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I had a good day today. The weather was pleasant and I went to Barrow, just one shoot. I had Dora as my lovely gunsmith got her back to me. Forgotten what it’s like not having to dig the cartridge out with my penknife. A mixture of targets and I shot well winning ladies on 86/100. Given that I’ve found every shoot I’ve done a real strain for such a long time, it was a good feeling. Someone will tell me it was an easy shoot no doubt but I haven’t found ANY shoot easy so jog on.

I'll give completely the opposite advice. Get one with an adjustable comb, get someone that knows what they are doing to set it to fit you and then hide the tools that are used to reset it. You'll have a much easier time making an adjustable comb gun fit, than trying to find a fixed comb gun that already fits you. If a gun you are intending to keep long term it will also allow you to adjust in future if for any reason your gun fit changes. Weight loss or gain makes an amazing difference to your gun fit.

You may well have found the root cause of your lack of enjoying your shooting at the moment Sian with the statement you've made in your last post as you could be subconsciously associating the sad news and shock of loosing your friend with your shooting activities therefore not enjoying the experience and the fun of the sport like you used to grief and shock can affect us in many ways long after the event perhaps as others have suggested do something completely different or perhaps attend shoots with Tony and just enjoy the company and fluffy rabbits with friends from the shooting circuit until you feel you want to take up the gun and shoot again. I do hope you get the feeling you want to shoot again but just go to enjoy being out don't worry about scores or averages just enjoy being with good company having a few laughs and smashing a few clays and hopefully you'll get the good feeling about shooting back again. Take care and hope to see you out and about

Busy weekend, as Tony didn’t have to work Saturday we went to Owls, no big score but I enjoyed the course and company and I did some stands well. Today was an early start off to Grange Farm which took me 21/4 hrs to drive there. Very enjoyable and in parts quite tricky. Again I felt I did well on some stands and wasn’t disappointed with my score. Was pleasantly surprised to pick up an envelope for Tony from about 3 yrs ago. On to Honesberie which was tricky also but again very enjoyable. No big score but I did shoot some stands very well that were hard. Stupidly I dropped 6/10 on a sim going away pair just not being steady and a bit blurry for me near the end of the day and knackered. Picked up two envelopes from there, one each from 2020. Grand total of £165 collected, result.

Yesterday was probably my best day with the gun. Started at Churchills in the morning, a very misty morning should I add and shot a personal best 97. Missed second bird on stand 3 (sim pair blaze from the platform) last crosser on 7, and second going away on 10. Then went to Owls Lodge in the afternoon and followed that up with a pleasing 93. Not quite as good this morning at Oxfordshire Shooting School, a patchy 86; missed silly stuff at the start trying to be careful rather than deliberate and only having me and one other in the squad probably didn't help, felt rushed and should have slowed down. Felt like a steady course, one silly going away edge-on rabbit target is probably what will settle it.

It happens to me, we go shooting because it's fun - right? we need to remember that. there might come a time, if we keep on plugging away, when it stops being fun and becomes just another day on the treadmill. We do less well when the enthusiasm wanes and the scores go down, when the scores go down we lose heart and we go into a downward spiral. It has happened to me a couple of times, once I gave up for a long time which I wouldn't recommend as that is just a negative course of action and you lose what ever skills you have built up. (There were other distractions at the time like having kids ) Another time I just shot less frequently, I also quit Reg shoots for a while to take the pressure off and just shot when I felt like it, the scores started creeping up and the joy of smashing clays returned. I now need to keep a balance and am enjoying my shooting which is the way it should be.

See, the thing is with an average, you shoot above it approx half the time and below it approx half the time. That's what an average is. If no-one in a class shoots a score above their class and the majority shoot a score below their class, then it clearly isn't a reflection of how it would normally be. That's how statistics work. No issues with a shoot being tough, but it pisses me off no end when people say that winning scores should be within the class band. Mathematically the class bands would get lower and lower every three months if that was the case.

