Biography

In a sport where precision is paramount and perfection is measured one clay target at a time, Barney Hartman was considered the best skeet shooter in the world for two decades. He held nearly 30 world records in 12, 20, 28, and .410 gauges, as well as the all-around competition, and once broke 2,002 clay targets without a miss. Nine times he was recognized as the top professional shooter in the world. Although he learned to shoot on family farms on the Prairies, Hartman did not take up skeet shooting until 1946 when he was stationed with the RCAF in Goose Bay, Labrador. He entered and won his first competition, in Halifax in 1949. Seven years later, he won his first Canadian championship in the 12 gauge division—a title he held for seven consecutive years, until relinquishing it when he began his professional skeet career in 1963. In international competitions between 1961 and 1963, he won one silver and four bronze medals. Hartman was named a member of the National Skeet Shooting Association (NSSA) all-American skeet team 16 times. Upon turning professional, he was named captain of the NSSA's professional All-American team ten times. It was as a professional that Hartman established himself as the best skeet shooter in the world. He set a world record in the .410 gauge in 1966, and followed that with additional world records in 1968 (12 gauge), 1969 (28 gauge), and 1971 (20 gauge). In 1967, he won all five of the professional end-of-year awards (the four gauge divisions and the all-around title). Each year between 1968 and 1971 he won the all-around world championship, as well as numerous divisional titles. In 1967 Hartman gave back to the sport by writing an instructional book, Hartman on Skeet. For his remarkable record of success as well as his contributions to skeet shooting—as an instructor, coach, and equipment innovator—Hartman was named a member of the Order of Canada in 1999.