Skeet shooting is a recreational and competitive activity where participants use shotguns to attempt to break clay targets which two fixed stations mechanically fling into the air at high speed and at a variety of angles.
Skeet is one of the three major disciplines of competitive clay shooting—alongside trap shooting and sporting clays. There are several types of skeet, including one with Olympic status (often called "Olympic skeet" or "international skeet"), and many with only national recognition.
General principles
For the American version of the game, the clay discs are in diameter, thick, and fly a distance of .
The international version of skeet uses a target that is slightly larger in diameter [(110±1) mm vs. 109.54 mm], thinner in cross-section [(25.5±.5) mm vs. 28.58 mm], and has a thicker dome center, making it harder to break. International targets are also thrown a longer distance from similar heights, at over , resulting in higher target speed.
The firearm of choice for this task is usually a high-quality, double-barreled over and under shotgun with 24- to 32-inch barrels and very open chokes. Often, shooters will choose an improved cylinder choke (one with a tighter pattern) or a skeet choke (one with a wider pattern), but this is a matter of preference. Some gun shops refer to this type of shotgun as a skeet gun. Skeet chokes are designed to produce a 30 inch shot pattern at 21 yards.
Alternatively, a sporting gun or a trap gun is sometimes used. These have longer barrels (up to 34 inches) and tighter choke. Many shooters of American skeet and other national versions use semi-automatic shotguns and break-open over-and-under shotguns.
The event is in part meant to simulate the action of bird hunting. The shooter shoots from seven positions on a semicircle with a radius of , and an eighth position halfway between stations 1 and 7. There are two houses that hold devices known as "traps" that launch the targets, one at each corner of the semicircle. The traps launch the targets to a point above the ground and outside of station 8. One trap launches targets from above the ground ("high" house) and the other launches it from above the ground ("low" house).
At stations 1 and 2 the shooter shoots at single targets launched from the high house and then the low house, 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 shoots at single targets launched from the high house and then the low house. At stations 6 and 7 the shooter shoots at 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.
History
Charles Davis and William Harnden Foster of Andover, Massachusetts invented skeet shooting. In 1920, Davis, an avid grouse hunter, and Foster, an avid hunter, painter, illustrator and author of "New England Grouse Hunting", developed a game which was informally called "Shooting around the clock". The original course took the form of a circle with a radius of 25 yards with its circumference marked off like the face of a clock and a trap set at the 12-o'clock position. The practice of shooting from all directions had to cease, however, when a chicken farm started next door. The game evolved to its current setup by 1923, when one of the shooters, William Harnden Foster, solved the problem by placing a second trap at the 6-o'clock position and cutting the course in half. Foster quickly noticed the appeal of that kind of competition shooting, and set out to make it a national sport.
The game was introduced in the February 1926 issues of National Sportsman and Hunting and Fishing magazines, and a prize of 100 dollars was offered to anyone who could come up with a name for the new sport. The winning entry was "skeet", chosen by Gertrude Hurlbutt. The word allegedly derived from the Norwegian word for "shoot" (skyte). The first National Skeet Championship took place in 1926. Shortly thereafter, the National Skeet Shooting Association formed. During World War II the American military used skeet shooting to teach gunners the principles of leading and timing on a flying target.