Competitive Shooting

[FirearmFan]

Does anyone here shoot competitively? I'm sure we have quite a few here who are into skeet/trap. As my username indicates I'm a pretty big gun enthusiast. I really enjoy shooting 3-Gun and USPSA. 3-Gun is fun because it is challenging and I like to incorporate the rifle, pistol and shotgun together.

Anybody else?

[roaniecowpony]

Not anymore, but over the years...IPSC, etc., sporting clays, skeet. All fun for a while.

[DonF]

I used to shoot a little trap and skeet. Also shot 22 Indoor match in the service. Been a long time. I trained a dog for a guy that was a competitive trap shooter, everyone told me he was a great shot. Went hunting with him right after I got done with his dog. Absolutely the worst game shot I ever saw. Two days and not one bird in the bag for him! He said trap was a lot easier than live birds.

[roaniecowpony]

Don,
I agree. Shooting targets just isn't the same. Trap shooters know when/where the bird will fly and get their stance ready, mount the gun, yada yada. Most target shooters can't mount their gun quickly and shoot. They just don't practice that. The exception is the International Skeet shooters. They have to be very quick from a low gun. I have a lot of respect for their shooting abilities. Those targets fly faster than any bird I've hunted.

Still, a good target shooter, competitive or casual, has an opportunity to get a lot of shooting a non-target shooter won't get. Nothing substitutes for shear natural ability, but we all have the straws our ancestors passed along to us. In my case, I don't have much natural shooting or other athletic abilities and my reaction time could be used as a egg timer for a boiled egg. So, shooting regularly at sporting clays with our casual group helps me a lot. I shoot low gun exclusively when shooting sporting clays, rarely shoot any skeet or trap these days.

[jimbo&rooster]

I shoot a few 3 gun and steel pistol matches a year but mostly to kill time. I wouldn't call myself competitive.

Jim

[Mountaineer]

Registered Trap and Registered Skeet for many years.

There are plusses and minuses to any competition....but speaking of scattergun competition here.
Any target shot in a grooved manner leads to a predicted result...on average.
However, the idea that a good clay shot can be a poor gambird shot is way off as a generalization.
What can happen is a clay shooter can use a gun set up for his "game" and soon finds that the unpredictable nature of a bird's flight requires a different set-up. They may try to bluff it thru, miss and then get flustered and miss more.
One must use the right horse for the course shot.
But, in Ohio, once sporting clays hit, the participation in skeet dropped as well as trap...those change-over shooters scored well at SCs and also well in hunting gamebirds because they were good shooters, regardless....best not to generalize.

Any use of a scattergun requires practice and experience is the largest driver to success....naturally ability re vision and coordination is simply an advantage.
A clay shooter can bring focus and follow-thru to the field and they can also bring a tendancy to shoot too quickly.... some of the plusses and minuses.
As well, having shot a small bit Int. skeet, the quickness required there is not a plus in the field...always or often.
Not much more grooved than International Skeet....low gun notwithstanding.

The wise shooter practices clays for gun familiarization, focus and follow-thru.
Competition with a scattergun can give a head start with those three....just control the mindset to compete afield.
But the wisest shooter practices in such a way as it compliments what the practice is for....ie shooting skeet low gun, break the bird-break the piece, etc.

[BayouSlide]

Been heavily into competitive shooting sports for the past nine years: USPSA (where I'm a Chief Range Officer w/Multi-Gun Certification), Steel Challenge,3-Gun and just enough FTR (600 yard) rifle to get my feet wet. But for the last two years, all my free time and $$$ have been spent feeding my sporting clays addiction. Ought to be due for a return to some pistol matches next year.

I like to tell people that some of the most important lessons I've learned through competitive shooting have nothing to do with shooting itself...wouldn't have traded any of it and meet lots of great people along the way.

Curtis

[Brazosvalleyvizslas]

Over the years I have been a USPSA Grandmaster, NSCA Master and IDPA Master. Made my living shooting and working in the industry so yeah, I pulled the trigger a few times. I burned out on it so now I spend my time with dogs.

[claybuster_aa]

I shoot with the ECSC. We're only competitive amongst our own within the organization and within a division. The only prize at the end is a league pin (everyone gets one) and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place teams within a division get a plaque that you can hang on your clubhouse wall. The ECSC claim to fame is it it the longest continuous running skeet club in the world.

http://ecsc-skeet.com/ecsc_website_09-2 ... on_001.htm