In Tasmania through the TCTA you can shoot most of the following disciplines at many of our clubs.
Trap, Skeet, Skeet Doubles, ISSF Trap, ISSF Double Trap, ISSF Skeet, and Ball Trap.
Read below for a brief description of each type of competition.
Trap, also known as Down the Line or DTL
Trap is one the most popular clay target disciplines shot in Australia.
Trap targets are launched from a trap house which houses a single trap machine with the shooters positioned fifteen meters behind the throwing arm of the trap. On the call of the shooter, the trap releases a single target that is released in a going away direction from the shooter. The targets are thrown at a fixed height, but with random left to right angles. (22.5 degrees either side of centre.) However the shooter does not know the angle of the target when called, for standard Trap competition the shooter is permitted two shots at a single target, this is commonly known as “Double Barrel”. However, Trap can be shot in many different forms, i.e. Single Barrel, where one shot only is permitted at the target. Continental Trap, where the elevation is varied as well as the left to right angles and Double Rise, where two targets are released simultaneously each at 22.5 degrees left or right of centre. A standard round consists of 25 targets, however, many combinations of lots of 5 targets or pairs are shot.
Ball Trap
The layout is similar to Trap, where the shooters stand 15 meters (in an Arc) from the throwing arm, however, the roof of the trap house is at ground level. There is similarity to ISSF Trap also, this is because of the distance and angles at which the target is thrown. i.e. 76 meters +or- 1 meter in distance and at heights varying between 1 meter and 3.5meters at 10 meters from the trap house. The targets are thrown in a 90 degree arc. Simply, Ball Trap utilizes a single machine in Continental mode but with greater targets speeds and angles. Ball Trap is very popular in Europe because of its similarity to ISSF Trap. It compares to ISSF Trap which utilizes 15 machines that are set to predetermined angles prior to the commencement of each days competition. It is easily understood why Ball Trap is referred to as the poor man’s ISSF Trap, (some will argue that this discipline should be the norm in Australia and not Trap as it tests all shooters’ abilities and makes it unlikely that there will be long shoot offs to determine winners). The ACTA allow this discipline to be shot with a half second delay using 28gr. loads, however, the ISSF ruling body specify instant release using 24 gr. loads.
ISSF rule, instant target release using up to 24gr loads only.
ACTA rule, 1/2sec target delay using up to 28gr loads only.
ISSF Trap
ISSF Trap, Trench or Olympic Trap, as it is also known, is one the three clay target disciplines shot at the Olympics. It is shot from 15 meters from the trap house or trench roof with the gun mounted before the shooter calls for the target. There are 15 traps in total in the trench with only three traps per each of the five shooting positions through which the shooters circulate. With 25 targets presented to each shooter per round, each shooter will receive a repeat of the same target through the course of the round, however the sequence of each target will be presented in a random format to each shooter. As in all Trap disciplines the targets are released in a going-away trajectory from the shooter with approximate speeds of 100 kph. The targets can also be thrown at 45 degrees either side of center and at varying heights between one meter to three and a half meters at point ten meters from the traps.
Skeet
Skeet is shot from eight different stations arranged in a semi-circle between two trap houses, the trap houses are known as the “High House” and the “Low House”. The high house target is released from a fixed trap six meters above the ground. The low house target is also released from a fixed trap at a half meter above the ground. Unlike Trap, these traps are fixed and the shooters know the trajectory of the targets. The shooters move around through eight shooting positions, or stations, with the horizontal angle of the target trajectory and the shooting position changing at each position. The shooter is permitted one shot only at each target. A variation to this routine, known as “Skeet Doubles”, is sometimes shot where more emphasis is placed on shooting pairs of targets, one from each trap house simultaneously, through the third, fourth and fifth shooting positions. A complete round of Skeet typically consists of 25 targets, with four targets shot from four stations, two targets from three stations and singles from the last two stations and a repeat at the last target if you have shot the round clean, otherwise immediately after your first missed target if you are misfortunate enough to miss one.
ISSF Skeet
ISSF Skeet uses the same layout as standard Skeet but is shot using a gun-down format, faster targets and with a zero to three second random delay on the call of the target. There are also more double targets presented to the shooter in ISSF Skeet.
ISSF Double Trap
Shooters alternate on the five positions the same as Olympic trap, but shoot at 2 targets that are thrown simultaneously with fixed trajectory from two trap machines positioned in a trench at 15 meters from the shooters. The shooter holds the gun to his shoulder and the targets are released in a going away trajectory from the shooter. The shooter has one shot at each target.
