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I remember my first few registered shoots. The ones at EJC were OK as they didn’t change the targets much from what I practiced there. But when I went to Caterham, Honesberie and Hornet (all grounds not in use now) it was another story. Scores in the 50s or lower. 46 at Hornet was demoralising. I remember watching people hitting long crossers and just couldn’t fathom how they knew how to do it. It was a helpless feeling. But, you have to accept it’s a learning curve and there’s nothing wrong with being a beginner. Is there any point dumbing down what you choose to shoot? I recall having a toug

10 is very dark. If yours eyes are Ok with the 20 and its the neutralizing element which is an issue then look at the 18 or (much) better the 26 HD or ED type lenses. The knack is to have as 'light' a lense as you can without causing eye fatigue thus giving your eyes (really the pupils) control over the amount of light they see. A really dark lense is great to rest you eyes but that's for holidays and not shooting !! Think about the numbers - a 10 is 20% of the 52 (give or take) - is this what you what ? Will a 26 - which is 50% of a 52CHC be a better choice. Oakley do two lens

Contrasting couple of days! Shot RBSS yesterday. Brain was very elsewhere with work issues and if I hadn’t been booked in and paid I would have skipped it but went along and regretted it. I found it an odd and tough course, but loads of targets that “should have broken“ just didn’t. My poorest result in a long time. EJC today and I was thinking I shouldn’t go because my brain was likely not in the right place, but I did and told myself to be very methodical, focus well and not be emotional. The course was good and varied, possibly not as tough as recently because two tough parts of the gr

For badly carbon fouled chokes you can use oven cleaner , it works a treat and you can put it on the Wife's shopping list and debit card. I use Parker Hale or Hoppes 009 , good soak overnight and a good scrub with the Wife's toothbrush.

I would suggest the nub of the matter is whether the choke was loose or not. If not, then I can’t see how it is anything other than the manufacturers problem.. edit.. and undamaged when fitted was my assumption..

First time back at Owls Lodge today for a few months. Very cool in the wind. I thought it was a great course, not too tough but that’s good when the wind was adding it’s own difficulty. Finally found a bit of form. Got a bit unfairly judged missing on what I would insist was a no-bird on stand 7. I dropped 3 on stand 3 and 3 on stand 10 (which was a bit daft). Just 1 away on stand 8 so finished on 92 which is good for me lately. Hope the form is coming back, it’s certainly been gone for a while.

" I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW, THE CLAYS CAN COME. I CAN SEE NO OBSTACLES IN MY WAY. GONE ARE THE SHADOWS NOW THAT HAD ME BLIND, GONNA BE A BRIGHT, BRIGHT, PILLA DAY " Then ??? PS. This lockdown has not affected me in any way !

One of the great things on a forum , is the ability to ask has anyone else had this problem, so I think Ant is doing the right thing by asking before he contacts his supplier . More than a few years back when the steering rack went pop on my out of warranty car , the main dealer said “ never seen that before Sir “ . The LR forum showed numerous cases of failure on 2008 /2009 vehicles . I ended up with a 50% ex gratia payment based on presenting the evidence ! There are many reasons Ant’s gun could have failed , ranging from ammunition , the quoted theory of choke damage but you c

Yeah, I only wear mine to see.

It wasn't a complete disaster, just felt like a couple of the stands could have been backed off. I'm sure he needs a bit of time to put his own stamp on it, just didn't feel like one of his shoots. Saldy she got a bit upset and I questioned myself after but what is worse; that or someone getting shot.

Bit of a strange morning at Hangmans Stone, this was Four Counties and has been recently taken over by Sean Ponting, so a local one for me. Nice to see a fair bit of work has been done to the ground, opening up a couple of areas which he can make good use of. The shoot itself felt fairly tough from about the 4th stand onwards; couple of long fast midis and even longer looper and battue. Bit disappointed with the 2nd target on stand 2 going behind the tree (sim pair of crows) just where you wanted to shoot it and the 2 pinks on stand 10 were impossible to see with the sun being so lo

Yep, it's a real bummer Wyn. What happens when the lockdown ends? 10:1 it'll take off again, so it's all pretty pointless. As someone said recently: "All they're doing is kicking the can down the road". Meanwhile the "scientists" seem to be competing with each other to see who can make the most alarming predictions and thereby keeping half the country and all the politicians paralysed with fear.

