As you may have figured out, we do not just use normal guns to shoot clay pigeons. There are special clay pigeon guns used to do so. Each gun is loaded with cartridges. Every single shot contains small metal or lead balls numbering in their hundreds. When shot, the small balls cover a wider space which makes it more possible to hit the clay pigeon. The clay can be broken if only three of these balls are able to hit it. If at least a piece of the clay is not broken, it is not a hit.
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Types of Clay Pigeon Shooting Shotguns
There are two types of clay shooting guns that are mostly used. One is the traditional shotgun which is a side by side shotgun. The second is the over and under double-barreled shotguns. This type of shotgun has two barrels. One barrel is mounted over the other.
Most clay shooting shotguns have diameters of an average of 18.5mm. Guns with smaller diameters are also common. Usually, guns with 18.5mm diameter are known as a 12-gauge shotgun or 12 bore shotgun. Guns with smaller diameters can be either 16 or 20 gauge. These guns with smaller diameters are preferred by some people because they are quite light in weight.
A gun is designed so that the diameter of the barrels reduces as it goes towards the end. This helps to change the direction of the shot. It is known as chocking. A barrel that is chocked will ensure that 70 percent of the shots fired fall within a 30 inches diameter within 40 yards. A barrel that is not chocked will have a 50 percent (or less) percent of shots that fall within that same amount of space.
Guns these days now allow the user to be able to chock the gun as they wish. They come with screws which allow them to increase or reduce the chock-level. Others have fixed chocked-levels that cannot be altered.