 55/45 split top to bottom. Then I tried a field barrel on it and it was pretty much a 50/50 split top to bottom. No real difference from a field gun.

I know trap guns are made to account for the rising targets, but the amount this particular gun shoots high seems pretty minimal with the trap barrel. With a field barrel it's pretty much dead center. When I used to shoot with the 1100 I'd cover the target in trap, with the 870 I was pointing so the bead was just slightly under the target. I think I could probably use the same sight picture with either gun.

Am I expecting the trap gun to shoot higher than I should? Or is it that a trap stock with it's relatively limited drop just fits me better? I've never shot a gun specifically made for trap before so I really don't know what to expect. It sure feels alot more natural for me than the field stock. I could see hunting with it, no problem.

 

[Tal/IL]

Your personal shooting style will effect POI. When you shoulder the gun do you "stack" the beads in a figure 8 or line them up so they appear as one? I know some shooters who line them up, which will result in a much lower POI than shooters who "stack" them. Think of your eye as the rear sight - raise the rear sight (eye) to stack the beads and the POI goes up - lower it to line them up and the POI goes down.

I'm a stacker, which I believe is more or less the norm. I shoot a BT-99 and I just come up under the target 'til I'm just under the bottom edge, and smash it.

 

[870TB]

Thanks for the reply.

I tried the figure 8 thing with the beads but it felt awkward. I can see where that would raise the POI, though, and would make a floating sight picture more effective.

Having the beads lined up is the sight picture I get if I mount the gun with my eyes closed, so I think I'll stick with that for awhile.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Rollin Oswald]

You need to raise your eye relative to the rib/comb if you want your gun to shoot higher. Adding moleskin to the top of the comb would do it. A 1/8" layer of moleskin will raise your point of impact 3 or 4 inches at 32 yards depending on the length of your barrel.

The eye acts as the rear sight on a shotgun. Like any rear sight adjustment, the pattern moves in the same direction as the eye movement.

You might also cneck the angle of the recoil pad relative to the barrel on your 870. The toe sticks out too far for a lot of shooters. Any gunsmith should be able to change it for you if it causes a problem with an unsecure gun mount or cneek pain.

http://stockfitting.virtualave.net

Rollin

 

[870TB]

Thanks, Rollin, for the additional tips. I think the moleskin and a "figure 8" sight picture would probably change the P.O.I. to what I was expecting.

For the heck of it, I bought a skeet choke for the short barrel and shot 3 rounds of skeet with the trap gun last week. I shot a 21/25, 22/25 and 20/25. I was pleasantly surprised. I've only shot skeet a couple other times and didn't get into the 20's. Ironically, the lost birds were almost all easy singles, so I blame the shooter, not the trap stock. Or the pump action.

I recently read that trap gun stocks where worthless for anything but trap. But based on what I'm finding, I'm going to try to find a sporting clays course next. I know the pump gun is not highly favored anymore, but for now I'm not interested in competing. I'm going on the theory that being taller than average makes the trap stock fit me better than a field stock. Whatever, it's alot of fun to be shooting clay targets again.

 

[McKie]

An old boy named Vic Reinders is in the trapshooting hall of fame, maintained a 98% average for something like 140,000 rounds, and did it all with a Remington model 31 (?) pump that he bought used.

 

[Guest]

McKie:

Yes, Vic shot a model 31. Not only was it old, but it had a section of the rib missing about 6" back from the muzzle I talked with him several times after he retired as a chemistry professor at the University of Wisconsin. He gave me my first trap shooting lesson. Great guy.

870TB:

Many guns shoot a 60/40 pattern with a figure-eight bead pattern.

The reason skeet shooters put down trap guns for skeet is that unless they have removable chokes, the pattern is too tight. The longer barreled trap guns also tend to swing a little slower than skeet guns with their shorter barrels.

Trap guns, when tyey fit the shooter, also tend to shoot high, a little too high for the rate of climb of skeet targets. The pattenn height also creates problems for sporting clays targets with their variable directions when shooting high is best only for outgoing targets.
Many skeet shooters believe that a rising comb offers a more secure and faster gun mount than does a parallel comb.

http://stockfitting.virtualave.net

Rollin

 

[Guest]

hi everybody
i want to ask a question,i am very new in trap shooting and i want to know what is the difference between a regular gun and a trap gun except the choke used...i heard that there is a difference when aiming because the beads aren't the same as in hunting.can someone clarify this point please.

 

[XeniaSt]

Target guns, the ones with two beads, tend to pattern up

Field guns, those with only one bead, tend to pattern flat

A good target gun will pattern from 60% to 100% up from the point you are aiming at.

A field gun will pattern 50% up and 50% down from the point you are aiming at.

Find a good pattern board and bench rest the gun at a normal distance (30 yards for trap )
place an aiming point on the pattern board.
On a Target gun line up the beads in a figure eight
Shoot

Count and analyze the pattern of holes for percentage up or flat.

You can then see the bird break just over your barrel in Trap with a Target gun.