Holland & Holland

[Dog Tyred]

I recently visited the H&H Shooting Ground in West London for a corporate organised charity clay shoot in aid of the Trinity Hospice.

As a trap shooter I am unaccustomed to sporting facilities but I suspect the H&H ground is one of the more 'upmarket' venues in the country and I would wager is probably on a par with Augusta in Golfing terms?

About 15 teams of four turned out (mostly from the construction industry) and we were treated to 10 varied stands with 8 targets shot off each. The targets were mainly shot as singles with a second (usually a different target although some were the same) on report. One stand comprised an 80 bird flush from one of the towers, where all four shooters shot together. An optional pool shoot (£10) comprising 5 pairs of what looked like wasps (minis?) from the tower was also available for the brave (or stupid). Shooting that straight into the sun needed welders glasses to even see the 'wasps' and there was even a handy instructor constantly telling you 'your about 12 feet behind it!'. Overall the targets were fairly straight forward (as would be expected for such a mix of shooters (and non-shooters), with lots of going away or incoming birds.

Guns (mainly Berettas and Mirooks) were provided on each stand for those without their own and one stand provided the opportunity (at a cost of £10 per shooter) to shoot a Holland & Holland O/U Game gun, reportedly worth £100K !! Hmmmm? not sure about the valuation but it was beautiful.

I elected to shoot my trusty MX8 3/4 & full trap gun (except on the H&H gun stand where they awarded double points if you used their gun ). Didn't disgrace myself although I don't know my personal score but as a team we finished third overall. The winning team, 'Aston Martin Stratton' were well ahead overall and I suspect there were some serious shooters in that team.

The shooting finished about 1.00PM followed by a lovely three-course lunch, prize giving and an auction.

Overall a fabulous day out at a beautiful facility, made even better by glorious weather.

DT

 

[Les53]

Holland & Holland is a great place Greg. They used to have an instructor there called Andy Perkins, Andy was a fantastic trap shooter, I think he shot ABT for England. He used to rig up a ball trap for me when I had lessons there, they can and will set up just about anything you want within reason, however it is not a cheap place! Glad you enjoyed it.

 

[Salopian]

Greg , 

You should have introduced yourself , maybe your score would have improved on Stand 5???

It only goes to show how debilitating Trap Shooting can be , the Tower targets are very easy .

 

[Les53]

Greg , 

You should have introduced yourself , maybe your score would have improved on Stand 5???

It only goes to show how debilitating Trap Shooting can be , the Tower targets are very easy .

No good telling him now Pete!!!  

 

[Dog Tyred]

Greg , 

You should have introduced yourself , maybe your score would have improved on Stand 5???

It only goes to show how debilitating Trap Shooting can be , the Tower targets are very easy .

Well you were handed the score card with my name on it !!

Stand 5.  Bottom of the hill, going away 'trap' target from in front of the cage and a right to left crosser (I think?).

Was that you Pete? I recall I got all the 'trap' targets and missed one of the crossers.

As for the Tower targets being easy, prey tell?

We did pretty well on the tower flush targets (full size clays) but the minis on the pool shoot and stand 9 were a complete mystery. Think I hit 1 on the pool shoot and 2 on stand 9

DT

 

[Salopian]

It really does amaze me how despite telling the Gun to move with the bird and give it X amount of lead they still do there own thing.

" You are behind it, give it another two foot , three foot , four foot, double your lead"  or whatever they just continue to do exactly the same thing for four or five pairs ! 

I think it would do The League of Cruel Sports a World of good to visit any ground with a high tower  and judge for themselves how many high pheasants are never harmed on a Game shoot. :lol:

 

[westley]

I recall shooting a Comp at Holland's ground many years ago, they opened the shooting by firing their canon. It was a 100 bird sporter 50 birds in the morning, lunch by the Army Catering Corps, then another 50 birds in the afternoon, 25 of which were 'walked up'. You began by walking along a well shrubbed ride. The Ref/Scorer would be a couple of paces behind you. As the traps were all manual then, the Ref. would pull on a line concealed in the bushes, that in turn rang a small bell by the trapper,  who would then release the trap. Some report pairs and some sim. pairs. The Refs took great delight in trying to 'wrong foot' you and then watching the shooter trying to pirouette on one leg in an effort to shoot the clay, others would be constantly trying to keep the left foot forward, by dragging their right foot behind them. Some even looked like the closing shots from Dads Army, with their guns held just above waist height, fixed bayonet style. We were informed that it was possible to complete a 75 bird 'walk up' in just that strip of woodland alone and it usually took some 2 hours to complete. The trappers would move ahead of the shooter to get to the next traps in order to fire them off.