Which is best: shooting skeet, trap, or sporting clays?

So I went shooting this weekend at Seattle Skeet and Trap (SST) with Western Shooting Journal’s regular columnist Al Hague. Al and SST board member Dave Dalton, both top shooters, provided me with expert assistance, teaching me trap and sporting clays  (I’ve shot skeet in the past). It was a blast trying out Al’s Benelli 12-gauge shotgun. I learned something very interesting, and surprising, about the three sports and will be writing up an article about it for the September issue of Western Shooting Journal. I have firmly made my mind up about which of the three I prefer and you’ll have to pick up that issue to see where I come down! My article will also include some advice for women and folks with bad eyes like myself. And if you don’t already, be sure to read Al’s monthly column about shotguns and these three sports. They’re really, really good, or he would not be a regular monthly reader for us. His articles are what piqued my interest in this kind of shooting.

Al with his new Zoli shotgun at a sporting clays station, as Dave releases the targets.

My husband Brian was a natural, having grown up with shotguns in the Boy Scouts.

A sporting clays team that was ahead of us. Tom Curtis shooting a Blazer, father and daughter team Fred and Rachel Heistuman, and Todd Watson with a Beretta 391. Both Tom and Fred are officers in the fire department.