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Choosing your first shotgun

Eye dominance and gun fit

Gun safety, every round

What to expect on a range

Why pattern your gun?

The pair sequence

Handicap distances explained

Reading the call — pull and lost

What singles, handicap, and doubles mean

The trap field, post by post

Where to put your feet

Lead, swing-through, and pull-away

Reading your pattern

Where to look before you call pull

Doubles-specific gun mount

Reading the second clay early

Why earned yardage moves slowly

When to break a target

Where to hold on each post

Mounting the gun consistently

Build a repeatable gun mount that lands the comb on the same spot every time.

Trace the line

Build a smooth, controlled swing by tracing the bead along the room's wall-and-ceiling seams until the wandering line runs straight.

One swing, two breaks

Groove the doubles pair as one continuous motion that breaks in two places — mount held, head down, no reset between shots.

Trail-pursuit

Build the swing-through reflex — barrel starts behind a target, accelerates through, and the trigger break happens AS the barrel passes through.

Move and check your mount

Verify your sight picture survives a swing to any target angle, and diagnose the mount fault when it doesn't.

Bead

The small dot or pearl at the muzzle end of the shotgun barrel, used as a visual reference for where the gun is pointing.

Comb

The top edge of a shotgun stock, where your cheek rests when the gun is mounted. Comb height decides where your eye sits relative to the rib.

Lead

The distance ahead of a moving target the shooter aims to land their pattern.

Mount

The act of bringing the shotgun up from a low ready position to the shoulder-and-cheek shooting position; also the resulting position itself.

Post

One of the five positions on a trap field where shooters stand to shoot. Numbered P1 (far left) to P5 (far right) on a 24-foot arc behind the trap house.

Pull

The shooter's call to release a clay target. Also refers to a single throw — one "pull" equals one trap release.

Rib

The raised metal strip running along the top of the shotgun barrel. You aim by looking down it; a properly mounted gun puts your eye in line with the rib.

Squad

A group of up to five shooters who shoot a round of trap together, rotating posts after each five-shot round. The squad is the basic social unit of trap shooting.

Stock

The wooden or synthetic body of the shotgun that you hold against your shoulder and cheek. The stock includes the comb on top and the butt at the back.

Target

The clay disc thrown by a trap machine for the shooter to break. Also called a clay, clay pigeon, or bird.

Yardage

The distance behind the trap house at which a handicap shooter stands. Ranges from 17 to 27 yards, earned through registered scores in ATA competition.