Do I need a specialised shotgun for ZZ Helice?

You need a gun that points and moves quickly on these targets.

By John Bidwell

Monday, 23 August 2010

I want to try my hand at shooting ZZ targets. Do I need to buy a specialised trap gun?

Clay shooting
JOHN BIDWELL
ZZ – or Helice to give it its proper name – is one of the most demanding types of target shooting you can find because these spinning targets are totally unpredictable in what they do when they leave the trap.

The letters ‘ZZ’ stand for zig-zag – and that’s exactly what happens to this target in flight.

Target for target it’s more expensive to shoot than any other clay discipline but don’t let this put you off, in competition you don’t shoot that many birds – the contest is usually over ten birds on a miss and out basis.

On the plus side, financially, most of the entry fee is returned in prize money.

As for guns, a trap jobbie isn’t really necessary because you want a gun that points and moves quickly on these darting targets.

A Sporter fits the bill perfectly and don’t be surprised either if you see top competitors using side-by-side guns to great effect – they tick most of the boxes needed to master this addictive bit of the sport.

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Comments

Kai Dean

Mon, 23rd Aug 2010 14:50:55

I came across Helice just last week for the first time and according to Chris Potter ZZ actually stands for "Zinc Zorito" because the best type of pigeon shot was called a Zorito and the target to mimic it was made from Zinc, hence "ZZ"

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