I was dragging my feet on getting 'proper' eyewear, as I didn't think that there could be that much difference between my Decathlon three lens kit that cost a tenner and the flashy glasses that shooters lug around in miniature vaults. Until I tried a mate's pair of Pilla's in low light, facing a setting sun. It felt like cheating in comparison. I could pick up the clays sooner and clearer. I'll take every edge I can reasonably lay my hands on 😄 so I bit the bullet and ordered a kit, which was surprisingly (lots) cheaper to ship over from the UK than if sourced locally. I went with

Longridge today. As Doug said, squadded 3 day format works really well, got round the course in about 90mins. Good steady course, perfect weather, couple "technical" stands to make you rush when you don't need too. Shot 94/100 which I was pleased with, changed gun last month and scores have taken a real kicking (10%+), including an awful 75 at Coley's last week. This was the first time I've shot the gun and felt comfortable and in control with it. Couple misses were on fairly simple quartering away birds which I rushed. Hopefully over the blip now! Shot the Fitasc a

Without a shadow of doubt we must shoot registered shoots or premier ground type targets to hone our skills . If you are going through a slump in performance then it does pay to shoot club shoots to help to regain your confidence . I hardly shoot clays at all now and it shows , I am certainly struggling . Went to Shatterford yesterday , happy that no presentation beat me but I haemorraged targets regularly due to lack of concentration and application, numerous no birds didn't help though .

Bisley Cottesloe Heath today. Always a delight to shoot there and nice to see them hold a registered comp. On the surface it didn't look too hard but I managed to miss a couple on most stands and that certainly added up. Very frustrating to miss the little floppy targets but there we go. Let’s hope they hold a registered shoot on a regular basis. 106 CPSA attendees today so a good sign perhaps.

She is a cuddly thing! Twelve next month so a bit slow walking around now but you can’t get out the door if she knows we are going shooting! Eager to go even it’s raining or snowing etc. This photo is of her after a shoot a few months ago, she was knackered!

EJC this morning, birds only, first time at this lovely ground and I can honestly say for me personally it was incredibly hard, probably the hardest shoot I've ever done and showed me quite a few weaknesses in my game... mainly being able to connect with anything fast at a reasonable distance, mainly cos I bottle the amount of lead I need to give! Ended up on 47 so not sure if I should be pleased or frustrated with that, but it is what it is. Enjoyed the first bit, middle bit put me off wanting to shoot for a while (really hammered my optimism!), and the end I found a bit easier again so finis

EJC this morning, with Bonios in my pocket for Pip. I enjoyed the targets and it was nice shooting without having to battle the wind. Found the big crosser on 9 a challenge and managed to miss the first two pairs on 11. Too much gun movement on some fairly slow teals, pretty sure I was pushing over thd top. Raised my hold point on both, lot slower more controlled gun movement and hit the rest. Finished on 80, my best score since the return to comps after lockdown. Oh and shot with a very nice squad, including meeting El Spavo for the first time.

They where made by Teague for his Barrels when Teague converted it from fixed to multi choke.So I would expect Teague would have done the checking then

AGL today under a forbidding sky but was mild and dry. A good round with enough difficulty to be interesting but nothing horrible I started very nicely and was only 1 away after stand 8. Stand 9 I missed two rising l-r midis in front; annoying but 3 away with 3 stands to go was nice. Sadly it made me tense up badly on stand 10 battues, 5 pairs where I hit first and last pair but dropped 4 in the middle. Very cross with myself and it cost me 2nd place it turns out. 1 more silly miss on stand 11 and that was a 92, but as ever felt I’d thrown a proper score away. Anyway, hap

Thanks for sharing your view. Yes, I am in agreement my experience with Teague precision (and my dealing with Nigel even prior to that) has all been very good - I would equally agree and hold the hope of a satisfactory resolution. I am affording them every opportunity to resolve the problem, and see my (ongoing) participation in this forum entirely unrelated to that outcome. Good or bad I will share it - largely the purpose of a sharing platform. I certainly can't subscribe to the comment re: backing them into a corner - there's been none of that, nor any bad mouthing which would fr

i am genuinely curious as to why people don't use the original chokes ? i can only assume its a weight issue ? to my mind a measurement of choke shouldn't change from one manufacturer to another ?

