Clay Target Q&A
With Russell Mark, Olympic gold and silver medallist
Questions: russell@corporateshootingstars.com.au
Q I have been shooting Trap for more than one year now and have worked my way back to a 21m handicap with a standard Miroku Trap gun. Do you have any suggestions that you can give me to improve for when I shoot from this distance and even further back? I seem to be very erratic and inconsistent the further back I get, but I guess this is understandable. I would be grateful for any advice you could give me.
Andrew G, Vic
A I have always liked to make some changes when shooting from 22m and beyond. Firstly, the ‘hold’ or starting position of the gun in relation to the Trap house when calling for the target is different for me. I like to use a high gun-hold position when shooting Trap and I teach this technique to shooters who shoot with both eyes open. The starting position for the common mark (15m) shooting is much higher than what it is for my handicap mark of 25m. This is simply to have a similar amount of gun movement to move the gun up from the starting position to the point where the trigger is pulled to break the target. Obviously, the further back you stand from the Trap house, the less gun movement is needed to shoot the target, so to simulate the movement needed from 15 to 25m, a lower starting position is needed for the latter.
If you have a shotgun with an adjustable comb and adjustable chokes, then I believe there are two more alterations to be made that can be advantageous. I personally like to shoot a gun with a higher point of impact from the maximum handicap distance. I do this because it gives me extra vertical lead when you come up from under the target. I like to lift my comb up 3mm, which equates to a 12 per cent higher shooting shot pattern.
There is only one choke to use if you have a choice on long handicap shots - full. There really isn’t anything to discuss here. I use an improved modified choke for the first shot from 15m and the extra 10m in handicap ideally requires the next tightest choke. If you have the luxury of having both barrels with adjustable chokes, then screw in an even tighter full choke into the top tube. Remember that a standard full choke with a typical Trap load is ideal to 36.5m. Not too many shooters I have seen are quick enough to shoot both barrels accurately at a target before it has travelled only 11.5m from the Trap, so anything less than full choke is probably not perfect.
Under the rules of the Australian Clay Target Association, a shotshell with 32g of shot is the maximum permissible load to be used in handicap competitions; 28g is the maximum for all other Down the Line Trap events. Take advantage of the extra 4g of shot when shooting at the greater distance. I like No. 7 shot from 25m, as opposed to No. 7.5 from 15m. The larger shot has the extra hitting power on the target, which I prefer, particularly if you need a second barrel break.
Any shotshell that has a velocity of more than 1250fps with 32g of shot is going to recoil on your shoulder and face fairly hard, so I really think you need to avoid some of the ultra-fast loads that I am sure will hit the target hard, but your body just as hard, which can make 50 targets of handicap shooting a bruising and unpleasant experience.
Finally, if you get the opportunity to shoot a 32" (81cm) barrel from the longer handicap distances, then please try it. The extra couple of inches will smooth out your swing and I am sure will improve your score. In the United States, where the best handicap shooters shoot, 34" and even 36" barrels are not uncommon.