Kibworth for me today. Last time I'll be up this way for a Reg shoot until next year. Straighted the sim pairs, hit 2 from 3 off tower and 5 of the 6 driven targets, all of which meant it was a very good day for me. Had a liitle wobble on Stand 13 (11th stand our squad shot), where I held on a bit to a couple of 70mm targets, missing in front as they slowed. Finished on 88. Shame I went targets only as I was 6 in front of the next shooter in B.

After my poor 73 last week I went to Northampton today not expecting much but to my surprise I shot 92. You never know what is going to happen until you pull the trigger.

Thank you all for the input. I don’t think it’s gunfit, I do think a lot of it is head related although I’m sure skill set could be improved in many areas. This downward trajectory started before the pandemic began, the day my best friend died in July 2019 and I was at AGL. I shot in shock and was alone and from that moment I find it hard to enjoy shooting like I used to. Pandemic helped me by not being able to shoot and when we were allowed back I wasn’t at all bothered whether I went or not. I sometimes feel tense shooting and I’m finding I’m holding my breath of all things Not shooting though does hinder my ability so catch 22 I guess. I shot a lot of registered targets, in fact the most for a few years and I could easily shoot a good few hundred every Saturday at my local club. All weathers all over. I may not go a lot through winter, who wants to shoot rubbish in awful weather.

Used DT10 or save yourself shed loads of money and buy an original 682 gold (not gold e) the best gun Beretta ever made possibly the best clay gun ever....all things considered.....end of. £1300 should get you a minter......your welcome 👍

Well shot chap, am another who ventured to Oxfordshire, had a pleasant day, far more enjoyable than my outing earlier in week, could it be that before shooting one had tea (china mug) hot food (on a plate with knife & fork ) and could eat / drink indoors not shunted outside in a chill as one treats cattle? oh and I had some chums to natter with! Shooting wise had a good (actually for me very it was very good) start until a wheel came off, and then yes the edge on going away rabbit trashed mine and every card in our squad and judging by the chatter many others too, did though pull it back and ended on a decent effort (given ones level) Yes I maybe let a few "go" however one did hit a few that I thought couldn't so all in all a good day ensued. The place is intimate, I fear due to current climate the much desired expansion might not be on the near horizon, that said it looks after it current target market very well and deserves its relative success, couple years ago it was 30/40 entries tops, now feels busy without ever being overrun. High Gun was 95 when I left, though some superstar or two was still shooting at time.

ultra xs pro ok so i am slightly biased as i shoot one , but browning are bomb proof , most gunsmiths carry spares and can work on them !! smashing gun adj comb , three pad sizes , barrel weights and stock weights three trigger blades all in the box , grade 4 turkish walnut , derek lee gunshop the cheapest I've seen ! but now we have the ultra xs pro crown even more bling , and a bit more dosh good luck choosing ..

Lots of reasons why you can drop off form, but it will basically fall into one of two camps. Most likely it is a mental thing, which is either boredom (lack of hunger and application) or distraction (such as work or home worries etc.). Otherwise it’s technical, where gun fit has gone wrong for some reason, or some physical issue has crept in, but after all this time it’s less likely than the mental side I would guess. The trouble is, it can spiral downwards, because once your brain is working on a “I hope I don’t miss” basis, as opposed to “I’m going to hit this”, it’s a distraction in itself. Although this then manifests itself as a technical problem.. you don’t realise you’re stopping, whizzing, head-lifting etc..

Worth it if you can tell yourself it is. Otherwise it's your chokes that caused you to miss. Or your glasses. Or your jacket. Or the time of day. Or the seat of the vehicle you arrived in. Or your wife/husband/partner's last comment. Or finally your cat/dog!

Honesberie for me too yesterday. It was the loopers that did for me - I found it very hard picking the right kill point. I am quite happy walking away having hit the third or fourth clay and ending up with a 5 or 6 but I dropped 13 on three traps having missed all of the them. Very frustrating and I have no idea where I was wrong. I was 8 down after the first half so I was a bit disappointed with a 72 by the end albeit I can only count 6 which I know I should not have missed.

