Our Timeless Tradition.
By Shari LeGate
The first shooting game I ever shot was American Trap. I had never shot a shotgun or any gun for that matter, but I knew I wanted to learn. I found a small shooting range on the outskirts of town, walked into the clubhouse and asked for lessons. The man behind the counter handed me a beat up old Remington 1100 20-gauge, tied a builder’s apron around my waist, stuffed cotton in my ears, handed me a box of ammunition and pointed to a group of men on a trap field. “Just go out there,” he said. “They’ll show you how to shoot.”
Intimidated but determined, I walked out to these complete strangers, introduced myself and asked them to show me how to shoot. And they did. Little did I know one of those men was acclaimed trap shooter Rudy Etchen. A great sportsman and gentlemen, he took me under his wing and launched me on a journey that has lasted all my life. I shot with him and the other men in that group every weekend for the next year. Rudy taught me the game of trap and taught me how to compete.
And that’s how I got to the Grand American. Now in its 116th year, it’s considered the world’s largest competition—24 events over 11 days, Preliminary Week and Grand Week. Debuting in 1900 at the Interstate Park in Queens, New York it started as a 4-day tournament. For the next 22 years, it travelled around the country, finally settling in Vandalia, Ohio, where it stayed for the next 83 years. In 2006, it moved to its current home, the World Shooting and Recreational Complex in Sparta, Illinois—a 1,600-acre facility with 120 trap fields covering 3-1/2 miles. Over the course of its history, the Grand American has grown from those first 20 competitors in 1900 to nearly 6,000 competitors who vie for the title of Grand American Trap Champion.
Shooters on the 16-yard line (above). As skills progress, shooters can move all the way back
to 27 yards away, which changes the leads and angles. Photo: Trap & Field. This aerial view
(below) of the 3-1/2 mile trap line shows the vast expanse of 120 trap fields at the complex
in Sparta, Il., shows the “Grand” of the Grand American. Photo: ATA
Trap is the oldest shotgun shooting sport in America and is a game of perfection. The fundamentals and technique of this game are easier than other clay target sports, but mentally, it’s one of the toughest games there is. It requires consistent movement and timing to repeatedly break a 4-1/4-inch clay target traveling at 42 mph over and over again. A perfect score of “100 straight” targets broken is required to win.
American Trap has three events: Singles, Doubles and Handicap, and all can be shot on the same field. The events have slight differences, but the basics of the game are the same in all three events. The shooting line is in the shape of a small arc and has 5 positions referred to as “Posts.” Sixteen yards in front of the shooting line and in the center of the field is the “trap house,” a small covered shed housing the clay target thrower. The shooter calls “Pull” and a target is released from the house flying away from the firing line.
Shooters are grouped into squads of up to five people. Each shooter takes 5 shots per post in rotation, totaling 25 shots for one round. Once all shooters have taken 5 shots on a post, they rotate to the post on their right. This gives each shooter a different angle of the target. There are four rounds to the game for a total of 100 targets. Once a round of 25 targets is completed on one field, the squad moves to the next field on the right. They rotate between four trap fields called a “bank.” When the squad has shot from all four fields, they’ve completed a round of 100 rounds.
Shari waits on the 16-yard trap line for the target, shooting Doubles.
At the Grand American, you can shoot a total of 2,400 targets in 11 days, not including practice. That’s a lot of shooting. Fatigue and recoil can take its toll on the most experienced competitor, which is why so much emphasis is put on good equipment. The types of shotguns used vary from pump actions to single barrel break open guns. The only time an over/under is used is in the Doubles event.
The most popular gun in this game right now is the legendary K-80 Krieghoff. Krieghoff builds many competition guns for all the shotgun sports, all built around the same receiver, the heart of the K-80 system. But for the game of Trap, the K-80 Trap Special Combo gets the most chatter and is the gun used by the top shooters.
The K-80 Trap Special Combo is offered with a fully adjustable high-post rib on the O/U, the Unsingle and Top Single barrel for point-of-impact (POI) adjustments. The Unsingle is the bottom barrel with a high rib, preferred most by top trap shooters because it has the straight recoil of a bottom barrel. The gun comes with titanium choke tubes and a Monte Carlo trap stock with adjustable comb specifically designed for the high-post rib. The O/U barrels are either 30 or 32 inches, but the 32-inch barrel is the choice for most shooters. The Unsingle barrel is 34 inches.
