Aren’t modern shooting grounds brilliant ?

I had a run up from Halifax to Thimbleby today . They currently have an offer on , shoot for £22/100 on Tuesdays .  This certainly offset the diesel v some of the nearer grounds at £30/£32  .  I shot on my own , and it got me thinking , “ aren’t modern shooting grounds  just great “  .Fantastic  traps capable of throwing unlimited variations . Solo  delay shooter electronics , allowing sim pairs , trailing pairs , A then B pairs .   I shot 60 or 70  variation of driven trying different things , practicing for the real thing , and the rest of the hundred just enjoying some great targets for the sake of it . A far cry from donkeys years ago when the last man off a stand had to trap for the next bloke using a rickety Bowman seat trap hidden behind a bit of drystone wall

I'm surprised you can get through the gate with clays at that price. Some places are charging 40p or even 50p a clay for practice down here.

I think he must have written this in 2005 but only just posted it.

Greenfields charge members £24 for 100 mid week practice and that used to be £20 not that long ago, non reg comps with prizes are £32, couple of quid more for non members I believe. 

fairclays do a 120 bird round every other sunday for £25 and that includes food down the local pub afterwards.

wylye said:

I'm surprised you can get through the gate with clays at that price. Some places are charging 40p or even 50p a clay for practice down here.

Click to expand...

Your gate would be closed if you tried charging 50p a clay up here for practice ! 

What i don't get is that it seems to cost the same to shoot practice in most places as it does to shoot comp b/o except without the inherent costs to the ground.

Steve Lovatt has some bargains at the moment .

48 p a clay for practice and you get a trailer load of traps to take away with you.

EJC have a permanent clay mate set up now. 10 stands with 2 or 3 traps on each. I think it’s 35p per clay to non members. No booking needed, but you MUST take your SGC. 

Said it before but here I pay 17 cents/ 15 pence per clay.. OK the ground is not a landscaping masterpiece but very functional  with great views over the French countryside, also on competition days you get a proper meal for €13 including wine, coffee and  Armagnac ... coffee and an Armagnac is free before practice ! 

Westlands near Annan charge 25 pence per clay, Coniston Cold is 24 pence if you are a member but they need a good target setter really, Blackpool sporting clays now charge 30 pence.

It's sometimes good to live in the North West.

To the OP, yes.

One pays 40ppc at both Coleys & Barbury, these are fully open 6 & 7 days a week, Id hazard a guess the pricing reflects the costs etc that these grounds need to recover being a full time business. For one I dont begrudge these costs as the opportunity for me to drop in, without booking / awaiting the weekend / restricted opening etc at any time during the week for the chance to work on some targets is “worth it” for me. 

Am aware that there are less expensive options, for me, in my locality am not seeing the opportunity at the same level. 

GlawsterOldCodger said:

To the OP, yes.

One pays 40ppc at both Coleys & Barbury, these are fully open 6 & 7 days a week, Id hazard a guess the pricing reflects the costs etc that these grounds need to recover being a full time business. For one I dont begrudge these costs as the opportunity for me to drop in, without booking / awaiting the weekend / restricted opening etc at any time during the week for the chance to work on some targets is “worth it” for me. 

Am aware that there are less expensive options, for me, in my locality am not seeing the opportunity at the same level. 

Click to expand...

And you don't need a 4x4 with AT tyres  or rubber boots to shoot at such places.

[No message]

GlawsterOldCodger said:

To the OP, yes.

One pays 40ppc at both Coleys & Barbury, these are fully open 6 & 7 days a week, Id hazard a guess the pricing reflects the costs etc that these grounds need to recover being a full time business. For one I dont begrudge these costs as the opportunity for me to drop in, without booking / awaiting the weekend / restricted opening etc at any time during the week for the chance to work on some targets is “worth it” for me. 

Am aware that there are less expensive options, for me, in my locality am not seeing the opportunity at the same level. 

Click to expand...

Barbury do whack the price down to 32p for members though and I think its only 80 quid membership fee

Trouble for newbies is we dont know if any ground is a good setup and therefore decent value or cheap for a reason. I'm about to go to a club which does 100 for 25 for members but even non members is 35. Seems okay to me.

40p per clay at Long Siberia (Bisley) which I thought was on the expensive side, even with the variety of targets. Still, the fact I can set solo delay and make my way around 20+ stands does make it nice and easy (to use and to spend a lot of money!)

Shortly we'll be adding voice trigger to even the 'dumb' remotes. Launch singles, pairs and even report pairs off a single 'Pull' call. ( That's the easy bit, coping with the blokes who call 'Uh' or similar is the challenge!  ) 

Nimbusgb said:

Shortly we'll be adding voice trigger to even the 'dumb' remotes. Launch singles, pairs and even report pairs off a single 'Pull' call. ( That's the easy bit, coping with the blokes who call 'Uh' or similar is the challenge!  ) 

Click to expand...

I think shooters that call “Paaaarrrrrlllll” deserve a malfunctioning trap.

Just checked in on a notification from Steve Lovatt !

First time I have known him to be speechless and not rude.  He must be mellowing or getting old.