Very nice list - in the same vein I really enjoyed "Live Pigeon Trap Shooting" by Cyril Adams

 

Super interesting, will have to try and track down a copy of it. Was it worth the $100?

 

For a while way back when "The Inner Game of Tennis" was all the rage. The mental aspects of competition were deemed transferrable to trapshooting. I learned one very important thing from that book: when practicing and all is going well, keep practicing! When practicing and it is going poorly, go home and stop reinforcing what doesnt work. Focus is the most important thing.

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Great advice! Just ordered it to check it out.

 

Be sure to play ALL the options if you take James Russell as your guide. That boy will make you rich. But you must master the on purpose cant he proposes for angle targets.

 

How much do you want to pay me to take the James Russell’s books?

Out of print and a little outdated, but still available and worthy of reading for historical aspects are

Score Better At Trap by Fred Missildine

Shotgun Digest edited by Jack Lewis, two editions, but not identical.

The Gun Digest of Trap & Skeet Shooting, Art Blatt



For current teachings, then add some videos to you library by Harrison, Kiner, Campbell and other greats.

 

How much do you want to pay me to take the James Russell’s books?

It, it, has SOME fuel value. Best saved for the dead of winter though. Warm your firewood up enough to catch.

 

The Remington book by D. Lee Braun is from the 60's; I had it years ago and still have the one he did on Skeet.
They are somewhat dated, but enjoyable reading.

 

I knew James Russel, a very nice man, but not a very good trapshooter. He use to carry his little dog around with him to various shoots. He also took pictures at trap shoots and sent them in to Trap and Field. He was a good technical writer and went around to various shots in California and maybe other areas and asked shooters their opinions on various aspects of shooting. Eventually, he put together enough information to write a couple of books. He took is own life maybe 22+years ago as I recall.

 

I will never understand why they did not reprint "trapshooting is a game opposites". I too thought it was the best book on trapshooting I have ever read. Shotgun Sports was the original publisher . I asked them to produce more but they wont .

 

I'm assuming they own the rights to it and could reprint it if they desired. Maybe it didn't do sell well initially, but it is an amazing book.

 

These are simply my opinions. I purchased all of these with my own money in an attempt to learn from other people's experiences in trap shooting. I'm also amassing a collection of all of the trapshooting DVD's and will post a review summary once I make it through them.

James Russell
Trapshooting Secrets and The Trapshooter's Bible ($35 each)
These books were tough to read. It isn't even clear as to where the first book starts, just sort of shotgun blasts you in the face with random paragraphs and the entire book is like this. The information is scatter brained at best with random bible verses and quotes that have no context to where they are shown. The second book seems slightly more organized, but not much better in content. I tried to find more info on James Russell and his trapshooting accomplishments and literally found nothing. If anyone knows any more about him I'd be curious to hear. I also found some of the information to be flat out horrible advice and contrary to everything else I have been told and read (canting the gun on purpose and foot positions). My advice, do not buy these. That being said, if anyone wants my brand new copies, pm me and I'll sell them for a massive discount. As others have mentioned, it is puzzling that he has Phil Kiner and numerous other world class shooters endorsing the book.
Summary: No-Bird

Rollin Oswald
Stock Fitter's Bible ($27)
This book has a great deal of information on getting your shotgun to fit you perfectly. Rollin is a great writer and I found myself enjoying the way he conveyed the information. Highly recommended and after reading this a couple times you should have no problem getting a proper shotgun fit without much help. He also covers mounting the gun, foot position, stance and patterning. A must have for a trapshooting book collection.
Summary: Dead Target

Dick Bennett
Trapshooting is a Game of Opposites ($120)
The price might scare you away, and I can only assume it is that high because this book is out of print and no one wants to give up their copy. I took more pages of notes from this book than all of the others that I read combined. Dick Bennett is a master teacher and a master trapshooter. I was absolutely blown away at how well he conveys the information and he was also a beast of a competitor from what I have read (passed away in 2014). He covers pretty much everything in detail and I can't recommend this book enough, although the price may deter many people.
Summary: Dead Target and Highly Recommended!

Frank Little
The Little Trapshooting Book ($68)
Just Ordered - will update when it arrives

Clyde Martz
Trapshooting Techniques ($10)
Just Ordered - will update when it arrives

D. Lee Braun
Trapshooting with D. Lee Braun and the Remington Pros ($15)
Just Ordered - will update when it arrives

Daro Handy
Professional Championship Trapshooting ($39)
Just Ordered - will update when it arrives

Good thread. This is why I come to this site, which I only discovered a few months ago. I'm a fairly new trap shooter, and the learning curve is large.

I purchased a digital copy of Dick Bennett's book last December for $15 or $30 (I don't remember, sorry) from Shotgunsportsmagazine.com.

The book is very good, and covers trap from A to Z. Dick only endorses two-eyed shooting, so be prepared you one-eyed shooters. It helped me since I have a vision problem w/ my dominant eye, and had to change to 2-eyed. He even covers this ground since he had an eye injury as a child.

