Not a good weekend

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Don't get me wrong folks, I had a great day out. Met a nice bunch of blokes ( well mostly :) ) Spent the day in the sunshine and we got a weekend away from work together for the first time in a long time. Chances are we may get a few more!

46% is not too bad!

We all want to shoot great scores but surely the above is a major part of our shooting enjoyment? Also the harsh reality of it all is while spending more than £10k on a gun may improve your shooting a little, so will using the one you have! Just shooting it at the right piece of the sky! :) Reading between the lines like me you are new to the game, in your case even more so, you had a bad day and it hurt you mentally get out there next weekend and give it some ... just relax and let the shots flow don't over think it and I bet you will better the 46% which was from all accounts a very difficult lay out. Of course I shoot trap so my failings are slightly different my biggest problem is shooting when I know I am tired. After a really tough week of hard work I shoot because of the enjoyment it gives me then if I have shot badly feel bad mentally because I know I an do better... maybe you were tired and did not fully recognise the fact?

 
Thanks Ed, and well done to you. A stellar round and something of an example to the rest of us!

A new gun may not improve my shooting but you have to admit they are more than just guns they are also damned pretty to look at! :) I tried Andy's HPX on Thursday and it was apparent that it was at the very least an 'S class Merc' amongst the 'Mondeos'.

 
Well I have to say that this is a sport where your development does take time and is probably proportional to the amount of clays that you shoot. So the more clays you shoot in a shorter time period over more grounds will speed up your development.

I bought my own gun 2 years ago and can't shoot as much as I would like and have probably not shot for eight weeks having just done a 4 week tour in Europe in our motorhome.  However Philip and I shot Cart Ridge near Saltash yesterday and I had a PB with a 68 so I have a big smile on my face.  The lost ones were all my personal problem and difficult targets which are distance birds and tricky angles plus a couple with trigger freeze.  They always manage to set up a stand down there on which I blank both birds but I also had one where I didn't miss any.  As time goes by your experience of different targets and how to kill them builds.

Keep going, you've not been at it long and have fun along the way.  You can't rush it!

 
EdSolomons said:
Thanks! Remember that if you drive the S class wrong, it still crashes!
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But if you get a quattro it's a lot easier.  As Walter Rohrl famously once said, " You could place a monkey in an Audi quattro - it would win as well!"

I'm still looking for that Audi Quattro of guns - perhaps it's time to bring the old 3800 Miroku out of retirement! 

 
With all this car analogy you didn't have the gun in the right gear, that was your problem. Don't be to harsh letting out the clutch, nice and smooth is the order of the day.

I have found if your gun fits and balances well enough the price tag means nothing, a ten grand gun that fits as well as your two grand gun won't give you anything more in clays. As at the level most of us shoot we are never consistent enough for a couple of clays to make a difference by buying that very expensive gun might give you.

Figgy

 
What you actually want  is the Rolls Royce  of guns,

A gun which performs faultlessly with no fuss, or overt display of its abilities.

Every kill would be centre of the pattern and dust at 100yds

The shot would whisper its way to the clay and break it gently, before  the cartridges eject from the gun and

place themselves into the waiting bin. 

Whilst there are guns that would fit the price tag, the one thing missing is ability,  and that comes from you. :)

:santa:

 
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With regards to looking at another more expensive  gun, i'm on the fence

There are many sides to the argument,

1) You could spend a large sum of money on a "hallowed"  brand, and your  shooting will not improve, you will become dissapointed, and blame the gun for its inherent quirks and foibles.  You will either shoot less and less, to the point you stop, or you will go back to your old gun, see a big improvement, blame the "hallowed"  gun as being the problem.  But in another few months the problem is back

2) Your shooting makes a brief improvement,  you base this on the "hallowed" gun, and extol its virtues,  then in 6-12 moths yours shooting tapers off again, and you start to blame  the gun again, and look for the next level "hallowed" gun and the cycle starts again.

3) Your shooting makes a meteoric improvement, you move to the next class or higher and achieve your ambitions   (very very unlikely though)

However the one factor you omit from both scenario's is   "You" 

As Ed, Tink, and many others have said .. Dont do it!

