An alternative to a traditional sporting clays course that smaller shooting ranges and sportsmen’s clubs are taking advantage of is a relatively new shotgun game called Five-stand Sporting Clays, or simply Five-stand. In essence, it’s similar to traditional sporting clays, offering shots at targets from a multitude of angles and distances, but does so by placing five shooting stations or stands side-by-side, only a few feet apart.

The advantages of five-stand—again, from a range owner’s standpoint—is that a much smaller parcel of ground is required, possibly as little as only one-tenth of the acreage needed for sporting clays. And fewer clay target machines are needed; just six or eight can throw targets for all five shooting stations.

A typical round of five-stand involves shooting five targets at all five shooting stations, requiring a box of 25 shells to complete the round. Usually, a single target is thrown from each shooting station, followed by two pairs of targets. The pairs may be thrown on-report, as a following-pair, or as a true-pair. On-report means that a second target is thrown as soon as you fire at the first target; in other words, on report of the gun. A following-pair means a second target is thrown automatically a few seconds after the first. And with a true-pair both targets are thrown simultaneously.

For the shooter, there are several advantages to five-stand as compared to sporting clays. As mentioned, a round takes only one box of shells, so the cost of shooting is less. And you can shoot a round of five-stand quickly, usually in only about half an hour’s time even with a full squad of five shooters. But a full squad is not required; a round of five-stand can be shot alone or with just a buddy or two.