Low Gun

Sporting clays is great fun in and of itself, but for a wingshooter it also can serve as practice for the real thing. And that’s my gripe. When sporting clays started in this country a quarter-century ago, it was meant to mimic wingshooting. Well, we all know where that went. When skeet started in the 1920s, it was the same deal. Skeet also was meant to mimic wingshooting, but today it couldn’t be further from it.

Wall Street has the saying that bad money drives out good, and so it is with these shooting sports. Skeet in America started out requiring a low-gun starting position and a delayed pull to make it more like field shooting. In an effort to attract more shooters (if it is easy, they will come), a pre-mounted gun and instant pull were permitted. Europe, always elitist in shotgunning, went the other way, as the much more difficult Olympic version of skeet mandated a low gun, delayed pull and high-speed bird.

We are seeing the same thing in sporting clays today. Some years ago it was the Brits who first eliminated the low-gun requirement and permitted pre-mounting. The US followed suit a year later. The theory was that this would make the game easier and bring skeet and trap shooters into the fold since they didn’t now how to shoot low gun. Of course, FITASC (the “caviar” of sporting clays) retained the low-gun requirement because they understood better.

To a wingshooter, starting with a pre-mounted gun is a ridiculous posture. In sporting clays it is an advantage on many of the shots. If you are going to be competitive in sporting clays, pre-mounting the gun is one of several techniques you should have if you want to win.

Perhaps that is part of the current problem. Sporting clays shot for fun is extremely popular but, by comparison, registered competitive sporting clays isn’t. Only a tiny percentage of sporting clays targets shot are in registered competition.

There are many reasons for this, and it’s really neither bad nor good. That’s just the way it is. Different things appeal to different people. If you really want to get into sporting clays competition, buy the nine-pound raised-rib gun, learn sustained lead and pre-mounting, and have at it. It’s a great sport. But if you shoot clays for fun and to get ready for bird season, pick the sporting clays stations that best mimic shots at your favorite gamebird, use your field gun, and start your gun from your usual field-ready low-gun position. Your scores won’t be quite as high, but the real birds will tremble when you step afield. Practice makes perfect. It just depends on what you practice.

That’s it for now. Boots off. Beer open.