Long day today, went to Westfield for STP and Sporting. I didn’t shoot either well but they were both excellent shoots if a little long to shoot the sporting. It was very well attended. Harry said approx 380 shooters. It was a good job I had Natasha to chat to and the weather was very good so in between stands I lay in the grass looking up at the fluffy clouds and occasionally flicking a V at Mr Lovett as he drove by on his quad. 😂 I made the mistake of not taking a snack with me so Andy Jones (God bless him) gave me a snack bar half way round to keep me going. I kept forgetting what I was doing on Sportrap. My favourite layout (no. 4) in terms of targets I shot the worst on unfortunately. Guns going in for a new ejector to be fitted so I’ll have to shoot Lola May. I figure I can’t get any worse, famous last words.

I spoke to my local gunsmith who actually sold the gun originally. He said that because the dt11 was intended to be a competition gun that beretta didn't see the need to fdl proof them until the last couple of years. As is evident some were fdl proofed but some still slipped through without, until the last couple of years where they all definitely had it. He was of the opinion that it was built to the same standards as all the others so should pass fdl proof no problem if I feel the need to do it at some point.

I can agree with all of the comments above. Lots of possible causes but a lot of the time it's lack of hunger to do it. I shoot once every 2 weeks whether that be practise or a registered. If you're not keen to get out the door, don't go. Sometimes competitions aren't the answer, shoot some practise instead and try working on something different. Sometimes you also need to analyse your card as to where all the misses have come from. I put up a copy of my card the other day from highwaymans. If I analyse my misses the majority have come from initial miss read, not trusting what I what I was seeing or inability to repeat the movement accurately enough. None of which I can do a huge amount about with my ability. Other sorts of misses could be concentration (missing final pairs), taking the shot in the wrong place, wrong technique for the target, miss reads. All of which you can work on away from a comp. Highlight your biggest reason to lose targets and try and see what you can do to improve that fault.

Sian, perhaps it’s simply that you’ve fallen out with shooting, I know I have. The first lockdown came and went, and I truthfully did not miss shooting at all. Right now I’m having an enforced layoff due to recent spinal surgery and I haven’t shot in over two months, haven’t even picked up the gun in two months. Now winter is fast approaching I’m thinking “ do I really want to get wet and cold standing in a field trying to hit something that’s a dot on the horizon “. The only thing I do miss is the fluffy rabbits and interaction between all the shooters, I’ve made some good friends and it’s always a pleasure to have a chat to them all. Take time out for yourself, do something completely different and come back when you really feel like.

Any issue with gun fit changing? Last time I went through a really bad patch was after losing weight and not realising that my gun fit had changed. Bit of a tweak to the adjustable comb improved things. Shame I've put it all back on again, but at least it was easy to change the gun back again!

I placed an order, today, for a set of CFG Digitals, with the enhanced audio out speakers. Fingers, and toes, are crossed.😁 Steve

I’ve just read this thread and the OP said he liked the Ultimate Safe . In 2020 I needed a larger safe but as my house was going up for sale , I figured I’d buy a cheapish extra safe and then get a single bigger and better unit when I’d moved . I bought by mail order the “ Ultimate Safe 5 gun cabinet for about £130 . Police Approved my bottom ! . Absolute flimsy Chinese crap and as delivered I could have pried the door open in about 15 seconds with a decent bar . The internal ammo cabinet would take about 5 seconds with my bare hands . The never defeated triple blade lock begged the question , ‘never defeated by who ? ‘ perhaps next doors 5 year old might struggle . Honestly I couldn’t have slept with real guns in that cabinet . It ended up with just airguns in it after a cabinet shuffle round , I left it in the house when I moved . With respect to buying second hand gun safes , search eBay for Brattonsound , you won’t go wrong with one of those .

Westfield for us too. First time there and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Wonderful straightforward journey there in just over 2 hours and an absolute nightmare nearly 5 hours home! Good targets, met some people I’d not seen for a long time and as Sian said, beautiful weather. Only 1 target I never connected with, the l-r over the pond and we had some long queues on some stands but would definitely return.

