Lone shooting safety

I'm not sure that there is a link but in the shadow of the recent tragic accident is it an opportune time to change or modify the way lone shooters use solo buttoned trap systems?

Until I heard of this accident I had not thought just how dangerous loading, closing the gun, pressing the button and waiting for the timer to go was. I regularly did exactly that, never having been shown any other way. ( I'm not saying that this was the cause of the accident, I have no information in that regard but the thought processes have kicked in )

It must be far safer to load, press the button and then close the gun and mount/premount and I will certainly be doing that whenever I am shooting alone again. It has the advantage of the shooter having both hands on the gun when it's closed. With a semi-auto would it be safer to put 2 in the magazine and cycle the first after pressing the trap button?

Most lone systems have an adjustable time delay and if it is felt that the ( default? ) 3 seconds is not considered to be enough it could be reset to a little longer very easily.

It might be a good idea to have a demo poster of load, button, close and shoot in the clubhouses of grounds using lone delay systems. An addition to the 'broken is safe' paradigm along the lines of 'both hands on a closed gun' might be a good idea too.

Nimbusgb said:

I'm not sure that there is a link but in the shadow of the recent tragic accident is it an opportune time to change or modify the way lone shooters use solo buttoned trap systems?

Until I heard of this accident I had not thought just how dangerous loading, closing the gun, pressing the button and waiting for the timer to go was. I regularly did exactly that, never having been shown any other way. ( I'm not saying that this was the cause of the accident, I have no information in that regard but the thought processes have kicked in )

It must be far safer to load, press the button and then close the gun and mount/premount and I will certainly be doing that whenever I am shooting alone again. It has the advantage of the shooter having both hands on the gun when it's closed. With a semi-auto would it be safer to put 2 in the magazine and cycle the first after pressing the trap button?

Most lone systems have an adjustable time delay and if it is felt that the ( default? ) 3 seconds is not considered to be enough it could be reset to a little longer very easily.

It might be a good idea to have a demo poster of load, button, close and shoot in the clubhouses of grounds using lone delay systems. An addition to the 'broken is safe' paradigm along the lines of 'both hands on a closed gun' might be a good idea too.

Click to expand...

I am sorry but I can not agree with your proposed "Load, Button, Close and Shoot". Over the past few months I have been unable to shoot and have been 'holding the coats and pressing the buttons'  for the  friends that I normally shoot with. Because I have no need to watch the targets prior to my shooting, I have been studying the shooting actions of others. I have found this exercise,  "extremely enlightening"  ! There are the gun down, make ready and call "pull" whilst immediately mounting the gun, prior to the target appearing brigade, the pre-mount somewhere in the general vicinity and hope to hell brigade, the threaten to shoot the mole then swing the barrels skywards brigade and just about everything in between. Obviously there are a lot who CAN shoot and their gun handling does show through. I can foresee nothing but trouble being caused by your proposed method. I feel that it may cause a less experienced shooter to press the button, PANIC and then SLAM the gun closed (something that in itself can cause a gun to go off) and then look for the clay. If I see a lone shooter, I will always offer to 'button' for them and if this is declined (some like to shoot a single clay and give it 2 barrels ?) and I see that a problem can arise from their gun handling, I will offer advice as to a safer method.  Call me an interfering miserable owld Git if you like, but it may be the reason that I was able to run a shooting ground for 17 years without anything but the odd shot traphouse on the DTL. I still see a lot of people that I have instructed when I visit various grounds, they will be the ones removing a broken gun from it's slip !  Oh, and next time that you have a chance when waiting to shoot, have a look at how many shooters open and close guns with their finger INSIDE the trigger guard, frightening ..............................???