Westley Posted May 12 Report Share Posted May 12 On 10/05/2024 at 14:12, Penelope said: That looks more like a live pigeon event that a clay shoot; look at the strings, pulled to release the pigeons. On the old Eley Plus traps, strings were used to release the target from them. They still needed a trapper to cock and load the clay onto the Trap. When I took over the running of a clay ground in 1990's, we inherited an Eley plus trap which was cocked and released by a lever situated at the rear of the 5 firing points. A trapper would load the clay onto the arm. Damned dangerous really, the trapper had no means of communication with the guy releasing the Trap. Winchester white flyer traps were the first of the electronic traps that I saw. Although electronic cocking and releasing, again a trapper was needed to put the clay on the Trap arm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feltwad Posted May 13 Author Report Share Posted May 13 8 hours ago, Westley said: On the old Eley Plus traps, strings were used to release the target from them. They still needed a trapper to cock and load the clay onto the Trap. When I took over the running of a clay ground in 1990's, we inherited an Eley plus trap which was cocked and released by a lever situated at the rear of the 5 firing points. A trapper would load the clay onto the arm. Damned dangerous really, the trapper had no means of communication with the guy releasing the Trap. Winchester white flyer traps were the first of the electronic traps that I saw. Although electronic cocking and releasing, again a trapper was needed to put the clay on the Trap arm. The trap you mention was a old Blair Gowie trap and goes back to pre war days it was auto and the release was behind the shooters and used for DTL .The handle for cocking the trap was a 4 foot metal pole that stood upright and connected to the trap by metal rods that were at ground level when you push the top of the upright forward that cocked the trap and changed the angle when the bird was called the top of lever was pulled back and released the clay ,In the past I must have released many thousands of clays from this type of trap Feltwad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westley Posted May 13 Report Share Posted May 13 49 minutes ago, Feltwad said: The trap you mention was a old Blair Gowie trap and goes back to pre war days it was auto and the release was behind the shooters and used for DTL .The handle for cocking the trap was a 4 foot metal pole that stood upright and connected to the trap by metal rods that were at ground level when you push the top of the upright forward that cocked the trap and changed the angle when the bird was called the top of lever was pulled back and released the clay, In the past I must have released many thousands of clays from this type of trap Feltwad I too released thousands of clays from the one we inherited, it was most certainly an Eley 'plus' Trap, (it was stamped on the side). It may have replaced the trap you name, as I had never seen a DTL base on an Eley trap before. We replaced it with a Winchester, having got 240 volt power to the trap house. When you say the trap was 'auto', did it have a clay magazine, or was a 'trapper' required ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feltwad Posted May 13 Author Report Share Posted May 13 1 hour ago, Westley said: I too released thousands of clays from the one we inherited, it was most certainly an Eley 'plus' Trap, (it was stamped on the side). It may have replaced the trap you name, as I had never seen a DTL base on an Eley trap before. We replaced it with a Winchester, having got 240 volt power to the trap house. When you say the trap was 'auto', did it have a clay magazine, or was a 'trapper' required ? Yes this trap did require a trapper to load after each shot. the trap was bolted to half a wood railway sleeper a hole off 15 inches square and 18 inches deep was dug into the ground for the the trapper to put his legs when he sat just behind the trap To keep him safe a trap house of steel 6 foot long 4 foot high and 3 foot wide for both him and the trap for protection which replaced a tin sheet backed up with straw bales The plus trap you mentioned the ones I remember were hand operated with a coil spring inside barrel type body and had a double throw arm and a Olympic arm. Feltwad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krico woodcock Posted May 13 Report Share Posted May 13 It was all farey manual traps when I was a young lad.. you wouldn't get many young lads to go in and work them for a couple a hours now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feltwad Posted May 14 Author Report Share Posted May 14 Enclosed is a image of the 1890,s Score board , notice that some of the names are pulled out because they have missed their bird Feltwad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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