How Easy Or Hard Is Clay Pigeon Shooting For Beginners?

If a day out going clay pigeon shooting in Bristol sounds like great fun, you will find it all here at Weston Lodge. But while some people may have done this before and thoroughly enjoyed themselves, others might be complete novices who have never picked up a shotgun before, let alone tried to hit a fast-moving airborne object.

This raises the question: How hard can it be? Some naturally approach any challenge with a can-do attitude and think they will soon pick it up. Others might shrug their shoulders and expect that any hits they score will be a fluke and something to laugh at when it is all over.

Of course, a day out like this should bring plenty of smiles anyway, but part of the fun of clay pigeon shooting is that it is much easier to pick up than you might think.

That doesn’t mean every beginner will be at Olympic Standard the next time they come down (but if you are, you’ll have extra reason to be glad you had a go when you’re in LA shooting for Britain), but it does mean you can feel at home with a gun in your hand.

A central technical issue is the fact you are dealing with a moving target. In an article advising beginners on how to approach clay pigeon shooting, The Yorkshire Gent noted that the best analogy is that of sports with a moving ball, like tennis, squash, or cricket.

He explained that in these sports, the key is to keep your eye on the ball, as if you fail to do so you cannot tell where it is going and won’t be able to play your stroke properly. Moreover, he noted, a player would not look down at their racket, but just instinctively put it where the ball is going to return it over the net.

In the same way, the aim for a clay pigeon shooter is to instinctively have the rifle pointing where they are looking, which is watching the flight of the clay and then taking the shot.

Another point he notes is that everyone is either right-eye or left-eye dominant. This means your stance should reflect which eye you will tend to use more when looking at an object (although a few people are neither, in the manner of someone who is ambidextrous).

This does not necessarily correspond with whether you are left or right-handed, but it does determine your stance as you need to ensure your lead eye is focusing on the target (This principle also applies in sports with non-moving targets, like archery).

If you do turn out to be really good and want to develop your skills, you should join a club and shoot every week. However, when you are just coming along for your first session as part of a stag party, birthday celebration, or a work day out, you shouldn’t be thinking about standing on a podium with a gold medal.

Instead, you should just focus on having lots of fun learning to do something new. When you miss, it really doesn’t matter. When you hit, everyone will cheer and it feels great.