Shoot reports and news 2024

Charliedog said:

Great round at East of England, credit to the team there, bit of a trek but well worth it.

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It was an awesome round. I hit an 80 which is slightly below my average but on that round I was fairly pleased with that score.

It’s nearly always a great round at East of England thanks to John Lee’s course setting. You always seem to get something different and not the same old same old you’ve seen before.
I had two really bad stands, one I can blame on my poor shooting the other the rabbit stand where I was unlucky with every one jumping but that’s rabbit stands for you.

Well this is a slow moving thread compared with years gone by, after a summer plus not shooting went to Coleys reg today, not too warm and thankfully the threatening cloud or three that looked full of some wet stuff didn't deliver. Hit a few, some surprisingly well but as before missed some (er too many) that I was (more than) capable of hitting and yes missed plenty that were on the day a bit too much for my current skill set. First three stands were steady enough, well for most, St4 ( I think ) a simultaneous pair of left to right off a raised platform caught most of the squad out, think being a 5 pair stand it was a bit a tough ask for any below AA, had a wobble on a couple of targets (St6) shooting down in the valley, in hindsight the first a right to left I could have tried to shoot earlier, hey ho lesson learnt (I hope) St9 had a rather "big" midi that I was pleased to find, reality kicked in as then missed two rather getable gentle loopers in St10, overall though a mix of being rusty / off the pace and, what can only be described as a bit poor in too many places managed to shoot ones age, on a positive if such form continues will be in A class in fifteen years time.

Might not leave it 7 months until next registered venture.

Chalk Farm yesterday, usual firm but enjoyable round in lovely weather, a few sloppy misses but never touched any of the 5 b birds on stand 4, shoot average 72 I think and I managed a few above this so pleased. Good variety of targets and several needed some gaps, all ran smoothly, perfect referee.

Shot at Westfield shooting ground in the Cotswolds yesterday for their 20th anniversary celebratory event.

It was a 150 bird English sporting shoot based over two 75 bird courses.

Westfield are renowned for setting tough courses with targets and ranges that you wouldn't usually see at other grounds and there was plenty of them to be seen.

Started the day as I always try to when shooting a competition and headed straight for the pool shoot. I find that it's a good way to settle the nerves, get the first few missed targets out the way and to warm up after what usually is a long drive. The pool was the usual 25 bird sportrap setup. Targets from A-E with A and B being a pretty big crosser and a fast and low battue respectively at 45-50m out. C-E was the usual teal, 1/4ing and slow crossing target. Surprisingly I actually did quite well only missing one target of a simmo pair and I couldnt find the B bird any of the 4 times it appeared. I finished on a 19/25 which I thought was a fairly average score.

We started the main shoot on the red layout which was based on the arable fields behind the clubhouse and up the valley towards the grouse butts. Fairly standard Westfield targets with some stand out targets being stand 3 which was a 4 pair report pair of crosser and battue at around 40m and 55m each. I managed to find all of the crossers and two of the battues with some pretty crazy lead. Stand 6 or 7ish which was a simulated partridge covey flush. 3 targets in the air at the same time, two of them almost close enough to be hittable with the one shot which caught out a few who tried. Stand 10 also worth a mention with a 3 bird super sporting layout consisting of 3 single birds featuring a crow target which needed about 10ft of lead below and a marked delay between the trigger pull and shot hitting the target. Not sure on exact distance but it was out there. I finished the 1st layout on a poor 54 from 75 with a gimme stand of a rabbit and flopper doing the real damage with a 3/8.

Second layout (blue) was up the wooded half of the ground and much the same with standard (big) Westfield targets and a gimme stand or two. Stand 8 I think was particularly interesting, a 4 pair stand with three separate teal targets. There was no set list with a random order of simmo or report pairs of any of the three teals at the refs discretion. I started the blue layout poorly following an almost 2 hour break between the layouts but managed to pull it together to finish on a slightly better 61/75.

