Does this scenario sound familiar?
You attend a corporate event sponsored by your company at the local sporting clays range where shotguns were provided and, not only did you hit a handful of targets, but you got hooked by the immediate feedback that you (and everybody watching) got when the moving target you shot at broke into many pieces. When you get back to work, you can’t stop talking with your coworkers about how much fun you had, and you can’t wait to do it again at next year’s event.
Then your coworker tells you he shoots clay targets a few weekends per month and invites you to join him and his friends the next time they go out. You take him up on his offer and join him and his friends in shooting trap using a shotgun he loaned you. Next thing you know, you have purchased your own shotgun and joined the trap league at the local club.
As time goes on, you have found you have become quite proficient at shooting trap and are getting invited by others to join them in shooting skeet and sporting clays. So you meet up with others to shoot skeet and sporting clays and are disappointed when you break less than half of the number of targets you break on the trap field.
This scenario is not uncommon — whether it is going from trap to skeet or sporting clays, from skeet to trap or sporting clays, or from sporting clays to skeet or trap.
While the fundamentals of hitting a moving target need to be applied correctly in each discipline, the approach to how they are applied will be different.
Let me start off by exploring the transition from American trap singles to sporting clays. American trap singles has some very specific regulations when it comes to the flight of the target: (i.e., maximum horizontal angle of 22 degrees left or right, total angle spread of at least 34 degrees, fixed elevation determined by a 3-foot diameter hoop held 10 feet off the ground at 10 yards in front of the traphouse, and targets that fly a distance of 48 to 52 yards) while sporting clays has almost no regulations when it comes to the flight of the target. One of the key specific regulations when it comes to the flight of the trap target is that horizontal direction must be randomized (whereby the shooter will not know the left-to-right direction the target will travel when they call for it). This is the exact opposite of the sporting clays targets.
The sporting clays shooter will know (either by viewing a show pair or watching the shooters who shoot before them) the direction of the targets they will be shooting. By knowing the direction of the target, starting the shotgun somewhere along that flight path provides an advantage when shooting sporting clays. One of the biggest errors someone transitioning from trapshooting to sporting clays makes is that the trapshooter will use a starting hold point with their shotgun pointed at the location of the target machine (similar to how they start their shotgun hold point on the traphouse). Unfortunately, this will cause the target to get out in front of the shooter’s barrel, thus resulting in the shooter chasing the target from behind (as they would on the trap field). The shooter will have to have their barrel speed going faster than the target speed in order to catch the target and get in front of it.
This lead method is called the pull-away method of leading a target, and it can be very difficult for a shooter to judge the correct amount of lead when using this method. American trap targets fly at a consistent speed. Therefore, the amount of lead changes only with the degree of angle that the target is flying at. The amount of lead to apply to sporting clays targets is based on three things: angle, speed and distance. Determining the correct amount of lead (based on these three things) and applying it correctly using the pull-away method can be extremely difficult and is one of the reasons trapshooters often struggle as they transition to shooting sporting clays.
Skeet shooters transitioning to sporting clays shooting often struggle less than trapshooters. The reason is because skeet shooters are used to not allowing the target to get in front of their barrel. However, where skeet shooters struggle is in trying to use a sustained lead on each sporting clays target they shoot. A sustained lead works the best when the amount of lead is known. And, in skeet the angle, speed and distance is known for each shot and from each station, so the lead can be determined and known prior to the shot being taken. In sporting clays the angle, speed and distance are not known for each shot, so the amount of lead can only be estimated. Using a sustained lead when the lead can only be estimated will produce mixed results at best (i.e., sometimes too much lead and sometimes too little lead).
Both trap and skeet shooters start with a pre-mounted/static mount before calling for the target. In sporting clays, an off-the-face/dynamic mount is used for shooting a majority of the target presentations. This is an extremely helpful technique, as it allows the shooter to get a clear (and unobstructed by the barrel) view of the target, so it can be determined where and when to insert the shotgun into the flight path.
Avid sporting clays shooters who shoot the majority of their tournament targets on the weekend are frequently attracted to trap and skeet leagues which clubs often have take place on a weekday evening. I have seen seasoned sporting clays shooters do quite well in skeet leagues while sometimes struggling in trap leagues. Let’s explore why this might be.
Sporting clays shooters are repeatedly told to identify the break point, hold point and look point for each target before they call for the target. So, applying these concepts to skeet targets is relatively easy, as they are regularly used by successful skeet shooters. Therefore, one of the concepts these transitioning shooters need to learn is the application of the sustained lead. The experienced sporting clays shooters I know who shoot in skeet leagues say this is not difficult to grasp. However, trap targets (unlike skeet and sporting clays targets) do not fly in a known direction before the target is called for. As a result, two important tenets which sporting clays shooters utilize: identify the break point before calling for the target and do not allow the target to get in front of the barrel — will need to be disregarded. Learning to use the pull-away lead method (which is what is needed for trap targets) is not difficult, but it does take some getting used to. And, during this learning curve timeframe, trap scores can be lower than expected and frustrating for sporting clays shooters.
As I was in the middle of writing this article, I had a phone call with a friend of mine who has been an extremely accomplished skeet shooter for many years. I asked how he did at the 2025 World Skeet Championships in San Antonio, and he said he did not do very well as a result of getting fatigued often due to some medical issues. He told me starting next year he plans to stop shooting competitive skeet and take up competitive sporting clays shooting where he can use his golf cart to navigate between stations and events. The timing of our conversation was very serendipitous, as it allowed me to share some of my thoughts in this article with him. He agreed with my analysis and consented to provide me future feedback as to other ‘speed-bumps’ he encounters as he transitions from skeet to sporting clays.
Every year I have seen, and known, many shooters who have transitioned from one clay target discipline to another. Some have seen success very quickly and, for others, it has taken some time. But each shooter has related to me that success finally came to them when they started shooting the new game the correct way and made the necessary changes. SS
Mark H. Taylor has over 40 years of shooting experience. He has won many regional, state, national and international clay target competitions. He is the author of the book Clay Target Shooting – The Mental Game and co-author of the book Break ’em All. Mark is a NRA Certified Advanced International Shotgun Coach and a High-Performance Shotgun Coach for USA Shooting. He is a Caesar Guerini and Cabela’s (in Thornton, CO) Pro Staff shooter, and teaches monthly beginner shotgun clinics at Colorado Clays in Brighton, CO, and travels nationally and internationally teaching coaching courses and working with world-class athletes. You can email him at [email protected].
