Trap Shooting Techniques and Betting Skills

  Here you'll learn about Trap shooting techniques and betting skills. Trap shooting is one form of competitive clay pigeon shooting. The others are skeet and sporting clays. In trap shooting, the targets are normally launched by a machine and are traveling away from the shooter. It's practiced all over the world and even has a place in the Olympic games.

Introduction: Trap Shooting Techniques and Betting Skills

According to online sports book news in the US, the term "trap" actually refers to the machine that throws up the targets. These are usually placed around 15 meters in front of the shooter. The machine is normally hidden in a gully to protect it from the weather and also from stray shoots. To that end, the actual trap machine cannot be seen by the shooter. But the spot above it is clearly marked. The trap allows targets to be launched at different heights, speeds and angles.The shooter will be standing ready, with the gun already mounted to the shoulder. They then shout "Pull!" and the target is launched. Always keep an eye on gun safety and no playing around with loaded weapons.

The Targets

These targets are clay disc. They come in three different sizes. The "Standard", which is around 4" across and the "Midi" which measures in at around 3" across. Then there are the tiny "Mini's" which come in at around 2.5". The largest of these will travel in a relatively straight line unless there's strong winds. The mini is the most taxing to hit. It leaves the trap like a bullet and you'll need to be fast before it's out of range. On the whole, in order to smash a target, you'll be needing to hit it before it's 50 meters away. At this point the shot pellets are starting to lose their trajectory and power.

Down the Line

One of the most popular variants of trap shooting is "Down the Line". This involves targets being thrown from a distance of between 40 - 50 meters out. They travel at an angle of around 22 degrees off the center line and fly at a height of around 2.75 meters. A shooting squad will comprise of 5 shooters. Each one will shoot one target without moving. The shooters then move up one place and to the right. They'll continue to shoot targets until at least 25 have been shot. Trap scoring is simple. A first barrel "kill" is 3 points. A second barrel "kill" is 2 points. A miss scores a zero.

Olympic Trap

During the Olympic Games, another variant of trap shooting is used. Olympic Trap consists of 15 traps ordered into groups of three. A shooter will take his turn at one target and then move clockwise onto the next stand. After calling, the target is released. Every shooter receives the same target selection but in a random order from any one of the three traps. Olympic targets can travel 76 meters at varying heights, and with a maximum of 45 degrees from the horizontal. Because Olympic trap only allows one barrel, the scoring is simple. One point for a hit and zero for a miss. There's also an event called "Double Trap". This is where two targets are released at a one second interval, and from a different station from three different traps.

Trap Shooting Techniques: Forward Allowance

When trap shooting, particularly if the targets are traveling across your view, then you'll need to be aware of what's known as "forward allowance". Because the lead shot will take time to reach the target, if you aim directly at it, the target will of moved forwards before the shot reaches it. So this is the distance you'll be needing to aim in front of the target. In effect you're letting the target run into the stream of lead shot. For a target 50 meters ahead of you. you'll be needing to be aiming around 2 meters in front.There are three styles of shooting to take this into account.

Swing Through

The gun is bought up to the shoulder. Aiming behind the target, the gun is smoothly moved forwards, following the target trajectory, passing the target, until the muzzle is in front of it. No matter how old you are, you'll need to be flexible at the hips.

Pull Away

With this trap shooting technique, the gun follows the target exactly, then "pulls" in front of it before the shot is fired.

Maintained Lead

Here the gun starts in front of the clay and stays at a fixed distance in front before firing.

Kill Zone and Pick up Point

The former is the area in which the target can be hit. The latter is the point from where you first catch sight of the target.

Trap Shooting Techniques: Stance

There are a couple of ways to stand and prepare for the trap to fire the target. The first one is with the gun already partly raised, with the barrel pointing towards the kill zone. In the second, the barrel is lowered and only bought up to the shooting position once the target is released. With both of these stances, your leading foot should always point to the kill zone and your weight should be forwards on this..

Betting Pools

Of course you can bet on shooting. Just have a look at these online sports book sites in the US. During the Olympics there are of course many types of shooting betting. And the same goes for Trap shooting. The two most well know forms of taking a gamble on your shooting skills are called, "Calcutta" and "Lewis Class."

Culcutta Betting

Essentially, this is a betting auction. Every shooter pays a fee to enter. Each shooter is then "auctioned", with a handicap, before each event. People can then bid to "buy" the shooter. The top scoring shooter get a portion of the "pot" with the remainder going to their "buyers". The buyer normally get the biggest share, with the split usually being 60:40 or 70:30. At important competitions, the pot can grow to very large sizes, with 10's of thousands of dollars at stake. Unlike GTbets, some states in the US have banned these, as they see them as a form of uncontrolled gambling.

Lewis Class Betting

If you've been shooting and ended up losing just a couple of targets, then the Lewis Class system might let you go home with some cash. It essentially divides the score board into "classes", with the winners of each class getting a share of the betting pot. It's a bit complicated...so here's a basic example. Let's say that the entry fee is $10. Nine shooters enter. The final scores are: 97,96,96,94,93,92,91,90,90. If we say that there are three classes, then the scores of 97, 94 and 91 would get $30 each. Another means would be that all the scores are divided into three groups or "classes" and the top score from each class is a winner. Probably easier to use GTbets to be sure of winning.