MOREE Clay Target Club are having their annual two-day shoot this weekend, open to any shooter registered with the Australian Clay Target Association (ACTA).
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Man of all titles - captain, treasurer and shoot marshal, Terry Haynes, said practise starts Friday at 3pm, but the Frank O’Neill Shoot competition will start from 9am on Saturday, and 8am on Sunday.
Saturday will involve the “normal” disciplines; single barrel, double barrel and point score in the categories sub-junior, junior, and open, which includes ladies and vets up to AA-grade.
The aim of the game is to shoot a bright orange clay target to pieces, which is released by the shoot marshal from the trap immediately after the shooter calls “pull!” The target is shot with a speed of 72 km/h and travels 46 metres.
It is shot ‘down the line’, which means the trap is fixed in height but the angle from left to right changes, and that is what the shooter needs to anticipate.
Per round there are five shooters lined up in half a circle, all shooting 25 targets per round and rotating position after they’ve all had a shot.
Single barrel shooting is the hardest discipline, as the double barrel gun is only loaded with one shell, and the shooter only has one chance to hit the target.
With double barrel shooting the gun is double loaded and the shooter has two chances. Scoring for both single and double barrel is “hit or miss”, which means one point or nothing.
Point score is a double barrel division, but with a different scoring. Hitting the target with the first shot is worth three points, when the second shot is a hit, two points are added to the final score.
Mr Haynes said the range of guns were much less than what a lot of people thought and that the “sweet spot” for hitting a target was between 20 and 35m away. As the shooters usually stand 15m from the trap, they have to hit the target within 20m of its flight.
On Sunday the handicap divisions are on.
When shooters become better and are ranked higher, they move through the different grades and get a handicap, which means they have to stand away further from the trap where the target is released.
C-graders stand between 15 and 17m, B-graders 17-19m, A-graders 19-21m and the AA-graders stand 21-25m. The kings of the shooting range, who stand 25 metres away, have to hit the target within about 10m of its flight, which is extremely quick.
Everyone is welcome to attend at the weekend.
Haynes said getting your name placed on the Frank O’Neill trophy was prestigious and he was expecting about 80 competitors from all over the country; many would be coming from the North Coast and Queensland, and some from as far as Victoria.
