Max £1500 for 1st Gun advice, go for it.....

[jwpzx9r]

About £53 for 100 caddied round. Cheaper opportunities in the summer early eve. Also, Monday mornings there is a “roll up” for £40. No booking. The registered sporting shoot is every first Thursday for £34.50. Also, registered Sportrap for £34.50 every third Thursday per month. 

I know it is in France ... but at the club I shoot at I can shoot 10 rounds of OT, UT, Parcours or Sportrap for  35 euro for ... I do not think I could afford to shoot in the UK ... 53 Pence per  clay??

although we do pay 40 euro for a 100 target competition !

 

[Will Hewland]

I know it is in France ... but at the club I shoot at I can shoot 10 rounds of OT, UT, Parcours or Sportrap for  35 euro ... I do not think I could afford to shoot in the UK ... 53 Pence per  clay??

Sure, but at possibly the best shooting ground in the UK, with a caddie to take you round an elaborate sporting course, not standing in one place shooting a layout. As I say, they have lots of other cheaper shooting. 

 

[MartynB]

I know it is in France ... but at the club I shoot at I can shoot 10 rounds of OT, UT, Parcours or Sportrap for  35 euro for ... I do not think I could afford to shoot in the UK ... 53 Pence per  clay??

although we do pay 40 euro for a 100 target competition !

It’s horses for courses .  Locally , I can shoot at a very good  small sporting shoot for £20 /100 ,  great targets , “ farm yard facilities “ I can also shoot locally , £35 /100  practice,  as I did last week ,  restaurant on site where we had breakfast ,  full time ground staff ,  huge capital investment in the ground ,  excellent  reatsil shop with guns at all prices . hotel quality lounge,  where my wife had a glass of wine whilst I was out shooting , and all the frills that go with that sort of thing , Sometimes it’s about the overall experience .  I haven’t shot at Churchill’s , but considering it’s facilities , the caddy system , and it’s proximity to some of the wealthiest people in the country the pricing system seems proportionate .  As a “ non working person of a certain age “ I really have zero excuses for not using my free time to drive down and have a round . 

But back to the OP , buying a gun from a ground with a gun shop on site is worthwhile just for the “ test drive “ opportunities , 

 

[El Spavo]

Which is why I almost bought that Beretta from churchills... cos their gun shop had mk38, mk60/70, b525, b725, silver pigeon, you name it as hire guns so could try them all. As it was the 525 I ended up with fitted like a glove so never did in the end.

Where on earth are you shooting at 20 per 100 Martyn, that's amazing?! 35 for a decent set up is pretty tidy too.

 

[jwpzx9r]

It’s horses for courses .  Locally , I can shoot at a very good  small sporting shoot for £20 /100 ,  great targets , “ farm yard facilities “ I can also shoot locally , £35 /100  practice,  as I did last week ,  restaurant on site where we had breakfast ,  full time ground staff ,  huge capital investment in the ground ,  excellent  reatsil shop with guns at all prices . hotel quality lounge,  where my wife had a glass of wine whilst I was out shooting , and all the frills that go with that sort of thing , Sometimes it’s about the overall experience .  I haven’t shot at Churchill’s , but considering it’s facilities , the caddy system , and it’s proximity to some of the wealthiest people in the country the pricing system seems proportionate .  As a “ non working person of a certain age “ I really have zero excuses for not using my free time to drive down and have a round . 

But back to the OP , buying a gun from a ground with a gun shop on site is worthwhile just for the “ test drive “ opportunities , 

To be fair, and not wanting to sound cheeky, when I and most other shooters I know go to the club we go to shoot. If we want a good meal we go to a restaurant. I can see that ground would have a lot of money tied up in the enterprise. The clubs I shoot at are run by the members... but the targets are the same as at any other ground in the world offering OT or UT. I suppose that is where trap is a bit different to sporting a huge area of ground is not required. However I have to say that all I am interested as an overall experience just good targets and a days shooting with friends at a price I can afford.

I am not long back from Italy having shot,badly, at one of the best trap grounds in the world... €8 per round and went to the little trattoria for lunch quality food and so inexpensive I don't know how they do it for the price.

Anyway my advice to the OP buy a Browning, Miroku or a Beretta you will get a very good gun on your budget.

 

[MartynB]

I fully understand where you are coming from , no offence is taken . 

