No bird – A clay that comes out of the trap broken or defective. Trap – The machine that launches the clay into the air. Stand – The position from where the shooter fires her shots. Squad – A group of shooters who shoot a round of clays. Midi – Diameter of only 90 mm these targets are faster than the standard types in the early part of flight.īattue – A wafer thin, flat target measuring 108mm in diameter, it flies very fast and falls off very rapidly. Pro – A diameter 70mm and faster than a midi and doesn’t slow down like a mini. Mini – At 60 mm in diameter, these targets are fast at the beginning, but rapidly lose their momentum because of lighter overall weight. Rabbit – A thicker, but standard 108mm diameter flat target in the shape of a wheel designed to roll along the ground. Six different types of clay targets may be found on a sporting clays course. Although they usually come in orange and black, there also are other colors, including pink, white and lime green. Types of Clay TargetsĬlay targets are round, dish–shaped and vary in size from 60mm to 108mm. Eventually, sporting clays courses offered targets designed to represent hunting, such as dropping ducks, flushing pheasants, high–flying geese, crossing pigeons, bolting rabbits and other upland birds. With the invention of clay targets, the sport saw varying distances, target sizes, trajectories and angles being introduced. It dates back to the early 1900s in England when trap shooting used live pigeons. Sporting Clays is the closest thing to actual field shooting of all shotgun sports. Here’s what I’ve found as a beginner’s guide to shooting sporting clays. If you’re like me, prior to heading out and trying a new sport, I like to do a little research. Now, a few years later, I have my custom CZ–USA shotgun on order and I’m ready to up my sporting clays game. Around the same time, I also fell in love with wingshooting after going on a chukar hunt. I first started shooting sporting clays as a way to improve my aerial clay shots in 3–gun.

My first jack rabbit demo