College Farm yesterday; started out with a birthday brekkie and started the shoot very well, straighted the first 3 stands then managed to completely mess up stand 4 missing five there but made up for it by only missing 2 over the next 8 stands (tried to jump in to a rabbit way too early, and a low R-L teal) for 93. Gunsite today; started a bit later as was out last night and wanted to let the first rush of people through. Probably started shooting at about 12.30, did ok on what I thought was a slightly tougher than usual affair. Happy to only drop 2 of the sim pairs loopers, only hit one of the big teal, and didn't touch any of the L-R looper on 12. Steady 88 though and very happy to have shot in the good weather. Traffic bad on the way home though with the M4 being shut between Newbury and Hungerford there was a diversion that I didn't have to take but caused a massive delay, over 2 hours for me to get back.

Just seen 2020 dt11 with the fdl stamp. 32"sporter.

Went to Coleys today, first reg shoot for a month, expected to be rusty and that came to pass. Was early, saw some chums to fluffy rabbits with, squadding was running late, our 2.15 was nearly 2.30, squad in front was a six, us a five so constant awaiting, squad following must have all fallen out with each other as they all seemed to just shoot stand then want / rush to join our merry band, bit odd but each to their own. Not the most testing of layouts but it did though cause most a few problems, me? had a day when not much went right, it was though dry warm(ish) and sunny, shooting wise I’ve had worse days out, not many mind. It won’t be a month till next out so this day will soon be forgotten. One thing did notice, almost to a man / woman, after shooting, with only external catering & open air tables ( no shelter ) on offer everyone’s leaving very quickly.

What Shortlegs has said above is spot on Sian. You are associating the shooting with bad news and I think you need to either “go through it” and come out the other side or take a step back, carry Tony’s bag 😂😂😂 and watch for a while and tell us all where we are going wrong until you get the feeling back that you need. I’ve been having the same thing since about June time when I was told my Dad was dying. Every shoot we went to I was worried about if he died whilst I wasn’t there and it hindered me massively. He finally (and thankfully) passed away last week so I thought we’d shoot Barrow on Sunday with no worries, how wrong I was. The texts/calls were coming in whilst we were driving there of messages of sympathy, calls from family re flowers/funeral etc. I still couldn’t concentrate properly. Today we shot Barbury for the Army shoot and I decided I wasn’t going to check the phone etc. Ended up shooting quite well, only had what I would call a “bad” stand once and when I came out Phil asked what had happened and I replied my dad just “popped” into my head and I missed the complete pair. 🙈 Again, I think it’s something I need to just get on with and hopefully it will happen less and less but my heart goes out to you Sian, it’s obviously affecting you deeper then you think, maybe some counselling would help or having a stiff drink before the shoot!! Take care my lovely xx 😘😘

I don’t have an issue with hard shoots, my issue is I have gone backwards dramatically on most shoots I attend. Doesn’t matter where I go I shoot under par for wherever I am. I’m not trying to be better than I am, I’m trying to get back to where I was. Maybe I just need to go back to shooting as much as I did although getting me to do that at the moment is like flogging a dead horse.

Wind was always going to be problematic today - but it was forecast. Certainly caused a few misses at Longridge where I was reffing. Still, onwards and upwards as the saying goes. Life's too short to fret over a bad day shooting.

And that's for plastic, at a guess! Dahn sarf, you're looking at a bit less than that for your cheapest fibre cartridges... Your Hull Superfast & Fiocchi TTone. 😕

There is a large external zip pocket either side. Plus a pocket at one end, insulated drinks holder other end. Inside are various pockets / compartments, large and small. It’s really organised. Bag is rigid. I really recommend it.

Seriously: https://gb-nicashooting.glopalstore.com/wild-hare-deluxe-tournament-bag/

It`s harder to dial back on stuff tho` isn`t it ...

Think of it as a test. Consider how the experience has provided you with so many character building elements. How you saw your way past without any homicidal fugues in the tube. I'm sure there are many people who would gladly pay for such an enlightening experience. How lucky you are for having had that opportunity free of charge. Silver linings and all that, donchuno

Well done Sian, maybe getting Dora back has give you the extra confidence you needed. Keep it up.

