Trapshooting
Trapshooting, commonly called "trap", is the oldest of the shotgun sports, and involves shooting clay targets thrown from a trap located 16 yards in front of the field with individual targets always flying away from the shooter(s) at an angle. Trapshooting consists of Singles, Handicap, and Doubles targets.
Trap Field at the National Shooting Complex
In Singles, shooters shoot from 16 yards behind the trap house taking 5 individual shots from 5 separate stations.
Handicap targets are used to 'even the playing field' between shooters of different abilities, and each shooter is assigned a distance from 18 to 27 yards from the trap house. Handicap targets are shot as 5 individual targets from 5 stations.
Doubles targets are shot from the 16 yard line as in Singles, however, the trap always throws 2 simultaneous targets at fixed angles. While Doubles targets always have the same flight path, variety comes from moving stations challenge comes from needing to break both clays instead of just a single one.
The United States Olympic shooting team has a solid history of trapshooting medals:
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1912 Stockholm
James Graham - Gold - Men's Trap
Charles Billings, Ralph Spotts, John H. Hendrickson, James Graham, Edward Gleason, Frank Hall - Gold - Men's Team Trap -
1920 Antwerp
Mark Arie - Gold - Men's Trap
Frank Troeh - Silver - Men's Trap
Frank Wright - Bronze - Men's Trap
Mark Arie, Horace Bonser, Jay Clark, Forest McNeir, Frank Troeh, Frank Wright - Gold - Men's Team Trap -
1924 Paris
Frank Hughes - Bronze - Men's Trap
Frederick Etchen, Frank Hughes, John Noel, Clarence Platt, Samuel Sharman, William Silkworth - Gold - Men's Team Trap -
1964 Tokyo
William Morris - Bronze Men's Trap -
1968 Mexico City
Thomas Garrigus - Silver Men's Trap -
1976 Montreal
Donald Haldeman - Gold - Men's Trap -
1984 Los Angeles
Daniel Carlisle - Bronze - Men's Trap -
1996 Atlanta
Kim Rhode - Gold - Women's Doubles Trap
Josh Lakatos - Silver - Men's Trap
Lance Bade - Bronze Men's Trap -
2000 Sydney
Kim Rhode - Bronze - Women's Doubles Trap -
2004 Athens
Kim Rhode - Gold - Women's Doubles Trap -
2008 Beijing
Corey Cogdell - Bronze - Women's Trap -
2016 Rio de Janeiro
Corey Cogdell - Bronze - Women's Trap
Perfect Aim offers coaching in trapshooting to help improve your game!