WHAT IS FITASC SPORTING?
What is FITASC Sporting? It’s an international form of sporting clays. Competitors from countries all over the World compete in this discipline and is considered by many as the Formula One in Clay Shooting.
Federation Internationale de Tirs aux Armes Sportives de Chasse is the sports main governing body, but to save wearing your voice box out just stick to the abbreviated name of FITASC.
For many shooters the goal is to shoot in their national team and compete in International events such as the European and World Championships.
VIDEO EXAMPLE OF A FITASC SHOOT ⬇️
THE DETAILS
Gun position until the target appears, is strictly monitored. The heel of the stock must be touching the body below a horizontal line, 25cm down from the top of the shoulder. This line is always marked on the shooters vest to aid the referee. Typically, this will be embroidered on the vest but it is not unusual to see everything from tape to chalk used for this purpose. If the shooter moves his gun before the target is visible they will be warned immediately by the referee. Repeated instances will result in targets being deducted.
Since shooting does not take place in a cage, the shooter has great freedom of movement and is not restricted in any way. Safe gun handling, whilst always important, is of even higher priority.
FITASC targets are not limited to standard clays and you will see all types, battues, rockets, rabbits and minis, in use. The variety adds considerable interest and makes accurate reading of the target more difficult.
Cartridge load is restricted to 28 grams.
THE FORMAT
A standard registered shoot would be 100 targets, shot over four 25 target layouts or “Parcours”. Major international championships are 200 target events, the European and World Events are staged over four days, 50 shot each day.
There are two variations in the format, known as “new system” and “old system”. The new system accommodates more shooters but requires considerably more traps.
NEW SYSTEM
The New System will still have three or four shooting positions on each layout, but each position will have its own set of traps. This means that a squad can be shooting from each position at the same time. This system allows more shooters to compete in a day but costs are increased considerably. World and European Championships will always be set on the new system with a mandatory requirement for eight layouts or Parcours.
OLD SYSTEM
The Old System comprises five traps on a layout with three different shooting positions. The positions are marked by a 1 metre diameter hoop placed on the ground. A squad of six shooters shoots the sequence of targets from Peg 1 and then moves on to Peg 2, then Peg 3. The downside of this system is that only one squad can be ‘in action’ on a particular layout at one time.
On arriving at the stand, the squad is shown the targets they will shoot. The first shooter will shoot all their singles from that stand and will then step off to allow the next shooter to move forward. The doubles is then shot with shooter number 2 starting, number 1 having dropped to the last person to shoot. On the next layout, number 3 shooter will lead off and so on. This means that a different shooter starts each time. Double targets can be simultaneous, on report or trailing, “raffael” in FITASC terminology.
On single targets, full use of the gun is allowed and a kill is recorded whether the first or second shot breaks the target. For the doubles, there is no requirement to fire one shot at each target and a competitor may fire both barrels at one of the targets if they wish. There is no penalty for doing so and the target will be scored if broken with either shot.
