doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com electric traps, anyone have one?

has anyone out there bought one of the electric traps? single thrower? any suggestions, caveats??
Looking at a Champion Targets Easy Bird Auto Feed trap.

As a coach for some 10 years, I used Promatic and Acorn a lot.
The former was arguably the better of the two but they were all old traps made very well and worked beautifully.
A word of caution: manual traps are dangerous; self cocking auto traps are even more so. Be VERY careful and always treat them as you would a gun: loaded until proved otherwise.
I have seen some horrible injuries resulting from poor safety with auto traps from mangled fingers to broken jaws.
You simply can not be too careful.

Brian
When I was considering one of the single stack throwers a few years ago, I narrowed it to one of the Promatics. I don't recall the seeing Acorn brand that Toby mentioned.

I bought an Do All Aerial Assault 3 about 3 years ago and I have been real happy with it. I got that one because it could be adjusted for the highest velocity. Only had to make one minor adjustment after about 800 birds. I also got the wireless remote so I can walk around and get any angle. Whatever you get, get an automatic float type batter minder and the battery will last 5 times as long. I have 4 Battery Tenders: on the GTO, lawnmower, target thrower, and motorcycle - but there are other brands too.
The commercial grade traps are better made, but more expensive and MUCH heavier.

I've been around nearly all of the commercial grade machines, and a lot of the personal use types, and the best I have ever seen for practice by one's self is no longer made. It is a Comet, and was made in California. It will lock down in an infinite number of presentations, or you can unlock it and it will move a little for the next bird so you never know exactly what the presentation wil be. But the reason I say it is the best for use alone is that it doesn't cock until you push the button. It has a wireless remote that you can clip on your shirt pocket. I hold the shotgun by the pistol grip in an upward position, press the button with my left, the machine cocks and throws in about three seconds. This gives me time to put my other hand on the gun and even premount if I want to.

If you can get a trap with a programmable delay built into the wireless remote I would highly recommend you do so.

SRH

P.S. The other thing about the old Comet that makes it a superior personal trap is safety. By not cocking itself automatically, as all others I am aware of do, there is never an accident waiting to happen with it. Regardless of how careful you are around the others, unless you throw it without allowing it to recock, it is sitting there waiting for you to make a mistake and hurt you, bad. I was told that Rick Hemingway, who owns Backwoods Quail Club, host site of the Fall Southern S x S, had an accident recently while loading a Promatic machine he supplied at the NWTF Turkey Shoot last month. He was struck in the jaw by the arm when it came around and required emergency treatment. He is recovering well, I understand, but just a reminder to all that these things are not toys, and can maim you in a split second.

I have the Do-all that Cabela's sells. Can't remember the model; the White Wing maybe? Haven't used it a whole lot but it's been fun. I recently got the wobble attachment for it but haven't used that yet. Bought it mostly with my points; for the money I've been pretty happy with it. Had some adjustment problems out of the box but I think (hope) I've got those handled now. The only thing I don't like about it is it won't throw doubles.

I have the Champion Easybird. http://www.amazon.com/Champion-40910-Eas...s=champion+trap

It is . . . ok. Occasionally the targets get hung up and don't feed very well.

The Atlas Patriot, while still in the same "personal use auto trap" league, seems like its head and shoulders better. Of course, it costs nearly twice as much ($600 vs $400).

Good point about the cocked arm. Another plus of the Aerial Assault is it has a slow uncocking function as well, but that doesn't work from the remote.

I have the Atlas AT50, which I like. I added the horizontal and vertical "wobbler" motors, and placed the whole thing on a small 40" X 48" trailer. There is room for the battery, cables, and a couple of boxes of clays, and I can tow it with my ATV.

You can set the throwing angle fixed anywhere you like, and the H & V drives can be activated either by themselves or at the same time. Since they are not in sync, the throwing angle changes every throw.

I am very happy with the setup.

HHH

I also have an Atlas Trap. Actually several of the AT 250 models and have been very satisfied with the quality vs the pricing. I view them as the upper end of the weekend warrior models. The boys at Atlas have always been accessible whenever I had an issue or just needed a little guidance. I mounted one of these on a 40' utility pole and devised a way to run it up and down the pole with a winch and drill. Makes for a great tower shot. Hopefully the pics show up ??