Sporting clays as played in the USA is properly known a English Sporting. Thats because the Brits invented it; we adopted it. Contrary to urban legend, the Americans did not try to dummy down the game by doing away with the low gun hold. In fact, the earliest converts were determined to keep it distinct from American trap and skeet with the low gun hold and a 0-3 second delay. Personally, I find the free mount much less distasteful than the trend to expect.and receiveinstantaneous pulls in sporting clays. But thats another topic. No doubt, a lot of people were attracted to it as a better simulation of hunting, but as soon as someone picked up a pencil and paper, that analogy died.

As first played here 20-25 years ago, the gun was to be held with the entire butt visible beneath the armpit until the target appeared. It was unenforceable from the get-go. First, unless youre shooting topless, its simply not possible to always tell if its properly placed. Far more important is that then, as now, sporting clays referees are virtually nonexistent. Qualified scorekeepers are uncommon enough, much less people with the knowledge, interest and skills to enforce rules. I frequently witnessed top echelon shooters start with the gun somewhere in the vicinity of the armpit then creep up before the target appeared. I cant recall any of them ever being called on it. Furthermore, Im sure there was no penalty spelled out in the rules anyway.

So, because it was impractical to judge and the Americans wanted to score higher, we adopted the free mount, right? Wrong. In fact, just the opposite. The NSCA recognized the difficulty and set out to make the low gun hold even MORE rigorous. I forget the year, but in the early-mid 90s the rules committee adopted the FITASC line for sporting clays. The new rule was explained in the magazine one summer, but never made it into the rule book. Why? Because the Brits were coming to the USA to shoot the World English Sporting Championship and they used a free mount. Its THEIR game. THEY invented it, and THEY said it is played with a free mount. San Antonio agreed.

About the only rule the USA has forced upon the Brits and the rest of the world is the use of safety glasses. I imagine there are some hunting simulation purists who think thats dummied down the game, too.