We mostly shoot 'sporting' clay pigeon. In this layout you shoot one at a time in a stand where there are one or two birds (clay pigeons) that can be fired out. Scoring is easy, you score one point for every clay broken. There are normally between three and five pairs of birds in each stand.

Clay pigeon shooitng is very good fun and is popular within the club. We often run small competitions between ourselves and take as many people as we can to the BUSA clay pigeon championships. Regular clay pigeon shooters stand a very good chance of being selected to go.

Disciplines

Within the sport of clay pigeon shooting there are many difference disciplines - trap, skeet, DTL, etc. Each discipline requires the shooter to use differing shooting styles and skills. Below are summaries of the main forms:

English Sporting

English sporting is the most popular form of clay shooting. Two targets are launched from one or two traps, and can be launched on report, as a following pair or as a simulataneous pair. When launched on report the second clay is launched as soon as the shooter fires at the first clays; a simultaneous pair is when both clays are launched at the same time.

A wide variety of targets can be used, and it is up to the course designer to determine the difficulty of the layout. The choice of target is vast, including crossers, driven, rabbits, teal...

The number of stands and targets to be shot varies from competition to competition. For example, the BUSA Clay Pigeon Championships is English Sporting consisting of 100 clays spread around 12 stands, with 3 to 5 pairs at each stand. The order in which the stands are shot is not pre-determined, unless it is a large competition.

Scores are simply the number of clays that each shooter breaks. The shooter may call for the target with their gun in or out of their shoulder.

English Skeet

The skeet layout consists of two towers from which targets are fired - a high tower and a low tower. Between the towers seven firing positions are placed, arranged in a semi-circle. A typical skeet round would be 25 targets. There is a specific order in which the targets must be shot:

After the second clay is shot the shooter must reload ready for the simultaneous pair where necessary. In the simultaneous pair the targets must be shot in the order given, except for at stand 4, where the shooter must inform the referee which will be shot first. The shooter can call for the target with the gun mounted or partially out of the shoulder.

You may have noticed that there are only 24 targets listed above. To make up the 25th the shooter repeats the first target missed, or the final single if the shooter is on for a perfect score. The score is the number of targets broken.

Down-the-Line (DTL)

DTL is one of the oldest forms of clay shooting and is a good discipline for beginners to shoot. A single trap is placed 16yds in front of five shooting positions placed in a straight line abrest. The trap fires clays randomly in three directions. Each direction will remain the same, but the shooter will not know which path the clay will be fired on.

Each shooter shoots five clays at each stand, and then move one position to the right, i.e. a shooter at position 4 will move to 5, one at 5 will move to 1. However, each shooter does not shoot their clays consecutively. After the first shooter has shot, the second shooter will take their first shot, then the third etc. Once the last shooter has fired their first shot, the first shooter will take their second. This continues "down-the-line" until everyone has shot five targets at that stand, and then they move.

The shooter has "full-use" at each target, meaning that the shooter can shoot twice at each target (use both barrels). Targets are called for with the gun in the shooter's shoulder. The scoring system is slightly different in DTL. Three points are awarded for breaking the clay with just the first barrel, two are awarded for breaking the clay with the second barrel and zero for missing completely.

DTL can be shot at a quick pace, since all the shooters are on their firing points and each shotoer can be ready to fire as soon as the previous one has shot.

Compak Sporting

This discipline is usually shot on a Skeet range with the addition of four extra traps. The extra traps can be of any sporting type, and are combined with the normal skeet traps. Only four firing positions are used. A round will consist of twenty-five targets distributed around the four firing positions. Targets can be fired singly or as pairs.

The shooter must call for the target with the gun out of their shoulder. The score is the number of targets broken.

Olympic Trench

For Olympic Trench fifteen traps are placed in a trench in front of five firing positions. The fifteen traps are grouped into give sets of three, with each of the trio shooting a clay to the left, to the right and centrally. However, the horizontal and vertical angles can vary greatly, this is combined with the speed of the launch being random. A single clay is launched from one of the traps in the trio situated in front of the firing position. A computer system makes sure that each shooter gets the same number of left, right and central targets.

Each round is 25 targets, with each shooter shooting five targets at each firing position. The shooter moves to the right, but unlike in DTL the shooter moves after every shot. The target is called for with the gun mounted in the shoulder, and each the shooter has full use on each target.

Scores are the total number of targets broken. However, many competitions hold four rounds totalling 100. The five shooters with the highest score from the four rounds then shoot a final round of 25 to decide the winners.