How to Throw Clay Pigeons

Clay pigeons are saucer-shaped disks made of limestone and pitch that serve as targets in several shooting sports, especially trap shooting, skeet shooting, and sporting clays. The clay pigeons are thrown through the air, using either a hand-held device or an automated thrower, to mimic the flights of game birds. Clay pigeons come in numerous sizes and weights, and the throwing patterns differ among the various clay shooting sports.

Instructions

1. Choose a method for throwing. Hand throwers are plastic devices that look like a partial circle on a stick. They allow you to fling the target much further and faster than if you were simply throwing it. Automatic throwers come in many types. Some are fairly simple and hand operated; others are more automated. Large ones can hold hundreds of clay pigeons.

2. Pick a sporting discipline for which to throw. Each of the clay shooting sports requires that the clay pigeons be thrown at different heights, angles, speeds and trajectories. Precision is highly important for fair competition which is why automatic throwers, called traps, are so desirable.

3. Familiarize yourself with the throwing patters for the various clay shooting sports. Know the required heights and angles in various competitions. In trap shooting, the targets are moving away from the shooter and are launched singly or doubly. In skeet shooting the targets are launched one at a time from locations to either side of the shooter. Sporting clays presents the shooter with a wide variety of target sizes, trajectories and launch locations.

4. Become an expert on shooting range rules, etiquette, and procedure. This is vitally important for your own and others' safety. Learn clay shooting protocol for the range at which you are throwing. Throw only when the range is clear and the shooter ready. In most clay shooting sports the shooter calls, "Pull!" when he is ready for the target release.