#Trap

Popular with upland hunters for their instant versatility in range and relatively lighter weight, over/under shotguns are often the first choice for waterfowl hunters across the nation. Stevens Shotguns has just announced the addition of the 555 Sporting Model with some newly added features to their lineup of over/under shotguns. The 555 Sporting Model is intended to enhance the experience of sporting clays and trap shooters and comes in at an incredibly competitive price point. Full details are below.

Welcome to TFB Weekly Web Deals 8. Skeet Shooting, 5 Stand, Trap Shooting, Sporting Clays, and more! Ever since the introduction of clay pigeons to replace real pigeons back in the late 19th century, shotgun sports involving the shooting of moving targets have grown beyond the interest of hunting experts and are more or less well known and common shooting sports that nearly everyone and their mom has participated in at least once. Although you can take a crack at these shotgun shooting sports with any configuration of a shotgun, most professional or competitive skeet, trap, and sporting clays shooters make use of over-under shotguns and today for TFB Weekly Web Deals 8, we’ll be checking out some of the best on-sale options currently on the market.

Italian firearms are often nothing short of pieces of artwork as much as they are guns, especially when it comes to shotguns. Rizzini USA is the Utah-based importer of fine handcrafted Italian shotguns and rifles that range from legendary firearms like the Rhino Express chambered in .500 Nitro Express to their new BR110 Sporter IPS (Improved Performance System) 12-gauge O&U shotgun. This new shotgun is made from a combination of a Rizzini BR110 frame and handcrafted Turkish walnut stock featuring a fully adjustable rib that requires no tools.

Federal Ammunition has introduced a new line of shotshell loads on the heels of this year’s Olympics. The new High Over All (HOA) shotshell loads are intended for competitive use and offer shooters better reloadability and more consistent shot patterns. Federal has optimized these loads for trap, skeet, and sporting clay shooters that need the best that Federal Ammunition can offer its customers.

Federal shotshells will be the official ammunition used by the United States Olympic Shooting team for shotgun events. Due to extremely strict regulations surrounding ammunition and firearms possession in Japan, competitors will have to have ammunition shipped to them and held offsite until on-site reserves need to be replenished. Federal will be shipping their Gold Medal 24-gram International loads and Federal Gold Medal Paper loads which are said to have the extremely consistent shot size and patterning.

Krieghoff have announced the introduction of a new 12 gauge competition shotgun based on their K-80. The new K-80 34” Parcours over & under shotgun has a longer barrel and an extended sight plane. The K-80 Parcours is available with either left or right-handed stocks and a choice of engraving patterns or a custom design.

Beretta has introduced an advanced competition version of their D11 Black over and under shotgun. The new shotgun is called DT11 Black PRO. The main difference from the base model is the adjustable stock. Let’s go through the features of this shotgun.

At the 2017 Association of the United States Army annual meeting, Korean optics maker DI Optical was showing off many of their familiar products, but also had on display an interesting looking rifle attachment from a company called Jammer Korea. The attachment, named the “DRONE SNIPER”, is a familiar multi-frequency radio jammer, but in a slick underbarrel package that weighs much less than current standalone launchers.

It’s no secret that the field of war is changing, and that fact is just as true for the infantryman as it is the F-35 Lightning II pilot. Increasingly, small, inexpensive, expendable drones are being used as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) assets, as well as delivery platforms for light ordnance as well as kamikaze weapons. Today, the use of drones in this manner is in its infancy, but the next generation of purpose-built light combat drones is being designed and built right now. Israeli firms like Duke Robotics and UVision have already created armed and kamikaze (respectively) drone systems, and combatants in the Iraqi and Syrian Civil Wars famously used drones as delivery platforms for 40mm grenades. The use of civilian light drones as “snooping” devices has already spurred the development of anti-drone weapons for security forces, including both electromagnetic “rifles” that zap drones to take control of them, as well as more crude (but still effective) anti-drone shotgun payloads.

I saw this the other day when I helped out some friends set up stages for a Steel Challenge match. This shooter was shooting Trap by himself and he was wearing a Top Hat. One of my friends said some people are starting to wear elaborate hats when shooting Trap. He has seen some people wearing feathered headdresses.

Everyone is amazed at Michael Phelps’ staggering medal count in just 4 consecutive Olympics. From 2004 to 2016. However there is another US Olympian who has gone to 6 straight Olympics and has won a medal every time. Since 1996 and on to the current 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Kim Rhode has won a medal every time she has gone to the Olympics.

There are plenty of accessories that make us scratch our head. Rail mounted tactical testicles comes to mind. But then there are some accessories that are just plain dangerous. This would be one of them. The premise behind this accessory is for the gentleperson shooter using a single shot break action or double barreled shotgun in a sport like trap or skeet. Or a hunter who is too lazy to actually hunt anything and has people and dogs to flush birds to the shooter. In either scenario there is a lot of down time. So shooters get complacent and rest the barrel of the gun on their shoe. This accessory will help keep your shoe from getting dirty. Since the guns are single shot and typically left open they are rationalized as being safe to flag oneself. However this does violate one of the firearm safety rules. Always keep your firearm pointed in a safe direction. Your foot is not a safe direction.

Italian gunmaker Breda was at the show with a modest booth, showing off their new 930i sporting clays shotgun. Breda’s representative explained that the goal of the shotgun was to create a semi automatic sporting clays shotgun that could compete and win out of the box, with no modifications or customization.

In 2011 we reported on a company called Holy Smoke, LLC that offers  a service wherein a family could have their ashes spread via reloaded ammunition. The company takes in your deceased loved ones ashes, and loads them into approximately 250 shotgun shells, 100 rifle rounds, or 250 handgun rounds. Although this news report did not go through that company, the report is about a family who recently had their loved one loaded into 50 shotshells, and fired off the shells at the trap and skeet range that the loved one favorited.

Browning is known for their long guns, and if you shoot trap or just want a well-made gun for target shooting, they have two new models coming out you might be interested in. The Citori 725 line is being expanded to include the Pro Sporting and Pro Trap shotgun, each of which has been designed for proper balance improved aiming. Shooting trap involves the need to mount your shotgun to your shoulder in one smooth motion while getting your gun on target for a quick, accurate shot, and Browning has created these guns for just that. In addition to their carefully designed balance point these guns have triggers with the lightest pull weight ever for this particular model and an improved choke system for better patterning.