A total of 115/150 to place 6th in B Class and take the last of the cash prizes.

A fairly low average scoring shoot with 139/150 being the high gun.

This shoot marked a particular milestone in my shooting career to date as it was the first ever time that I've taken home a cash prize and it wasn't only in the main shoot but I also won the combined B and C class on the pool shoot. Two busses and all that.

Well shot, and a good report.

Coleys today, only a month not seven since gun last out so not as "rusty" as I was. Shot pm, was overcast and very light almost suspended drizzle which thankfully cleared, some saw a bit of sun, not that I nor my squad of chums did.
St1 a pair of orange class, I was late putting on/changing onto my prescription glasses which at near 6 years old are an "old prescription" for those that do wear glasses will get the disorientation, add the fuzzy orange and what looked a steady pair / stand saw me 4 away. St 2 a five pair simo of going away with a fair teal, now me I don't like shooting "on the drop" so an early take at the teals peak saw another 2 away which in hindsight wasn't too terrible. The struggle with fuzzy orange targets re-appeared on St6 a simple going away with a low looper, from the floor I could see it clearly, on the platform lokkiinh at the flight against the background of tree / light / tee / light I lost it for most of its flight, a sorry 5 away here. St9 where a breakdown and no-birds a plenty caused a log jam, me Im up first and see the squad in front have a torrid time, manage a three all a distant high l-r, didn't touch a r-l crossing mini, I had lots of company in that mind. The chap following me shot a 7 here, quite something, even more so as he was following me. later heard a chum straighten this stand now that really was outstanding. A wobble or two to follow then a credible last stand so I could at least have a positive outcome.
Most had left by the time we finished, the few still in the clubhouse were all of the opinion that it had been one of there "tougher" shoots, there was nothing daft distance wise or stupidly fast, and yes in hindsight maybe St9 needed a simpler target with one of the two thrown, overall, given stats it was indeed a bit tougher than many shoots there have been, it made for a decent competition though, no miss one and its gone so to speak.
Now must try and shoot something/somewhere else between these Coley comps

Good report Rich. Would've been there as it's more or less my local, but I've lost some enthusiasm for shooting this year. I'll be out again for sure, just need to be in the mood again.

I've never been to this. Could I just turn up as a spectator? It's at Hepworth Hall every year? Very close to me, so of course interested.

West Midlands Shooting Ground (Hodnet) Autumn 100 ESP today.

As always, a great course in an absolute gem of a ground. Noticeably tougher shoot though it seems - I finished ~10 below my previous time there and my recent average, and the high gun(s) was 'only' 87 - of 170ish shooters, not a single 90+ score, with many AAA's in the mid-80's.

But, it didn't feel that tough.. I've been to registereds where I've actually scored the same or higher, but felt absolutely battered by them, and difficult to keep motivated to finish, whereas this one (and this may also be down to my current mentality toward shooting) was just an enjoyable shoot, taking every stand as it's own challenge, not worrying about the final number on the score card - I actually thought I'd finished on a higher score than I did until I actually counted them up, so it goes to show you can simply enjoy a shoot for what it is - and - it's possible to set a course that is both objectively tough and still fun to shoot.

Christmas one next, 15th December, can't wait

I did a 100 Reg Sporting at Barbury yesterday, the weather was cold and bright and conditions were good. we used three new stands to the west of the deer park area for the first time for us, we were speculating whether they were created so we didn't have to shoot up the hill into bright sunshine.
We had the pleasure of shooting with Will and his buddies, he is alive and shooting well, putting in the highest score of 96, unfortunately doing birds only
My shooting performance seems to have taken a dive in recent months and the score not worthy of mention in the same post as the above but I can say I enjoyed the course and did bag some pleasing targets.

