What is skeet shooting?

Skeet shooting is a favourite sport for clay shooting enthusiasts and it's also an Olympic sport.

The sport requires excellent reflexes, hand-eye coordination, and discipline in order to perform well.

In this article, we’ll look at how skeet shooting plays out, what the differences are in the Olympic variation and what you might need to have a go yourself.

Skeet shooting basics

Skeet is one of the three major disciplines of competitive clay shooting, with the others being trap shooting and sporting clays.

In shotgun shooting events, clay targets are thrown into the air by a clay target trap from fixed stations and you then have to break the flying clays at a certain point before they go out of range.

Targets thrown from only one trap are referred to as singles, whereas targets thrown from both traps are called doubles.

There are 3 different variations of Skeet shooting - National Skeet, NSSA Skeet and Olympic Skeet.

Skeet shooting stations

There are 8 main stations in skeet shooting, with 7 arranged in a semicircle with a radius of 21 yards and the 8th position being halfway between stations 1 and 7.

At each of the two corners of the semicircle are houses that hold traps that launch the targets to a point 15 feet above the ground. There’s a High House and Low House: the High House holds a trap that launches from 10 feet above the ground, while the Low House launches from 3 feet above the ground.

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Making your way around the stations

Stations 1 & 2 require you to shoot at single targets coming out of the High House and the Low House before shooting a double target, shooting at the High House target first.

Stations 3, 4, & 5 then see you shooting at single targets from both the High and Low Houses.

Next up, Stations 6 & 7 will see you first shooting single targets, first from the High House, then the Low House before shooting a double target - this time shooting the target from the Low House first, before moving on to the High House target.

Station 8 is where you then shoot one high target and one low target.

This all adds up to 25 targets.

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What happens if you miss?

Well, your first miss is repeated immediately and is called an option but if you were lucky enough to not miss any you get to shoot at the low 8 (the Low House trap at Station 8) two more times for a perfect score.

What is Olympic Skeet?

First recognised as an Olympic sport at the 1968 games, Olympic skeet is overseen by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) and has some nuanced differences to the traditional variety of the sport.

For Olympic skeet shooting, two traps at different heights launch 25 targets in a set order, with some launched as singles and some as doubles, with shooters maintaining a fixed position between the traps.

To make things harder, Olympic Skeet shooters have to call for the clays while their gun is off the shoulder, raising their gun to shoot once the clay is released.

What's more, the timings of the launches vary too, with some coming out immediately and others being automatically (and randomly) delayed for up to 3 seconds.

What you'll need to try skeet shooting In order to get involved, you'll need the following:

1. Shotgun – any gauge as long as it fires at least 2 shells

2. Ammunition – One box of 25 shells, the same gauge as your shotgun 3. A shell holder to carry your ammunition in as you move around the field

3. A shell holder to carry your ammunition in as you move around the field

4. Ear Plugs

5. Eye Protection

Conclusion

Skeet shooting is a challenging and thrilling discipline to practice, and with its inclusion as an Olympic sport, it has captured the attention of a lot of people.

Learning how to participate in skeet shooting is not difficult, especially if you are able to take advantage of some skeet shooting lessons before giving it a first go.

For those are looking for a great day's shooting, get in touch with the team at David Beardsmore Shooting to find out more.

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David Beardsmore is a former World Champion and England Shooting Team Captain. David is globally recognised as one of the most successful and accomplished coaches in the world today.

David uses a skeet shooting range based at Doveridge Clay Sports, David has 70 acres of stunning Derbyshire countryside at his fingertips providing impeccable surroundings for expert coaching and tuition. With a vast amount of knowledge and expertise in competitive / game shooting and an understanding of the shooting world, David offers bespoke lessons in both clay and game shooting, providing straightforward and easy to understand instruction.

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