Cartridge for skeet

[Catamong]

I can vouch for the killing power of a 24g load, a couple of weeks back I took my Son to West London SG, he borrowed my Gamba O/U, choked 1/4 & 3/8, we shot the Compak layout, there was a left to right crossing rabbit there that I reckoned was nearly 50 yards away, (the scorer later confirmed it was actually 47 yards), my Son was shooting 24g 7.5 Gamebore Blue Diamond? Plaswads, he shot this rabbit with the 1/4 choke, and it literally vapourized it, not one fragment came out the other side, unbelievable...!!

 

It's only a matter of time before they drop the load for domestic disciplines from 28g to 24g, I remember the drop from 32g to 28g, we all thought scores would drop, in fact they went up..!!

 

Cat.

[clayman]

Personally I dropped to 24g about 10yrs ago when I found that my practice scores with lighter loads were better than my competition averages with super bang 28s. It made me realise that the extra recoil impact and shock wave through the body and into the brain lowered my ability to concentrate on delivery of the load in the right place.

 

Its certainly not an opinion held by some people who will fight tooth and nail to retain the current 28g 6 - 9 clay ruling on acceptable shot sizes and max load, but I think 24g 7-9s would help the sport in many ways.

 

Less noise, less lead, lower costs, decreased max range for exclusion zone increasing safety ( 6s need 275m, but 7s up 250m, already scientifically established by Dr Allsop's report).

 

There will always be schools of thought opposing such ideas. One is the group who beleive that unless they have max pellets in the air, usually with amazingly fast and expensive cartridges, that they wont hit anything. Truth is these people are blaming equipment for handicapping scores and try to replace, for instance, a poor understanding of lead and sight picture with something so fast they think they dont need lead. Another group will immediately say, my avareages will drop and/or the targets at XXX ground will be unhittable. This seems to overlook any competent course setter can reset the range and difficulty to be exactly the same - so the true skill factor need not change at all.

 

And, as observed by many, scores have actually gone UP in disciplines where there have been compulsory load size drops, ie ISSF sores averages improved. Interestingly as well, with lead an issue, we could end up with steel and the same negaitive arguments about its use surface despite the known fact that the Skeet Ground that has compulsory steel as the fall out is over an SSSI wetlands, saw an improvement in scores overall as extra pellets and better eveness of pattern and less stray fliers from a steel load would appear to more than compensate for the reduction in inertia the individual pellet has. Steel has supposed safety issues, but a recent comprehensive test, again using Dr Allsop, has found almost no difference in the ricochet potential of both lead and steel. The findings suggest that far from steel being a much more serious ricochet risk than lead, std lead carts in use today have ricochet potentials that are just as high as steel.

 

Its international discipline specifics that are likely to push changes back to club shooting. With lead bans or restrictions already in place in some other countries, I can envisage some international discipline rules being changed to not allow lead loads. There will be a massive outcry from the pro-leads if this happens, but difficulty factors can be reset in the layouts to maintain averages, steel appears to be no more dangerous than lead, indeed the down range factor must be safer was I would guess that the fallout range and safety zone could be less than lead, contributing to safety and allowing smaller areas of exclusion for shooting grounds ( no stats I'm aware of, anyone know of any steel fallout reports?), and with everyone unhappy with spiralling lead shot costs, steel is a nice surprise to the wallet too.

 

 

 

I'm putting this up as a new post as my views will start a healthy debate - so comment in the new thread.

[Emmsy]

Such things are personal choice of course, but 3 and 5 are both singles and its the second target in a pair that has extra legs on it, so 1 and 7 are pretty close in for both singles and prs and 9s perfect, 2 and 6 not much further out for the singles but the second in the pr will be past centre for most shooters. 5 and 7 being singles should be shot a bit closer around centre. Obviously , if one is to mix shot sizes, which targets you use the heavier on will depend on your shooting style and how quickly you take singles or pairs. I have a fairly lazy swing and tend to short later than some snap shooters, and novices will all need the extra breaking power for late shot targets.

 

i get your point but you shoot the second bird on 2 and 6 after the centre peg, its still coming in towards you as your still almost level woth the front of the trap house. the slower you are the closer it gets really.

[nick_c]

Finally got to try a round of skeet this evening up at Churchills.

 

scored 20, enjoyed it, certainly be shooting it again soon, ran out of time for a 2nd round today.

 

Cheer's Nick.