TRAP SHOOTING LESSONS

  Try pre-focusing your eye(s) with stronger intensity to see if the target slows down and becomes brighter.  If you practice... this will happen!   You'll no longer be chasing the target and jerking the forearm stabbing at the targets.  A great tip for long-yardage shooters!   A smooth relaxed swing will develop and your scores will increase tremendously.

  Did you know if you attach a small pen-type flashlight with tape to the rib of your gun you can practice your swing and timing factors at home?  Did you know this is a major learning technique given by many top-gun training schools in Europe?  Why?  Because this simple rehearsal removes all competitive pressures, even practice tension, and solidly imparts strong instructions into the subconscious mind.  Do this at least once per week and you'll see a definite improvement in your shooting.  It's that simple!  See Q&A 9-F for tips on how to do it. 

  Shoulder the gun with your eyes closed then open your eyes until you see the sight beads stacked. Now you have a subconscious gun mount routine.  Now hug the gun close and "feel" the gun become a part of you.  Can you "feel" cheek pressure on the comb?   This will help stop any head-lifting.  Hug that gun!

  You have a shooting friend, yet I bet it's been a long time since you've asked this friend to watch you shoot a practice round to give you a hard-core evaluation of your shooting!  Shooter's get into mutual ruts feeling they can't improve, but they can.  You can't see the mistakes you are making.   You need those extra eyes looking in from the outside to pick up on errors.   That is what a good shooting instructor / coach can do.  Use your friend's eyes... you'll see scores rise!

  Ever notice when you miss a target you feel a little slump inside of you?  There is a depressed feeling or a surprise response action. The very word, "lost" is negative in itself and triggers apprehension and shock.  This tinge of fear triggers a loss of confidence that will produce another lost target and the score falls, one target at a time.  Hearing the word, "lost" or the eye seeing a "lost" target can trigger the negative response/emotion.  The key is to learn how to manage lost targets with no emotion as if it did not even happen at all!  This is where "faith" comes into play.   With faith you can break the next target because you "believe" you can, and you will if you use faith!  So, when you miss, believe you can correct the negative mindset with a positive response of confidence.  

  Do not feel the pain of the lost target!  Be a unemotional machine believing in yourself to not make the mistake of diverting your thoughts to the lost target.   It did not happen!  Now focus your attention back to the next target with all the faith you had before the lost target appeared.  You have to work at this or you'll be an emotional wreck on the line and your mind will race with thoughts serving to take your mind off the job of breaking the next target.  When you see a lost target, yours or someone else's, tell yourself, "The target is dead."  This will help cancel the unconscious negative within and assist to reset your mind into a positive mode of faith.   "For whatever you believe shall be!"  Faith is believing you obtain something that you do not already have.  So you saw a lost target, but you don't believe it happened!  This way you won't miss again.   Remember, the subconscious mind will repeat the error it sees unless you counteract it with faith.      

  You would like to shoot good scores but you can't take trap shooting lessons from professionals due to distance and money.   Our trap shooting books are technical textbooks teaching you how to shoot trap targets!   You will learn the inside techniques professionals use to break high scores consistently.  Your scores will rise and you will win option and prize money, more than you thought you ever would!  Now you will understand the value of obtaining professional instruction and will now have the money to invest to advance your shooting performance.  Don't make the mistake the losers do by not learning the inside shooting techniques that result in precision shooting performance.  Even the pros had to learn them and so do you!  Our technical books are instructional.  They do not talk about trap shooting, they show you how to practice, how to think and how to shoot all of the target angles.  Wind, rain, East and West, high or low elevation targets all require knowledge to manage the traps or you lose.  Our books are The only trap shooting books endorsed by professional trapshooters!  No other books on the market are endorsed by professionals like Trap Shooting Secrets and Precision Shooting - The Trapshooter's Bible books!

  You keep missing targets and busting low scores.  Why?  Many reasons of course, but to stop missing targets you have to know why you are missing them!  It is that simple.  The problem is most shooter's are shooting with "the eyes only" and not using the shotgun sight bead properly.  You have to use the sight bead despite what you read or hear.  The professional shooters' use the sight bead with a technique called "back-sighting."  It also allows you to stop, "plane sighting" down the gun's rib so you can learn to, "shoot off the end of the barrel."    These are "advanced" technical shooting methods.  But for now, you should at least be able to see what you are doing wrong when you pull the trigger so you can correct the error!  How many times have you missed not knowing "why" you missed?  This trend must cease or you will forever keep missing!   Problem?   (1) Most shooter's have white sight beads on their gun that are useless as learning tools, and (2) most shooters do not know how to use them and wonder why they miss targets!   The white bead is useless because it has no contrast to the target (only on a black target, but usselessly blends into the background). 

