SAN DIEGO Shotgun Sports

CLAY TARGET SPORTS

THE HISTORY OF SKEET

It all started on the grounds of the Glen Rock Kennels in the town of Andover, Massachusetts in 1920. It was then and there that a small group of upland game hunters were shooting at clay targets as a means of obtaining wingshooting practice with their favorite upland guns.

Originally, the arrangement was a complete circle of twenty-five yards radius with the circumference marked off like the face of a clock. The trap was set at "12 o'clock" and was set to throw the targets over "6 o'clock." The competitive program consisted of shooting two shots from each of the twelve stations. The shell that was left over from a box was used, first as a stunt, to shoot at an incomer from the center of the circle. This later proved to be a shot offering real snap-shooting practice and has since developed into the plan of Station Eight shots of the regulation program.

In "shooting around the clock," shots were fired to all points of the compass until a neighbor started a chicken farm in a lot adjoining the kennels. That put a stop; to shooting in that direction. The problem was solved by producing a second trap and placing it at "6 o'clock"so that it would throw its target over "twelve."

Noting the appeal of this form of shooting, it became apparent that development of the idea could be made nationally acceptable. A shooting program was then developed which would contain all the necessary elements of wing-shooting practice and a competitive sport. Among the additions were the four sets of doubles and the optional shot.

When the details of the sport had been worked out and tested and a set of rules drawn up, the idea was introduced to the public in the February, 1926 issue of both National Sportsman and Hunting and Fishing magazines. At the same time, a prize of $100 was offered for the most appropriate name for the new sport. It was won by Mrs. Gertrude Hurlbutt of Dayton, Montana who suggested "Skeet," an old Scandinavian form of the word "shoot." Some 10,000 entries were received in the contest

As the popularity of the sport grew, the forming of the National Skeet Shooting Association was inevitable. This came about and the first National Championship Shoot was held in August 1935 at Cleveland, Ohio. Today, the association has close to 20,000 members and since September 1, 1973, the association headquarters have been on the site of the National Gun Club at San Antonio, Texas, where each year, in October, the World Skeet Championships are held.

The article was condensed from The Skeet Shooting Review Records Annual dated March 1999

THE GAME OF SKEET

A round of skeet consists of 25 shots fired at clay targets thrown from either a high house to the left or a low house to the right. Normally five shooters compete at one time and shoot alternatively from 8 different positions (stations). Each shooter shoots at a target flying from the high house, then the low house. On certain stations, the shooter will shoot at targets coming out of both high and low houses at the same time. While the shooter knows the direction of the target, the target speed and closeness make this sport as challenging and exciting as other clay target sports.

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OLYMPIC/INTERNATIONAL SKEET Go to: \| Ameican Skeet \| American Trap \| 5 Stand Sporting Clays \| Olympic Trap \| Associations \| This is the form of Skeet that the whole world shoots. There are 4 main differences:
1.	The target speed is faster
2.	The course of fire is more difficult
3.	When calling for your target, the butt-stock of the shotgun must be touching your body around your waist area and can not be moved from that position until the target appears.
4.	There is a random, up to 3 seconds, delay between the time you call for your target and the time it appears.

American Skeet vs. Olympic Skeet: What is the Difference?
Text and photos by Justin Stephen

There is only one skeet game shot in the Olympics (usually referred to as "International Skeet" in the United States), and it differs substantially from its far more popular (in the U.S.) cousin, American Skeet. Before getting into what is different, let us first focus on what is the same.

1. The Field: An American Skeet field and an International Skeet field are, for all intents and purposes, identical. The only noteworthy difference is the addition of lights on the houses on an International Skeet field that light up when the "Pull" call is made and then go out when the target launches but these lights are usually only found on fields that commonly host Olympic qualification matches and World Cup level events. The lights are more for spectator benefit than anything. An overwhelming majority of International Skeet tournaments in the United States are shot on fields that do not have these lights. You really don't need them. In this respect, International Skeet has an advantage over International Trap and Double Trap in that a large investment is not needed to accommodate International Skeet at a club that already accommodates American Skeet. Virtually any American Skeet field can be used with some modest accommodations. More on this below.