I know that your chokes have been Teague fitted, but I had an issue with a Teague choke to fit a Beretta Mobil thread. The gun was a Beretta 391 semi auto and I had a Teague after market 12 bore 3/8 extended choke in the gun. I had tightened the choke using a Teague tapered choke key. After every 5 or 6 shots, I had to repeatedly check the choke for looseness. I ALWAYS managed to get at least a full turn and often more on the choke. I changed the choke for the same variety but in a 1/2 restriction. Exactly the same thing happened. I changed the choke for a Briley extended choke and problem sol

Really, no wonder. and that is probably why grease is recommended. I follow the guns manual and oil my threads lightly and never had an issue, but they are removed and cleaned at least weekly.

Old tooth brush and plenty of cleaner, hold the barrels up at an angel with paper towel underneath so the excess runs down and scrub away 😃

who's to blame , ? well i hope teague do the decent thing , it would be a nice gesture and great pr for them !

Be interesting on what Teague say. I have some barrels with briley chokes. I'm sure they are fairly robust but It worries dometimes me how thin they are to the point of not wanting to squeeze them, even lightly. I don't use that gun very often though. Funny it's a full choke. You'd have been better sticking with the fixed chokes.

I'm pretty sure you were polite! It will have been a matter of hurt pride, but as you say that's better than an accidental discharge!

Become a farmer, I'm sure they've shot with worse.

Thanks, I've not heard of them, but I will look into them. A quick Internet search shows that extra lenses are available at a sensible price. How do you find the quality of build and lense clarity? Unfortunately I'm not affluent enough to drop hundreds of pounds on something without having to make financial cutbacks on something else. I therefore have to prioritise my spending, and my budget is the limit on what I would feel comfortable spending. I wish I was richer, but I am not.

Thought I'd revisit this thread. Stock arrived and Woody on here kindly let me fire off fifty 32g carts in his field. Scared the sheep a bit, but managed not to hit any of them. Took it out for a 70 bird try out on Saturday. Sight picture is pretty much spot on when compared to my O/U and it definitely shoots where I'm looking. Going to take a bit of adjustment to get used to how light it is up front and not to push through targets too much. I usually shoot overheads by letting them come past the barrel and then pushing down to them, tried that with the Xcel and ended up having to lower

Everything local was fully booked so we went to kegworth roads were quiet so beat the sat nav time by 48 minutes. A good round with all clays fully visible and some nice crossers. They have a strange system of refs on each stand and a score card on each stand so not quite sure what a scored I think it was 88 or 89

I know how you feel!! Phil can sometimes shoot in the week, but I cant due to work, maybe on a Tuesday but that’s it, consequently I’m shooting maybe 2-3 times a month at the moment. Our nearest decent shoot is over an hour away and to be honest I don’t want to spend most of my Sunday driving for hours to get to a shoot then driving hours to get home, I’ve been there and done it and the idiots on the road get me wound up before I’ve got there. It maybe worth your while going to a decent club that do a practice day and just shoot the targets you are having trouble with, concentrate on one ta

Owls yesterday where I very inconsistent over the first 7 stands missing 13; not moving my gun well enough and being complacent, then got my act together only missing 3 over the last 5 stands so recovered an 84. Gunsite this morning where I was all over the place; the last few shoots he's put a midi looper on stand 3 and be it a L-R or R-L I've not touched it once, I can only guess that I'm going way in front of it. I was then far too careful on a L-R midi and R-L standard, measuring it out, checking the gap and think I'm stopping the gun so 5 lost there, need to find a better balance be

First reg shoot today since March (yup, vulnerable group!). Only local, Horne. 84, was enough to be leading class when I left. Missed 7 or 8 through lack of movement/plan/method selection etc etc (put that down to lack of practice). Felt great to be out there though!

