Entry level trap shot gun recommendation ?

[boiler_eng]

Yup. That's gotta suck too.

My FIL had offered to let me borrow his A5 when I had started to look at shooting trap, and if it wasn't all the way in OH I probably would have just used that for a while till I knew I was going to stay with it. Instead I bought a $1700 O/U because I was about to get married and I had to get the expensive gun purchase out of the way before I was subject to dual signature requirements on purchases over a certain threshold.

 

[whacko]

My FIL had offered to let me borrow his A5 when I had started to look at shooting trap, and if it wasn't all the way in OH I probably would have just used that for a while till I knew I was going to stay with it. Instead I bought a $1700 O/U because I was about to get married and I had to get the expensive gun purchase out of the way before I was subject to dual signature requirements on purchases over a certain threshold.

Yeah gotcha. My wife actually bought my auto 5 for me. She went to kittery trading post with her friend......came home with it in a new case and said "I know you said you were looking for an auto 5 in good condition and this one is a 1969 Belgian that was so shiny I knew you'd want it." The thing is absolutely mint. If it had 50 shells through it I'd be shocked.

Now it's showing some wear but I hunt and shoot trap with it quite a bit.

Love that woman!!!!

 

[boiler_eng]

Yeah gotcha. My wife actually bought my auto 5 for me. She went to kittery trading post with her friend......came home with it in a new case and said "I know you said you were looking for an auto 5 in good condition and this one is a 1969 Belgian that was so shiny I knew you'd want it." The thing is absolutely mint. If it had 50 shells through it I'd be shocked.

Now it's showing some wear but I hunt and shoot trap with it quite a bit.

Love that woman!!!!

Yeah my wife is not against spending money on guns, but we were saving to buy a house and now we are trying to recover our savings from buying a house so there isn't exactly room to budget for buying fancy guns on a whim. Though if I told her the lower end items I have my eye on it probably isn't out of the question to see one of those showing up.

 

[rep308]

Many Thanks for everyone's input. I spent the morning at my club talking to some very nice people and received quite a bit of information. Budget under 2k, a lefty shooter and some recoil concerns due to a past shoulder injury. The research continues.

I'm good at spending other people money.

I had Ken Rucker at Bumpbuster stockworks install a recoil reducer and adjustable comb on my son's BT-99 he used in competition

http://bumpbuster.blogspot.com/

If you were a righty I'd have you take a look at the Remington 1100 competition synthetic. It has a recoil reducer and adjustable comb but it just throws crap in a lefty's face.

 

[Asaltweapon]

I'm left eye dominate but right handed. I have never, not once been hit in the face with crap. If you go the semi auto route for recoil reduction the shell catcher (stopper) works just fine. Ported guns help also but a recoil reducing pad and porting might be the route.

At 2K you got a ton of options and the used rack at KTP is one such place to poke around.

 

[Glockster30]

Many Thanks for everyone's input. I spent the morning at my club talking to some very nice people and received quite a bit of information. Budget under 2k, a lefty shooter and some recoil concerns due to a past shoulder injury. The research continues.

Now you tell us after 48 posts in what your budget and health restraints are.

Under $2K is a good budget to work with. With a shoulder issue, you definitely should look into a semi to start. Someone at your club should have one for you to try out. A used Remington 1100 can be bought for $450 to $700 depending on the condition, and as someone said, you can use a shell catcher on it if you can't find a lefty model. Remington does make an 1100 for lefties, but I don't know how common they are to find. No matter what semi you end up with, a shell catcher is a necessity because snotty trap shooters aren't going to put up with a newbie throwing hulls at them.

I know that the thread got derailed along the way, but I never looked to see if there was a thread devoted just to trap shooting. However, I do think that with everyone's input and experience, there is some good information to help you make a good decision on what you buy, especially since you have a shoulder issue.

Good luck and let us know how what you end up doing.

 

[Mark from MA]

I'm still going to say it.......the whole "fit" thing is confusing to me. Hand me any shotgun.......I'll hit between 15 and 20 on the first round. Gotta see where it patterns.....high or low. Next round I'll bust 22 and up maybe even 25. I've done this with a dozen or more different shotguns. Now.....I'm aware that Im not shooting 5 rounds in one day in a competition. I'm sure I'd get some fatigue using a light pump after 3 rounds. I get that. But for a casual shooter.......3-6 rounds a month I think your blowing money up a wildcats ass spending over say $700 on a gun.

