Clay Pigeon Shooting
Article on Clay Pigeon Shooting
courtesy and copyright of Eastnor
Castle (Country Sports / Corporate Events)
This is the sport of shooting special
flying targets with a shotgun. It evolved from its original roots
of live pigeon shooting, through glass balls and feathers up to
the present day sport where the “pigeons” are usually
made from pitch and chalk.
The “pigeons” are thrown from traps at great speed
so they have to be strong enough to withstand that yet at the
same time be able to break or fragment easily if hit by shotgun
pellets. Hence the actual manufacturing specifications for the
“pigeons” are very exact. There are six possible types:
Standard. 110mm in diameter,
25 to 26 mm thick and weighing 105 grams.
Midi. Diameter reduced to
Mini. 60 mm in diameter and
20 mm thick.
Battue, like the standard
but very thin to different flight characteristics.
Rabbit. Designed to run fast
along the ground.
ZZ. A plastic target with
attached propeller to produce a zig zag flight.
The trap is used to launch the “pigeon”.
There are many different mechanisms to launch the pigeon, but
all should basically propel it for 100 metres or more. The guns
used are standard shotguns, side-by-side, under and over, or single
barrel. The maximum bore size is 12.
There are a lot of variations within this sport, the main ones
- Trap shooting - the targets are thrown as
singles or doubles from 1 or more traps set 15 metres in front
of the shooter. The trajectory is away from the shooter at varying
angles, speeds and elevations.
- Skeet shooting - targets are thrown in singles
or double from two traps some 40 metres apart at opposite ends
of a semi circle. The trajectories and speeds are fixed.
- Sporting clays - any target goes; speed,
angles and elevation are unpredictable.
- Helice shooting - similar to trap shooting
but the helice has an unpredictable flight.
- Maze clay pigeon shooting –designed
to give a wide variation in launch positions.
- Laser clay pigeons - the shotguns are disabled
and fitted with laser equipment to make this variation safe
and suitable for both indoor use and children can also participate.
|A recognised Olympic sport, clay pigeon shooting is
very popular throughout Britain; it’s even used as a corporate
team building activity by many companies and at Eastnor
Castle for example there are a variety of sites on the estate where
clay pigeon shooting takes place.
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