Shooting Clays Versus Skeet – What is the difference?

To an inexperienced shooter, the two may seem a lot alike, but to a sport shooter the differences are significant.  Both use a clay disc as the primary target, and have a defined course.  That is where the similarities end.

Sporting Clays are cast in a variety of directions and angles to simulate a field experience, such as bird hunting.  In competition you follow a 10-15 station course and don’t know exactly where the clay will come from.   The clays vary in diameter and weight to simulate natural variances in birds.

Sporting Clays is sometimes called “Golf with a Shotgun” because a typical course includes from 10 to 15 different shooting stations laid out over natural terrain (Wikipedia, n.d.). Clays actually pre-date Skeet by several decades. 

In Skeet, you have 25 shots from 8 stations.  The clays, which are generally 4 ⁵⁄₁₆ inches in diameter.  These discs are launched from “houses” come from pre-determined directions. At stations 1 and 2 the shooter shoots at single targets launched from the high house and then the low house.  He then shoots a double where the two targets are launched simultaneously but shooting the high house target first. At stations 3, 4, and 5 the shooter has single targets launched from the high house and then the low house. At stations 6 and 7 the shooter confronts single targets launched from the high house and then the low house, then shoots a double, shooting the low house target first then the high house target. At station 8 the shooter shoots one high target and one low target.

The shooter must then 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. (Wikipedia, n.d.)

American Skeet Shooting started in the 1920s and there is a variation included in the Olympics.

Jim Bogle, Guest Blogger, Associate Instructor, F&A, LLC