The firearms shooting sports are becoming more popular with young people every day. Girls and young women especially are joining the ranks of competitive shotgun, rifle, and pistol shooters in record numbers. But how much do you know about the shooting sports? Take our 10-question quiz and find out. It’ll be fun, but be careful; you just might learn something along the way, too. The answers are at the end of the quiz, but don’t peek ahead (we’ll know)!
1) In the shotgun sports of trap, skeet, and sporting clays, the clay targets are also known as:
a. Clay birdies
b. Clay pigeons
c. Mini-discs
d. Flying Frisbees
2) How many parts does a rifle or pistol cartridge have?
a. Two
b. Three
c. Four
d. Five
3) How many parts does a shotgun shell have?
a. Two
b. Three
c. Four
d. Five
4) On a trap field, how many shooting stations are there?
a. Two
b. Three
c. Four
d. Five
5) One a skeet field, how many target houses are there (the places from which the clay targets are thrown)?
a. One
b. Two
c. Three
d. Four
6) Much in the news today, an AR-15, also known as a modern sporting rifle (MSR), is popular for both target shooting and hunting. What type of action does the gun have?
a. Pump action
b. Lever action
c. Semi-automatic action
d. Fully-automatic action
7) For more than a century, the National Rifle and Pistol Matches, for ages youth through adult, were held each summer where?
a. Camp Perry, Ohio
b. World Shooting Complex, Illinois
c. NRA Whittington Center, New Mexico
d. None of the above
8) When participating in the shooting sports, you should always:
a. Wear ear protection
b. Wear eye protection
c. Always treat every gun as if it were loaded
d. All of the above
9) When shotgun shooters call for a target to be thrown, they use what word?
a. Pull
b. Okay
c. Go
d. Hey, throw that thingy!
10) In cowboy action shooting, both young people and adults shoot what type of firearm(s)?
a. Handgun
b. Rifle
c. Shotgun
d. All of the above
Answers:
- Clay pigeons
- Four (case, primer, powder, and bullet)
- Five (a shotgun shell has one more component than a rifle or pistol cartridge: case, primer, powder, bullet/shot, and wad)
- A trap field has five shooting stations
- A skeet field has two target houses, a high house and a low house
- Semi-automatic action
- Camp Perry, Ohio
- All of the above
- Pull (The term began years ago when live pigeons were used for trap shooting. A bird was placed in a small cage, known as a trap, and someone had to “pull” the string attached to the door to open the trap, allowing the pigeon to fly out.)
- All of the above
Score Sheet: How well did you do?
- Five or fewer answers correct: Rookie (Keep shooting)
- Six to eight correct: Intermediate (Not bad)
- Nine or 10 correct: Top Gun! (Well done)
