Shotguns: Show us your clay / game / zombie bashers

That's a very pretty route you went - A good part of Wales - The rest of group went on to Dovey Valley for the Sunday - Not far from the Mach Loop.

I shot just underneath it as it peaked - obviously wrong - I did at time think of George Digweed shooting that long teal and he put 35ft above teal to allow for pellet drop.

Have you shot the Air Ambulance stand at Dovey Valley - we couldn't make up our minds if it was further away but I can hit them. Got a picture somewhere -will look it out.

Found two -surprised at how long ago it was.

This is teal stand
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This is where you shoot it from
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If you follow barrel it's just above
 
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Been to West Midland Shooting ground today to do a re-shoot of the British Open - Put in a 93x120 which would have put me in about 400th place on the day - They had around 1400 entries - That is a lot of entries. - The day was enjoyed by all.
 
Well done @DXP55 -- not shaby at all!

Here the current 'excitement' is our first day of the season; we've got driven duck on Tuesday. I'm organising the squad too, 10 guns 200 birds in Bucks. Unfortunately I've got a dropout so I'm scrambling to find someone else !

The following week ducks+geese again, this time in hides -- last year we had a couple of great days on ducks/geese, and we get to dress up in full camo, which is always hilarious :-)
 
Thanks

Hope your season goes well. - Are these guns from overseas or just locals ? I know through one of the forums I visit one shooter from USA comes over for pigeon to the same shooter I put him in touch with every year or he did last time I heard.

Internet has certainly opened up the world.
 
Blimey that's some weight loss ;-)

Yeah I know what you mean about adjustable comb. I'm pondering having one installed on my main gun too, as I've also lost some weight (well mostly I dried a lot) and my gun mount has changed ever so slightly...
 
Well had a cracking day yesterday on the ducks. Never did driven ducks before, i'm completely sold on that. Setup was excellent, drives are just 2 minutes on foot from the lodge, great brunch on arrival, had a glass of champagne in the middle then awesome dinner after the shooting. We arrived at 12am, finished shooting by 4:30... hit the lodge and most of us left at ... 11pm!

Driven ducks is completely different from pheasants; pheasants all go from one place over you and disappear in the distance. For ducks, the guns are not in a line but in like 2 lines, all separated by a good 100m -- small groups of ducks are pushed to fly, and they start circling the field and climbing... then another group of ducks take off and start circling/climbing. You end up with hundreds of ducks in the air, for any abilities, and you can shoot pretty much all over the sky. Eventually they disperse and land on one of the 15 ponds on the ground.
So there are *always* birds within your abilities around, you don't need to 'stress' reload like with pheasant fluries, and you can concentrate on taking whatever you fancy. I started a bit 'timid' on the first drive, but quickly went for bonker high birds like most other experienced guns -- we also had a couple of 'newbies' who also had plenty of more accessible birds. I particularly enjoyed taking long crossers, as I find full vertical 'driven' a bit boring. My wife was sharing a peg with another lady and also had a great day, she even got 2 birds with one cartridge!

So overall, we were 10 guns, 200 birds (we actually shot 210). I must have had ~25 of them, and I used ~120 cartridges. Not a *bad* score given I was going for high flyers. Since everyone is 'pacing' themselves, drives last 15-20 minutes so there's no rush. Everyone took at least a couple of braces home (I took 6!) and the rest goes straight to the game dealer and is exported to... France! I have to say it's great to have a full larder again -- with *true* wild/free range birds. The ducks are in stunning shape too.

That day costs about a third of a driven pheasant day. Still not 'cheap' but that's definitely something we'll do again, in fact, we more or less all agreed to book for next year with the same gang -- save that the ladies want their own full pegs next year ;-)
 
Bad day today - Went to Catton Hall - missed more on first 6 stands than I did in whole of re-shoot of British open - Cut my losses and went home. Duh !!:mad::mad: -- 46 miles each way

Plonker:eek:
 
DXP55 said:
Bad day today - Went to Catton Hall - missed more on first 6 stands than I did in whole of re-shoot of British open - Cut my losses and went home. Duh !!:mad::mad: -- 46 miles each way

Plonker:eek:
Click to expand...

What happended?

