Skeet

SPORT GOVERNING BODY

The national governing body for skeet shooting is the National Skeet Shooting Association. In the Province of Ontario, the State Association is the Ontario Skeet Shooting Association.

THE BARRIE GUN CLUB ADVANTAGE

We offer two skeet fields complete with new, state-of-the art GMV Super Star traps. Although American style skeet shooting is most popular amngst our membership, we are equipped to offer Olympic style skeet shooting as requested.

ABOUT SKEET SHOOTING

Skeet was invented by William Harnden Foster, an avid grouse hunter, in 1915 as a sport called Clock Shooting and evolved to its current setup by 1923. In 1926 a contest was held to name the new sport, and Gertrude Hurlbutt named it skeet, which is derived from the Scandinavian word for "shoot". During World War II, Skeet was used in the American military to teach gunners the principle of leading and timing on flying target.

Skeet is a recreational and competitive activity where participants attempt to break clay disks flung into the air at high speed from a variety of angles. For the American version of the game, the clay discs are 4 and 5/16 inches in diameter, one and 1/8 inches thick, and fly a distance of 60 yards (+/- 2 yards). The international version of skeet uses a target that is slightly larger in diameter (110mm), shorter in cross section (25mm vs. 1 1/8 inches), and has a thicker dome center, making it harder to break. International targets are also thrown a longer distance from similar heights (over 70 yards), resulting in a faster target speed.

The firearm of choice for this task is usually a high quality, double-barreled (either side-by-side or over and under) shotgun although many shooters of American skeet and other national versions still use inexpensive semi-auto and pump action shot guns with great success. The use of clay targets replaced the more traditional target of live birds, as a cheaper, humane and more reliable alternative, one reason they are also called clay pigeons.

The event is in part meant to simulate the action of bird hunting. The shooter shoots from 7 positions on a semi-circle, and an 8th position halfway between stations 1 and 7. There are two houses that hold devices known as "traps" that launch the targets, one at each corner of the semi-circle. The traps launch the targets to a point 15 feet above ground and 18 feet outside of station 8. One trap launches targets from 10 feet above the ground ("high" house) and the other launches it from 3 feet above ground ("low" house). At stations 1 and 2 the shooter shoots at single targets launched from the high house and then the low house, then shoots a double where the two targets are launched simultaneously.

At stations 3, 4, and 5 the shooter shoots at single targets launched from the high house and then the low house. At stations 6 and 7 the shooter shoots at single targets launched from the high house and then the low house, then shoots a double. At station 8 the shooter shoots one high target and one low target. The shooter must re-shoot his first missed target, or if no targets are missed, must shoot his 25th shell at the low house station 8. This 25th shot was once referred to as the shooter's option as he was able to take it where he preferred. Now, to speed up rounds in competition, the shooter must shoot the low 8 twice for a perfect score.

In the U.S., registered, formal, competition is administered by the National Skeet Shooting Association (NSSA). A full tournament is typically conducted over the course of five events. These include four events shot as described in the preceding paragraph, each with a different maximum permissible gauge. In the usual descending order in which the events are shot, these maximum gauges are 12, 20, 28 and .410 bore. The fifth event, usually shot first in a five event competition, is Doubles, during which a pair of targets is thrown simultaneously at stations 1 through 7, and then from station 6 back through either station 2 or 1, depending on the round.

The maximum gauge permitted in Doubles is 12. Each of the five events usually consists of 100 targets (four standard boxes of ammunition). All ties in potential winning scores are broken by shoot offs, usually sudden death by station, and usually shot as doubles, from stations 3, 4 and 5. Tournament management has the right to change the shoot format with respect to the order in which events are conducted, the number of events in a given shoot, and the rules governing shoot offs.

Each event normally constitutes a separate championship. In addition, the scores in the four singles events are combined to crown a High Over All ("HOA") champion for the tournament: a coveted title. On occasion, the scores for all five events are also combined, to determine the High All Around ("HAA") champion.

The requisite use of the small bore shotguns, including the difficult .410, is a major differentiation between the American version of the sport and the International version. Some would argue that it makes the American version at least as difficult as the International version, though perhaps at greater expense, given the necessity of one or more guns capable of shooting in all events. The most popular and effective solution to the multiple gun requirement is a two barrel, over & under shotgun, commonly a 12 ga. with a mechanical trigger, which can accept full length machined tubes which permit the gun to shoot all gauges and the .410 bore. Briley, www.briley.com, and Kolar, www.kolararms.com, are the principal sources for such tubes.

So effective is the tubed gun solution that perfect scores are often required to win the open title in individual events, and combined scores of 395 to 400 may required to win the open HOA in a major shoot, depending on the weather (though a perfect score of 400 remains a rare and noteworthy event). For example, the HOA title at the 2007 U.S. Open tournament, shot in Albuquerque, New Mexico between September 6th and 9th, was won in a shoot off between two competitors, each of whom shot a combined score of 399 out of a possible 400.

Recognizing that a high level of perfection is beyond the skill, interest or time available to most shooters, NSSA competitions are subdivided into several classes, each based on the average score shot over the last 500 targets fired upon, in each of the five events, prior to any given competition. This permits shooters of roughly equal ability at the relevant point in time, to compete against each other for the individual and HOA titles in their class.