What is a good trap shooting gun?

rabbittrapper · Rookie Member Joined: Mar 15, 2014 Posts: 12

I am looking for a shotgun for trap shooting. I would want one tht takes 2 3/4 to 3 1/2 inch shells. My price range is around $600.

lesterg3

I am interested, are you wanting to trap shoot formally or do you want to trap shoot to become a better shot-gunner?

dhc4ever

Also which disapline.
Down the line
American trap
Sporting clays etc
The first 2 will require a different stock configuration than the sporting clays or hunting.

Vince

rabbittrapper wrote:

I am looking for a shotgun for trap shooting. I would want one tht takes 2 3/4 to 3 1/2 inch shells. My price range is around $600.

I am not familiar with the price of Trap Guns in the USA...but out here in Australia, $600 will buy you, at best, a mediocre Field Grade used shotgun.

If you are serious about shooting Trap and or Skeet, you will need to look at some of the better brands of shotgun...Miroku, Beretta or some of the high end guns such as Perazzi, Krieghoff, Browning PM2, Remington 1100 etc. Look for a gun with interchangeable chokes...this makes it a lot easier to switch between shooting disciplines.

Buying Your First Trap Gun

I use a basic field grade over/under for shooting trap...a Fausti Stephano Elegant. It does the job, but only just, it can be hard work compared to a dedicated Trap Gun. On the up side is it is great in the field, light and easy to carry, having accounted for many rabbits.

DHC4ever mentions different stock configurations...this is true in a pure Trap Gun and will also vary between left and right handed shooters...but these problems can be overcome with a custom stock (BIG $) or fitting a butt "twister" which allows for the altering of the angles of the buttstock. An adjustable cheekpiece is another addition if needed.

Take the time to do some research online...visit your local Trap Club and speak to the shooters...see what they are using. Don't mistake a high dollar gun as a sure way to high grade scores though...it is all up to the shooter.

Elvis

mate a $150 rust bucket that patterns where you look/ POINT it will beat a $5000 parrazzi or krieghoff that doesnt EVERY day of the week.
that said its a heck of alot more likely to find a gun built for the purpose that will do it.
its no use banging away with a gun that doesnt fit you....try before you buy...then try again..and again before you part with your cash.

Aloysius

Could you try to explain to me why you would like a 3 1/2" shell?

rabbittrapper · Rookie Member Joined: Mar 15, 2014 Posts: 12

Ill be using it for competition shooting. The reason I want the 3 1/2 inch shell is I'll be using it for geese hunting.

Aloysius

When you see a goose, just think its head is a dove or a partridge and forget the body. Then they will come down easier than when you suffer from that "disease" called "magnumitis"...

the shorter the shot-column in your shell (and your barrel) the tighter it usually will shoot.

on the other hand when you shoot a short (2 3/4") shell in an oversized (3 1/2") chamber, the more spread you will get.

And here I have never seen 3 1/2" with steel shot... think about it.

Gil Martin

It depends what you prefer. I would check the used gun racks in a few gun shops to stay within your budget parameters. See what is available, seems to fit and can afford. All the best...
Gil

lesterg3

There is plenty of 3.5" steel shot ammo available here and I have used it hunting geese, I really don't think it helped and I think I used to get as many with shorter shells.

I am certainly no shot-gun or competitive trap expert, I only have an opinion based on personal experience and that is if I wanted to shoot trap competitively and be a successful goose hunter I would need two guns.

I think trap shooting is a lot of fun and it helped me enormously as a beginning shot gun hunter. Loved eating them Michigan partridge and the skills I gained trap shooting helped me bring many home.

Bottom line is if my budget was only $600 I would buy the best Remington, Winchester, or Mossberg pump I could find new or used that was better for hunting and use it for trap. Wounded clay doesn't suffer but geese do.

Aloysius

Lester, I do agree completely except for the last part as we don't have a history using pumps. I've tried in the past and even now I own a few, but I would never take them out wingshooting because I simply forget to pump between the shots. I use doubles, side by side and O/U with 1 or 2 triggers I don't care. I even use semi-auto's. But a pumper doesn't fit my system (alltough I would rather chose a pumper than a lever action when it's meant for fast shooting. For ethics and other feelings I go completely in the opposite direction).

I think it only tastes well when you've learned to eat it at young age...

lesterg3

Aloysius,

I have to admit that my favorite shot gun back when I hunted partridge was a Stevens 12 ga., side by side, loved that gun, but alas it is long gone. I use pumps because when I was buying shot guns I couldn't afford a good auto-loader and so pumps were the best I could afford and have taught my kids and grand-kids that you do not have to take the shot gun off your shoulder to action the pump. We have no problems remembering to pump.

I am a bit confused by your comment;

"For ethics and other feelings I go completely in the opposite direction)."

So you would prefer killing the orange clay completely and have a wounded goose fly off to suffer?

And, as for;

"I think it only tastes well when you've learned to eat it at young age.."

I would have to disagree, I was in my early 30's when I started hunting and eating the partridge, and ducks, geese, and turkeys. When I was young I ate things like "sh-t on a shingle" that's navy talk for creamed chip beef in white gravy ladled on toast. Tasted nasty then and still does today. So I have to disagree that you like the stuff you ate as a child, we ate crap cause it was all we could afford, and my dad was not a hunter, fisherman, or outdoor enthusiast of any kind.

Aloysius

Blame it to my English...

I was not thinking about clays and wounded game. When I want to shoot fast then I rather would take a pump than a lever action. The first gun ever in my hands when I could barely stand alone without support, was my father's FN Trombone. I still have that .22 and I hope to keep it till I get a grandson that's old enough (but my daughters don't seem to be in a hurry to (mary and) get children).
But altough I don't use them very often, I really love my lever actions. So for the view and the feelings I would take my lever action, but to use I go for the pump.

And also about the tast I wasn't thinking about eating... It was only a picture, an idiom. Because my (late-)father didn't own a lever action, I didn't learn how to use it properly. And for hunting small game: everybody starts here with a double, maybe add a semi-auto later on to go dove or crow hunting. But you will never see a pump in our fields.
So saying "I think it only tastes well when you've learned to eat it at young age..." is only indicating that you only use what you learn to use when you're young... city boys who never got venison while young will become the green tree-huggers when they grow up. And when they never get the opportunity to shoot a rifle or a handgun, they develop that attitude that all guns are bad.

Did I explain myself well this time?

Ominivision1

rabbittrapper wrote:

The reason I want the 3 1/2 inch shell is I'll be using it for geese hunting.

The 12ga 2 3/4" has never let me down getting the big honkers. A few years back when I had not time to reload my goose shells (2 3/4") I went and bought 1 box of Remington hyper-velocity 12ga 3 1/2" shells and sure they throw more lead but the recoil is harsh and getting up there in middle age I like to keep my retinas intact as well as my shoulder.

Pumpkinslinger

Just FYI, I calculated the recoil energy of a 3.5" 12 ga shell in my Mossberg 835 and it was over 40 ftlbs, around twice the energy of an average .30-06.