2. The Machines: Again, usually no difference. An overwhelming majority of skeet machines can accommodate International targets and throw them at the proper speeds. Many of the machines commonly seen in the U.S. were actually originally designed around the International target and later adapted domestically for American skeet use. Even the old Winchester "single-stack" (non-turret fed) machines are more than capable of throwing a lovely International target.

3. The Stations: As the field is the same, so are the stations. International Skeet is shot on the same 8 stations as American. What is different is the sequence of targets fired on all but one station. More on this below.

Now for the differences. There are seven major and a few more minor differences between the International and American games.

1. The Target: The International or Olympic target is larger in diameter (110 mm vs. 108 mm) than the American target. It also has a lower profile, with a cross-sectional height of 1" (25mm) versus 1 1/8", and is constructed more substantially and as a result is harder to break. The International target has to be more substantially constructed, with more consistent thickness through the dome, because it is thrown at higher velocities.

Here is a picture of an International target (left) and the more common American target (right) side-by-side. Notice that the American target as a substantial indention at the dome while the International target does not. If you have shot a fair amount of sporting clays, you have probably seen a trapper tap the center out of an American target to throw a "diver." This is easily accomplished, as there is such a thin seam where the center of the target meets the rest of the body. Tapping the center out of an International target, on the other hand, is virtually impossible.

Here is another side-by-side. You can see the marginal height difference between the two. White Flyer manufactured both targets seen in this picture. However, most manufacturers of clay targets make and sell International targets, including White Flier, Lowry, Laborite and Federal.

Here are the same two targets standing on end to highlight the slight diameter difference between the International target on the left and the American target on the right.

2. The Target Velocity - As with American Skeet, the proper way to calibrate the targets is for both high and low house targets to pass through a calibration hoop (the same hoop size and height is used for both games) and travel a certain distance in little to no wind on flat ground. In American Skeet, that distance is 60 yards. In International Skeet, that distance is 65-67 meters (~71-73 yards). The difference, combined with the differences in the targets themselves (International targets "glide" a little less as they lose speed during horizontal flight requiring a little more force to get them to fly the same distance) results in a substantial increase in target velocity as it travels across the field and out of bounds. The actual speed of either type of target depends on altitude and, realistically, weather conditions. However, the average speed difference is about 30%.

3. The Sequence - As mentioned above, both games use the same eight stations. However, the sequence of shots in each game is quite different:

	American Skeet	International Skeet
1	High, Low, Dbls	High, Dbls
2	High, Low, Dbls	High, Dbls
3	High, Low	High, Low, Dbls
4	High, Low	High, Low, Dbls
5	High, Low	High, Low, Dbls
6	High, Low, Dbls	Low, Dbls
7	High, Low, Dbls	Dbls
8	High, Low	High, Low
9	Option Shot	No Option Shot

As you can see, doubles are featured at every station in International Skeet except station 8, while they are only required at stations 1, 2, 6 and 7 in American Skeet. In essence, the five least challenging singles from the American game (Low-1, Low-2, High-6, High-7 and Low-7) have been removed, along with the option shot, and replaced with doubles on stations 3, 4 and 5 in the International game. It is mandatory that the high house target be fired upon first for doubles on stations 3 and 4 and the low house target fired upon first for doubles on station 5.

4. Low Gun - American Skeet allows the shooter to premount his/her shotgun before calling for the target. International requires that the shooter keep his/her shotgun at the "low gun" while calling for the target and until the target leaves the house.

The term "low gun" can be used to generically refer to any ready position where the stick is kept below the shooter's shoulder until after he/she calls for the target. However, Olympic Skeet rules contain very specific requirements as to what is and is not a legal low gun position for the game. The toe of the stock (the lowest portion of the rear stock of the shotgun) must be at or below the crest of the hipbone of the shooter and the rear stock itself must remain in contact with the shooter.

