156 
FOREST AND STREAM 
April, 1922' 
TRAPSHOOTING GUNS AND LOADS 
EACH YEAR THERE IS LESS EXPERIMENTING AMONG SHOOTERS AND 
MORE CONVERTS TO SOME GENERALLY ACCEPTED STANDARD CHARGE 
By C. S. LANDIS 
Y ears ago, before trapshooting be- 
came thoroughly organized, the 
question of guns and loads was 
not gi\'en much attention, and 
consequently the remarkable scores that 
are now of almost weekly occurrence were 
unheard of. Nearly all shotguns were 
bored for field, or duck and goose shoot- 
ing, and were only occasionally shot at 
the traps; and the shells were quite often 
left-overs from the hunting season and 
might have been loaded with anything 
from 8’s to BB's. 
The experiences of many shooters have 
brought about different customs and 
practices. Thousands of different ideas 
in regard to stock-shape, barrel-boring, 
style of gun, type of load, and length of 
barrel and balance, have been tried out 
and tested, d'he heavy comb, long 
straight stock and broad, flat butt plate 
are among the ideas which ha\c stood 
the test of time and have been generally 
adopted. The freaks and the imprac- 
tical suggestions have been passed over 
or forgotten. Alodern trap-guns, whether 
they be singles, repeaters, or doubles, 
should combine most of these features 
if they are to be used most successfully. 
Probably the most important and the 
most frequently discussed question is 
that of barrel boring. As the 12-gauge 
is practically in uni\ersal use at the 
traps, a discussion of other gauges is 
unnecessary. 
The first specialization for trap work 
was the adoption of full - choke bar- 
rels that were bored to shoot close pat- 
terns zvith number 7 or 7j4 chilled shot. 
For years, thousands of shooters strived 
to secure a gun that would shoot the 
closest possible patterns. To fill the de- 
mand several manufacturers advertised 
that they were making a speciality of 
building unusually close-shooting guns. 
Whenever anyone secured a weapon 
that would pattern 75 to 80 per cent, in 
a 30-inch circle at 40 yards he thought 
he had secured the very last word in a 
trap-gun. 
Before long, however, the evils of ex- 
ceptionally close choke boring began to 
be apparent. Some of the guns would 
outshoot the holding ability of even the 
best shooters. Then the experts learned 
that evenness of pattern was far more 
important than extreme denseness, and 
also that 95 per cent, of the high-aver- 
age shots were breaking their targets at 
a range of from 28 to 33 yards — when 
shooting from 16 yards’ rise. It was 
apparent that this degree of choke bor- 
ing was not only unnecessary but in 
many cases it was an actual handicap. 
The reason was that he was compelled 
to center each target in approximately 
an 18-inch pattern or otherwise the ref- 
eree would call "lost” with a monotonous 
and embarrassing regularity. 
Many of our most expert trapshots 
now use guns that pattern from 65 to 70 
per cent, at the standard testing dis- 
tance. Some have them bored so that 
they will distribute their pellets as 
evenly as possible over a 20 to 24 inch 
circle at the exact range at which they 
break their targets. The result is that 
they can shoot much quicker and with 
less attention to the exact centering of 
the bird in the pattern. Not as many 
targets are reduced to powder when 
shooting a slightly modified boring, but 
a much higher percentage of them are 
chalked up on the score-board. 
Loads have kept pace with the other 
developments in trapshooting. Each year 
we find less and less experimenting 
and more converts to some generally 
accepted standard charge, such as 3 
drams bulk or 24 grains of dense and 
1% oz. of No. 734 chilled shot. Some 
insist upon a little higher velocity and 
use 3}i or 3^4 drams, or its dense pow- 
der equivalent, but most of these men 
are inclined to be a little slow in get- 
ting on the target, especially on quar- 
tering birds, and, therefore, need the 
added 20 or 40 foot-second velocity. 
The great number of long runs and 
high scores made from 22 and 23 yards 
with the lighter loads are good evidence 
that the 3-dram loads are amply power- 
ful. 
Trapshooting is getting standardized 
so thoroughly that the man who cuts a 
real figure in the yearly averages is the 
one who picks a good combination and 
sticks to it and gives most of his atten- 
tion to developing the perfect coordina- 
tion between eye, trigger-finger, and 
body-swing, that will land a load on the 
target. 
{Continued on page 180) 
The trapshooter should strive to develop a perfect coordination between eye, trigger- finger and body-swing 