Barbury today (4th Dec) only entered as was in a damp Cheltenham and not wanting to get wet. Started 12.50, dry and not too chilly seeng as its December. Not shot a reg here for what seems a year, although Ive shot from some of the new / bunds / foxhole type stands (an no the targets were not the same) in "practice" its a different vibe in a comp. Merry squad of 6 and I only knew one, a lad a fast rising AA star at that, an he did somewhat show us that AA status is well deserved. As we all do did feel I let some get away, will settle for being rusty, that said judging by the others (high volume shooters by the sounds) comments some rather "simple" looking targets were anything but, by far my biggest brain fade, for those that went I managed to miss all four l-r loopy things on St7, no one else in our squad missed one, just not a clue were I went wrong, on way to St8 looking at the target from behind the trap I may have been racing last it, and just kept going past it further and further. Despite feeling that I really really messed up on far too many stands I did manage a score past my age so improvement in that regard. Did see quite a few chums and had the brief odd chin wag which was pleasant. Richard Faulds early 99 for High Gun, don't think for one minute this was a Ice cream shoot, the chap shoots such scores regularly.

Richard59 said:

Barbury today (4th Dec) only entered as was in a damp Cheltenham and not wanting to get wet. Started 12.50, dry and not too chilly seeng as its December. Not shot a reg here for what seems a year, although Ive shot from some of the new / bunds / foxhole type stands (an no the targets were not the same) in "practice" its a different vibe in a comp. Merry squad of 6 and I only knew one, a lad a fast rising AA star at that, an he did somewhat show us that AA status is well deserved. As we all do did feel I let some get away, will settle for being rusty, that said judging by the others (high volume shooters by the sounds) comments some rather "simple" looking targets were anything but, by far my biggest brain fade, for those that went I managed to miss all four l-r loopy things on St7, no one else in our squad missed one, just not a clue were I went wrong, on way to St8 looking at the target from behind the trap I may have been racing last it, and just kept going past it further and further. Despite feeling that I really really messed up on far too many stands I did manage a score past my age so improvement in that regard. Did see quite a few chums and had the brief odd chin wag which was pleasant. Richard Faulds early 99 for High Gun, don't think for one minute this was a Ice cream shoot, the chap shoots such scores regularly.

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Great to see you Rich, I enjoyed the shoot, messed up stands 1 and 2 then odd ones away here and there. Good squad too, shot with Wynne and his mates so a good natter all way round and saw a few people I’d not seen for a while. Only downer was the journey home - fine until M25 then bumper to bumper all way home which took 3 1/2 hours

The EJC Reg shoot two weeks ago was set on the tough side, I was doing ok but melted down on the last four stands and got annoyed with myself. Seeing the shoot average was 67% afterwards made me feel slightly more accepting of my lower than average score.

The one yesterday I think may have been an over-compensation for the previous one. Nothing massively extreme, even on the big boy stands round at Hangar and on the skeet area. I was happy until Stand 4, where I hit 7 out of the first 8 and then managed to miss the last pair. All because I started mentally counting my score and wanting to make sure of this pair. Result was started measuring and slowing the gun resulted in misses behind. Gave myself a talking to and got through the next four stands just dropping a couple. Started to get the yips a little bit at this point as only 7 away with four stands to go. Dropped a couple at the start of Stand 9 that I shouldn't have, then straight on Stand 10 and squeaky bum time started properly. Dropped the last bird on 11 and thought I might be on for my first ever 90. Nerves got the better of me though as I managed to drop 3 on the sim pair of LRs on Stand 12. No 90 and missed out on a PB, but still pleased with 87 (or so I thought). Got a photo of the card and saw that I'd been robbed of a hit on Stand 11, scorer didn't call it so I didn't challenge at the time, so it ended up being an 86 and three away from a new PB rather than two.

Looking at the scores, shoot average much higher at 78%, but as my first shoot out in a new class I'm happy enough to have come out mid-class. Doesn't stop me thinking wistfully about the missed opportunity though.