I would say dont get bogged down with the score or struggling on particular comp targets but use these types as ones to practice on at the training ground. Look at comps as another piece of the jigsaw in your overall improvement as you cannot really replicate comp pressure on the training ground, both go hand in hand if you want to improve, its not a quick road to success and look at the overall journey as a challenge and take comfort from small consistant improvements in youre shooting even if the scores suggest otherwise as all shoots are different on the difficulty front and depending on wh

Yeah, can't fault the lovely people I've shot with over the last few weeks, a definite improvement on the self important tossers I met when playing various levels of football. Obviously frustrating, just think I'd like to see where I'm missing as I don't believe my function is toooo far off and hopefully don't have many bad habits (although you're better placed to comment Will as you've seen me shoot), but the trouble with registered is you generally can't stick around to work things out... First shot, miss, second shot, miss, third shot, adjust miss, fourth shot, adjust possibly hit...

Owls for me too, nice to see you Bebo. Good squad and had a fairly good round finishing on 82. Missed two slow rabbits on last stand and a going away which rose as I went to shoot it. I had a good day for my sim pairs.

Cottesloe for Phil and me too. Really enjoyed it, something for everyone and made a change to shoot somewhere different. Straightened stand 3 the first sim pair, 1 away on a few others but 3 stands cost me, the sh*tty little r-l bumble bee I only hit 1 of those but hit the rabbits, hit all the driven but only 1 of the little floppy things, had a bit of a melt down on stand 9 the sim pairs for some reason, only dropped 1 teal for a 7 and dropped all the r-l crossers on stand 11 but hit all the overhead! Had a laugh all the way round and it was a good course I thought. I hope they do a few mo

Yes I agree, a fiddly shoot actually, won on 91. Like you I missed here and there consistently and felt very tatty. Two of the harder looking stands I did well on, including being one of the very few to straight stand 11 but damage was done. It felt quite different to most reg shoots but hope they continue with it.

Paid a visit to Four Counties for the practise 60 bird shoot and pool shoot. Now in the hands of Sean from Gunsite and he’s already cleared a bit of the wood area, opening it up a bit. No orange clays today and 6 stands of 5 pairs of good targets. Pool shoot was very good, poured with rain though. Looking forward to seeing what Sean does there. Then on to Westfield for the intercounties sporting. Missed the rain, shot very average with one or two stands I was pleased with. Struggled with a near green clay over the pond but did really well on some of the long ones. Even hit a few driv

A few frustrating shoots the last few days; 81 at Churchills, 82 at Kibworth and 79 at Westfield. All good rounds but I'm making (what feels like) hard work in some places, but luckily got some time with coach on Tuesday.

I made a leap from cheap to Re and pilla around 10 years ago. It came after shooting ABT into the sun which sat right in the line of the straight target with the glare making it difficult to see angled target as well as straight ones. One guy was hitting targets that I couldn't even see when watching. I asked to have a look through his pilla glasses and the sun glare shrank to next to nothing outside the sun and the clays were visible. The other thing is that the are robust and not easily scratched. The pair I use most are the original ones and unmarked. Before I was going thr

Aah, was Pip the big black lab right at the end? looked a lovely cuddly old thing. 😃

Because they watched Beretta continually shooting themselves in the foot with the SV10, 692, early DT11 etc. and decided to offer new products with something extra, so basically it's just marketing bulldust. But old beliefs die hard and there are still folks who can't accept that CG makes fully competitive competition guns. Alternatively, all those people shooting CGs at registered shoots these days could of course be mugs. I've bought my CG used about 4 years ago. The top lever is still in the same place and it's still nice and tight. If it ever gets sloppy I will have the forend spacer

If you want something a little off the wall but very proven, look at the browning 525 SL laminate. Proven design and a little funky looking but getting rave reviews.

If you are up for a registered shoot (perhaps Honesberie) then they are all squadded these days so you will naturally meet people.

Have a look at Evolution Connect or Evolution Matrix.

Up early and went to Shatterford, 2 hours to get there for us. Pretty wooded area and a large green space which was a dog track at one time I think surrounded by trees. Enjoyable shoot with some challenging birds which I thoroughly enjoyed. Lovely squad which is always a bonus. I think I shot 80 and more than pleased with some of the ones I was getting. On to Honesberie which I thoroughly enjoyed and again quite challenging overall. The weather was perfect today. I scored 80 there also. A long but good day.