Since I’ve never seen it anyplace else, I decided to cover some of the competition shooting slang you hear at matches. This way, when you’re at a match, and you hear a conversation that goes like, “I didn’t have my dope right and ended up shooting a hooker.” Then you won’t freak out.

1) Shank: Missing a higher score by less than a quarter inch. “I just shanked that to the right.”

2) Cleaned: Shooting a perfect score. “He just cleaned the last target.”

3) Squeak: Getting a higher score by less than a quarter inch. “He just squeaked that one in there.”

4) Dropped it out: A shooter missed the target board. “He dropped that one out the bottom.”

5) Crossfire: You inadvertently shoot someone else’s target, or someone shoots yours. “Someone crossfire on my target.”

6) Flyer: One-shot goes out of the group. “I was doing well, and then I had a flyer out of nowhere.”

7) Dropping nines: A shooter repeatedly shoots in the nine rings. “He was doing well and then started dropping nines.”

8) Choked: Freeze up while shooting and do poorly. “I choked on that last one.”

9) Ringer: A shooter who almost always wins. “Look out for that person. He/she is a ringer.”

10) Train wreck: When things go wrong in epic fashion. “That person just had a nasty train wreck.”

11) Spanked: When someone shot a better score than you. “I got spanked at that match.”

12) Dope: This refers to your settings on your scope turret. “It took a shot or two to get my dope correct.”

13) Palma: This refers to a specific course of fire. “That’s a Palma match.”

14) Bug hole: When you shoot several shots through the same hole. “I bug-holed those last three shots.”

15) Walked away: When your rounds get farther apart every time you pull the trigger. “I was doing well, and then it started walking away from me.”

16) Snowman: a shot landing in the eight rings. “Oh man, I shot a snowman.”

17) Hooker: Landing a shot in the nine rings. “Well, I just shot a hooker.”

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