Sporting Shoots 2020

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Ok i dont know what im talking about having never gone down into the grouse butts ,but from shooting in wheelchair have come across many stands where hight is a problem.

if possible i go as far back in the stand as i can to give me a better picture. Not sure if thats helpful or even relevant in this situation.
All helps Paul, Phil (hubby) has just been saying the same thing, stand back as far as I can in the stand to see more.  Thank you 

 
All helps Paul, Phil (hubby) has just been saying the same thing, stand back as far as I can in the stand to see more.  Thank you 
When you can.  Sometimes you are in danger of whacking your barrels on the sides.  Grounds just need to be more aware.  Lots are starting to pay attention 😂   I think they just want to shut me up.

 
Phew, Honesberie today. It’s never an easy shoot so it’s satisfying if you can hold your own there. Today ran well, with shooters in pairs released onto stand 1 at pre booked timed intervals. It does whizz you around the shoot, almost too quickly, but it means no queues so that’s a bonus.  Sian was shooting behind me and she found it a bit of a rush.

The course was tough today. Stand 1 was pretty steady and it just got trickier and trickier from there with the middle 4 stands in the field being the most challenging. Where there were straightforward targets they were usually in a sim pair so time was an issue. I think it needed backing off for mass appeal. I straighted one or two that looked tough so had some fun moments, but that’s not how you judge a whole course in my book. As is so often the case, the course could have been just as enjoyable and challenging but without pushing the scores down for the masses. Scores not published or reported at the ground so tonight will tell. I think I hit about 82 but may “score” a bit higher as everybody was getting a few “kills” added here and there by scorers who couldn’t tell if the clay was broken as it flew into the trees or not. Short time windows and low visibility of edgey clays were a bit of a thing today. Also I saw four scorers clearly not understanding the first bird established rule. Sadly I didn’t benefit personally. 😀
 

I like Honesberie, but ideally they would just ease up a touch for my taste. Speaking of taste, stick to the bacon roll and don’t have the burger.. A round disc of offal and cartilage that would best be baked hard and used as a battue. 

 
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Phew, Honesberie today. It’s never an easy shoot so it’s satisfying if you can hold your own there. Today ran well, with shooters released onto stand 1 at pre booked timed intervals. It does whizz you around the shoot, almost too quickly, but it means no queues so that’s a bonus.  Sian was shooting behind me and she found it a bit of a rush.

The course was tough today. Stand 1 was pretty steady and it just got trickier and trickier from there with the middle 4 stands in the field being the most challenging. Where there were straightforward targets they were usually in a sim pair so time was an issue. I think it needed backing off for mass appeal. I straighted one or two that looked tough so had some fun moments, but that’s not how you judge a whole course in my book. As is so often the case, the course could have been just as enjoyable and challenging but without pushing the scores down for the masses. Scores not published or reported at the ground so tonight will tell. I think I hit about 82 but may “score” a bit higher as everybody was getting a few “kills” added here and there by scorers who couldn’t tell if the clay was broken as it flew into the trees or not. Short time windows and low visibility of edgey clays were a bit of a thing today. Also I saw four scorers clearly not understanding the first bird established rule. Sadly I didn’t benefit personally. 😀
 

I like Honesberie, but ideally they would just ease up a touch for my taste. Speaking of taste, stick to the bacon roll and don’t have the burger.. A round disc of offal and cartilage that would best be baked hard and used as a battue. 
Good to see you Will.  I did find it a bit rushed just shoot move on shoot move on repeat.   It was a fairly tough shoot I thought.  Even though I was following Will there wasn’t any time to have a natter.  The saving grace was finding Jan Galland and Chris Childerhouse just arrived as we went back to the car so was able to have a socially distanced chat and laugh which is what is missing at the moment.   Hopefully one day we can return to that.  Barbury yesterday which again was a great shoot.   I was up first on the squad for stand 1 and promptly missed 6/8.   I did get better with a few dips along the way.   Shooting with Lola could have been worse.

 
Meadowcroft today, on at 10, always looked as if it was going to rain, never did whilst I was there, warm enough, no quite for me to wear the dreaded shorts but warm enough to be comfortable. Went on tod & squadded with four very sociable fellows of a similar age, all decent shots too. After 5 stands Sean Ponting asked me the "how's it going mate" question, "oh be ok if I could hit l-r, dropped 13 of those already says I" Sean smiled, "Dave does like setting those, and there more to come" he wasn't wrong. My stuttering start though was behind me and barring the odd daft miss I shot the last stands pretty well, no not world beating but well enough for me.