The K-80 Trap Special Combo is the most popular gun in competitive trap even with a
tariff of $17K. The free-floating barrels can be adjusted to deliver their patterns
to different points of impact. Many shooters use the “Unsingle” (inset) in the Trap
Special Combo. This 34-inch barrel is the bottom barrel of an O/U with a high rib
and is preferred by trap shooters as it has the straight-line recoil of a bottom
barrel. Photos: Krieghoff
Shipped from the factory with a 70/30 percent point-of-impact in all the barrels, the rib can be adjusted to a fairly flat 60/40 percent pattern or it can also be adjusted to almost a full pattern high. The high rib provides good visibility around the gun giving you the ability to see the target quickly.
What I found very interesting is the barrels on the O/U are fully adjustable for shooting doubles. Changing the POI on an O/U is common, but what sets the K-80 Trap Special Combo apart from other guns is you can adjust the spread between the two free-floating barrels by changing the front hanger which gives you a different POI for each barrel. Some shooters prefer that as they set their POI on the bottom barrel higher than the top barrel specifically for Doubles.
Every August the shooting community turns it’s attention to the Grand American World Trapshooting Championships with all those elite guns and top shooters. It’s the Olympics of American trap shooting. Only the modern day marathon has more participants in a single day of competition than the Grand American.
For me, come August, I think back to the day I walked onto a trap field of a tiny little shooting club, straight into the tutelage of one of the greatest trap shooters of all time. Lucky and blessed I was for being in the right place at the right time. And you know that beat up old Remington 1100, 20-gauge loaner gun the club handed me? Well, I bought it, for $150. I shot my first 25 straight with it and it holds a special place in my gun safe. It doesn’t come out very often and compared to the state of the art guns today, it doesn’t compare, but to me, it’s a world champion.
A standard trap field showing the 16-yard Singles & Doubles firing line
to the 27-yard Handicap line. Photo: The Virginia Rifle & Pistol Club
THE EVENTS
Singles: Considered to be the easiest of the three, it’s also a marathon-type event and requires the strongest mental game. Shooters stand on a station on the firing line 16 yards back from the trap house in front of them. The trap machine in the trap house oscillates left to right within a 54 degree arc (up to 27 degrees right and left of center). When launched, a Singles target, must be between 8 to 10 feet high at 10-yards from the trap house and must travel no less than 49 yards and no more than 51 yards in distance, giving a randomness to each target. The shooter calls for the target and only one shot per target is allowed. Winning the Singles event requires a perfect score.
Doubles: Included in the Grand American in 1911, it’s exactly what the name implies. Two targets are released from the trap house simultaneously. One target flies to the left while the other files to the right. Five pairs (10 targets) are shot from each station for a total of 50 targets per round. The squad moves to the next field and repeats the course of fire for a 100-target event. However, in this event, the machine does not oscillate so the target path remains constant. That doesn’t make it any easier though. In Doubles, timing is critical on the first target and a smooth move to the second target is required.
Handicap: The most prestigious event in trapshooting, it’s designed so shooters of different levels can compete against each other on an even playing field. Shooters stand at varying distances, their “handicap” from the trap house depending on their ability. The more accomplished the shooter, the further away he stands. A shooter is assigned a handicap based on past performance. A high handicap or less experienced shooter will be no closer than the 18-yard line, while a more proficient shooter will shoot from the maximum 27-yard line where perfect scores are not common as the angles and leads are more pronounced. For safety reasons, there is not more than a 2-yard difference between shooters.
K-80 Trap Special Combo
Maker: Krieghoff
7528 Easton Road
Ottsville, PA 18942
(610) 847-5173
www.krieghoff.com
Action type: Break OpenGauge: 12-gauge, 3-inch
Capacity: 2 (O/U), 1 (Unsingle)
Barrel length: 30, 32 inches (O/U) 34 inches Unsingle or Top Single
Trigger: Single selective mechanical, adjustable for finger length (optional release trigger)
weight: 3-1/4 to 3-3/4 pounds
Choke: Titanium or steel chokes in all barrels, available in 9 constrictions
Overall length: 49-5/8 inches (32-inch barrels, average LOP)
Length of Pull: 14-3/8 inches
Drop at Comb: Adjustable 1-1/4 to 1-5/8 inches
Weight: Approx. 9 pounds
Finish: High gloss
Stock: Turkish walnut, satin finish
Sights: White pearl front, metal center bead
Price: $17,895
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