Here are some pictures of U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit skeet shooters in a proper low gun position:

Todd Graves, 2000 Olympic Bronze Medallist, standing in a proper low gun position.

This picture of USAMU shooter Mark Weeks offers us a better view since he is left-handed. Notice the yellow line on his shooting vest (see below) marking the crest of his hipbone and that the toe of his stock is just below it.

In most worldwide competitions, such as in the Olympics or in World Cup events, the shooter is required to have a permanently attached line or mark on their shooting attire (usually a vest) that indicates where the crest of the hipbone is so that tournament referees can easily and accurately judge if the low gun hold is legal or not. This requirement is often overlooked, or accommodated with temporary marks such as tape) at smaller events.

5. Random Delay - in American Skeet, the target is launched nearly instantaneously after the shooter calls for it. In International Skeet, there is a random delay of 0-3 seconds assigned after the call for the target before the target is launched. The shooter cannot bring the shotgun up from the low gun mount in any way prior to the target being launched.

6. 24 Gram Ammunition - In Olympic competition and at every World Cup event, the Pan-American Games or the World Championships, shooters must use ammunition with a shot charge that does not exceed 24 grams in Olympic Skeet, Trap and Double Trap. USA Shooting, the governing body of Olympic-style shooting in the United States, rules that those shooters who hold a "AA" rating, are on the National Team, or are trying out for the National Team must also shoot ammunition where the shot charge does not exceed 24 grams. All other shooters in domestic competition are permitted to shoot ammunition with shot charges of up to 1 1/8 ounces.

24 grams is roughly equivalent to 7/8 ounce. In truth, it is slightly less. The difference between a 24-gram shotgun cartridge and a 7/8-ounce shotgun cartridge is about 10-17 pellets, depending on the shot size (7 ½, 8, 8 ½ or 9). 24-gram ammunition is manufactured by most manufacturers of shotgun shells for clay target use, including Remington (STS), Winchester (AA), Federal (Gold Medal), Olympia, Kent, Estate, Armusa and dozens of others. It is also generally safe to reload your own 24-gram ammunition using published recipes for 7/8-ounce loads.

Here is a picture of some 24-gram (8 1/2 shot) cartridges made by Olympia Cartridge. The semi-translucent hull used by Olympia makes it easy to see how little of the inside of the cartridge is needed to hold the 24 gram shot charge.

7. 12 Gauge Only - Now for the good news. International Skeet is contested in 12 gauge only, unlike American Skeet which is contested in 12, 20 and 28 gauges as well as .410. It is not against the official rules to use a smaller gauge but keep I mind that the 24-gram limit (where applicable) applies to smaller gauges as well.

Some other rule differences exist, many of which designed to keep the game moving along as fast as possible, but they tend to be relatively minor. Some of these are:

   The entirety of both of the shooter's feet must remain inside the designated shooting box in International. American Skeet requires only that part of each foot remain in the marked shooting box.

   Shooters on station 8 shoot the high house and then the low house targets one after the other in International instead of taking turns for each as is common in American Skeet. Each shooter must step onto station 8, load a single shell, call for and fire at the high house, remove the expended shell, turn clockwise and repeat the process for the low house target. The remaining shooters line up on a (usually imaginary) line between stations 4 and 8 and behind the referee.

   In International Skeet, shooters who are about to shoot at stations that feature both high and low house single targets (except station 8, as described above) must load two shells and call for and fire at the high house target and then the low house target without breaking or reloading their shotgun. This is not a requirement (but is allowed) in American Skeet. This requirement is designed primarily to speed the game up.

   International Skeet is generally more unforgiving than American Skeet when it comes to establishing targets. In International Skeet, if one target breaks coming out of the house or is irregular in doubles, a successful hit on the other target does not count (i.e., is not "established). Likewise, if the shooter breaks both targets on a double with a single shot, the pair is re-thrown with nothing established.