Here we were planning to go to Barbury's on the way back from sommerset, but given the partying yesterday we've decided to tottle back and have a nap instead :-) I don't think I'd have been terribly on the ball anyway ;-)
 
It was one of those times where you plan a day out and on the morning I just didn't feel like it - said to wife I don't want to go - she said you go and have a day out -

I found out a few months ago the Eley Grand Prix was on locally so booked in for that day and shot well - I am finding lately that planned shoots become a let down.

Example today was one stand -a 10yr old kid went on - missed first pair - his dad spoke to him and he hit the last three pair - his dad went on and missed first pair so said to lad go give him some guidance - didn't help - I went on and hit four ??

Shot next easy stand of pair of battute then came home.-- Missed them of course - If I had carried on I was only throwing 60 cartridges away.

It didn't really matter as I know so many shooters I had a good day out just talking to people I haven't seen for ages. Shooting now is not only how many I can hit but how many shooters from the past I can recognise and talk to.

I think I did a semi auto shoot at Barbury - It's a fibre wad ground isn't it - shot carp there as well.
 
So how's everyone's shooting these days? Here I shot a bit less clays, and when on the clay I played with my SxS's recently. On the clays I've progressed quite a bit tho, I finally straighted the FITASC at A.C Sporting a couple of times lately, when I often do 24/25 or 23/25 -- quite happy with that, as these are though birds. Haven't done any 'real' CPSA lately.

Gamewise, did some pheasants in Wales, lots of fun, lovely days. I did a left+right pheasant+snipe last time, quite happy with that. now I'm training the SxS pretty much exclusively, as I want to only shoot pheasant with a SxS from now on. I have an old 1880 sidelock, and a 1880 Hammer gun -- the Hammer gun is excellent, it was made as a 'pigeon gun' and is quite heavy, handles very well, and has 32" damascus barrels. Looks lovely!

Anyway I was supposed to have another pheasant day tomorrow, but it's cancelled due to the snow -- will have to wait for 2 weeks for the next day now :/
 
Keep on shooting while you can - I never thought in a million years I would stop shooting but suddenly you get to a point where it doesn't matter. I haven't been out for at least 6 weeks maybe more and it's all weather related - Gone are the days when I stood in a hole on a field in driving snow to shoot a load of clay's. I now go on impulse when I feel like it but that impulse is lacking in the winter month's - It just gives me time to add some notes to the shooting pot for the summer when I am sure I will have a few good days out.

I am tempted by the Hodnet Challenge just after Xmas but remembering back to one a few years ago when it was -6C I will wait to day before and check weather forecast and ring to see if there is a spare slot.

I regret not taking up a offer of a Winchester model 23 years ago along with single barrel shotgun - rifle and gun cabinet and load of cartridges for a very good price - always lusted after a model 23.
 
I find that I shoot better when I don’t shoot so often so I’ve booked to do the hodnet Xmas shoot and then the following

Benelli semi auto comp
World English sporting
Beretta world

I’ll do just one shoot before the benelli just to make sure that my a303 is working and then just another before the world to make sure that I’m working...
 
@GW1910 I try to shoot once a week here, sometime twice a week. Nothing big, even if it's a 100 at A.C it's good enough to progress and have a bit of time outside really. Also, there's good mates now at the clubhouse, and I spend more with a coffee in my hand than with the gun!
@DXP55 well I've had that nasty cold that's doing the round lately, so the last 3 weeks have been pretty patchy. I recovered enough just for my pheasant day, but even then I was a bit on the rough edge. It's *at last* taling off now, so I hope to be able to go shooting a bit more... For the weather, well you know I shoot in wales quite a bit -- if you don't go out in bad weather in wales, do never get out of the house :-)

Here's the hammer gun I've been shooting. I did a 21/25 earlier today on the FITASC with that... Couple of silly mistakes. But considering the hardware, not bad at all! I think I can consider that 'good enough' to use it on game.

~1890 Birmingham Live Pigeon gun, 32" barrels, 1/2 and 3/4, PoS grip (prince of wales, not P-O-S) :-) -- and the finest damascus steel I've seen -- the pattern is incredibly small, it's really a masterpiece. Also look at the hammers and the firing pins, all of that was done by hand, with a file.... I have to say that I feel privileged to be able to shoot that, and to be able to make it 'sing' like it was meant to!
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