How much is too much ?

[Jonny English]

Nothing below 30p around here in east Midlands. Local straw baler 30p, local half decent practise ground 37p, Orston practise 40p. Orston birds only registered sporting £41 competition £46.

 

[TRINITY]

I’m racking my grey cells to try and remember when I last went to a regular ground that’s sub 30p a clay, you are a fortunate chap for having such facilities local to you, 40p has been the norm around here (WM, SW & SE) for some while, some grounds / schools even more, prices won’t be going down either. 

It's not as grim as you think up North

 

[MartynB]

I stopped over in N.Yorks last night after a game day . This morning I went to EJ Churchill , Swinton . When you look at the capital invested in that ground , look at how immaculately kept the place is , I can see why 35 pence per clay is the going rate there. I’ve been half a dozen times since they opened and it’s evolved on every visit .  Everything from the car park to the cartridge bins is pristine . Every stand has multiple traps . They are throwing some stunning targets in beautiful surroundings .  Sure I can shoot locally at Sunday shoots for a few bob less , but they’ll never put on targets like the ones at Swinton . What I do think is that as places like this raise the bar and if the others charging similar prices can’t match the quality of the offering , in the medium term they will suffer .  

 

[chesterse]

I stopped over in N.Yorks last night after a game day . This morning I went to EJ Churchill , Swinton . When you look at the capital invested in that ground , look at how immaculately kept the place is , I can see why 35 pence per clay is the going rate there. I’ve been half a dozen times since they opened and it’s evolved on every visit .  Everything from the car park to the cartridge bins is pristine . Every stand has multiple traps . They are throwing some stunning targets in beautiful surroundings .  Sure I can shoot locally at Sunday shoots for a few bob less , but they’ll never put on targets like the ones at Swinton . What I do think is that as places like this raise the bar and if the others charging similar prices can’t match the quality of the offering , in the medium term they will suffer .  

Love that ground. You do get value for money there! Wish I lived a bit nearer to it.

 

[TRINITY]

I stopped over in N.Yorks last night after a game day . This morning I went to EJ Churchill , Swinton . When you look at the capital invested in that ground , look at how immaculately kept the place is , I can see why 35 pence per clay is the going rate there. I’ve been half a dozen times since they opened and it’s evolved on every visit .  Everything from the car park to the cartridge bins is pristine . Every stand has multiple traps . They are throwing some stunning targets in beautiful surroundings .  Sure I can shoot locally at Sunday shoots for a few bob less , but they’ll never put on targets like the ones at Swinton . What I do think is that as places like this raise the bar and if the others charging similar prices can’t match the quality of the offering , in the medium term they will suffer .  

Never been but keep threatening to go, heard it's even cheaper on Mondays. However there is another excellent ground in that part of the world at Thimbleby. They must have spent a fortune on the place. 30p a clay when I went a few weeks ago. 

 

[MartynB]

Yes , I agree ,  Thimbleby is spot on .  I’ve been there quite a few times . The new building is very nice . I don’t mind paying a little bit more if I can see that the ground is improving . What gets me is when the prices are high and the facility is fraying at the edges and I’ve shot at 2 like that in the last month . 
 

 

[westley]

Taking the 4 Grandkids to the local ground on Sunday, 100 targets/cartridges between them. Grandad won't be shooting !

STILL cheaper than taking them to a Premier League football match though.

Well, it went better than expected really  !

