Skeet and Trap Practice
English Skeet
Our English Skeet range is located at the north end of the shooting ground behind the club house, we call it Southdown Sporting Skeet, because range measurements are not 100% correct, so if you’re a purist this may not be the layout for you- none the less the skeet layout is very popular and provides good practice for a lot of the sporting disciplines.
If you have not shot skeet before, it is a trap discipline, with targets fired from two fixed trap houses, the high house at position one and the low house at position seven. The shooter shoots a combination of single and simulated pair targets from each of the seven positions on the semi-circle path, which provides a variety of angles. A skeet round is 25 targets; target sequence sheets are available at reception in the clubhouse.
We ask that you shoot this layout in sequence especially at busy times as other shooters may wish to utilise this shooting range as well. As with the other shooting ranges we operate on the ground, you can use you target credits in the Promatic Claymate System.
Down the Line (DTL)
The Southdown DTL trap range was refurbished in 2016 and is located to the north west of the shooting ground to the left of the clubhouse. We have installed the latest Canterbury voice release system, which is the world’s most reliable voice activated clay target release system.
The Canterbury Voice Releases have taken the markets of New Zealand, Australia, USA & UK by storm with 7000 units in use world-wide and now @ SOUTHDOWN! We have integrated the voice release with the Promatic Claymate System so you can use you target credits like all the other ranges on the ground. To avoid loss of clay, if you’re with friends, we advise that you don’t chat too close to the speakers, otherwise you’ll find you may release clay.
If you have not shot DTL before, it is a very popular trap discipline, shot from five positions setup in a crescent shape, these positions are located 16 yards from the trap house, which throws random targets from an oscillating trap between 0 and 22.5 degrees to either side of a centre post set 50-55 yards from the trap house. The clays all come out at the same height, but the trajectory changes depending on the oscillation of the trap. A DTL round is 25 targets, there is full use of the gun allowed on each target.
The Skeet and DTL practice ranges are available Fridays and Saturdays (and Thursday evenings in summer) from 10am throughout the year, practice is also available on some Sundays if we are not holding a competition, please check our fixtures page for more information.
Your safety is our priority
Health and Safety is paramount across our grounds, and we ask you to help us to maintain a safe environment for everyone.
When booking in for the first time, we ask that you read and sign to say that you understand our rules of use. It is mandatory to wear hearing and sight protection at all times in our shooting range areas, regardless of whether you are shooting or not. We also recommend that you wear a hat as, although every effort is made to set the targets to avoid clay fall out, there is always a possibility of falling clay or plastic wad. Remember that “Good shooting is no accident”.
Please can we remind all customers visiting that eye and ear protection must always be worn on the ground.
We’ve noticed recently that PPE wearing has slipped a bit and in order for us all to be safe on the ground we want to remind everyone of the importance of wearing eye and ear protection, caps, and sensible footwear.
We have a great selection of PPE to buy in a shop to suit everyone if needed on your visit. PPE will be supplied to you if you are attending an experience or lesson with us.
Shooting Practice Experiences
At Southdown Gun Club, we offer day pigeon shooting and activity experiences for all
Shooting Practice
Southdown Gun Club and Shooting School has been offering shooting practice on our magnificent shooting ground since the ’80s.
Sporting Practice
Our famous Sporting practice range, known as “the lane” has up to 20 stands, some of which can provide elevated shooting positions and driven targets.
Compak Practice
The Compak deck is situated to the south of the barn, at the top of the main English Sporting shooting range, we have set it up so that you can shot three of the most exciting sporting clay shooting disciplines Sportrap, Compak and FITASC old system, all year round.
FITASC Practice
FITASC Sporting is an international form of sporting target shooting and stands for “Federation Internationale de Tirs aux Armes Sportives de Chasse” but normally referred to as FITASC in short.