English Open at AGL

[Doug Pinnegar]

Really surprised to hear all these negatives as Charlie Stewart-Wood director of AGL said in Pull that "targets need to be set for all competitors not just the elite" and that Marc Bonnet the target setter "has a natural ability setting interesting and challenging targets that give confidence to the shooter"

Would appear Charlie talks sh*te then!!

I’ve got a lot of time for Charlie so wouldn’t say that. It sounds like the course is firm, as it’s a major. 

Shooters are stepping outside of their comfort zone as you don’t often get whopping targets at shoots these days; they favour closer, ‘technical’, presentations. 

I’m looking forward to shooting it on Saturday, see the targets that are being talked about on Facebook

 

[schmokinn]

I’ve got a lot of time for Charlie so wouldn’t say that. It sounds like the course is firm, as it’s a major. 

Shooters are stepping outside of their comfort zone as you don’t often get whopping targets at shoots these days; they favour closer, ‘technical’, presentations. 

I’m looking forward to shooting it on Saturday, see the targets that are being talked about on Facebook

My statement is about the fact that people make statements that are partially or wholly untrue,there is no way that the course matches this description of it.

 

[Doug Pinnegar]

There have been some great shooters out on the course today; it'll be interesting to see what the thoughts are and how the scores stack up.

 

[Will Hewland]

Right, I just got home from this one..

I hadn’t shot for a while so sought out the pool shoots, firstly the Eley one, which was pretty steady but glad to straight it using, then winning some Eley Superbs, which were very smooth. Shame about the price..

Second pool shoot I missed a few. It was great, but the three cages were so far apart (compared to STR) that the targets bore no resemblance in each one, which caught me out. Good fun though.

The main event, in full for those that are bored enough to read it.

Stand 1, fairly easy away and crosser, straight.

Stand 2, missed two away loopers in front, a classic problem when I’m rusty. Daft. 

Stand 3, one of the “notorious” stands, with long r-l looper, so I was glad to straight it.

Stand 4, sim high pair, not too tough, straight.

Stand 5, rabbit and tough low crosser, dropped three crossers, deceiving. 

Stand 6, long and close r-l, straight

Stand 7, sim l-r high, straight

Stand 8, close r-l orange and MASSIVE looper. 90 yards? Only hit one of those. The stand Rudling blanked I think..

Stand 9, sim pair, l-r and r-l. Missed two r-l in front.

Stand 10, fast away and long incomer, dropped one.

Stand 11, Very tough! First bird a 60+ yard l-r that slowed and dropped, then a r-l 60 yard battue that never really opened out. Lots of blanks on here scorer said, including the fella in front of me. I missed first pair and though “here we go..”. Had a think and hit last 5 thankfully. 

Stand 12, a pair of sim “teal” which were two clays going straight up and down, looping a bit. This was where my world collapsed and a respectable score disappeared for me. I misread their 30 yard distance and hit 2 ex 8. Ref gave me a try pair at the end, I simply added a bit more gap and munched them. I was sick as a dog at this stage as I had just increased my losses by about 50% on a steady stand.

Stand 13. Rabbit and quartering away. Maybe the second of the two easy stands on the course. Straight.

stand 14. High away and r-l rising crosser, straight.

Stand 15. Platform, slow r-l and fast low l-r. missed first bird out, in front.

So, I finished on 99, which I sorely know should have been 105/106.

My verdict was that it was a superb course. Yes, tougher than a normal registered, but fair game everywhere. OK, I would say it should not have been made at all harder though, bearing in mind the mass audience. Hugely enjoyed it and was mentally shattered at the end. My only criticism was that Stand 11 should not have had two really tough targets.

The winner of this event will deserve the title it brings.

The clubhouse, catering, pool shoots, food, all very good indeed. Well done AGL!

 

[donna]

Well done Will, my 2 bad stands were 8 and 9, only hitting 2 on each. Stand 11 I only hit 3 and 12 I shot well with a 6.  I enjoyed the course and felt I could have shot better if not for the wind.  But, it’s funny looking at the results and it seems to be the same stands that are causing all the problems. 

 

[P1Fanatic]

I shot this today in the same squad as Will. It was my first major and I was a little apprehensive after reading the comments on here and facebook. But I think it was a good course and about what I expected difficulty wise when I booked on. They ease you in with a couple of straightforward stands. I hit every target except the distant looper on 8 but just lacked consistency and dropped some of the easier stuff. Was happy to get 3 of the fast L-R blaze on 5 as seemed to be catching a few people out. Agree with Will that 11 was toughest as both hard targets but that was the only one.

Finished on 86 which is the average for A class so happy with that as not been shooting well recently.

Getting around the course was a doddle and we had literally no queueing.

I can recommend the calzone pizza for lunch!!

 

[chippy]

Right, I just got home from this one..

I hadn’t shot for a while so sought out the pool shoots, firstly the Eley one, which was pretty steady but glad to straight it using, then winning some Eley Superbs, which were very smooth. Shame about the price..

Second pool shoot I missed a few. It was great, but the three cages were so far apart (compared to STR) that the targets bore no resemblance in each one, which caught me out. Good fun though.

The main event, in full for those that are bored enough to read it.

Stand 1, fairly easy away and crosser, straight.

Stand 2, missed two away loopers in front, a classic problem when I’m rusty. Daft. 

Stand 3, one of the “notorious” stands, with long r-l looper, so I was glad to straight it.

Stand 4, sim high pair, not too tough, straight.

Stand 5, rabbit and tough low crosser, dropped three crossers, deceiving. 