When considering the differences between the International and American Skeet games, a common misconception is that International has, since Skeet was added to the Olympics in 1968, separated itself in format from the American game. While additional rule changes have been made in recent years, such as the 24 gram ammunition requirement and the addition of doubles on station 4, the differences between the two games is more of a function of American Skeet splitting away from the rest of the world.

Until the early 1950s, American Skeet was fired low gun and a random delay was assigned to the targets as is seen in International Skeet today. Since that time, American Skeet has seen changes that have lowered the per-target challenge of the game while International standards have continued to strive to make the game increasingly challenging, target for target. The goal of the International rule changes over time is to make the achievement of a perfect score a rarity. At the same time, perfect scores have become very common among winners of American Skeet tournaments. To be sure, actually winning a major International or American Skeet tournament is an extremely challenging accomplishment in either discipline, but for somewhat different reasons.

WHAT IS TRAP?

Trapshooting dates back to 18th century England. In the mid 1700's, shooters shot at live pidgeons released from cages called "traps." As the sport evolved in America, it included a number of boxes set in a row that tipped or collapsed when a string or wire was pulled at the shooter's command. The shooter did not know which box the pidgeon was coming from and had two shots to drop the bird within a fence surrounding the shooting area. Birds falling outside the fence were scored as a miss. To enhance competition, a system of "handicapping" originated. Well-known expert shooters were required to stand farther back from the pidgeon boxes than shooters of lesser skill.

Modern trapshooting has retained many of these basic concepts. Today, an oscillating, target-throwing machine rests in the trap-house, out of the shooter's view. Depending on its position at the moment of the shooter's call, it throws a clay target somewhere within a 22 degree arc. The shooter does not know the target's angle until it comes into view. The shooter only gets one shot, but there is no fence.

Three basic trapshooting disciplines make up the program of a typical competition. In a singles event, 100 to 200 targets are shot from 16 yds. behind the traphouse. In a Handicap event, 100 targets are shot from 19 to 27 yds. behind the traphouse. The distance each shooter stands back is determined by that shooter's past competitive shooting record registered with the Amateur Trapshooting Association. A Doubles event is shot from the 16-yd.line at two targets thrown simultaniously. In both Singles and Doubles events, shooters compete in their own classes, from D up to AAA, based on their current competitive shooting percentages in each event as recorded with the ATA.

from an article by Aaron Fraser Pass in AMERICAN RIFLEMAN - January 2000

A TIMELINE OF TRAPSHOOTING HISTORY

1750	Origin of trapshooting in England.
1810	First documented history of trapshooting at the Hornsey Wood Pigeon Club in England.
1831	Inauguration of trapshooting in America. The first official records were kept at the Sportsmen's Club in Cincinnati.
1840	New York Sportsman's Club held its first trapshooting competition.
1866	First glass ball competition.
1880	George Ligowsky of Cincinnati created the clay target.
1885	First national trapshooting tournament staged in New Orleans.
1890	Interstate Trapshooting Association was formed.
1900	First Grand American held at Interstate Park in Queens, New York.
1909	First automatic trap machines were used.
1911	Doubles was introduced for the first time.
1913	First Women's Trapshooting Club (Dupont Gun Club in Wilmington, DE)
1919	Name was changed from Interstate Association to the American Trapshooting Association.
1923	American Trapshooting Association later became Amateur Trapshooting Association.
1924	Permanent ATA home built in Vandalia, OH.
1969	New addition to the main clubhouse. The Hall of Fame was dedicated.
1976	Youth Trapshooting Program was undertaken in conjunction with the Trapshooting Hall of Fame.
1977	All-American team selection became an official function of the ATA.
1980	First National Trapshooting Day.
1998	A Day at the Range was introduced, an educational seminar that introduces females to the sport of trap.
1999	Grand American World Championships celebrates its 100th anniversary.

THE GAME OF TRAP

A round of trap consists of 25 shots fired at clay targets thrown from a concealed machine (trap) 16 yards in front of the shooters. Normally five shooters compete at one time, each positioned on one of five stations located on a semi-circular walkway behind a small trap house. As each shooter calls, in turn, for a target, the clay target is thrown out from the house at varying angles. Each shooter fires 5 shots from each position, until 25 shots (5 from each station) have been fired. The moving target, flying away from the shooters at unknown angles makes this an exciting and challenging sport.