I picked up a lever action 410 with a 24 inch barrel and first round hit 16. Second round 19 and then smacked 23 with it last Saturday. Only throwing 1/2 ounce of number 8 shot. I was shooting with guys hitting 21 and 22 using dedicated trap guns.

In my opinion you can adapt to the gun not the other way around. I'd.you have any hand eye cordination at all.

There is a lot of truth to this, however, you'll notice on the gun that fits you perfect, your shooting 24 or 25 on the first round with the new gun. A friend who is older but of similar build to me, handed me his skeet gun the other day and I shot a 25 first time with it. He had work done on the length of pull from the stock length. Seemed to make a difference. If you want to shoot better off the bat get a gun that fits.

Anyone can adapt to a new gun, but the why would you want to have to adapt if you can just pull it up and bust clays.

As far as blowing smoke up a wildcat's ass......money spent on a target gun of a decent manufacture you will have that gun a lifetime and then still be able to hand it down. Buy a cheaper gun (Turkish over and under or something) and you'll be lucky if it survives 2 years. Now that said you can get a decent target gun used for less than $700, but if you want something new, that's tough to do.

The trap diva's will always have their fancy guns where they blow money on, just like the Harley diva's who spend a ton and then cake decorate and will never get their money back. Monster truck guys who lift their truck up and spend thousands and never drive it thru mud. Pick a sport, Golf, Archery, whatever, there's always people who buy top end, but don't need top end for performance because even with the new stuff their scores don't improve.

In the end, most guys that can shoot worth a crap can pick up most any gun and shoot a 20 with it....even sub gauges. But I'd rather have the gun I pick up and score highest with off the bat. And once I knew I'd stick with it, I wanted a decent gun I could shoot a lot, that will last, because the more you shoot one gun, the better.

 

[whacko]

There is a lot of truth to this, however, you'll notice on the gun that fits you perfect, your shooting 24 or 25 on the first round with the new gun. A friend who is older but of similar build to me, handed me his skeet gun the other day and I shot a 25 first time with it. He had work done on the length of pull from the stock length. Seemed to make a difference. If you want to shoot better off the bat get a gun that fits.

Anyone can adapt to a new gun, but the why would you want to have to adapt if you can just pull it up and bust clays.

As far as blowing smoke up a wildcat's ass......money spent on a target gun of a decent manufacture you will have that gun a lifetime and then still be able to hand it down. Buy a cheaper gun (Turkish over and under or something) and you'll be lucky if it survives 2 years. Now that said you can get a decent target gun used for less than $700, but if you want something new, that's tough to do.

The trap diva's will always have their fancy guns where they blow money on, just like the Harley diva's who spend a ton and then cake decorate and will never get their money back. Monster truck guys who lift their truck up and spend thousands and never drive it thru mud. Pick a sport, Golf, Archery, whatever, there's always people who buy top end, but don't need top end for performance because even with the new stuff their scores don't improve.

In the end, most guys that can shoot worth a crap can pick up most any gun and shoot a 20 with it....even sub gauges. But I'd rather have the gun I pick up and score highest with off the bat. And once I knew I'd stick with it, I wanted a decent gun I could shoot a lot, that will last, because the more you shoot one gun, the better.

Yeah there is alot of truth to your statement too.

But......that little lever gun sure is not a "fit" gun for me according to trap standards. I look like a grizzly bear shooting a daisy red rider. Yet I made it work. That's my point.

But.......I'll still giggle at the archery nerds with $5k tied up in a bow trying to buy the better game too.....and the monster truck dudes that never go off road etc.....etc...

It is what it is. My gun collection....like my personality......tends to be a bit more utilitarian. Long guns to me are tools (for hunting) that I also double up and can have some fun with at the club 3-6 times a month to stay current on how they swing and point for hunting.

Answer this for me though.......in your opinion why are there trap guys that shoot twice a week with big dollar trap furniture that can't get an average over 22 or 23? What's the "fix" for those guys? Cuz a new gun aint it.

 

[Asaltweapon]

If anybody wants to get humble really quick shoot a round of trap with a 20 ga. That's challenging.

 

[Glockster30]

Answer this for me though.......in your opinion why are there trap guys that shoot twice a week with big dollar trap furniture that can't get an average over 22 or 23? What's the "fix" for those guys? Cuz a new gun aint it.