With my buddies in tow I’ll shoot anywhere I can enjoy , and don’t mind a cup of tea from a caravan  with a sausage bun in a piece of kitchen roll. (and pee behind a bush if necessary) .

I do think however that finally a lot of  U.K. clay grounds are waking up to the fact that their customers should be treated no differently to those who go play golf . Certainly within 45 minutes drive from here I can choose  ( in ascending order of pricing ) Kelbrook, Coniston , and Park Lodge ,  all have reacted to the demand to give the customer a better overall experience . All have decent facilities  ( in fact Park Lodge is outstanding   ) , and I reckon the South of England shooting grounds like Churchill’s and Royal Berkshire are World Class . 

Ceratainly at the three Northern grounds I’ve mentioned , open  5 or 6 days a week  , a newcomer wanting to buy a £600 ATA or a 20 year old Miroku will be welcomed and treated just as well as anybody .  I tend to shoot mid weeks ( well,  us oldies have a  terrible choice - Fishing  and Shooting or Kyle and Bargain Hunt )  so welcome the development of the professional ground , accepting that they are more costly . 

For John the OP ,  the professional grounds get a lot of turnover in decent second hand guns , and can often be lower cost options than a local gun shop despite what first appearances can say , often worth a day out just for a look -see 

 

[LarsJ]

We don’t have that many ESP layouts in Denmark, so can’t really comment on the prices (and wouldn’t be comparable with your great layouts). However going rates for compaq layouts (might be called 5 stand sporting, I honestly have no idea, but standing close to each other in a line, 5 targets in each stand, normally a single, report double and sim double) is 4 -5 £ or 5-6 €.

OT on my home layout (my club) is 3,5£ or 4€. And it doesn’t matter if you are a member of the club or not. Cheapest OT layout we have close by (50 km) is 2,5 kr or 2,8€ , but that is a member price, annual membership fee is 35£ 40€. 

Lars

PS. All our layouts are by exception of 1 or 2 run as clubs. Thus there is no gun shop which makes it difficult to try before buy.

 

[John Griff]

For John the OP ,  the professional grounds get a lot of turnover in decent second hand guns , and can often be lower cost options than a local gun shop despite what first appearances can say , often worth a day out just for a look -see 

Cheers MartynB. 

Sound advice there and worth making a good day out for . 

 

[Gazz]

I had my first shoot with my first starter gun, a Miroku 7000 SP1 on Sunday morning and despite it only being £695 I really had a lot of fun.  My instructor looked it over and gave it the thumbs up as a decent gun which has been pretty well looked after but the woodwork has seen better days.  I have joined a club and will now shoot at Chalky Hill near Alton and at £15 for a 50 bird round I find it very competitive.  They have a mobile hot food bar which offers a fantastic bacon sandwich and a lovely cup of tea and their no frills approach seems to work.  My point in all this is that sometimes a good bargain is to be found and I would like to think I have been lucky enough to stumbled on one. 

 

[John Griff]

I had my first shoot with my first starter gun, a Miroku 7000 SP1 on Sunday morning and despite it only being £695 I really had a lot of fun.  My instructor looked it over and gave it the thumbs up as a decent gun which has been pretty well looked after but the woodwork has seen better days.  I have joined a club and will now shoot at Chalky Hill near Alton and at £15 for a 50 bird round I find it very competitive.  They have a mobile hot food bar which offers a fantastic bacon sandwich and a lovely cup of tea and their no frills approach seems to work.  My point in all this is that sometimes a good bargain is to be found and I would like to think I have been lucky enough to stumbled on one. 

Good for you Gazz, glad ur happy with the Miroku . Got to ask, is £15 just for clays or cartridges and clays? Brilliant value if it’s both!!

 

[El Spavo]

Looking to go there soon when I get a free Sunday. It's clays only but 15 for the first 50 runs then a tenner for the next, so pretty good. 

http://www.threecountiesclayshoot.co.uk/facilities/4588568423

 

[Gazz]

Good for you Gazz, glad ur happy with the Miroku . Got to ask, is £15 just for clays or cartridges and clays? Brilliant value if it’s both!!

El Spavo (above post) has put up a link to the Three Counties club website and as he says, its £15 for 50 clays and £10 for a second 50 if you want them.  You can bring your own cartridges or buy from the club on the day.  As a brand new shooter I found 50 quite tiring, so I find this excellent value.