SO YOU WANT TO BUY A TRAP GUN...

It's a common phrase, and one that makes many a trap shooter cringe: "So I'm looking for my first trap gun."

Why do they cringe? Because what usually follows is abject stupidity. They've all heard the guy that professes his muzzle-device equipped, folding stock Mossberg 590A1 "embarrasses" the guy next to him with a Kreighoff, just as they've heard the guy with the Beretta SO5 explain that anything less than a handcrafted Italian over under is a complete waste of time. The truth, as always, lies somewhere in the middle. Here are five rules to follow if you're serious about buying your first dedicated trap gun:

1) Figure out if you're really looking for a trap gun. To know this, you first need to know what the difference between trap, skeet, and sporting clays are, and know which one (or which ones) you plan to shoot. If it's a dedicated trap gun you're after, expect to buy a gun that patterns higher than its point of aim, in order to allow better visibility of trap's constantly rising targets. In layman's terms, that means the gun actually shoots slightly upward, rather than straight in the direction it's aimed. This is typically accomplished by fitting a higher trap, target, or Monte Carlo comb on the stock and taller, tapering rib on the barrels, raising your line of sight over the bore and inducing a slightly muzzle-up position. Conversely, a sporting clays or skeet gun will have a lower comb to produce a "flatter" shooting gun, as those games' targets may be crossing, quartering, or even bouncing along the ground. And while any gun can be shot effectively at any clay target, using a trap gun to shoot at trap targets and a sporting clays gun to shoot at sporting targets generally rewards with higher scores. Now, if you're looking to minimize the amount of money expended, this leads to an obvious problem... not everyone wants to buy three or four different shotguns! If that's the case, consider purchasing a sporting clays gun with some form of adjustment built into the comb; these are frequently the most well-rounded of the clayshooting shotguns and are much more flexible than a dedicated trap gun, per say. Finally, don't be lured in by the attraction of that cheap hunting shotgun on  the local shop's used gun rack. Not only will you find a specialized clayshooting gun hits targets more often, but more importantly it'll hit you less: compared to hunting guns, most trap, skeet, and sporting clays guns have much flatter (sometimes even parallel) combs atop the stock, allowing the recoiling gun to simply slide beneath your cheek rather than punch you in the face with a steeply raked comb of a hunting gun.

2) Learn the distinction between a cheap gun and an affordable one. Why? Because if you're shopping for a clayshooting gun, that means you've probably already tried the game with a friend's gun or perhaps a club loaner, which in turn means the clay games' hook is well and truly set. As a result, recognize that whatever gun you buy may see hundreds upon hundreds of rounds in a weekend's service, and may do so without seeing so much as a drop of cleaning solution. And although the numerous Turkish and Chinese shotguns might be well able to meet the demands of the occasional trap shooter or even the most avid hunter, they typically prove incapable of surviving the unique punishment offered up by the high-volume games of trap, skeet, and sporting clays. So, if you're on a budget, turn away from racks of cheap new Norincos and try picking up an affordable used Remington, Browning, or Beretta. Those three manufacturers, as well as a few others, have built a massive reputation on building guns that double as heirlooms, and many of their products have massive aftermarket followings that will allow the gun to grow and evolve to suit your tastes and skills as you progress.

3) Choose an action that'll fit your needs. By now, you should have decided what game, or games, you'll be shooting, and selecting an action that'll work for you will help narrow down your options to manageable number. For example, if you've sampled the various clay sports and decided that bog standard trap's the only game for you, then you only need a shotgun that'll fire one shot at a time, reliably. That means you can save a few bucks by picking up a high quality pump gun or single-barrel break action trap gun like Browning's classic BT-99. Conversely, if you're thinking that you wouldn't mind sampling double trap, skeet, and sporting clays in equal measure, then something like a single-shot BT-99 or even a high quality pump action shotgun will put you at a disadvantage. But as with everything, there's a trade off: the rapid second-shot capability of an over/under or semi-automatic shotgun comes with a price tag. Furthermore, nowhere is Tip #3 more applicable than when discussing semi-auto and over/under shotguns, as they are some of the most complex guns on the market. Although there may be plenty of cheap offerings, the reality is that both over/unders and semi-auto shotguns are, by their nature, incredibly sensitive to both their machining and assembly tolerances as well as their materials, with over/unders specifically requiring quite a bit of machine time and fitting to produce. That said, due to their superior gun fit, innumerable barrel and choke options, ability to shoot through two chokes, and supreme reliability, over/unders have long held the title as the ubiquitous sporting shotgun for good reason.

