Sharpshooting Canadians

July 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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There are three main forms of competitive clay pigeon shooting, and they include trap shooting, skeet shooting and sporting clays. Each one is a sport unto itself with its own rules, regulations, associations, competitions and equipment.

Trap shooting has been a popular sport since 1793 when real birds were used as targets. Eventually fake birds were introduced. In modern trap shooting, the shooters move through five different positions and shoot at released traps.

Skeet shooting is both a recreational and competitive sport whereby sharpshooters try to break clay disks flung into the sky from various angles. Most sharpshooters use a double-barreled over and under shotgun for this sport. These guns are often sold as “skeet guns.” Use Canada 411 to find a gun dealer in your area.

Sporting clays is often referred to as “golf with a shotgun,” because the average course involves 10 to 15 different stations from which to shoot. These stations are spread over an area less than 35 acres in size. This sport simulates the sport of shooting live targets. Sport clay shooting involves shooting at different angles, speeds, elevations, distances, trajectories and at targets of differing sizes.

These three forms of sharpshooting are very popular in Canada. In Canada, Susan Nattrass is a trapshooting superstar who recently won a gold medal at an international competition for women trapshooters in Brazil. She was also given the prestigious position of carrying the Canadian flag in the upcoming summer Olympics, in which she’ll be competing. Like many other talented Canadians, Nattrass is keeping the sport of sharpshooting alive and well.

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Test Your Shooting Skills with Skeet

September 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Shooting (Trap and Skeet)
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Skeet shooting is a gun shooting game that is much like the sport of trap shooting. With skeet shooting you use two trap houses instead of one, like in trap shooting. It uses the same “birds”, also known as, clay pellets as the targets. There is a trap house at the left of the trap field and one at the right of the trap field. They are respectively called the “high house” and the “low house”.

The way the targets are thrown out is at a set angle. The low-house clay birds start at about three feet from the ground and the high-house birds are thrown ten feet from he ground. They each fly in opposite directions.

Like, the sport of trap, there are groups or squads of five shooters. There are eight positions on the field of skeet. Seven of the positions are numbered one through seven starting from the left and moving towards the right. They are stationed in a half circle on the field. The last position, eight, is in the center between the high house and the low house. This position is the most difficult to hit the birds, but it’s also the positions that most shooters love because of the challenge.

There are 25 targets that are thrown in one round of skeet. You don’t know if you are going to get a single target in your position or double targets from both trap houses. Two targets are thrown from each house, resulting in 16 single birds. Now, here is where things get a little tricky. One round can also be a total of eight clay targets being thrown as four double-targets. This happens from the first, second, sixth and seventh position. If you miss the first target you can repeat it and this is called, “the optional.” After 24 shots, if there are no misses, then the optional that was repeated is considered a single target. This usually happens from the eighth position.

Skeet is a very popular shooting sport and it’s rewarding too because the challenge is pretty intense.

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Shooting Around the Clock: The History of Skeet Shooting

August 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Indoor Shooting Range at Sarasota, Florida, US...
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Shooting Around the Clock: The History of Skeet Shooting
Since the days of the ancient hunters men have been looking for ways to improve their hunting skills.  Better hunting meant more food.  As mankind progressed and hunting became more of a hobby, it still remained a competitive activity for those involved.  In 1915, a grouse hunter by the name of Charles E. Davies began looking for a way to take his shooting skills to the next level.
Davies began shooting at clay targets and the activity soon caught on with the surrounding public.  Live pigeons were originally used during the first round of some shooting competitions, but by 1923 the sport had progressed to what we know today as skeet shooting.  The name “skeet” is derived from a Scandinavian translation which means “to shoot”. The first national competition was held in 1935.
The original setup was a complete circle with a 25 yard radius, and a circumference marked like the face of a clock.  The trap was set at 12:00 and the targets were shot over 6:00. Each competitor had two shots at each of the twelve stations.  Thus, the term “shooting around the clock” was born. The setup had to be redesigned a bit when a neighbor started a chicken farm in the firing range.  A second trap was placed at 6:00 and shot targets over 12:00.  This reduced the danger to the foul while still giving the shooter the same experience.
The sport also has significant practical relevance.  During World War II gunners used skeet shooting as a form of training.  Skeet shooting helped them to improve their leading and timing on targets in mid-air.  The focus on the war put most gun clubs on hold during the conflict, and many never reemerged.
Skeet shooting, however, proved to be popular enough to resurface after the war had ended.  The National Skeet Shooting Association that still operates today was reestablished by a group of skeet enthusiasts in 1946. The sport’s popularity continued until it debuted at the Olympics in 1968, and it continues to remain popular today.
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Skeet: A Different Game

August 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Matthew Dryke competes in the skeet shooting e...
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For the beginner, a game of skeet shooting and a game of trap shooting may seem like the exact same sport. Both use shotguns, both involve clay pigeons, and both are-at least in their roots- meant to simulate hunting birds. But these similarities just scratch the surface. Under closer examination, maybe by a shooter beginning to spend more watching clays fly through the air, the two games are in fact quite different from one another.
Skeet shooting began in the early 1920′s, evolving from its widely-practiced older brother: trap shooting. The name ‘skeet’- meaning ‘shoot’ in old Scandinavian- was picked as the winner in a magazine contest to name the game. The game gained popularity, and in 1946 the National Skeet Shooting Association was formed to operate as the game’s official governing body.
The main difference between skeet and trap shooting is the manner in which the game is shot. Trap has one traphouse which throws the pigeon in one distinct manner. The shooter moves behind the firing line at set distances, so that the angle of their shot will be determined by their distance from the traphouse. Skeet, on the other hand, is shot in a circle. Imagine a clock. The traphouse is placed at twelve noon and the shooters rotate around the hours of the clock, from one to eleven. The shooter then has eleven different angles to shoot from.
Skeet guns have 26-inch to 28-inch barrels, as opposed to trap’s 32 inch or longer barrel. Smaller barrel guns are often used in live hunts. Also, skeet rules don’t make for a set of provisions for the smaller gauges like exist in trap shooting. Shooters of skeet who like to try out different gauge categories will use shotguns that allow an interchangeable set of barrels. This allows the shooter to be comfortable with one gun, and still changing up the gauge.
Skeet and trap are both fun games, but be aware: they are different.
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