If you look similar type sports, you start off with a base line, you make improvements based on practice and you  rise at a rough 45 degree slope, then you reach a plateau, its this plateau you have reached.

It either goes one of three ways,   1) You do nothing,  and eventually quit.  2) You change everything  and see some improvements, which taper off, you become dispondant again, then quit  ( see the pattern here !)   3) You seek professional advice and  support.  and you find your sport improves, and you progress again until you reach the next plateau.

Its at this point you then either level out, and stay happy,  or you then want the next level  which demands serious amounts of time and input mentally & physically.

As Tink has mentioned on here  look out a book called "Bounce"  it goes a long way to explain the mental side behind  many sports

When i look back at when i did archery, its clear now that having a club where i could shoot 7/7  make a huge improvement to my  skill level,  based on when i used to shoot 2/7

Mart

 
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45 degrees! I should be so lucky! Still the slope is at least positive over the past 6 months. 2000 cartridges a month it had damn well better be!

Ah, the mind and sport. As a long time sailplane pilot I'm well aware of the mental side of things! :) :)

 
With regards to " a more expensive gun" If you box clever you can acquire a good second hand Perazzi MX8 or Beretta DT10  for less than the cost of a new Beretta 692 or Browning  XTR ultra. A lot depends on what you aspire to I bought a new Browning XTR and it is a nice gun BUT I now know I could have saved a bit of money getting a good second hand gun. Don't get me wrong I can understand why a new gun has appeal with warranty safe guards and my particular gun is in real terms old at 24 years but it is in as good nick as you want most of the people who have tried it think its only a few years old.

In summary if I was considering a Perazzi MX8 or 2000  or Beretta DT10  I would look to the second hand market first for a great gun at a fraction of the cost of a new one.

 
jwpzx9r said:
With regards to " a more expensive gun" If you box clever you can acquire a good second hand Perazzi MX8 or Beretta DT10  for less than the cost of a new Beretta 692 or Browning  XTR ultra. A lot depends on what you aspire to I bought a new Browning XTR and it is a nice gun BUT I now know I could have saved a bit of money getting a good second hand gun. Don't get me wrong I can understand why a new gun has appeal with warranty safe guards and my particular gun is in real terms old at 24 years but it is in as good nick as you want most of the people who have tried it think its only a few years old.

In summary if I was considering a Perazzi MX8 or 2000  or Beretta DT10  I would look to the second hand market first for a great gun at a fraction of the cost of a new one.
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It was a used one I was looking at/shooting. The new option was something else entirely! That's just pure indulgence! :)

 
It was a used one I was looking at/shooting. The new option was something else entirely! That's just pure indulgence!

To be honest I had though firstly to buy a new Perazzi but if you go that route then you really have to go and have it made for you which involves travelling to Italy and to be truthful I just could not be bothered with that. I'm not saying that I would not do it now though having bought the one I have. I have seen a great improvement in my shooting since I got it and it makes you think hmmm would I shoot even better with a stock made to my requirements rather than the previous owners :)

 
For what its worth most shooters have to go through the search for the holy grail of guns just to prove that its not the gun that's the problem.

 
Ignore all this crazy advice trust me If you miss its the gun "Get a new one" then if you still miss its the chokes after that its the cartridge causing you to miss if your still missing after all that then change the gun and so on and so on!!! :crazy:

 
Shaun has a valid point. This is a good technique for justifying a new gun every year.

 
ips said:
Shaun has a valid point. This is a good technique for justifying a new gun every year.
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Thanks Ian nice to see we are on the same wave length forgot to mention sometimes a change of wife doesn't go a miss from time to time!! :prankster:

 
Nimbusgb said:
45 degrees! I should be so lucky! Still the slope is at least positive over the past 6 months. 2000 cartridges a month it had damn well better be!

Ah, the mind and sport. As a long time sailplane pilot I'm well aware of the mental side of things! :) :)
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These 2000 cartridges a month, how many of these have been / are with a coach?,

 
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