You may be thinking of Vario's, CFT are incased in the mold

Since you asked for the benefit of hindsight... I've had three 68x family guns. For several reasons it's highly unlikely I'd go for another one. The DTs are miles better IMO; I haven't owned one but tried several. If it were the case that I had to have a Browning (thankfully it's not!), it would be the XS Pro, but I'd have to get the triggers fettled. For my money it'd be between what are IMO the 2 sweetest shooting guns on your list. Either the F16 or the Invictus, for that matter any other CG since they all shoot about the same. Personally I prefer the CGs for the looks but the F16s are just as good to shoot.

I can tell you which gun not to buy & it’s all the guns on the list with adjustable combs, adjustable LOP etc as I can guarantee you once you get a bad days shooting first thing you will do is blame the gun & start adjusting things my advice would be get a gun that fits you. ( Try out the guns you will shoot better with a £200 gun that fits you than a £10,000 gun that doesn’t fit) I and my shooting mates have all got expensive guns but there is an elderly guy that shoots at our club & he has an old Browning medalist that’s worth nothing but I tell you he is the best shot in our club.

If the Yildiz is a good Perazzi copy then the answer is almost certainly yes. The bottom pivot hammers with a minimum moving parts and short sear actuator movement are the best layout for crisp, light triggers. Perazzi, Zoli, Gamba, Kemen and even Arramberi all have outstanding triggers.

Certainly no complaints about the coaching, it's set me on the right road I think. It's getting to the point that I can select my approach to a quartering target correctly and only repetition is going to get me reading them properly. The ones today, I should have just held further out on as I would normally do. They were straight enough you could treat them like a going away and not worry about needing any gun speed to generate lateral lead. A few targets in practice yesterday that were properly quartering, it really helped with those.

Bebo, that is perfect sense of course. Actually, class winners at Redricks were above class cut off points and so they should be (for reasons you state) and because C and B class are improving folk, who are climbing up. I am very glad Phil Moss has introduced an interesting new shoot within driving range of me. I just reckon backing one or two stands off would cheer a lot of folk up and make Phil quite a bit more profit with another 30 entries.

Also Redricks. Nice to see Bebo and Sian, although like me they weren’t smiling as much as we would all like. No excuse for my terrible 1/10 on stand 11. I just didn’t change what I was doing enough. Rubbish. But by the time I got there my brain was a bit fried as it had been a tough course. A reasonable 8/10 on the nasty stand 4 (missed one of each). Finished on 77, so take stand 11 out it wasn’t THAT bad. But I think the course was a bit too tough. Only 11 shooters over 80 from 100+ entries. I know if Hamid was still here to comment he would be saying that shoots are meant to be selling entertainment and I wonder if Redricks is just a bit past that point for the mass audience.

Redricks also, it was hard right from stand 1 but I made it look impossible. Went to Barrow fully intending to just walk around with Tony while he shot but no I decided to shoot. Really struggled with the sun in places and the colours in places. I shot better there but it didn’t lift my melancholy. I don’t know how to rectify just how sh*t I have become.

Redricks for me also first time there. I struggled on the same stands as you hit 7 on stand 3. 4 on stand 8 and 5 on stand 11. But stand 12 really killed my card with a 2 never hit the looper and I've no idea why. Finished on 73.

Back to earth with a bump. Redricks today. Stands 4, 8 and 11 destroyed any chance of getting near my average. Stand 4 was a low orange rl sim with a crow. Crow must have been at least 50 yards and was being pushed back by the breeze when dropping. 5/10, dropped one crosser and hit one crow. Stand 8 was a lr 70mm and a rl crosser, didn't find the second bird once. Stand 11 a sim pair of lr crossers, one of which was a midi. Hit the standard three times, never touched the midi. 17 away on those 3 stands alone.

32 inch black edition , no idea what year..

Well tk there is a branch of the Italian proof house within the Beretta factory I think. So strictly speaking they don't proof their own barrels. Luke. The cost reduction is only one part of my thinking. The other was that the Fleur proof is basically pointless in a 3" gun. Anyhow are we just talking dt11 or across the Beretta range . In which case any cost saving would be significant. Would be interesting to know what the "lesser" guns are proofed at now?..... Jasper.

The plot thickens … personally if it were me and my gun I’d call/email GMK and ask them why. Think I’m right in saying that beretta can/do also proof their own barrels right?

Not sure if this helps, i dont really understand it to be fair