I know that I wasn't asked the question, but I'll take a stab at it any way. A high end trap gun that doesn't fit is not the answer to learning the fundamentals of trap shooting, and if you don't learn the fundamentals, then the shooter can become very frustrated and either quit or he/she will try another high quality gun, most likely ending up with the same results. As Mark stated, throwing big bucks into things doesn't always end up with good results.

For many trap shooters, it takes a lot of practice to shoot a 25 consistently, especially at the 27-yard line under various weather conditions. Even in the outdoor winter leagues that I have shot in at 6 pm on winter nights with a 25 mph wind blowing and a wind chill factor below zero, believe when I say that it is very difficult to average a 20, never mind a 25 at the 16 yard line. On very hot/humid days, you have sweat rolling down your forehead into your eyes and burning them, not to mentioned you become fatigued more quickly.

 

[greencobra]

Answer this for me though.......in your opinion why are there trap guys that shoot twice a week with big dollar trap furniture that can't get an average over 22 or 23? What's the "fix" for those guys? Cuz a new gun aint it.

whaco, you got this fixation that a hi dollar trap gun will do the trick. and you're lovin' it when they fail. they probably shoot money guns cause they can afford them but the key to success is practice, practice and more practice. it's like any sport you want to be good at. i've only known 2 guys who could pick up anything and be competitive. there's natural ability and learned ability. most of us are the latter.

 

[1st4040]

If anybody wants to get humble really quick shoot a round of trap with a 20 ga. That's challenging.

with the lesser gauges you can still have good rounds.. you need to jump the house a bit more to make up for the lesser load and make sure your using the correct choke. I shoot with a 13yr old kid that has broken as many as 23 in a round with his 20G and usually hovers around 20 per round.

 

[1st4040]

I know that I wasn't asked the question, but I'll take a stab at it any way. A high end trap gun that doesn't fit is not the answer to learning the fundamentals of trap shooting, and if you don't learn the fundamentals, then the shooter can become very frustrated and either quit or he/she will try another high quality gun, most likely ending up with the same results. As Mark stated, throwing big bucks into things doesn't always end up with good results.

For many trap shooters, it takes a lot of practice to shoot a 25 consistently, especially at the 27-yard line under various weather conditions. Even in the outdoor winter leagues that I have shot in at 6 pm on winter nights with a 25 mph wind blowing and a wind chill factor below zero, believe when I say that it is very difficult to average a 20, never mind a 25 at the 16 yard line. On very hot/humid days, you have sweat rolling down your forehead into your eyes and burning them, not to mentioned you become fatigued more quickly.

The windy days are a ton of fun.. nothing like taking the shot and then the clay jumps 4 feet higher than where it was when you pulled the trigger. can't tell you how many times I've aimed over the treeline to break em in those conditions. You find out who the real sandbaggers are on those days...

 

[oldguy68]

I own a Browning BPS Trap.
Paid $500.00 for it new.

Having fun shooting holes in the sky with a few nice fellows..Priceless.

Like any sport that you can spend anywhere from $400.00 to $100,000.00 on equipment.
It all comes down to how much that fun is worth it to you.

Some people will shoot well with any gun you put in their hands.
Others are willing to spend a cars worth of money getting one custom fit to them.

It is all how much you are willing to put into the sport.

For me it is about fun, if it ain't fun, forget about it!

 

[MisterHappy]

with the lesser gauges you can still have good rounds.. you need to jump the house a bit more to make up for the lesser load and make sure your using the correct choke. I shoot with a 13yr old kid that has broken as many as 23 in a round with his 20G and usually hovers around 20 per round.

Yeah, when my son started out, he was running a 20 ga. Winchester 1400.

He was up to 23, IIRC. Then, he "stole" my 12, and ran 'em. Then, he turned 10.

You have 20% fewer pellets in a 20 ga. Target load than in a 12.

 

[whacko]

with the lesser gauges you can still have good rounds.. you need to jump the house a bit more to make up for the lesser load and make sure your using the correct choke. I shoot with a 13yr old kid that has broken as many as 23 in a round with his 20G and usually hovers around 20 per round.

My son hits low 20s with his 20 gauge regularly. Mod choke....shoot fast.

 

[whacko]

Yeah, when my son started out, he was running a 20 ga. Winchester 1400.

He was up to 23, IIRC. Then, he "stole" my 12, and ran 'em. Then, he turned 10.

