doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Tracer Load Question

I am having trouble with one, maybe 2 stations in particular on 5 stand, both going away birds. I cannot figure out where I am consistently missing. I am thinking about trying some tracer loads to see where the shot is going in relation to the birds. Any thoughts would be most appreciated. Gil

Skeet? Going away you are probably shooting over it as it loses altitude, or it isn't as straight away as it looks. IMHO.

They may help Gil, but I can't say as I've never used them. However, if you have a friend or if there's a serious target shooter at your club that would stand behind you and look over your shoulder they will be able to tell you what you're doing wrong.

One of the most common questions I hear from my shooting buddies, all of whom have lots of experience, is when we ask each other, after two consecutive misses on a presentation, "Do you want to know where you're missing?".

If lighting is right I can often see the shot cloud in the sky and it's relationship to the target.

Winchester briefly made an actual tracer Mark 5 shell in the 60s
The Winchester TrAAckers were discontinued as the colored wad and 1/8 oz of shot didn't necessarily go where the shot went, and depending on the background were hard to see.

I'm with Stan. Esp. from behind the shooter the shot cloud is easy to see.

I hope it's not dominance shifting as missing shallow angle outgoers from left to right was the onset of my curse

I agree with Stan - get an experienced and serious target shooter to watch you shoot. Standing directly behind you, he or she should be able to help. FWIW, I tried a few of these tracer shells in the '90s when I was new to the shotgun sports. As a former rifle shooter, I found it so frustrating to not be able to correct a miss when I couldn't determine where I was missing on shots that otherwise felt good. Long story short, the tracer rounds did NOT help like I expected. Visually, I would compare it to watching the wad to determine where I was missing (mostly useless).

Maybe you'll have better luck, but I think the fact that tracer rounds are not widely use training aid speaks to their (lack of) effectiveness.

Our club has some sort of device that shows the center of the pattern and its relation to the target. The trap shooters seem to be the only ones using it but I don't see why it couldn't work for you. I'll see if I can figure out what it's called. Standby.

Garmin Zero trap shooting trainer.

ShotKam is another, but is attached to the barrel
https://shotkam.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoqROrnl3mnOjhbTb0JujSaOmkWvz_rMzOGlrdpp2rBGZmM_1fB5

Thanks so much for the comments, feedback and suggestions! It is indeed one of the going-away targets that I am having difficulty with so this might be a good solution. Gil

Gil, you said it was a going away on a 5-stand. I'm picturing an overhead trap on top of the shed over the 5-stand. Am I right, or is it a coming from a trap on the ground in front of station 3?