1 dropped out due to hangover, leaving just the 2 boys and a girlfriend. It began with them being around 30 minutes late. Three mobile phones and a Sat Nav but they still managed to get lost. They have both been to the ground several times, but I suppose if yer  heads buried in a phone, you don't take notice of the surroundings. So before we can get started, it has to be the obligatory bacon barms and fancy coffee. Eventually get started. We begin with a floppy incoming dustbin lid, just to help ease the pain of leaving ALL mobiles in the car. The young lady decided it was not for her and went to retrieve her phone. The 2 brothers decided to make a competition of it, so we did 3 pair off each stand, with them calling for each target. Due to the fact the young lady had dropped out, I was met with, well can we do a few more each, using her cartridges ? Chivalry at its best ?   So on to the final stand, which they both managed to straight, then, of course, the inevitable. They knew I had put a few extra cartridges in my pocket , just in case of any 'no birds', so it was "OK,  your turn to show us how it is done". Now the CPSA will tell you, 'the Instructor should never shoot', with which I agree and tried to worm my way out of it. But they were having none of it. They decided I should shoot the stand as 'sim pairs', I did the first pair then chose to er.....miss both of the next pair  !  Well, we do have to make these sacrifices    Worth every penny of the £150 ish.....oh and bumped into Balltrap off here, who has just returned to the sport. Grand day out.

If anyone knows of a device to attach a mobile to a shotgun , I know where there are a couple of lads looking for one  !

 

[Rding]

Another thumbs up for Thimbleby. Shot there twice this month and they had installed a new stand on the 2nd visit with plans for more. Decided to join to get cheaper clays and if I go once a month I’ll get my membership back in breakfasts!

 

[Cosmicblue]

Nothing below 30p around here in east Midlands. Local straw baler 30p, local half decent practise ground 37p, Orston practise 40p. Orston birds only registered sporting £41 competition £46.

Kibworth SG is 26p/clay as a member - always a good selection of targets too.

 

[Andrew Smith]

Several grounds offer cheaper clays if you are a member. I worked out at Oxford Gun Company you got your membership fee back in clay savings if you shot just over 2,800 clays at that ground in a year. Not impossible but still a lot. 42p a clay or so seems to be the price around here, having said that I went to a private but very good shoot on Sunday and did 50 sporting for £16.50 inc the £5 guest fee!

Had to buy some cartridges for the first time in years last week and was staggered at the cost. I’ve just returned to shooting and it’s going to cost me a lot more than it did. Thankfully I only have a small mortgage!

 

[philmoss]

Ok, running a decent registered shoot: Once you’re set up with a ground, 30 traps, all the towers, stands, groundwork’s, buildings etc.

200 entries is £8000 entry revenue, minus cost of clays of probably £8 per head including breakages and show pairs, which is £1600. About £1400 for scorers and staff and HG money. (Other prize money is self funding so ignored here). So of the £8000 revenue, £5000 is the gross profit. Even if you set aside £1000 every shoot for reinvestment and maintenance it leaves a nice nett profit of £4000. However, if the shoot only gets 80 entries, revenue is £3200 so barely worth doing for all the effort. And don’t forget the initial investment that was made and has to be clawed back over a year or five.. 

It’s worth doing, but only if you get the big entries I would say. 

You will need a few more than 30 traps, need to have a spare trap for each type if you want "to run a decent registered shoot" !!

Dont forget the spare batteries & a few spare radio remote controls too, then a quad, telehandler, trailers, then there is the costs to remove the spent cartridges, etc !!

Plus paying vat on the entries !!........... Id rather have a gearbox manufacturing business.........

Trouble is, 75 birds would only save the ground owner £3 maximum in clays per shooter, so that’s all they would want to pass on. All other overheads don’t change. 

Alternatively........75 targets over 8 stands !!!!

7 stands x 5 pairs, 1 stand of 5 singles......full use of gun (if needed) = 8 refs inplace of 12, thus saving £280/300 on refs wages.........cheaper shooting for those that want it ??

A bit like ESP at a Happy Shopper !!..........

 

[Richard59]

Everything recreational has increased cost wise, last night had my first visit for over 2 years to Kingsholm, tickets up, travel (cross country train) drinks, food absolutely everything up (expected limitless else tbf), and I’d say a greater % than shooting has. Shooting has and always will be an expensive pastime, one feels lots of other hobbies are catching up wise.