As a young shooter, I tried trap and skeet shooting. I went bird hunting since childhood, so I figured it would be useful. It was, though I wasn’t particularly good at it. I didn’t stay with it because at 23 I became a law enforcement firearms instructor, and clay discs hurtling across the sky didn’t seem relevant: I figured that if I started seeing small flying criminals, I wanted someone to take my shotgun away from me.
Sporting Clays is a sport that came along much later, when I was committed to other shooting disciplines. Looking back, I wish it had existed when I was in my teens: I would have loved it.
I just finished reading “Shooting Sporting Clays” by Mark Brannon and Tom Hanrahan, and I can’t imagine a better introduction to this challenging gun sport.
How challenging? In his introduction, multiple time national champion of the game writes, “This is the only book to my knowledge that explores all facets of sporting clays. The complexity and dynamic of sporting clays can be a bit overwhelming for new shooters, but this book will surely help.”
It seems to me that Sporting Clays is to trap and skeet as practical shooting/combat shooting sports are to traditional pistol matches: the shooter faces scenarios relevant to real life use of guns, dynamically, in this case in the hunting fields.
Scenarios are field-related, from very high “birds” to “rabbits” skipping across the ground. There are multiple sizes of clay targets that have to be busted by the birdshot charge, coming from unpredictable angles.
If I found “Shooting Sporting Clays” fascinating reading as a shooter not in the game, I can only imagine how useful it would be for someone starting out in this challenging sport.
Great reading for sport shooters! You should be able to find it on Amazon.com.
I love shooting at moving targets. Lots of fun, and it teaches me to reload fast. In the past, my range did not allow fast shooting. Well, self-defense shooting can be fast, so I found I could practice pumping (or sliding) my shotgun fast by shooting at clay pigeons. Often I just shoot twice, or three times, even if I hit the disc on my first shot. Just pick out the largest piece, and hit it again. I believe it is relevant for self-defense. If I can hit a moving target, fast, then a near-stationary target should be easier (center of chest).
Here’s a good place for sporting clays; https://hudsonfarmnj.com/