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OLYMPIC TRAP
Go to: | Ameican Skeet | American Trap | 5 Stand Sporting Clays | Olympic Skeet | Associations |

Bunker - Known internationally as International Trap or Olympic Trench - is the trap shooting discipline shot around the world and one of two shotgun disciplines in the Olympic games.

The SAN DIEGO Shogun Sports Center is one of the few facilities in the United States that has such capability. The first Bunker was opened in 1985. In 2001 we remodeled that Bunker by (1) replacing the older target machines with new high-tech Rossini machines, (2) added a coin-operated feature for self-service and (3) a monitor for viewing shooter scores during matches. Our 2nd Bunker was upgraded in June 2003. It also has the same high-tech Rossini equipment, making our facilities the highest-tech in North America.

The game is challenging and consists of a target house flush with the ground. In the house are five groups of three machines in front of each shooting station, a total of fifteen machines throwing different angles and heights. There are nine different target settings/Schemes. The computer will select on each station two right targets, two left targets and one straightaway. Totaling 25 targets; 10 lefts, 10 rights and 5 straight a way's. Making it almost impossible for any shooter to know what target is next. Targets emerge at ground level. There is a microphone in each of 5 shooting stations where target release is voice activated. If a target is broken, the repeat target thrown will be the same. So, every shooter gets exactly the same 200 targets - making it entirely fair to all competitors and - impossible to know/read the nine different computer programs.

All Bunker shooting is at 15 meters (16 ½ yards) from behind the traps machines. Compared to American Trap, bunker targets are harder and have a lower profile. The target angles are twice as wide at 45 degrees left or right with an average speed of 65 miles per hour. Currently targets travel as far as 76 meters. Target heights are set between 1.5 meter and 3.5 meters above ground level @ 10 meters from exit point.

For International and National competitions only 24 grams loads are permitted. However during any other match competitors can use 1oz and 1 1/8 oz loads. First shot is usually fired at 33-35 yards and the second shot at 40 yards and beyond. Experienced bunker shooter fires both shots in less than one second. The most common chokes used are Modified choke for the first shot and Full Choke for the second shot. Most common loads are 24 grams 7 ½ shot size with an approximate speed of 1,325fps.

In the last 100 years of Olympic, World, European, National, Regional and Local Club bunker shooting around the world, 200/200 has been achieved just six times. And, as for shoot-offs (which are single barrel), they are usually over within few shots. Probably the longest on record was when Josh Lakatos beat Lance Bade for the Olympic Silver medal in Atlanta in 1996. The shoot-off ended at the 28th target.

So, come and try the world's ultimate trap shooting challenge-for 'real' men, ladies and juniors.

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The official home of USA Shooting
The national governing body of the Olympic shooting sports

The game of Sporting Clays began in England about seventy years ago, and was intended to simulate the varied shooting challenges a hunter might experience in the field. 5 Stand Sporting Clays is an adapaptation of that original sport and was designed to fit into an existing skeet or trap field or any shooting range with limited space. 5 Stand has become the fastest growing shotgun sport in the country and attracts shooters from beginner to the most discriminating expert. At Miramar we are fortunate to have two 5 Stand fields, each set-up for a different degree of difficulty. Five targets are thrown at each of the five different stations for a total of twenty-five targets. The targets are thrown in a mixture of singles and doubles. Two shots may be taken on single targets thrown. The emphasis in this sport is to have fun while improving your shotgunning technique for hunting success.

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NATIONAL CLAY TARGET SPORTS ASSOCIATIONS

The Association throughout the year features many special events for all ages, male and female. The Association sponsors events which are sanctioned by the Amateur Trapshooting Association (ATA), National Skeet Shooting Association (NSSA) and National Rifle Association (NRA). The Association also sponsors fun shoots.

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This page was last updated Sunday, July 6, 2008 2:09 PM