Is Height an Advantage or Dis-avantage

Who Has the Edge a 7'0 or a 4'6" shooter?
I believe the short shooter has an advantage, as he is shooting a lesser angle of a rising target, I believe the angles are equal to both.

Who in your opinion has an advantage?

This may be start of an interesting Posting!!!

Gary Bryant.......................................Dr.longshot

 

I don't see either as having an advantage over the other.

If both shooters hold a "level" gun the lines are established for both.
Example:
The concrete is level with the trap so both shooters feet are level.
The gun is level so that " line" is parallel with the pad.
The eyes create another "line" parallel with the gun which is parallel with the feet which is parallel with the trap.

At target release, the shorter competitor may see the whole target a split second sooner than the taller shooter but that doesn't mean the shorter will shoot sooner.

It depends on the individual person, tall or short.

 

If ..... you hold the gun "level", and do not consider the distance from the top of your head to your eye, the 7' shooter only has to move the gun 4' to shoot the target at 11' ..... a 4' shooter has to move the gun 7' to shoot the target at 11' .....

So, if the "average" Trapshooter could stand on a 2' box, they would have an advantage over the "average" Trapshooter sitting on a "stool" .....

 

If ..... both shooters started by pointing at the "top edge of the house", the taller shooter would have the greater distance back to "level" .....

 

User,
Your logic is reasonable, I agree with your numbers.

I'm no math master by any means.
That 4' or 7' at point of impact is only inches at the gun.
So just to use numbers, at 16 yards, the shorter shooter to hit a target at 11' maybe raises his gun approximately 4" to achieve 7' at poi.
where the taller person only raises his gun 1" to achieve the same poi.

The original question really has no correct correct answer as there are too many "buts" and "what ifs" that can be applied.

 

It may be a "no correct answer question", the way it was ask.

You can change the "difference in gun movement" by changing the POI of the two shotguns ..... the "shorter shooter "can be shooting a higher POI shotgun than the "taller shooter", making the movement more "equal". Or change the distance from the "house" the target gets to 11', changing the "angle" of the line to the "starting point" ..... or, or, or .....

The "question" may be "better served" by asking ..... "all OTHER things being equal" .....

 

I would think the taller shooter would see the target first coming out of the house by looking from a higher angle, but the advantage would be very minute. I seen very good shooters at both extremes!

 

Guys, Be careful, some whiners may now want to make it more difficult for the taller shooters. My goodness a 7 ft. tall AAA shooters could be in trouble. If he is also a 27 yd. shooter,He may get disqualified. The only safe guys are the short fat dough boys. Roger C.

 

No one sees or has the correct analysis of Target Flight/Trajectory. The short 4'6'' shooter has less target rise than the 7' shooter, In actuality the 7' shooter has a higher POI, than a short 4'6" shooter. I cannot draw a graph for posting, but it is a simple thing to do, the same analysis applies to 16-27 yards as todays max yardage. Trapgun holding points are actually irrelevant. The short Shooter has less target rise, and the target is easier to break/ less misses.
So step back and really think this process through completely. It is a law of Physics and Math Computations. One common thing that would have to apply is both shooters must be shooting the same make of Trapgun, including Bbl Length, w/std fitting practices.


Gary Bryant.........................................Dr.longshot

 

Ok, I'll play. As User 1 pointed out there are a lot of if's, ands & buts. However lets assume that both shooters are identical in every respect (eyesight, reflexes etc) except for their height. Similarly their guns are identical. Also they are shooting a standard straight away target from post 3. Both hold at an identical spot at the front edge of the trap house (A), they then would focus there eyes above the barrel to specific point where the target would become a visible clear target (B) . Since both have identical eyesight that point would also be the same for both regardless of their height. Once the target is identified the barrel would then be raised a certain distance to where the target would be broken (C). Again since the guns/POI are identical the barrel movement from B to C would be identical for both. Height of the shooter is irrelevant. Where the shooters are holding a high gun above the house obviously there is a disparity to parallel because of the height difference of each shooter. In this instance the shooter is looking below the barrel to where the target becomes visible which again would be the same point for both shooters. With the high gun the shooter is letting the bird come up to the barrel which would make any barrel movement minimal. Because the shorter shooter has a lower plane at parallel I suppose one could argue that the target would have a lesser distance to travel to the break point however considering the speed of the target and the distance between the two parallels the discrepancy would be miniscule. Sorry Doc, but when it come to trapshooting I doubt height of the trapshooter has little if any relevance.

