Scholastic Clay Target Championship 2012

Shooting USA - Scholastic Clay Target Championship 2012
We’re at the National Championships of the Scholastic Clay Target Program, the most successful youth shooting program in America. SCTP is fun for youngsters as young as 9 years old, while the coaches and parents use the clay shooting sports to teach invaluable lessons in sportsmanship, responsibility, self-discipline and safety.

The Scholastic Clay Target Nationals, in Sparta, Illinois, is the annual gathering of the top teams of young shotgunners. The SCTP program, now expanded to include Skeet and Sporting Clays, is not only the most successful youth shooting program; it’s also become the training program for our Olympic Shooting Team. Olympic Bronze Medalist, Corey Cogdell, shot clays in SCTP competition. So did double Gold Medalist, Vincent Hancock, the World Record Holder in Olympic Skeet. The SCTP Nationals is the World Series of the Little League version of the Shooting Sports. It’s the competition where future shotgun champions become champions for the first time.

The SCTP Program teaches safe gun handling and safe shooting, but also lessons on character and integrity. And the shooters also learn about camaraderie and supporting each other as a team. The Scholastic Clay Target Program is strictly a team sport. No individual honors. The five squad members each shoot 200 targets for a team score of up to 1,000. The top teams will then move to the final.

About SCTP

The Scholastic Clay Target Program provides school-age participants in grades 12 and under with the opportunity to showcase their competitive shooting skills and earn state and national recognition. The program is designed to instill in participants safe firearms handling, commitment, responsibility, leadership and teamwork.

Originally founded to establish school and club trap teams, SCTP now includes all forms of clay shooting competition, including International Skeet and Trap, the competition shot for Olympic medals.

The Scholastic Clay Target Program is a cooperative effort by the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation's (SSSF) and the governing bodies for trapshooting, skeet shooting, sporting clays shooting and the Olympic versions of Trap (Bunker) and Skeet (International Skeet) - the Amateur Trapshooting Association (ATA), the National Skeet Shooting Association (NSSA), the National Sporting Clays Association (NSCA) and USA Shooting (USAS), respectively.

Related Links

Scholastic Clay Target Program Website

 

Smith & Wesson Ladies Clinic

It simply works better when women are teaching women competition and personal defense at the Smith & Wesson Ladies Clinic.

It’s called a three-day immersion camp, a highly-focused training experience for women who want to learn to shoot. Many have never fired a gun.  Some confess they begin being afraid of guns. But in the capable hands of their shooting instructors, these students evolve into “gun people”. The secret is women teaching women at the Smith & Wesson Ladies Clinic.

LINK: Schedule of S&W Ladies Clinics 

Necessity is the mother of invention, especially if you have an arsenal full of obsolete muzzle-loaders. That was the origin of the Model 1873 Trapdoor Springfield, with the flip open single shot breech. The Trapdoor was the Army’s transition from muzzle loading to the self-contained black powder cartridge, as one of History’s Guns.

Pro Tip – Todd Jarrett for New Gun Owners

All the  gun makers are overwhelmed with orders these days and many of the sales are to first time gun buyers. Todd Jarrett knows that’s what happening in gun stores all across the country, so Todd has some first time shooting tips to get new owners started right.

SEE THE PRO TIP

Wade:  The 90-degree crossing shot. It’s the bane of most wing shooters’ existence. It’s the shot that terrifies most people who hunt for waterfowl, dove, etc. However, if you learn what’s called the pass through method you’ll be able to make those shots consistently.

Step number one. With this crossing shot or with any other shot for that matter, is you’ve got to have a shotgun that fits you and when you get a mount you’re looking right down the muzzle. When you focus on the target you want this shotgun barrel to be following and tracking where you are looking exactly to the same spot.

To make the crossing shot the first thing you want to do when that target approaches range start your swing. Match the speed of the bird with your shotgun muzzle. Focus on that target. Don’t worry about where your shotgun is. You just mount your gun and you focus on the leading edge of that target. And then you come from behind, you match and then you just pull slightly ahead. When you see a little gap of daylight between your target and muzzle, the muzzle is in front of the target, now touch off your shot. And keep that muzzle moving because your follow-through is critical with this shot.

With this shot or with any shot for all that matter, the key is to come out to the range before the season. Practice that shot. Get set up where you can make that 90-degree cross, over and over and over. Get your sight picture. Start breaking them. As you break the clays you’re going to build your confidence. Then when you go to the field, you’ve got that duck coming across 90 degrees you’re going to shot with confidence. You might not hit ‘em all, but you’re going to hit a whole lot more than you did before you learned the pass-through method.

The Blackhawk Day Planner - For discrete carry when you can’t wear a holster - the Blackhawk Day Planner is a practical solution for firearm concealment for on-the-go carry.  With the external appearance of a full-size, or small day planner, the design fits multiple firearms.  Inside, the day planner includes spare magazine storage and the double zipper allows quick access.   The Blackhawk! Day Planner is under $65 suggested retail. ($58.45 bought through the Shooting USA Blackhawk! discount link.)

BLACKHAWK LINK

SHOOTING USA STORE BLACKHAWK LINK

The Blackhawk! Bedside Holster has a panel you insert between the mattress and box spring. It’s a secure mount for most handguns – a Smith & Wesson J Frame fits nicely – to be close at hand, under the covers, for a night emergency. The Blackhawk Bedside Holster is under $35 suggested retail.  ($31.45 bought through the Shooting USA Blackhawk! discount link.)

BLACKHAWK LINK

SHOOTING USA STORE BLACKHAWK LINK

GET THE DVD!

Colors for the Range

All choices have some internal structure to maintain the shape and are adjustable.  

Find them in the Shooting USA Online Store

NRA Membership Offer:  Jim Pays $10 when you join the NRA through the Shooting USA website.