5) Speaking of gun fit, here is the most important tip you'll ever get: get a gun that fits. This is probably the most commonly repeated form of advice new shooters are liable to hear, and that's because it is absolutely true. Sadly, it's also the hardest tip for new shooters to understand... after all, what is "gun fit?" Simply put, gun fit is a gun's natural propensity to point in the direction you intend it to, without needing to be aimed. So, if a gun fits, you should be able to pick it up from the rack, stick it in your shoulder, and have it point at your target without any additional tweaking. However, what makes this difficult for new shooters to grasp is that a truly refined and well-fitted gun requires not only the correct dimensions, but also a consistent gun mount; in other words, it's quite impossible to ascertain if a gun truly fits if it's landing on your shoulder differently every time, or your hands are never consistent in their grip and location.

However, even with a somewhat inconsistent mount, a new shooter can still achieve a basic level of gun fit by checking a few things, the first of which is the gun's length of pull. Defined as the distance between the end of the stock and the trigger, this length can be checked by shouldering the gun, and measuring the distance between the shooter's nose and their thumb as it comes over the stock's comb. What you're looking for, ideally, is a distance roughly equal to two to two and a half fingers' widths between nose and thumb knuckle. The next dimension to check is the drop at comb. This denotes the distance between the gun's rib (the sighting plane atop the barrel) and the top of the comb; the surface upon which your cheek should rest. An ideally placed comb positions the shooter's eye directly in line with the rib, allowing the shooter to look along the rib rather than down upon it, or up towards it (ie: in a position where the receiver obscures the rib). The farther above (or, rarely, below) the rib one's eye is, the higher or lower the gun will pattern, forcing the shooter to compensate and making things more difficult than they need to be. The final dimension to be checked is that of cast. This is the degree to which the stock is bent to the left or right of the barrels, and is checked in a similar manner as that of the drop at heel: simply bring the gun up to your shoulder, and look down the barrels. If you find yourself tilting your head over to one side unduly to maintain a position atop the comb, then the cast isn't correct. If everything is good, including the cast, one should be able to bring the gun up to their shoulder, and simply turn their head slightly to the right or left, and end up with their cheek atop the comb and their eye in line with the rib, rather than to the left or right of it.

As mentioned, a perfect fit requires the consistent mount that only comes from years of repetition, but an acceptable fit can be achieved by picking a target on the wall, looking at it, closing your eyes, and shouldering the gun. This avoids subconsciously contorting your body to maintain that point of aim with the gun, and instead gives an idea as to any particular gun's inherent ability to "point," and thus fit your body. As you shoot, practice, and learn a consistent mount, all manner of aftermarket stock devices or fitting services (or new guns!) can be purchased to further refine and perfect a gun's fit.

5) And finally, equip yourself with many grains of salt with which advice (even this article's!) should be taken. While some things, such as the importance of gun fit, are simple facts, there are a great many things that new shooters are told that are opinion or anecdotal experience passed off as gospel truth. No other shooting discipline is an individualized as clayshooting, but that's a fact that's oftentimes forgotten, leading new shooters go looking for the absolute best gun when what they really need the best gun for them. Likewise, older and vastly more experienced shooters may have been busting clays with their chosen gun for so long that they too have forgotten that these are games requiring unique, individualized solutions, and can often be equally eager to define that elusive absolute best gun to a new shooter. When that happens, it's up to you to discern fact from fiction and hopefully, many years from now, you'll be able to give some sage advice of your own to someone else when you hear the infamous phrase "I'm looking for my first trap gun..."