  Try those florescent gun sights and you will "see" what you are doing wrong!   It works and it is the "best" you can buy!  Now you will know not only why you missed, but "why" you hit the target as hard as you did!  It is a fantastic learning tool.  You should not be shooting trap targets with the shotgun sights you have now.   If you want to learn how to shoot targets you have to know why you miss or hit.   This sight will get that job done to your satisfaction!   Things are happening very fast when you pull the trigger.  You need a device that can tell you "when" to pull the trigger by seeing the sight bead encroaching on the target.   If you can't see this precision you will continue to miss, especially in handicap yardage shooting where precision is an absolute must!   Remember what Daro Handy says, "You have to put the bead on the target to break it!"  Dan Orlich say's, "The gun will shoot straight.  Lock it in a vice and you will see this is true and the variable is you."  Both of these Hall of Fame shooter's understand the purpose of the shotgun sights.   That is why the shotguns come with sights, so you can put that bead on the target!   It is not "rifle shooting."  You have much to learn about trap shooting!  Our trap shooting books will explain and show you how to apply these powerful techniques. 

  You practice and shoot well, then you go to a registered shoot and you lose.  What is going on here?  There are many factors; trap lies, target settings, background, optical illusions, etc.  But what is the most overwhelming problem?  The problem is the trap you are shooting at practice is very likely not set to competition standards.  Set the trap to throw "legal" targets before you shoot them at practice!  Many gun clubs do not set their practice traps to meet legal standards including, weekend practice and practice during registered shoots.  If you practice on a trap with substandard targets you train yourself to shoot "deviant targets" and when it comes time to shoot "legal targets" you have to readjust and that is not an easy thing to do... which is why your competition score plummets.  You will see the light now that you are aware of this.  Set your practice trap to legal standards.  Do not shoot deviant targets!  It is not so much the act of seeing the target and pulling the trigger that will ruin your shooting, but the body moves, the gun swing, the feel of the move to the target.  The feel, timing and swing dynamic is ruined.  And yes, the sight pictures will be altered.  Combine these and you are inviting disaster.    Do you ever see pros practice before a shoot?  They don't need it, but they also know from experience the practice traps at registered shoots are set improperly.    They know it... and now you do!  Knowledge cures many shooting problems!

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  Try mounting the gun and use your cheek to steer the gun into figure-eight patters without lifting your head.  It can be done!  Now you've learned "Body English" to steer the gun and you can say goodbye to head-lifting.  You'll acquire the target fast and shoot it quicker.   Hmmm, isn't that what the pros do?

  Point of impact can also be adjusted left or right.  If you are a right-handed shooter set your gun's comb to the right to set the POI to the right.  Set it to the left if you are a left-handed shooter.    Keep your head still and stable when shooting.  If your cheek moves just a smidgen off the comb vertically you shoot over the target.  If your cheek moves to the right you'll shoot to the right.  Get the idea?  Cheek pressure is described in the Trap Shooting Secrets book and how you can control this pressure to insure solid target hits.  Every professional has worked hard to control cheek pressure and the tricks of the trade are explained in the books.

  Are you certain that your swing and head are both moving at the same speed?  This is critical as the eye is the rear sight of the gun and if the swing momentum gains speed ahead of the eye you'll miss the target.   Critical on the hard angled targets.  Also, it is very much possible, more than you may believe, that your eye is "flickering" ahead of the swing speed.   You'll see the target just fine and pull the trigger and miss.   How can this be if the sight bead is on the target?  It's an optical illusion when your cheek pressure is altered during the swing.  Many shooters simply fall apart in the swing and don't know why they miss a target when it looked just right.   Review the tips above and you'll see the error creeping in.  Just one lesson with a professional shooter would teach you all about these things, if you ask the right questions.  Our trap shooting books will certainly help you identify problems and most certainly give you solutions.   

  The diagram below reveals the basics of gun hold points.  Precision Shooting book takes you deeper into the gun and eye hold relationships with innovative holds to catch the target in the zone, precisely.  This insures your timing and accuracy is totally enhanced and consistent.  Tricks of the trade!

Trap Shooting Secrets and Precision Shooting - The Trapshooter's Bible are the only technical trap shooting books ever written.  History in the making!  Now you have the books that don't just talk about trap shooting, but show you what to do and how to do it... the right way! 

It doesn't matter if you shoot DTL, ATA, ABT or Olympic trap.

DID YOU READ TRAP SHOOTING QUESTIONS & ANSWERS?