Stand 6, long and close r-l, straight 

Stand 7, sim l-r high, straight

Stand 8, close r-l orange and MASSIVE looper. 90 yards? Only hit one of those. The stand Rudling blanked I think..

Stand 9, sim pair, l-r and r-l. Missed two r-l in front.

Stand 10, fast away and long incomer, dropped one.

Stand 11, Very tough! First bird a 60+ yard l-r that slowed and dropped, then a r-l 60 yard battue that never really opened out. Lots of blanks on here scorer said, including the fella in front of me. I missed first pair and though “here we go..”. Had a think and hit last 5 thankfully. 

Stand 12, a pair of sim “teal” which were two clays going straight up and down, looping a bit. This was where my world collapsed and a respectable score disappeared for me. I misread their 30 yard distance and hit 2 ex 8. Ref gave me a try pair at the end, I simply added a bit more gap and munched them. I was sick as a dog at this stage as I had just increased my losses by about 50% on a steady stand.

Stand 13. Rabbit and quartering away. Maybe the second of the two easy stands on the course. Straight.

stand 14. High away and r-l rising crosser, straight. 

Stand 15. Platform, slow r-l and fast low l-r. missed first bird out, in front.

So, I finished on 99, which I sorely know should have been 105/106.

My verdict was that it was a superb course. Yes, tougher than a normal registered, but fair game everywhere. OK, I would say it should not have been made at all harder though, bearing in mind the mass audience. Hugely enjoyed it and was mentally shattered at the end. My only criticism was that Stand 11 should not have had two really tough targets.

The winner of this event will deserve the title it brings.

The clubhouse, catering, pool shoots, food, all very good indeed. Well done AGL!

Stand 12 was one of two that I straighted. I normally hate crow type clays but because these drifted to the right behind the trees I had to shoot them on the way up.

 

[chippy]

apparently it shot a bit harder today in the wind. someone on FB said " there were more casualties there today than the first 10 minutes of saving private ryan"

 

[Will Hewland]

Some big names with low scores on Friday. I have to assume the wind wasn’t kind.. It would be nonsense to assume I was actually better than these guys..

 

[MJJ]

Stand 11, Very tough! First bird a 60+ yard l-r that slowed and dropped, then a r-l 60 yard battue that never really opened out. Lots of blanks on here scorer said, including the fella in front of me. I missed first pair and though “here we go..”. Had a think and hit last 5 thankfully. 

First bird sailed into the wood, roughly by the second trap, second bird sailed up and the around the corner of the wood - distance 95 yards and god knows where it landed.

 

[schmokinn]

I think a huge amount of exaggeration on the targets Looper on 8 and crosser R-L on 11 distant but not impossibly so.

Some people are obviously not great judges of distsnce!

I don't think the description in Pull was fair still.

Very enjoyable apart from the stands in the boxes which rang right through me,would go back again.

I still think the CPSA need to make it more of an event,apart from the "CPSA championship signage" it just really felt like another reg. shoot.

 

[MJJ]

I think a huge amount of exaggeration on the targets Looper on 8 and crosser R-L on 11 distant but not impossibly so.

On Friday the looper on 8 landed toward the 'hut' in the field. The second target on stand 11 was done by a range finder according to the ref on the last stand.

 

[Will Hewland]

On Friday the looper on 8 landed toward the 'hut' in the field. The second target on stand 11 was done by a range finder according to the ref on the last stand.

I have NEVER put a gap on a target as big as Stand 8. And when I hit the first target on stand 11 I thought I’d missed it while I waited for it to break.. phew.

Final results in. My stand 12 stupidity took me from potential 8th to 83rd. Aargh..

 

[chippy]

I didn't expect Bunny's 110 to get beaten. A 114 was world class round there.

 

[Will Hewland]

I didn't expect Bunny's 110 to get beaten. A 114 was world class round there.

I was gobsmacked when I heard it came in. No wind at all today, but still amazing. 

 

[Jonny English]

Shot this today, pretty testing round but fair for us today. A little bit of a lack of variety, a cherry picker or two, driven, over head and something not thrown from the floor would have been good, but over all about right difficulty for a championship. I shot 2% below my average so can't complain. Not sure how the wind has affected it during the week though.

 

[Jonny English]

Forgot to say, the best thing for us about the english this year was it's accessibility. 5 mins from the M1 and closer to the centre of the country. It was a 2 3/4 hr drive for us from lincolnshire, but was very easy to do. The clayshooting classic at Southdown is just ludicrous, it's closer to France that it is the M62.

These major shoots need to be accessible for all, anywhere along the M1 is pretty fair for anybody to access.

 

[schmokinn]

On Friday the looper on 8 landed toward the 'hut' in the field. The second target on stand 11 was done by a range finder according to the ref on the last stand.

We were told by the ref that the trap was 75 yds out which seemed generous....Range finder on a flying 4 inch disc,impressive!

 

[MJJ]

.Range finder on a flying 4 inch disc,impressive!

If only i could shoot as accurately - 

 

[Doug Pinnegar]

I really enjoyed the day and found the targets interesting and achievable. I was genuinely excited to take on stand 11 after all the hype, I managed 6/8 on there and walked off with a smile.I only missed two the the A birds.

Stand 8 was good fun as well, again, 6/8 and I missed two of the big loopers. 

I have never put gaps on clays like that before, it was enjoyable! I'll be making my way down to St Dials for the 'Real Sporting' shoots to try some more targets like that.

The CPSA deserve some credit as well as there was a noted increase in signs and banners etc. The massive scoreboard as well was nice to see. There were comments about it being taken down once the rain started but it then twigged that it was being moved over to the shoot off area.