Yesterday I went to a skeet/trap range to watch a competition.  The first thing I noticed was it was a very relaxed and friendly environment.  One of the intructors asked me if I was interested in the sport and I quickly answered yes.  He told me to hang around after the matches and I could try I few shots.  So when mostly everyone was gone he handed me his 1100 and some 12 gauge shells.  I missed my first shot but surprisingly the 12 gauge wasn't as hard on my 5"10 170 pound, 15 year old body as I thought it would.  Once I realized that this a totally different game then .22 target shooting I started doing well. I nailed my second clay and most of the ones after that, and this is only the second time in my life that I shot a shotgun.  I am looking forward to going back to the range this Wednesday,  I sure surprised a few people behind me when I hit my second shot!  The reason I posted this is because a while back I saw a post about skeet shooters being snobs and I definetly disagree.

C'mon you guys young people are the way of the future...anyone able to give me some pointers? I need all the help I can get so I can show up on Wednesday and amaze them all!

OK,

A little advice--I'm not great with a shotgun, but I took a class once and got some real good instruction.

The instructor unloaded the gun, put a fired shell into the chamber (sideways), stood in front of me and held out his hat.  Told me to touch his hat with the barrel of the gun.  He moved the hat around until I got the correct position.  It feels WIERD.  You actually feel slightly unbalanced forward--like you are stretching out towards the target.  

Most of my difficulty in hitting the target came when I was trying too hard.  Relax, try to get a feel for how much lead you need for the motion of the target, and have fun.  Then you will start to hit regularly.

AFARR

Glad to hear you had a good experience.  So many people report that if you go skeet shooting without a $1400 over and under, the regulars look down their nose at you.

Rules of thumb for trap, adjust to your style of shooting. First thing, always look to see where the targets level off. No need to hold gun low if targets are flying high. 1st position: Hold gun what appears to be 1 foot off left corner of trap house. 2nd position, inbetween 1&3. 3rd position, down the middle. 4th position between 3&5. 5th position, what appears to be 3ft off right corner of trap house. I used this system many moons ago, may be out dated now.Good Luck

look at the bird.. head down on the gun.. follow thru

Learn to shoot with both eyes open.