Should I shoot Skeet?

My coach suggested I shoot Skeet – what benefit would it be to me?

Question: I recently went for a lesson with a coach and at the end he suggested I should shoot more Skeet targets. I am only really interested in shooting Sporting, so what benefit would shooting Skeet be to me?

Don Brunt replies: This is a pretty common piece of advice that coaches give to those looking to improve their Sporting scores – and for good reason. Skeet teaches you to have consistency and discipline, both in your gun and eye hold points and in your technique.

Smooth and steady is the way to be successful at Skeet, which of course carries over into Sporting. Don’t be fooled into thinking that just because the targets are in general much closer that it won’t help your scores. I would take his advice and start with open chokes, but as you get closer to achieving a 25-straight, try tightening them up a little to maybe ¼ / ¼ and then ½ and ½ as you will learn more from how the clays break, i.e. taking off the front or back edge of the target.