You have 20% fewer pellets in a 20 ga. Target load than in a 12.

That's some natural ability. Good deal.

 

[whacko]

The windy days are a ton of fun.. nothing like taking the shot and then the clay jumps 4 feet higher than where it was when you pulled the trigger. can't tell you how many times I've aimed over the treeline to break em in those conditions. You find out who the real sandbaggers are on those days...

For sure! Some of those sandbaggers just pack up and go home! Some are even bigger crybabies.

Example......on that crap.....month ago.....dude shows up and gets on the first squad.......hits a 19. Bitches and moans all the way back from he line that the angle setting g sucks......Tells range officer he has the angle set too high and wants it lowered. Ro says sorry it's where we always have it. Dude packs up and leaves.
We shoot a coupe of rounds of wobble every weekend and I shoot with guys including myself that can run 25 straight on wobble.

 

[MisterHappy]

For sure! Some of those sandbaggers just pack up and go home! Some are even bigger crybabies.

Example......on that crap.....month ago.....dude shows up and gets on the first squad.......hits a 19. Bitches and moans all the way back from he line that the angle setting g sucks......Tells range officer he has the angle set too high and wants it lowered. Ro says sorry it's where we always have it. Dude packs up and leaves.
We shoot a coupe of rounds of wobble every weekend and I shoot with guys including myself that can run 25 straight on wobble.

If you're not shooting registered targets....welcome to Camp Suk-I-Tup (c)

He'd plotz, if he saw them shooting "Dragrace" at my Club. Dragrace? Three to five shooters line up. Shooter to the left calls 'pull'. Button is held down, until every shooter has shot 5 times. Then, "change."

With 2 shooters, it's very tough, even for experienced shooters. Though I've seen it!

 

[whacko]

If you're not shooting registered targets....welcome to Camp Suk-I-Tup (c)

He'd plotz, if he saw them shooting "Dragrace" at my Club. Dragrace? Three to five shooters line up. Shooter to the left calls 'pull'. Button is held down, until every shooter has shot 5 times. Then, "change."

With 2 shooters, it's very tough, even for experienced shooters. Though I've seen it!

I must visit this club! Dragrace! Awesome.

The crew where I'm at the shoots wobble.....it basically is close to a drag race. The second the guy to the left goes bang it's click....mount....call. we all shoot 23-25 that way. It's good practice for hunting.

Some of the guys shoot "out" as well. Everyone lines up on station 5. Everyone shoots one clay from station 5. Then back up one handicap line. Repeat. When you miss.....your out. If anyone makes it back to the 27 yard line you shoot in turn till there is one left. I made it to the 27 yard once. Hit 3 in a row and missed.......that's fun.

 

[mac1911]

I was talking more on the level of a $40 recoil pad but okay, that $1300 solution will also give a lot of value too.

https://www.limbsaver.com/product/precision-fit-recoil-pad/


(If someone handed me a left hand precision fit stock with recoil reducer that worked on a Browning Citori series I would 100% put it on my gun and love it probably .... my birthday IS coming up this year Hint Hint )

I have a LH PFS on my citori UltraXT
It's nice not having a toe poking you in the arm pit.

 

[oldguy68]

When I was at Bass River Rod and Gun we used to play a game called Skat.
We put the trap thrower on wobble and you started shooting at the first skeet station and moved through all of the skeet stations and ended at the trap line up.
At every station you shot till you broke a bird.
The last one standing won!

I loved that game!

Even more fun when you shoot with the gun not shouldered and have someone else call pull!

I used to laugh at how long it took some people to shoulder their shotgun on the line.
Like they were waiting for the stars to align before calling "Pull"!

I used to use my pump gun for skeet too.
It was awesome shooting doubles with a pump!

My scores were not as good as some of you guys.
I never broke all twenty five and usually were between twenty and twenty two.

I always said breaking birds was the most fun you can have with a gun in your hand!

PS: My first shotgun I used to shoot skeet, trap and sporting clays was a Benelli Nova 24" Turkey shotgun with full choke.
I shot about 8000 rounds through that thing before I got the Browning BPS Trap. I always wanted to try a pistol grip pump in the three games!

 

[Mark from MA]

Yeah there is alot of truth to your statement too.



Answer this for me though.......in your opinion why are there trap guys that shoot twice a week with big dollar trap furniture that can't get an average over 22 or 23? What's the "fix" for those guys? Cuz a new gun aint it.