 

10guns,
Not fair you are not leaving any room for the whiners to chastise or complain about some one with an advantage. You are going to be responsible for some of them to go into melt down. Can you add an maybe to give them a little hope? Roger C.

 

Well Roger the good Doctor did say that you would need to use "std fitting practices". Considering the wingspan on them tall boys I'm sure their stock/LOP would be much greater than for them little guys. That will put their barrel much closer to the trap house. Perhaps we need a 15 1/2 yd line for all shooters under 5'5???

 

10 guns: you are very close, but the rising target for the short shooter has a lesser angle to shoot at!

 

My pal grntitan wears lifts in his shoes to shoot. Guessing that if you are less than 50 inches tall you are handicapped. Without the lifts I doubt he could maintain that 19 yard line. Why he wears hi heels in the evening may be another story.

 

It all makes sense to me now.

Using longshots premise that the taller you are the less the targets rise must mean that the wider you are the less the right and left angle.

Now I see why all the best shooters are guys with substantial girths...Rickey Marshall, Tank Lunsford, Harlan, Leo etc. etc. etc.

I guess I need to bulk up to reach my full potential.

 

I have given this careful consideration and thought, if you are tall and its your day then being tall is an advantage, on the other hand if you are short and its your day being short would be an advantage on that given day ... Taking width into consideration does not seem to be an advantage unless you are one of the "Top Guns", and even they are limited to side movements on occasion and they miss ... Bulking up to reach ones full potential only works if you are a seasoned trap shooter with a lot of practice rounds in your past ...It always seemed like the more I practiced the luckier I got when shooting in events, being tall must of helped but I never realized it at the time, especially if I got beat by a short guy ... WPT ... (YAC) ...

 

Ray Stafford isn't tall. Not many better.

 

Ray was standing next to a midget, he looked tall to me then ... WPT ... (YAC) ...

 

O-dawg,
Yep, Ray's a machine. I may be wrong but I believe he holds the ATA record for the highest 16 yd average (99+%) for shooters with 100K+ 16 yard targets. Maybe the good doctor is onto something. He does say that the shorter shooter has an advantage because of a "lesser target rise" making the target easier to break and therefore less misses. Too bad he waited this long to tell anybody. Just think if only guys like Orlich, Little, Robinson & Harrison had know; how great could they have been? I have a state shoot coming up and this weekend I'm going out and get me a nice padded stool. Maybe if I can get down another foot or so I might be able to pick-up a bird or two and win me a trinket.

 

Fargo2,
Be careful who you poke fun at. I was not and was chastised for doing so. If a person can not laugh at them selves they are not worth knowing. Roger C.

 

So let me get this straight. All along I've been told to work on my mid section (Larry S.). They say ALL good trapshooters have girth for counter balance and recoil reduction.That made sense to me. Now you are telling me that height is more important. I'm going out, not up or down. Sorry Doc, I need a second opinion.
Flinch King

 

I can tell you one case in particular that being tall would have been a disadvantage. At the Canadian Championships in 76 or 77 I was tied with a couple of guys for a handicap, one was 22 yards and the other was 20 yards. I was at 27. Shoot management came to me and asked if I minded shooting all on one trap at the same time. I told them sure I wouldn't be the one getting shot. The funny thing is the short yardage guys didn't say no and we all shot on one trap. I'm not sure how tall these guys were, they were either short or I did a good job reading the trap as no one was hurt in the making of the shootoff, if greentitian would have been there he may have had to remove his lifts. Brad

 

I am not so sure grntitan is all of 4' 6" tall. He might be close. What if he did not have the "short guy advantage"? Handicapping would have to be at the 15 or would it be difficult to see over the house if moved too close?

 

He should not need or get any advantage from the 20 yard line or is it 20 1/2, by now ... WPT ... (YAC) ...

 

So the perfect Trapshooter would be the same distance from the ceiling standing up or laying on his back?

 

Geee.....never thought of it that way. With or without high heels, Grntitan represents a superior trapshooter, at least by Sparta standards?

Shooting from 19?