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Skeet Shooting
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- Brief History
- Skeet shooting dates back to the 1920's. It was created to offer the sportsman shooter something to sharpen their skills during the off-season. The field will move the shooters in a semicircle presenting them with a combination of twenty-five high and low targets. It is a great game for both an individual or a group of five.
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- Gun Information
- Skeet is a very close in type of game. So, in order to break the targets effectively you need to use a gun with skeet chokes. If you do not have skeet chokes you can use improved cylinder instead. Skeet guns have short barrels 28-30 inches in length. You can use just about any type of shotgun to shoot skeet, as long as it can shoot doubles. Pumps are very uncommon in the sport. The bulk of the guns used to shoot skeet are over-unders and automatics. The unique part of skeet is that competition is shot in four different gauges. These gauges are 12, 20, 28, and 410. You may ask yourself do I need four different guns to compete? The answer is no. Some companies specialize in making what are called tube sets. If you have an over-under you can send it out and have a system of interchangeable tubes made for each gauge you wish to shoot. These tubes are the full length of the barrel and just drop right in and you are ready to shoot. Most models are made so they make the gun weigh as close to the original 12 gauge as possible.
- Ammunition Choices
- Since the skeet targets are in so close, thirty yards or less, a change in the load you use is needed to disperse a dense pattern quickly. The basic load for a twelve gauge is a 2 and 3/4 dram with 1 ounce of number nine shot. This is just a general load. There are many different combinations you can use that you can load yourself or buy from the factory. Winchester is one brand of ammunition that I use often. They offer a wide variety of target ammunition to suit most of your needs.
- Range Rules
- The game of skeet is mostly a close range type of game. The longest shot you have is where you are perpendicular to the field at station 4. Here the distance is about 30 yards. Skeet also involves a lot of movement on the part of the shooter in terms of follow through. The targets cross in front of you for the most part and when you are shooting you need to swing the gun and develop a lead. Once you stop the gun you lose all of your lead. So, movement is very important.
- Range Layout
- Now we will discuss how the game is played. A squad for skeet is normally made up of five shooters. They start at station one and work their way around to station eight. In the diagram above there is a stake next to station eight. This is called the center stake and the targets will always fly over it at some point. When you are thrown a pair the center stake is where the two will cross at the same time. As you may have noted from the picture above there are two towers the targets come out of. The tower on the left throws a high bird and the tower on the right throws a low bird. As you go around the field, each station has a certain selection of shots that must be taken. The following list identifies the station number and the target selection associated with that station and the sequence the shooter must follow when attempting the double:
- High House single, Low House single, Double High First
- High House single, Low House single, Double High First
- High House single, Low House single
- High House single, Low House single
- High House single, Low House single
- High House single, Low House single, Double Low First
- High House single, Low House single, Double Low First
- High House single, Low House single, Option
- Option Shot
- The option shot is necessary because if you went through a whole round you would only have shot 24 targets. So, when you miss your first bird you shoot that one again for your option. If you are perfect you get to shoot two at low eight for your option shot.
American skeet competitions are held all over the United States and the rules for all of these competitions come from the National Skeet Shooting Association or NSSA for short. The NSSA is the governing body for American skeet in North America
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