Could be a bunch of things....a lot of them are older and past their prime. It takes a lot of concentration and physical and mental skill and strength to bust 25 after 25. That is what anyone needs to shoot 25 continuously with regularity. Add environmental factors in and you've got to be at the top of your game to be consistent. That is the fix....some of them are just too old, some just don't have it, and probably never will. A lot of the older guys at my club used to shoot competitively and bought high dollar guns at the end of their prime when they got some money, they still have them now, but can't shoot nearly as good as they used to just because of age.

It's not the gun, get a decent gun that fits right and it will work if they do their part. But like many guys said, these guys, think that buying the new gun is the answer...in fact its just something to keep them interested and happy, and they can't admit to that fact. If they've got the money for it....who cares, more power to them, as long as they aren't telling you that you need the same high dollar gun to shoot high scores....if they do, they are a Trap Diva, and will probably be snubbing their nose at you shooting skeet as well.

I shoot both, will never be serious to compete, but bought a decent gun recently (Citori CX) that I will use as my target gun to put thousands of rounds thru. It's not a Kreg or Perazzi, but it will work. I don't want to use my field guns for target, some of them are irreplaceable because they aren't made any more, some are too light for target, and some are my dad's guns and I don't want to wear them out, because my son will get them after me.

 

[amm5061]

I must visit this club! Dragrace! Awesome.

The crew where I'm at the shoots wobble.....it basically is close to a drag race. The second the guy to the left goes bang it's click....mount....call. we all shoot 23-25 that way. It's good practice for hunting.

Some of the guys shoot "out" as well. Everyone lines up on station 5. Everyone shoots one clay from station 5. Then back up one handicap line. Repeat. When you miss.....your out. If anyone makes it back to the 27 yard line you shoot in turn till there is one left. I made it to the 27 yard once. Hit 3 in a row and missed.......that's fun.

Come on by. We'll be there tonight. The really fun stuff usually happens on Thursday nights.

 

[whacko]

Come on by. We'll be there tonight. The really fun stuff usually happens on Thursday nights.

Unfortunately I'm house breaking a new walker coonhound at this time! Can't be gone that long or things get "messy" at the house.

I would like to visit in the future though!

 

[boiler_eng]

I must visit this club! Dragrace! Awesome.

The crew where I'm at the shoots wobble.....it basically is close to a drag race. The second the guy to the left goes bang it's click....mount....call. we all shoot 23-25 that way. It's good practice for hunting.

Some of the guys shoot "out" as well. Everyone lines up on station 5. Everyone shoots one clay from station 5. Then back up one handicap line. Repeat. When you miss.....your out. If anyone makes it back to the 27 yard line you shoot in turn till there is one left. I made it to the 27 yard once. Hit 3 in a row and missed.......that's fun.

What club do you shoot at?

Would be good to know what clubs around play a lot of variations of games. When I shoot at Andover its frequently busy so its a bit of a struggle to hit on variations as there is almost always someone who "just wants to shoot regular trap at 16" already signed up for a line. So the games mostly end up getting saved for an almost rainy day where most people don't show up.

 

[Asaltweapon]

If the OP is serious a BT99 just got listed for sale last night.

If I was still on a team that would be coming home with me today.

 

[BillO]

If the OP is serious a BT99 just got listed for sale last night.

If I was still on a team that would be coming home with me today.

Already talked to him.

 

[whacko]

What club do you shoot at?

Would be good to know what clubs around play a lot of variations of games. When I shoot at Andover its frequently busy so its a bit of a struggle to hit on variations as there is almost always someone who "just wants to shoot regular trap at 16" already signed up for a line. So the games mostly end up getting saved for an almost rainy day where most people don't show up.

Country pond. Just ask for a round of wobble and the room has no problem setting it up for a round or two. Also hell set doubles as well if you ask and a few guys are always willing to shoot a round of doubles.

Sat 1pm
Sun 9am
Tuesday 5pm

 

[Asaltweapon]

Already talked to him.

Good for you. The only draw back is shooting doubles but I always admired that gun. If you really get the bug it will always be a good trade in or outright sale piece as long as you take care of it.

I refused to shoot in the rain. My team mates would bust my balls but I held firm and would ask them if they would set a Python out on the table in the rain? My shotgun and Python cost the same $$$$.