The only problem w/ the digital book is you cannot print any pages and must return to the digital text if you want to revisit something. It's 129 pages, and very good.

 

Dick Bennett
Trapshooting is a Game of Opposites ($120)
It appears to me you can get this book digitally from Shotgun Sports for $16.95. Am I reading this correctly?
Trapshooting - Game of Opposites, online : Shotgun Sports Magazine

 

Dick Bennett
Trapshooting is a Game of Opposites ($120)
It appears to me you can get this book digitally from Shotgun Sports for $16.95. Am I reading this correctly?
Trapshooting - Game of Opposites, online : Shotgun Sports Magazine

Damn, great find. That is it! At $17 that e-book is an absolute steal! Hell, I paid $120 and felt it was worth every penny.

 

Patrick McManus is my "go to" author for shooting and outdoor expertise.

 

One of my favorites

 

Pretty amazing what some of these books are bringing in price today.

I remember both Little's and Bennett's books at Shotgun Sports site at the old Grand for $5.

Can't imagine Russell's even being sold for any price.

 

I am severally dyslexic. I could not read until in my Teens, and you all have witnessed my spelling and grammar. That James Russell book makes me look like Hemmingway.

 

Mental Training for the Shotgun Sports by
Michael Keyes Md.

 

I learned one very important thing from that book: when practicing and all is going well, keep practicing! When practicing and it is going poorly, go home and stop reinforcing what doesnt work. Focus is the most important thing.

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First, a big thanks to the OP.

tomk2,

So very true. A couple of weeks ago, during a trap lesson, I just was not connecting and shot very poorly and was extremely discouraged. When I left that course I drove to my local Trap Club and thought I'd do better. Well, I was still shooting poorly and figured I'd shoot another round to see if I would get my act together and hit those clays. Well after 6 rounds almost no change in scores; I was counting my misses as I went along (major mistake also) and should have heeded the above advice. I just got into a hole and was not able to get out of it - or at least figure out why I couldn't. Lesson learned.

 

I knew Dick Bennett from running the Big Muskego gun club. I considered him a friend and he also gave me shooting lessons. Dick wrote his book originally called TIAGO at his counter at work when he had time between customers. I remember I originally got a copy from him for $9.95.

Dick was a very good shot, he shared with others what he had learned in his shooting career. His entire family shot and most were good trapshooters.
He was a good trapshooter, business owner and family man.
Steve Balistreri
Wauwatosa Wisconsin

 

How'd ya'll miss this one??

 

One of my favorite outdoor writers was the late Gene Hill. In his classic book, "Mostly Tail Feathers", Gene said about Trapshooting that he did not have a style of his own. He was 1/3 Braun, 1/3 Etchen, and 1/3 Missildine. As an 80 year old shooter myself, my style is based on D. Lee Braun and clinics from Kay Ohye and Daro Handy. I have read Daro's book at least 6 times and it has helped me. I also appreciate Phil Kiner's experience with the cross-firing issue.

 

The late-great Gene Hill also wrote Shotgunners Notebook. Great info in that one also.

 

My Library

 

My Library
View attachment 1658023

I notice half the books dedicated to the mental aspect of winning. In my opinion that is the difference between B class and AAA

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Try "Finding the Extra Target" by John Linn and Stephan Bluementhal. Covers more than trap and is the only one I've kept after reading most of them on your list. A lot in those books is merely conjecture and plagiarized paragraphs...…

I've owned four copies, I don't loan this one out anymore as it came back looking like a lab chewed on it the last time and it is out of print..

 

These are simply my opinions. I purchased all of these with my own money in an attempt to learn from other people's experiences in trap shooting...

For mental training - what is perhaps the biggest part of our sport success - I would strongly recommend With winning in mind (Lannu Bassham), Mind vs Target (Bob Palmer), Flow (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi), Sport Psychology (Jonny Bell) and Relentless (Tim S. Grover), not presented in order of relevance.
They almost complement each other.

 

My Library
View attachment 1658023

That's quite a selection, thanks for posting, but I have a question for you and others listing multiple books on the mental aspect of winning/shooting. Do you at all find the books offering contradictory information leading to "information stagnation"
or do they just dovetail well with each other adding to your knowledge base?

 

Do you at all find the books offering contradictory information... or do they just dovetail well with each other adding to your knowledge base?

IMO they all (the ones I’ve read) seem to have a strong corresponding theme. Defining your goal, belief in yourself and showing you how to organize the thought process so your not out there just throwin’ lead around. That’s my takeaway.

 

B J McDaniels "Break em All" is not trap specific but is loaded with training philosophy and shotgun specific information for the clay shooter. Was way up there in price for a bit but I believe price stabilized.
If you are working with new shooters and their parents Jim Thompsons "Positive Coaching" is very valuable.