Sport Shooting Club – Sport Hunting Equipment & Gear

Sporting Clays Overview
Sporting Clays is often described as "golf with a shotgun". The sport differs from skeet shooting and trap shooting in that it involves shooting clays at various locations which are launched at different velocities and angles.

The original idea behind sporting clays was to create an experience that more closely reflects actual hunting conditions.

Whereas top-tier skeet shooting and trapshooting professionals may have hit ratings nearing 100%, the best sporting clay shooters hit their targets only about 85% of the time. Governed by National Sporting Clays Association (NSCA).

A "round" is generally comprised of 50 targets distributed over any number of stations. Like golf, each course takes on the character of the terrain, or tradition, in a particular area. Also like golf, where tee or pin placement has a great deal to do with a hole's degree of difficulty, the arrangement of the shooting stand relative to where the clay is launched and obstacles such as foliage or brush piles determine how tough a particular shot can be.

Clay targets and machines to throw them have been ingeniously modified for these simulations. Tiny targets called mini's hurtle high overhead, representing fleet doves. Thin, flat battues whirl away like little Frisbees, slowly turn, then drop like wood ducks careening in to feed. Resilient rabbit clays scuttle and bound along rubber mats, while targets tossed at extreme, vertical heights produce what the trade calls springing teal.

Clays can be released up to three seconds after the shooter calls "Pull!," and can be thrown in any combination, from singles to a simultaneous covey of several birds, from which the shooter must bag two. Some covey stations include an off-color target as a poison or hen bird; break that one by mistake, and a target is deducted from the score!

One club owner highlights what he calls a coot scoot, a target thrown top-side down across a pond so that it skips like a stone. Another range has their trappers feed a clay target into a wooden chute set on a hillside. The resulting skidding, sliding target is called a groundhog. Presentations are limited only by safety and the course designer's imagination.

Gunners generally walk, or ride, the course in squads, shooting in rotation so that nobody has to be first to shoot every station. On the carry, firearms are always empty and actions open; loading is strictly limited to two shells once the shooter is positioned within the safety cage.

Trapshooting Overview
Trapshooting is a specific form of clay target shooting. Trapshooting is a game of movement, action and split-second timing. It requires the accuracy and skill to repeatedly aim, fire and break the 4 1/4 inch disc which are hurled through the air at a speed of 41 mph, simulating the flight path of a bird fleeing a hunter.

The shooter is required to shoot at a target after he calls "pull." It does not matter in scoring if the shooter hits only a small piece of the target or whether he shatters the target. The target is considered a "dead" or "lost" bird. if it is hit.

Registered trapshooting is competition that is regulated by the Amateur Trapshooting Association. Gun clubs hold shoots in accordance with ATA rules, but they must apply and register for each shoot. All participants of these shoots must be ATA members. The shooters scores are recorded in the ATA office where all records are kept and yearly averages computed. The records are used for handicapping and classifying shooters.

In registered trapshooting, the rules specify that targets must be thrown no less than 48 yards no more than 52 yards and should be between 8 and 12 feet high and 10 yards from the trap. Shooters stand a minimum of 16 yards from the trap houses.

Skeet Shooting Overview
American Skeet Shooting is in part meant to simulate the action of bird hunting. The shooter shoots from 7 positions on a semi-circle, and an 8th position halfway between stations 1 and 7.

There are two houses that hold devices known as "traps" that launch the targets, one at each corner of the semi-circle. The traps launch the targets to a point 15 feet above ground and 18 feet outside of station 8. One trap launches targets from 10 feet above the ground ("high" house) and the other launches it from 3 feet above ground ("low" house).

At stations 1 and 2 the shooter shoots at single targets launched from the high house and then the low house, then shoots a double where the two targets are launched simultaneously. At stations 3, 4, and 5 the shooter shoots at single targets launched from the high house and then the low house. At stations 6 and 7 the shooter shoots at single targets launched from the high house and then the low house, then shoots a double. At station 8 the shooter shoots one high target and one low target.

The shooter must re-shoot his first missed target, or if no targets are missed, must shoot his 25th shell at the low house station 8. This 25th shot was once referred to as the shooter's option as he was able to take it where he preferred. Now, to speed up rounds in competition, the shooter must shoot the low 8 twice for a perfect score. Governed by National Skeet Shooting Association (NSSA.

Five Stand Overview
Five-stand  is presented on a field of five shooting stations lined up 10 to 15 feet apart, with five to eight target launchers. Each station receives a combination of five targets totaling 25 targets. Targets can be thrown as a single or two at a time. Five-Stand is an exciting challenge for the beginner to the more advanced sportsman.

Five Stand is very similar to Sporting Clays in that a wide variety of targets are thrown. No two five-stands are exactly alike. Participants shoot in turn at each of the 5 stands and various combinations of targets are thrown from the traps. Usually there is a menu card that will advise the shooter of the sequence of targets. Five Stand is a great way to get a Sporting Clays like experience in a small amount of space, with very little walking.