Clay pigeon shooting is becoming an increasingly popular pastime. Not only it’s a wonderful excuse to enjoy the countryside, but it also requires an excellent amount of skill and patience. A variety of regulated competitions in clay pigeon gunshots exist and are known as discipline. The different sporting disciplines mean that there’s something on offer for beginners and experts looking to expand their skillset in clay shooting. Clay target shooting is categorized into the following three main types, although other disciplines also exist:
- Trap Shooting
- Skeet Shooting
- English Sporting
Here, we take you through some of the clay shooting disciplines favorite to most shooters.
1. TRAPSHOOTING
Trapshooting is a shot in up to five shooters squads. They move from one station to another until the shooter shot from every station. Any shotgun can be used: a 12 gauge is more common. Trapshooting is a specific form of clay target shooting. Trapshooting discipline includes three components:
- Single Trap Shooting
- Double Trap Shooting
- Handicap Trap Shooting
i. Single Trap Shooting
Single trap shooting is more easy discipline. Therefore, shooters are grouped into different squads comprising five people per squad. And there are five multiple positions; each shooter has five shots, which are twenty-five shots in total. After rotation to all five stations and completing the twenty-five shots, the round is declared over. Five positions are spaced three feet apart. And from trap house, there is 16 yards distance. This forms an arc of a trap house station.
ii. Double Trap Shooting
Likewise, the evolving nature of the universe, games, and sports are also evolved, not only in difficulty level but also in versatility. Trapshooting is an emerging Olympic discipline added to the tournament in 9011. It is singles updated version but comparatively difficult as well. Three machines are used in the trap house, and double pigeons are fired at the same time at the trap house. The shooter has to break down both targets before they hit the ground. One pigeon is fired to the left and the other to the right. Both are individually scored, not in pairs. Usually, shooters use two-barrel guns for doubles. Shooters are not grouped in doubles.
iii. Handicap Trap Shooting
In this prestigious event of trapshooting, handicap tries to make competition equal. Based on their handicap, Shooters are required to stand at different distances from the trap. A shooter must shoot a handicap distance assigned to him/her.
In handicap trapshooting, C class shooters stand at 17yards (15.5m), B class at 19yards (17.4m), “A” class at 21yards (19.2m), and “AA” class at 23 yards (21m) from the trap house. Shooters with the same handicap shoot at the same time like the “A” class can’t shoot when the “AA” class is shooting.
2. SKEET SHOOTING
Skeet shooting, developed in America (the 1920s), was aimed at practicing shotgun techniques in real birds simulation. The hunter who developed this technique thought that trapshooting does not simulate the same as real birds fly, so it needs to be modified. The goal is to hit a pair of clay targets crossing each other when fired from the trap house. The layout of the skeet shooting consists of two trap houses, targets that are 40 feet apart; one is ten feet high, and the other is three and a half feet high. When they reach their highest point shooter has to break the target.
3. ENGLISH SPORTING
The most popular discipline of clay shooting in England is English sporting, also called golf with shotguns. The layout of the trap house is broad, unique, and versatile. The shooters move across a wide variety of terrain, which is set apart and varies from woodland to farmland to rolling hills.
In English sporting, a wide range of targets is available in addition to clay targets. They are named rising teal, pheasant, or rabbit. At each stand, a cage is set for the shooter where he/ she stands and hits the targets.
CONCLUSION
Clay shooting has changed and evolved from being a hunter’s training practice for the hunting season to now being an Olympic sport. It is a safe, exciting, challenging, and enthusiastic sport during the offseason. You can enjoy clay shooting at any level, ranging in a variety of disciplines and from local clubs to national and international levels.