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Crossfire wrote:One more thing - better check the status of Elm Fork Range before Saturday. You realize they are so named because they are located on the Elm Fork of the Trinity River. Web site says they are currently CLOSED DUE TO FLOOD.

Last time we had this much rain, several years ago, they were closed for weeks before the water went down.

The Annoyed Man wrote:
As C-dub said above, Elm Fork does not allow the use of "tactical" style shotguns on their Skeet range unless the barrel equals or exceeds 21". So if you shotgun is a typical 18" room-broom, it is a no-go. Let me know, and I can bring along my old O/U for you to borrow.

The Annoyed Man wrote:

drjoker wrote:I don't know how to skeet shoot a shotgun. I mean, how much do you lead in front of the clay? If you don't mind teaching a novice, I'll tag along. Thanks.

You're welcome to come. My first time for one of these gatherings, organized by AndyC at Alpine Shooting Range, was my first ever Skeet experience AND my first ever real shotgunning experience, since all previous experience consisted of shooting a friend's 12 gauge pump into a berm exactly once back in the 1980s. I had an absolute ball.

As C-dub said above, Elm Fork does not allow the use of "tactical" style shotguns on their Skeet range unless the barrel equals or exceeds 21". So if you shotgun is a typical 18" room-broom, it is a no-go. Let me know, and I can bring along my old O/U for you to borrow.

I have not yet shot a sporting clays course, and have only shot traps once. But I find skeet very entertaining. It's kind of like golf with shotguns. As far as how much lead is required, AndyC is the expert, and I'm not that good at it (practice makes perfect, and I don't do it often enough), so he could better instruct you on it, but you'll start to get it down fairly quickly.

Here is an overhead diagram of a Skeet course:
[ Image ]

And here is what it looks like to the shooters:
[ Image ]

And another view:
[ Image ]

The rules of the game are fairly simple, and all of the normal gun-safety rules apply. You never have more than 2 rounds loaded in the gun, no matter the gun's capacity. Over and Under, and Side by Side shotguns make that easy. If you're shooting a pump or semiauto, you'll begin each stage with one round chambered and one in the magazine. For experienced shooters, the stage is begun with the gun unmounted at the "low ready", and the shooter doesn't mount the gun until he calls "PULL!". As a concession to beginners, they are usually allowed to begin the stage with the gun mounted until they get used to how the game goes. As you can see from the 2nd and 3rd images, facing outward, the clay launchers are in a high house on the left, and a low house on the right. They launch their birds on different trajectories in terms of elevation, and "away" at an acute angle from the direct line drawn between the two houses, but their trajectories intersect at the center point relative to the arc of the shooting stations.

So as you can see, for the shooter, each station presents a different set of angles and leads. Factor in wind and other weather data, and it gets more interesting. Most people (but not all) find stations 1 & 7 to be the easiest because the bird will have the appearance of either coming almost directly toward you or away from you, and the required lead is less. The rules call for each shooter to shoot at a station before the group moves to the next station. So all shooters will take a turn at station 1, then the group will take turns at station 2, etc., etc.

A single point is awarded for each clay bird you hit. The hit doesn't have to be perfect, but it does need to break up the bird. At stations 1, 2, 6, & 7, the shooter will shoot in this order: 1 from the high house, 1 from the low house, and then a single pair launched simultaneously from both houses. So, stations 1, 2, 6, & 7 each award you up to 4 points. Again, as a concession to beginners, the beginner may be allowed to shoot the double "on report". That means that instead of being simultaneously launched, the 2nd clay of the double will be launched only upon the sound of the first shot in the double being fired. That gives the beginner a smidgeon more time to make the pair. A miss is a miss, and no point is awarded. When the shooters shoot from stations 3, 4, & 5, there is no set of doubles fired, so maximum possible points from those stations is 2.

When the shooter moves to station 8, there will be a stake in the ground marking the center point between stations 1 & 7, and there is a "shooter's box" on the ground on either side of that stake. The clay will appear to go almost directly overhead, and it will be moving very fast. Most shooters will find station 8 to be the most difficult to shoot. The shooter first stands in the box to the right of the stake, facing the high house on the left of the arc. He must hit the clay before it breaks the plane of the center point. Shooter then moves to the left box and faces the low house on the right of the arc, and he must hit that clay before it breaks the plane of the centerpoint. Again, the clay will be moving fast and it will be a difficult shot.

One "round" of Skeet consists of completing all 8 stations. Maximum number of points you can get up to this point is 24:

• 4 points - station 1
• 4 points - station 2
• 2 points - station 3
• 2 points - station 4
• 2 points - station 5
• 4 points - station 6
• 4 points - station 7
• 2 points - station 8
• 24 points all stations

Now, there are 25 shotshells in a box, which means that you have an unused one if you complete the course. At any time during your round, you may tell the "caddy" that you would like to take your bonus shot, using that last shotshell. Most shooters will choose to do that at station 7 because it is far easier to earn a point there, than to try and do it at station 8, but to the best of my recollection, you can take that bonus shot at any position you like. So if you take your bonus shot and get a hit, you'll have a "perfect" score of 25.

If you shoot a score of 8 or 10 out of the 25 possible as a beginner, you've done fairly well. After a couple of rounds, you should be well into the teens. The better shooters in our group run in the 20s pretty consistently. I can't recall a perfect 25, but that's not to say that someone hasn't done it. I think my very best round ever was an 18 or 19, but I don't get out often enough to maintain or improve on that kind of performance, so my own scoring is all over the map, and it's almost a "start over" every time for me. Like any shooter, I'd like to do better, but I get most of my enjoyment from Skeet just from being out with a bunch of friends at a range, and the hearty good fellowship that comes with that. C-dub's daughter is more or less our official scorer and mascot, and she has as much fun being part of it as any of us do. She's a great kid. (And C-dub, I don't remember if I told you this or not, but my wife really liked her too, and though she was quite the young lady.)

Total time elapsed per round depends on how many shooters there are, how windy and cold it is, how much harassing of the shooter is going on, and in this case, how much trouble TAM has adapting to a brand new gun, etc., etc. We usually shoot 3-4 rounds and then go have lunch together at a nearby mexican restaurant.