Henry Rifle Forums

A first time for everything.

The Shotgun.

Early last month was the first time I shot my new Benelli 20ga Pump Field shotgun. That day I patterned it with 1-buck and 3-buck, plus practice with some 7/8 oz. slugs. I shot of a total of 17 rounds! Here is a photo of my new PUMP.
And another first today -- I shot trap, and it was a blast! The final first is that I'm already hooked on this sport, and will go back again for more of those "orange pigeons!"

The drive to the Trap Range, and my "trainer."

The Kansas City Trap Association range (KCTA) is located about 18 miles north of me, in a small hamlet called Paradise, MO. I drove over many rolling hills and through beautiful wooded areas to get there. Also crossed the bridge span over the very nice and large Smithville Lake. It was jam-packed with boaters today! The range is next to a camp grounds on the lake, and the whole area is very pleasant to visit. (Maybe next visit I'll take some photos of the countryside).

There are nine trap lines, and I shot on number 6. My wife went along on this new venture, and watched me shoot from the air-conditioned club house right behind my line! When I finished shooting, she said she enjoyed herself, as I was mopping my forehead and ballcap band!! It was almost 90* today with a light wind. Since I knew nothing about trap shooting other than what I've read and the videos I've watched on youtube, a young fellow named Jacob was my scorekeeper, and also my "trainer." The training session was brief, and I went for it.

Trap category and Ammo

From the description on the KCTA web site, I shot 16-yard singles. The entire round (game) was to shoot 25 rounds, five at each of the angled positions facing the trap house. My ammo was Remington Target Loads, 20-ga, 2-3/4", 7/8 oz. #8 shot. It is rated at 1200 FPS. When I finished, I just verified with my scorekeeper on the approximate number of yards I was shooting at the orange clay pigeons. He said it was nearly 40 yards total distance. And those pigeons do move along!!

The Score Sheet

Well, there are no target photos, of course. So what I have is the score card posted by Jacob, my Scorekeeper. Since I've never shot trap before, I don't know if 9 hits out of 25 is very good or not....but I was pleased with my shooting, and even a little surprised. Like I said, those pigeons move along!!

This is a very fun shooting sport, and I really had a good time today. I'll be doing more trap shooting in the days ahead!!

Here is my day at the trap range, 9/25 = 36% POIs.
I'm PUMPed!

I've only done it a few times myself. Its a lot of fun but not something I would want of a steady diet. Great writing by the way.

Sir Henry wrote: Great writing by the way.

I agree. Your writing has always been wonderful to read. Thanks for the first range report with PUMP! I'd be pleased with it, too.

Your comment reminded me of something, SH. I'm on a shotgun forum, and there are a lot of trap shooters who participate there. The numbers have always astonished me. Some shoot 10-20 rounds of trap per week --- 250 -500 shotshells chasing those orange pigeons!! And a significant number of these folk also reload shotshells, which at that large number shot would seem to be a necessity. I've often thought shooting that many rounds seems a bit overboard.

I like to shoot my shotgun, and especially enjoy shooting long-distance slugs. But I went overboard one time with my 12-gauge. Within two days or so I shot 65 slugs downrange. Did I ever hurt my shoulder and neck with that number of recoil jolts! My back massage therapist had a hey-day with those bruised muscles. Never did that again. Yup, we can overdo our shooting fun at times.

Sir Henry wrote:I've only done it a few times myself. Its a lot of fun but not something I would want of a steady diet. Great writing by the way.

I have two 12 guage shotguns and one in .410. I love shooting the Winchester 9410 the most.

PT7 wrote:Your comment reminded me of something, SH. I'm on a shotgun forum, and there are a lot of trap shooters who participate there. The numbers have always astonished me. Some shoot 10-20 rounds of trap per week --- 250 -500 shotshells chasing those orange pigeons!!

with the shooting parks in Missouri's State Park system charging $3 per round (25 clay targets per round provided), trap shooting can be very affordable ..... we try to schedule time to shoot several rounds at Jay Henges [b] http://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-n ... oting [/b] every time we are in the area

Clovispup and I tried Skeet/Trap last fall. We enjoy it. We aren't very good at it. You did much better at trap than even thought about doing first time. I stink at Trap even more that I stink at Skeet. We shoot at the local AFB. Just shy of $5 a round.

As to reloading, it is hard to load much cheaper than target loads available from Wally World, or a good sale at a major sporting goods store. At least that is true in 12 and 20 gauge. 28 and .410 are a different story. Some of the good shooters prefer to reload to tailor their loads more so than saving money.

Your comment that you can shoot trap at the MDC shooting parks surprised me. I have never seen that at Parma Woods, where I regularly shoot. So I checked out their web site today, but they do not list trap as part of their facilities/offerings. So I then checked out the other MDC range I go to in Independence called Lake City. Cool! They offer trap shooting. Maybe because I've only shot either the pistol or rifle range at Lake City, I didn't pay any attention to a trap range set up. Think I'll call them today and check it out. They list the same fees as you noted...that would be a 66% savings over the KCTA fee/round! Next time I'm at Lake City shooting my Henry SGC, I could just add a round or two of trap after the rifle range!

Thanks for mentioning that, JEBar. I'm glad you get to Jay Henges as often as you can. The MDC ranges are quite nice....MO is fortunate to have that support for the shooting sports.

JEBar wrote:with the shooting parks in Missouri's State Park system charging $3 per round (25 clay targets per round provided), trap shooting can be very affordable ..... we try to schedule time to shoot several rounds at Jay Henges [b] http://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-n ... oting [/b] every time we are in the area

PT7 wrote:Thanks for mentioning that, JEBar. I'm glad you get to Jay Henges as often as you can. The MDC ranges are quite nice....MO is fortunate to have that support for the shooting sports.

fortunate indeed .... our home state of NC has nothing that can match the opportunities available to folks in MO