Oh, no! One of Skeet's dirty little secrets has been unearthed!
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by eddyb74
I personally have never been told "one shell at a time, except for doubles" at any of the skeet ranges that I have shot at. (station 8 being the exception).
|
Eddyb74, you're correct, that may well be your experience. If you know what you're doing around the Skeet field, you probably never will.
Most gun club rules are trap based, because trap is the senior game. The trap shooters got there first because trap fields are the cheapest to construct. And, the majority of shotgun sports tournaments are sanctioned by the ATA. Club unified rules typically use the ATA's rules as a model:
ATA 2010 Rules extract.
Section IV IV ATA Tournaments
I. Safety
12. A contestant shall place a live shell in his/her gun only when on a post facing the traps. In Singles and Handicap shooting he/she may place only one (1) live shell in his/her gun at a time and must remove it or the empty shell(s) before moving from one post to another. In Doubles shooting he/she may place two (2) live shells in his/her gun at a time and must remove both live or empty shells before moving from one (1) post to another. In changing from one (1) post to another, the shooter shall not walk in front of the other competitors.
The one shell at a time for singles general rule works great for trap and general shooting. Except, at the Skeet range, many shooters (myself included) prefer to load two shells for singles. It speeds up the squad and doesn't unevenly wear your O/U unevenly. The new 2010 Skeet rules recognize this.
NSSA 2010 Rules extract.
Section III - Shooting Procedure
D. Gun Malfunctions
7. Loading Two Shells
During the shooting of single targets, a shooter may load two shells except at Station 8 high house, or for the last single target on any station, or unless forbidden by club rules, and if the gun jams or malfunctions between shots, it shall be scored as a malfunction and the shooter permitted to shoot the target over. However, the shooter is still restricted to two allowable malfunctions with one gun in one round.
Oops… now we have a contradiction. What to do? At the Skeet field it's become a case of
Do what I say, not what I do. We quote the club rules to the new shooters about loading a shell at a time for singles in their R-870s and M-500 and then we load two in our O/U. It's interesting that the ATA rule is in the Safety section or their rules and the Skeet rules refer to loading two in the malfunction section. Also, the Skeet rule contains the phrase
unless forbidden by club rules.
It's almost a case of Catch-22; but, there's a solution: In the club rules, something like the following can be added after the one shell rule. In nationally sanctioned events, if the official rules allow the loading of more than one shell for singles, the club rules shall not restrict the competitive shooters. Since visiting competitors may arrive early to practice before a tournament, the exemption applies to practice and well and match rounds. It doesn't make any sense to make them shoot under two different sets of rules.
When the casual shooter asks why I load two for Skeet singles and he can't, I tell him that I'm practicing for a match and he's not. In reality, the non-comp shooter isn't generally aware that some load two for Skeet singles. The question typically comes up when some fellow is stuffing his hi-capacity HD gun full of shells.