As first out & in, no scores showing, do think though that James Bradley-Day HG on 96

 
Barbury today, went mid afternoon, it was very very warm, shorts were order of day, thankfully my pins didn’t disgrace. Was in a squad with chums, well three chums and a chumess. St 2 a pair of going aways, managed to miss the first 4, other than that and a few daft ones at the very end I had a very good afternoon out. 
HG was once again James Bradley-Day, a stonking 99 no less. 

 
Managed to get a cancellation slot for AGL tomorrow.  First Reg shoot for me since 1st March and only the 6th time out with the gun since lockdown started.  Could be interesting.

 
Just finished. Drank 2 litres and didn’t need the loo after. 
An excellent course but confirms their mission to reduce everybody’s average is still on. 🤣

Clays looked tiny in the sun. I only missed about three silly ones and was happy to do as well as I did on certain stands. 84.  Firm but enjoyed it. 
 

GD wins on 93

 
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Well, first comp since the 1st March and I was truly awful.  Inconsistent hold points, bad foot positioning, choosing the wrong methods.  I don't think there were many mistakes that I didn't make.  Managed to straight one stand out of twelve.  Doesn't bode well for Southdown in a fortnights time.

 
Well, first comp since the 1st March and I was truly awful.  Inconsistent hold points, bad foot positioning, choosing the wrong methods.  I don't think there were many mistakes that I didn't make.  Managed to straight one stand out of twelve.  Doesn't bode well for Southdown in a fortnights time.
Everyone has bad days, you’ll come out of it as long as you learn from the mistakes. 

 
Well, first comp since the 1st March and I was truly awful.  Inconsistent hold points, bad foot positioning, choosing the wrong methods.  I don't think there were many mistakes that I didn't make.  Managed to straight one stand out of twelve.  Doesn't bode well for Southdown in a fortnights time.
Nice to see you. Sorry I was a wreck when you did. It was my third day in a row of shooting in the heat and I had nothing left in the tank today. Started well enough but literally got dizzy and dropped 11 in last 3 stands, just before you saw me. Having said that, I have found that shoots just after Covid have mainly been tough affairs.  Weird. I would have thought ground owners might have brought us back gently, but no..
 

As Hamid says, we all have bad days. Often the best days come just after. I’m at Westfield on Sunday 

 
Nice to see you. Sorry I was a wreck when you did. It was my third day in a row of shooting in the heat and I had nothing left in the tank today. Started well enough but literally got dizzy and dropped 11 in last 3 stands, just before you saw me. Having said that, I have found that shoots just after Covid have mainly been tough affairs.  Weird. I would have thought ground owners might have brought us back gently, but no..
 

As Hamid says, we all have bad days. Often the best days come just after. I’m at Westfield on Sunday 
Good to see you too. Thanks for the chat, especially as you were so knackered. You should have told me to bugger off.

By stand 12 my arms had turned to jelly. I'm either going to have shoot a lot of practice to get a bit of stamina back or get the dumbells out. The heat didn't help. The wheels fell off totally on that one.

 
By stand 12 my arms had turned to jelly. I'm either going to have shoot a lot of practice to get a bit of stamina back or get the dumbells out. The heat didn't help. The wheels fell off totally on that one.
Bebo the first shoot I did after lockdown my arms were so weak, few shoots on I’m getting back to normal.  

I went to Gunsite today for practise. The targets were from the reg I did there but with wind.  I shot it very well and was pleased I had an opportunity to reshoot a few targets that I wanted too.  Interestingly at the reg I had shot with Pro Ones which I  had to buy at Southdown a few weeks back as they didn’t have my Fiocchis.  The pro ones were £230 which I think were slightly less than normal.  Anyway at Churchill’s the other day at I bought Gamebore Velocity because (a) they were £185 and (b) Tony would shoot them because he doesn’t think there is anything wrong with them.  He’d bought some a few years back from a shooter who was convinced they had holes in the pattern and wanted rid of them.  Anyway I found them very good and it made my day to think I was shooting the clays well with cartridges at least £45 a thousand cheaper!

 
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Bebo the first shoot I did after lockdown my arms were so weak, few shoots on I’m getting back to normal.  

