Looking to enhance your performance in trap shooting? It’s crucial to understand that even seemingly minor errors can affect your results. To ensure you excel, familiarizing yourself with potential pitfalls is essential.
Whether you’re a novice in trap shooting or frequently struggle to hit targets, acquiring knowledge about the fundamentals and the reasons behind occasional mishaps is paramount. This blog will delve into prevalent errors, such as improper foot placement and inadequate follow-through. Additionally, we’ll provide practical techniques for rectifying and preventing these mistakes, empowering you to step onto the field with confidence and elevate your accuracy.
Foot Placement
In trap shooting, you’ll need your body’s full range of motion to hit the desired targets. Your foot placement affects your ability to rotate your body to see the target clearly and take the shot. If you don’t align and place your feet properly, you are more likely to miss the shot. Improper foot placement can also cause imbalance, which will affect the shot.
In order to avoid improper foot placement, you should place your feet about shoulder-width apart. You’ll want to make sure that you have room to rotate your body comfortably, so place your feet accordingly to ensure you have enough space for the follow-through.
Shooting too Late
A common mistake that people make is shooting too late. Instead of picking up the target close by, people wait until the target is far away to aim and shoot. This is especially common among new shooters, as the target appears more fast-moving when it’s close, so they wait until it’s farther away to aim. However, this is not a good idea and won’t lead to better accuracy.
To avoid making this mistake, shooters should try intensely focusing on the target right away. Shooters should focus hard on the target so it will be easier to shoot. Also, being aggressive may be a way to counteract this mistake, as you should not wait too long before firing the gun.
Flinching
An inevitable part of shooting is the recoil. This force pushes back onto the shooter and can cause a lot of problems, namely flinching. When a shooter flinches, the accuracy of the shot is likely to be poor.
If you want to avoid flinching, there are a few different things you can try to minimize and get rid of the flinch for good. One of the best ways to minimize flinching is to lessen the effects of recoil. Having the proper gear is a good starting point for this reduction. Shooting vests with built-in pads help to reduce any pain or discomfort you may feel from recoil. You should also consider purchasing the right recoil pads.
Some pads use springs or coils to minimize the effect recoil has on the body. However, these types of pads are not the most effective ones on the market. Our recoil pads are designed with the same technology found on aircraft landing gear, which significantly reduces the effects of recoil.
The recoil pads will help reduce flinching, as the recoil force will convert to heat that is spread throughout the shoulder area. You won’t have to worry about the pain or soreness that comes with recoil. However, you should also take care to address any mental blocks that may still cause flinching. Focusing on the target and the correct techniques, along with using the proper gear, is the best way to overcome flinching altogether.
Follow-Through
Another common mistake that trap shooters make is a lack of follow-through. If it seems like you’ve done everything else right when taking a shot, but you keep missing the target, it could be a problem with your follow-through.
Luckily, this mistake comes with a quick fix. The next time you go to shoot, try to overemphasize the follow-through by at least an extra second or until you see the target fall.
Safety Procedures
It’s crucial to follow all of the safety procedures in trap shooting. Not doing so may result in severe consequences. Proper safety starts with wearing protection for your ears and eyes. You should always wear earplugs or earmuffs to the range. There are various products on the market that cater to different needs. You could opt for simple and cheap ear plugs or you could go with amplified ear muffs to better hear those around you. You’ll also need to pick up lenses to protect your eyes from any dust, accidental ricochets, or target shards.
Distractions
If you’re just starting out in the sport, you may be unaware of the proper etiquette that is encouraged on the course. One of the most important etiquette rules on the trap shooting course is to refrain from distracting other shooters. It’s common courtesy to leave your phones turned off or left behind in the car. In the same way, you should also avoid making any noise when it’s not your turn so you don’t distract the other shooters.
Another way that people commonly cause distractions on the trap shooting course is by bending down to pick up shells. A simple way to avoid doing this is to carry a shell pouch or a shooting vest. That way, you’ll have your shells handy and have a place to store empties.
There are many small details that go into successful trap shooting. If you’re just starting out in the sport or you want to improve your skills, avoiding the most common mistakes is a good place to start. Poor technique and flinching are two of the most common reasons for poor accuracy. To reduce flinching, you can purchase the best recoil pads on the market to ensure you remain comfortable and relaxed throughout the entire shooting session. Check out our shop to find the right recoil pads before heading to the trap shooting course.
