In the beginning…before there was IDPA…before there was IPSC…even before there was Cowboy…there was TRAP: the original action discipline. Other disciplines like CMP, IHMSA, or Pistol League depend on stillness, stationary, motionless concentration. Trap is the complete opposite. Trap is a blur of instant fluid motion. It all takes place in a twitch of a finger…blink once and you’ve missed it.
It’s your turn. Step to your mark, steady yourself, cycle the action on your 12 gauge to chamber a fresh round. Take a breath and shout, “Pull!” The trap springs, the clay flies…your reflexes kick in… you instinctively shoulder your smooth bore, point and shoot, your gun roars and the clay explodes in a hail of neon orange shards. Ahh…There is a certain satisfaction in blowing up things and making a big noise!
Ever look closely at the berms on the rifle range? If you do, you’ll see that there is as much broken clay as there is dirt. Watch the shooters for a while and you’ll likely see someone poking around in the tall grass looking for unbroken clays. Why? Because we all know it’s more fun to blow up stuff than to punch holes in paper.
Some trap shooters say, “Other [discipline] shooters are a bunch of wussies—they shoot with baby calibers, .22, .45, with a payload of up to 230 grains at stationary targets. Trap shooters, on the other hand, shoot .72 caliber with a payload of 492 grains at a moving target traveling 60 feet a second!” Now that’s entertainment!
Originally trap involved live pigeons—the “traps” held the pigeons. When shooters yelled, “pull,” the door to the trap was pulled, and the pigeon released. Nowadays clay pigeons are used. With an average of 30 shooters each week in the winter and 40 shooters in the summer, trap is truly one of the most popular disciplines. Trap is also a sport for all ages and both genders–as soon as a youngster can handle the weight and kick of a shotgun, he may shoot Trap.