GUNS Magazine September 1956

to its current popularity has been made in
country is that "clay" targets have replaced
the live birds. Keeping up with the change
of the times, mechanical devices have been
introduced to liberate the "birds," giving
them artificial flight.
George Ligowsky of Cincinnati about 1870
invented the target *which eventually de-
veloped into the clay disk used today, as well
as the "trap" which puts the target "on
wing."
Others soon added innovations. One, an
Englishman named McClasky, came forth
with a target made of pitch and sand which
became known as a "blue rock." He is also
credited with the introduction of a trap
known as the "expert." Today, both names
remain familiar terms in the glossary of the
sport.
Greatest strides in bringing trapshooting
to its current popularity have been made in
the mechanical operations. When competitive
events came into favor it required a "puller"
to release the trap. There was another man
in the traphouse to load the targets on the
trap, a referee, and a scorer. Since 1951 the
"Grand Americans" have been conducted
with one person as "puller," referee and
scorer. This decrease in the number of at-
tendants is made possible by electric devices
which set the trap and spring it.
Eventually, it is believed, even the boy in
the traphouse, who places the target upon the
trap-plate, will be eliminated. This is far
from a dream, such a device having been in
use for a number of years, but not on a scale
such as that encountered at Vandalia.
The tented city on the ATA grounds, which
it acquired in 1924 as its permanent home,
is part of the colorful scene at Vandalia. In
it will be found shooters and their, families,
comfortably provided for. Others use more
elaborate trailers, with all the conveniences
of home.
Not so many years ago shooters prepared
their own meals in these temporary quarters,
particularly breakfast, with the delightful
aroma of frying bacon and eggs and boiling
coffee being wafted about the grounds. To-
day, very few perform this task and only
those in the trailers which have the facilities.
It is much easier to drop into the ATA
cafeteria which serves excellent meals at
reasonable cost from early morning until
late evening.
"Industry Row," another tent city feature,
is where the visitor may have a gun repaired
by the expert gunsmiths of the arms makers.
Company representatives who are outstand-
ing craftsmen in engraving, stock finishing
and other gunsmithing are available. At one
tent the visitor may be fitted with a pair of
shooting glasses, at another, buy a shell
case, choose a new gun stock, or have a re-
coil pad attached to soften the kick. At the
headquarters of the various firearms con-
cerns the shooter can get the feel of the
newer models. The gun companies supply
comfortable chairs in which shooters and
their families may relax and watch the color-
ful crowd passing to and from the mile-long
line of traps, await the loud speaker's call to
the firing line, or hold a post mortem with
fellow shooters on just how that "bird" was
missed.
The factory representatives or "pros" act
as hosts, counselors and in other capacities
to make the gunners feel at home.
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