If you’re fortunate enough to have some land, then you might consider setting up your own clay trap. (Read “Can I set up clay shooting on my own property?”) Providing you follow some key safety rules, then you’ll be able to practise your shooting in your own time, maybe introduce…
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.
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Clay pigeon shooting history: how it all began
Clay traps today are super-powerful, complex, remotely controlled and capable of throwing clays on many different flight patterns to simulate a variety of birds. (Read can I set up clayshooting on my own property?) Their journey has been long and storied, from the earliest days of competitive shooting at captive…
Why skeet shooting is a sure-fire way to improve your shooting skills
English Skeet shooting is one of the best disciplines you can shoot if you want to excel at the various forms of Sporting. That’s because it teaches you the absolute importance of correct stance and gun hold in relation to the target. It also demands total concentration and is a…
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Clay pigeon shooting in Yorkshire – where should you go?
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Over time, if you are to be a good all-round Shot, you need to develop a repertoire, or quite simply the knowledge to deal with each type of clay target and how you address it. Our instructors have covered the presentation of each type of clay target you’re likely to…
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Maybe you’re new to clayshooting or maybe you’re looking at honing your technique after some months off. Whatever the aim, knowing how to deal with the different clay targets and how they are presented to you is key. Read our guide and you’ll not only understand the terminology, but you…
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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…
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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
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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…