Wiltshire is a county of high downlands combined with wide valleys and offers shooters exciting variety. If you’re after somewhere to shoot clays in the country, here’s a list of shooting grounds in Wiltshire. We’ve deliberately included diverse experiences – some grounds are small and run by volunteers whilst others…
Clayshooting
Learning to shoot clays under the watchful eye of a qualified instructor
For many shooters, getting started means a trip to your local clayshooting ground where you’ll be taught to break English Sporting targets.
How clayshooting began
- The first clay pigeon shoots started around 1885 as an affordable alternative to competitions using live pigeons as targets.
- Shooting schools – particularly those owned by London gunmakers – set up courses to simulate the flight of live birds. The new sport quickly became a hit with Victorian and Edwardian game shooters as a form of practice during the closed season.
How to start clayshooting
- Several of these schools are still going strong, but such was the rapid rise in popularity of “Sporting Shooting” that clubs soon sprang up all around the country. The first British Open Sporting Championship was held in 1927 and today it is still the biggest and most prestigious competition of them all.
Clayshooting tips for beginners
- Also going strong is the company that invented the first spring-powered hand trap more than a century ago – Laporte of France. Its automatic traps and clay targets enjoy worldwide sales.
- Your first taste of clayshooting will almost certainly be on a Sporting range where targets are thrown to simulate the flight of game birds.
- In Sporting you will shoot from a number of different “stands” each offering a different target. These targets vary greatly in terms of trajectory, angle, elevation, distance and speed and it’s that variety that makes Sporting so popular with clay shooters
- Clay pigeon shooting has evolved into 20 or more different disciplines over the years, but Sporting is still the most popular with around 90 per cent of all shooters taking part regularly.
The different types of clayshooting
- In spite of the PC world we live in, shooting continues to grow. There are now several hundred gun clubs and shooting schools – most affiliated to the sport’s governing body the Clay Pigeon Shooting Association . The clubs are widespread across the UK so chances are there are one or more within just a few miles of where you live.
- In spite of its massive popularity, Sporting is not recognised as an Olympic Sport – that accolade goes to Olympic Trap, Olympic Skeet and Double Trap. Great Britain has won three gold medals in the trap disciplines since 1966.
Clayshooting guns | Clay pigeon cartridges | Improve your clayshooting | Clay pigeon shooting grounds |Clothes for shooting clays
Five things to do to get your clayshooting back up to scratch again
After lockdown some of us will have lost our ‘edge’ and will need to improve clayshooting skills again. Almost all of us will be out of practice. Here I will highlight a few of the more common tendencies and unwelcome techniques that are likely to show up and catch us…
Clayshooting grounds just an hour from London
The good news is that many clay grounds have recently reopened after lockdown and more are opening daily. Below we’ve rounded up clay pigeon shooting grounds near London. We’ve marked the ones that are open again at the time of writing. None take longer than an hour to get to…
Exercises for clayshooters
None of us at the moment can get out and shoot as we normally would. There are, however, a few things that we can do to keep our eye in. Hopefully, by the time you read this your local clay ground will be open again but these exercises for clayshooters…
Things you can and can’t do when clayshooting after lockdown
Now clay grounds are reopening, here's a list of things you can and can't do on the clay ground at the moment
Chokes for gameshooting and clays – what’s best?
When you're out in the field or the clay ground which chokes for gameshooting and clayshooting will give you the best results?
How to read the clay target
Even with the best technique in the world, to succeed at a high level you must be able to size up a target in seconds.
A 5-minute guide to the different clayshooting disciplines
New to clayshooting? This is what English Sporting, English Skeet and Trap shooting involve
How to choose the right clay cartridge
Here are some of the key questions you need to ask when choosing clay cartridges. Q. What wad material should I choose? A. Today many shooting grounds label themselves as ‘fibre-wad only’ grounds and you should always ring ahead to check to see what a shooting ground’s policy is. Wad…
Can I set up clay shooting on my own property?
Can you set up clay pigeon shooting on your own property?
We’ve picked out some of the best clayshooting grounds in the UK
Clayshooting is an excellent way of keeping your eye in and improving your technique out of season. Of course, it’s also a popular sport in its own right. Whether you want to brush up on your skills, learn to shoot clays or just enjoy a day out on a shooting…
Maybe it’s time to give it a try? Trap shooting explained
This article is not meant to be a masterclass on trap shooting, more rather trap shooting explained to encourage you to give it a go if you haven’t tried it. Trap shooting is one of the formal clay shooting disciplines and at its highest level an Olympic sport. Most people…
Why you should give Sporting clays a try
This article is not a masterclass in Sporting clays, but rather an overview to explain what it involves to encourage you to give it a go. Any calibre If you already use a shotgun, then you will probably be fine to shoot Sporting clays. You can use any calibre (12-bore…
Hesitation. A common mistake amongst new shooters. Here’s how to avoid it.
Hesitation is a common shooting problem. While teaching my wife to shoot some years ago, she noticed that the person in front of her, shooting a simple going away target, was waiting way too long, or as some would say “hanging” on the target, only to miss when they did…
20 things you should know about George Digweed
George was born in Hastings in 1964 He started shooting around the age of 12 He was awarded an MBE in 2009 He was introduced to clayshooting by his grandfather He is considered to be the most complete Shot in the game by competitors He is listed in Wisden for…
Getting around a clay ground in a wheelchair
Disabled sport’s profile has risen hugely in recent years, partly driven by the success of British athletes in the Paralympics. I was therefore interested to see how far the disability sport revolution had reached into fieldsports. I sought out some of the UK’s leading practitioners from the worlds of clayshooting,…
A sure-fire way to improve your shooting skills
I have recommended Skeet before as a great discipline to help hone our shooting skills. It offers a wide variation of angles with predictable target speeds and trajectories, which are so important to help us learn and practice. After all, there is little point in using targets that vary and…
Coloured safety glass lenses and targets for clayshooters
My wife bought me a set of clay shooting glasses with different coloured lenses as a birthday present recently.
How to deal with teal targets – a step by step guide
Would you suggest shooting teal on the way up, or on the way down? I don't hit many as they rise, but other shooters make it look really easy. Can you give me any tips please?
Get that grouse – nailing those low, fast targets
A low driven target catches more shooters out than you would expect. A fast target simulating grouse, the wild moorland bird, is not only low and fast but, to add to your difficulties, you might find yourself down in a pit or in a grouse butt. This means the target…