Shooting sports is the collective name of recreational and competitive sporting activities. It involves proficiency tests of precision, speed, and shooting accuracy. These sports deal with different types of wide-ranged weapons like rifles, handguns or shotguns.

The history of shooting sports is more than 500 years ago and is linked back to European countries. Later it became popular in the US during the 1950s when the national association was created. Today, different shooting sports disciplines are segregated based on equipment, shooting distances, time limit, targets, and degree of athleticism involved. Overall, shooting sport demonstrates accuracy, speed and control of the shooter. Meanwhile, it demands to aim at the target at a long distance and hit the bullseye. This sport is well-known and enjoyed worldwide and has qualified as an Olympic sport since 1896. With the increased popularity of the game, there are many different types of shooting sports played worldwide.

Types of competitive Olympic skeet shooting

As a sport, shooting has a long history. Most games began as things people did to survive fight wars. The boxing, javelin throw, fencing, wrestling, running, archery and many team sports like shooting and horse riding all began survival or military skills. Even today, shooting games face many controversies. But the popularity still seems to be rising. The NSSF (National Shooting Sports Foundation) states that almost 19 million-plus Americans are involved in target practice. These are different weapons. Some use them for fun, while others are keen to master their skills in competitive shooting. These sports vary in various ways, some of which are as follows.

Competitive shotgun or skeet shooting

There are three general categories of competitive shotgun shooting events. All these categories involve throwing clay targets. But it is how they are thrown that differentiate these events. The skeet shooting has a clay target fired from opposite directions and crosses that help the shooters show off profile shooting skills. The second type is trap shooting, where clay targets are thrown in the same direction as the shooter is facing. However, the trajectory varies, giving the shooter some complicated sets of targets. Sport clay shooting is the third type that offers targets with different heights, angles and speeds.

Rifle and pistol competition shooting

It is also known as the cowboy action shooting. One primary requirement of this shooting competition is that the guns used should be from the American cowboy era. It typically dates back to the 1800s. This game format requires the competitors to shoot at a different distance to complete a course of fire. They are the perfect event to look at antique weaponry and guns. These sports are popular in the US. These sports consist of long-time target shooting from 10, 50 or 300 meters in the Olympic games. High power rifle is also famous in the US. It is a format that shoots 3-position; kneeling, standing, sitting and prone. The average length in this game is 200, 300 and 600 yards.

Pistol shooting events

There are two common types under this category. The first type is the bullseye shooting that is performed using rifles. It is a long-distance event for pistol shooters. Generally, the distance is upward of 50 yards. The competitions are usually a mix of slow and rapid firing contests. To increase the difficulty level, participants may use a timer that may require firing using a single hand rather than a double grip. The second type is the IDPA (International Defensive Pistol Association). This type focuses on self-defence type shooting situations and mimics real life as much as possible. Hence those who want to experience real-time shooting experience.

Rifle focused shooting sports.

This category includes two types of shooting ventures. The Silhouette shooting is a rifle event that uses small gauge rifles like .22s. These event stage small steel targets between 50 to 100 yards. These competitions employ high power rifles that target in a 1000-yard range. For a competition, these shots are timed. While the other type is bench rest shooting, where the rifle sits on the rear-rest, and the rest sits on the table. In such games, the shooter aims at the paper targets. The guns used in these games are highly modified and customized to offer stable shots possible. Here, a lot goes in bullets’ trajectory as the wind also slightly shifts the bullet path.

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