532 



Popular Science MonlJtli/ 



In this method of shooting the man with the machine 

 simply pulls the trigger and the clay bird soars in the air 



it follows that if the man at the extreme 

 left end of the line, who is No. I, gets a 

 bird Iea\ing the trap at tlie extreme left 

 angle permitted, he gets a bird that is 

 swiftly traveling right across his line of 

 fire seemingly. 



This is termed a quarterer. If the 

 bird, on the other hand, flew straight 

 away from No. 3 man, who stands back 

 of the very center of the trap, it wonld be 

 a straightaway from the trap and Irom 

 this man, but still ciiiartering to the line 

 of the others in the .scjuad. (Juartcrers 

 are the bane of the beginner, because he 

 shoots right at them, and they are not 

 there when the shot arrives, but much 

 farther to the right or left. 



In trai)shooting tiu' rules fi)ri)id guns 

 larger in bore than 12, and charges of 

 shot hea\ier than one and a quarter 

 ounces. Black powder, because of its 

 smoke and interferiTici' with the \ision 

 of the shooters and scorers, also is 

 taboo. Because the shooter likes to 

 shoot as many pellets as he can and still 

 can!U)t shoot too small-sized shot, lest 

 they fail to break the bird, he has found 

 that \o. 7|i or 8 .shut is the li.i])py 



medium between shot 

 loo small to break the 

 cla\', and too large to 

 make a dense cloud or 

 "pattern" of shot 

 iju-ough which the little 

 cla>- cannot escape. Us- 

 ua]]\- the powder load is 

 liuee drams of smoke- 

 less. The guns must 

 weigh from seven and a 

 half pounds to nine to 

 absorb kick and make 

 >iiooting pleasant, but 

 I his is not a rule of the 

 game, merely common 

 sense. 



How the ''Events" are 

 Conducted 



In a regular shoot, the 

 sliooters are di\ided up 

 into squads of fi\e, who 

 remain together through 

 the day or the whole 

 tournament unless han- 

 dicap events which re- 

 ([uire different distances 

 for different shooters 

 make re-squadiling neccssar\-. Each 

 "e\-cnt" ma>- consist of from fifteen to 

 twenty-five birds, each man firing at this 

 number, then retiring with the squad in 

 fa\'or of the next set. . To make the 

 game fair and give e\"ery man his trial 

 at a dilTcrent peg and so a dilTcrcnt angle 

 to the trap, the whole squad moves up 

 one peg wlu'n a lifth of the event is 

 shot. In the 25-bird event when No. I 

 has shot down li\e birds he mo\es wyi to 

 No. 2 peg, and so on down the line to 

 No. 5 man, who takes his gun and doll 

 rags and walks down behind the length 

 of the s(]ua(l to the \-acated No. i peg. 

 After till' next li\e birds there is another 

 mo\e, and so on. 



Each shooter fires in turn, raising his 

 gim and getting it in the correct i)osilion 

 the instant the man to his left lires. 

 The ruk's permit the shooter to raise the 

 gun to tlu' shoulder and get all settled 

 Ix'fore calling for tlu- bird, whiih he 

 does with the ne\'er-\arying word "Pull!" 

 The instant the puller hears the word, 

 the bird is spt'd from the trap. The 

 slightest hesitation in the act of the 

 jjuller will elTectually "b.ilk" the shooter, 