I went to Gunsite today for practise. The targets were from the reg I did there but with wind.  I shot it very well and was pleased I had an opportunity to reshoot a few targets that I wanted too.  Interestingly at the reg I had shot with Pro Ones which I  had to buy at Southdown a few weeks back as they didn’t have my Fiocchis.  The pro ones were £230 which I think were slightly less than normal.  Anyway at Churchill’s the other day at I bought Gamebore Velocity because (a) they were £185 and (b) Tony would shoot them because he doesn’t think there is anything wrong with them.  He’d bought some a few years back from a shooter who was convinced they had holes in the pattern and wanted rid of them.  Anyway I found them very good and it made my day to think I was shooting the clays well with cartridges at least £45 a thousand cheaper!
I've  had a few practice rounds, but fewer targets so the 100 birds in the heat did for me.  Went out for a practice at Willow Farm this morning, had moments of brilliance, but still pretty patchy.  Definitely need to change my mindset, focus a bit more and try to get back to a proper routine.  Yesterday I was often hitting the first pair and the last pair then missing loads in the middle, that's not being beaten by the targets that just my head not being in it.

I like Velocity as well.  We've got them, TT1s and Eleys stacked up in the garage at the moment.  Of the three, I think I like the Velocity best, but then I'm happy to shoot any old sh*t cartridges.  I used to love the really cheapo Nobel Sport ones when I could get them and those ones that come in a plastic bag instead of a box.

 
Went to Eastcote today with a fellow forum member. Light rain and I think some wind, but I didn’t really notice that.

This was my first ever shoot without a coach on hand, though I did get some good tips that worked. Well, they did when I followed them.

80 targets set over 12 stands in a forest. Beautiful trees.
I found it really quick tricky. Not sure if it was the setting, found it harder than usual to see the target, or maybe I wasn’t putting in enough effort, but I really enjoyed it and looking forward to shooting it again next month.

I had a mix of  Eley Select, RC Compak, Express Gold 28g. I didn’t notice any difference, but then I don’t suppose you can if you’re shooting leaves and sky like I was.

I finished on 32/80. Ed Solomons was right about averages taking a dip when it starts to get real. I’d normally expect around 60-65% at Sporting Targets 

 
Do you mean Kingscote, near  East Grinstead?  We went there too.  I’m going to miss having saturdays off when I go back to work next week.  I found it tricky too.  Stands 6-12 were fine for me, only dropping 10 targets and Phil only dropped 4 but then went to stands 1 -5 and had a nightmare.  I think because they were all falling away from you,  I just couldn’t get underneath them.  The stand where you had the r-l incomer and then the l-r quartering away was awful, being short I only saw the incomer in a tiny space for a second before it disappeared behind the ferns. Where the buttons were you could see it all the way, and the driven, well that was a doomer.  I am normally good at driven but it was lashing it down and they were a fair way up there and  with rain on the glasses It wasn’t good!  I love the targets that Dave and Jamie set up, they are always testing but today was a game of two halves for me.  First half good, second half bad.  Didn’t bother keeping a score once I’d shot the driven, wasn’t worth it 🤣 but nice to get out somewhere where we didn’t have to drive for hours to get to. 

 
Do you mean Kingscote, near  East Grinstead?  We went there too.  I’m going to miss having saturdays off when I go back to work next week.  I found it tricky too.  Stands 6-12 were fine for me, only dropping 10 targets and Phil only dropped 4 but then went to stands 1 -5 and had a nightmare.  I think because they were all falling away from you,  I just couldn’t get underneath them.  The stand where you had the r-l incomer and then the l-r quartering away was awful, being short I only saw the incomer in a tiny space for a second before it disappeared behind the ferns. Where the buttons were you could see it all the way, and the driven, well that was a doomer.  I am normally good at driven but it was lashing it down and they were a fair way up there and  with rain on the glasses It wasn’t good!  I love the targets that Dave and Jamie set up, they are always testing but today was a game of two halves for me.  First half good, second half bad.  Didn’t bother keeping a score once I’d shot the driven, wasn’t worth it 🤣 but nice to get out somewhere where we didn’t have to drive for hours to get to. 
Yes, I do mean Kingscote. I keep making that mistake in my head. In fact, when I was first invited to shoot “Southdown or Kings[east]cote” I googled it and thought, an hour away, sure, I can do that. I realised the mistake when I put the postcode into the satnav and it’s in fact 2 1/4 hrs away! 🤣 I said to my partner we could visit our friend nearby because it’s near “Gatwick “.  So committed to doing that then discovered she’s  an 1 1/4 in the opposite direction 🙄

still, a commitment is a commitment and.very glad I kept both. My partner and I had a great day.

I dropped 20 on 6 to 12. Stand 8 was the only one I did straight. I didn’t hit any on stands 1,2 or 4 🥺

I’m usually happy with driven targets too, probably hit around 7/10 at Honesberie,  Kelbrook. and off the towers at Sporting Targets. I didn’t hit any at Kingscote, but then I might have hit one or two had I realised the trap was on the moon 🤣

 
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