Coleys "Christmas Shoot" 14th Dec, a very welcome Saturday shoot, on line booking sold out weeks ago, not sure if all honoured the booking, 156 CPSA entries, well that's as long as all open and no "hide my scores" and not including any on member entrants. Of the latter I do wonder how non member entries get controlled, if a shoot gets sold out and some are "in" do they get asked to make way for CPSA members?
Lovely day for it, yes a bit chilly (very much so in the shade), nice bit of sun, and thankfully no stands affected by the said welcome sun. We shot at 11.40 start time, anyone starting after 1pm would I feel suffer a bit from fading light as despite the sun its still pretty gloomy this time of year.
The course ran back to front from its usual start point, St1 being past the former air rifle range and the last being in an open green space where we have started in previous shoots. Shoot wise personally had a fairly reasonable day, yes unless you are one of the giants we all miss stuff that we wonder how we did so, on that I only felt at three stands I fouled up, St7 a simo pair of going away white targets, the pathway was higher than the stand and from here looking down on the top of these white clays they looked rather big slow and er easy, when in stand what I saw as large slow bright white clays now appeared to me and my dodgy eyes as edge on difficult to see let alone pick up missiles, two away due to lack of appreciation. St10 a five pair simo crows, very similar to a stand on the last here shoot were I dropped 7/10 I somehow managed to card a 5/10, really should have done much better, my malice followed onto st11 a rather presentable full belly r-l high but none too far crosser followed by a closer l-r looper, a sorry 2/8 as I just could not find them, did redeem some pride on st12 to end with a score in excess off age which is the short-term goal, no fanciful expectations here.
94 was high gun, two shots one went targets only, shoot average was 77, 69 entries A & above 81 B & C so is that 77 (there were 6 non classified ) average "about right" given the turn out?
Saw fair few chums all in good spirits despite the cold, even a fair few who had found the course a bit oaf a stiffer ask than expected were smiling, must be Christmas.
Coleys running mid week ESP throughout 2024, bit of a shame that some of these are not on a Saturday (as in 2024) as its nice to see a few different faces.

Nice to bump into you Rich. I too found them white ones quite difficult to see. But lucked into a straight.
It's real shame they've decided not to hold some Saturday ones. We can't make the mid week stuff.
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jasper said:

Nice to bump into you Rich. I too found them white ones quite difficult to see. But lucked into a straight.
It's real shame they've decided not to hold some Saturday ones. We can't make the mid week stuff.
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Am also very much in favour of more Saturday shoots, although in Coleys case it might be the bean counters not wanting to lose a busy Saturday, a comp may bring in a few more bods than the usual Saturday number whereas mid week the place is er, not so busy, its I feel a purely commercial decision.
With Coleys hosting the CPSA English Open Sportrap (150 targets?) they may well be offering a few reg Sportraps in order to trail the running of such, if so hopefully a Saturday as it would not impact the walk in crowd & shooting school.
Mrs Jasper made those white sims look a lot easier than I saw/found them.

Hangman's stone today, When I booked with Sean he asked me to arrive 12pm as it was fully booked, I did as asked and it was truly refreshing to shoot without the throngs we encounter when doing a 10am start.

Weather was 5 Degrees and windy, sunny with icy showers, the cold was pretty dire.

My performance has been sadly lacking in recent months A brief visit to a higher class seemed to have had an adverse effect on my scores, probably started thinking too much about shooting rather than just doing it, anyone else have this issue? I'd probably shoot better as a non CPSA member, not that I'm going to leave, I have just renewed.

I was pleased to see that a couple of my bugbear stands had been changed to something different and more hittable for me, I started OK, I straighted stand 1 (easy going away O.R.) which is always nice, it gives confidence to carry on, I carried on dropping one here 2 there, three on stand 7 (L to R quartering away followed by a dodgy teal.)
I recall looking at some of the targets in the bottom corner with awe but got through, losing no more than one or two on each.
Stand 12 (5 pairs) was another that looked daunting, a sim pair L to R quartering away dropping and I lost 2, (pretty pleased with that)
All in all a good day for me and a much needed confidence boost. Score? lets say 10 above the shoot average and 5 above my average