Sporting Shoots 2020

[bisondan]

A few frustrating shoots the last few days; 81 at Churchills, 82 at Kibworth and 79 at Westfield.

All good rounds but I'm making (what feels like) hard work in some places, but luckily got some time with coach on Tuesday.

 

[Sian]

Paid a visit to Four Counties for the practise 60 bird shoot and pool shoot.  Now in the hands of Sean from Gunsite and he’s already cleared a bit of the wood area, opening it up a bit.  No orange clays today and 6 stands of 5 pairs of good targets.  Pool shoot was very good, poured with rain though.   Looking forward to seeing what Sean does there.   Then on to Westfield for the intercounties sporting.  Missed the rain, shot very average with one or two stands I was pleased with.  Struggled with a near green clay over the pond but did really well on some of the long ones.  Even hit a few driven and my teal was fine.   First shoot all bundled up with layers which I absolutely hate,   Always jealous of those who seems to shoot comfortably in their wet weather gear, hat and gloves.  

 

[Doug Pinnegar]

It was one of those rare weekends with no shooting, luckily we've got Ian Coleys on Wednesday and then a small bore competition on Saturday and Honesberie on Sunday.

 

[Markh701]

Bisley Cottesloe Heath today. Always a delight to shoot there and nice to see them hold a registered comp. On the surface it didn't look too hard but I managed to miss a couple on most stands and that certainly added up. Very frustrating to miss the little floppy targets but there we go. Let’s hope they hold a registered shoot on a regular basis. 106 CPSA attendees today so a good sign perhaps.

 

[Will Hewland]

Bisley Cottesloe Heath today. Always a delight to shoot there and nice to see them hold a registered comp. On the surface it didn't look too hard but I managed to miss a couple on most stands and that certainly added up. Very frustrating to miss the little floppy targets but there we go. Let’s hope they hold a registered shoot on a regular basis. 106 CPSA attendees today so a good sign perhaps.

Yes I agree, a fiddly shoot actually, won on 91.  Like you I missed here and there consistently and felt very tatty. Two of the harder looking stands I did well on, including being one of the very few to straight stand 11 but damage was done.  It felt quite different to most reg shoots but hope they continue with it. 

 

[El Spavo]

Quite liked Bisley today and for me it's always been kind to my scores. Started with a straight so that buried my nightmares of Churchills last week.

 

[Martinj]

Yes I agree, a fiddly shoot actually, won on 91.  Like you I missed here and there consistently and felt very tatty. Two of the harder looking stands I did well on, including being one of the very few to straight stand 11 but damage was done.  It felt quite different to most reg shoots but hope they continue with it. 

I did Cottesloe too, my first Reg in a long while, I think most people were shooting below their average, I dropped 2 teal on stand 11 (if stand 11 was the teal followed by a going away bird,) my claim to fame was the L to R rabbit followed by the R to L bumble bee with a gale force wind in your face. You and I put in the same overall scores it seems. An enjoyable day, certainly different (tougher) than their club shoots.

 

[Will Hewland]

I did Cottesloe too, my first Reg in a long while, I think most people were shooting below their average, I dropped 2 teal on stand 11 (if stand 11 was the teal followed by a going away bird,) my claim to fame was the L to R rabbit followed by the R to L bumble bee with a gale force wind in your face. You and I put in the same overall scores it seems. An enjoyable day, certainly different (tougher) than their club shoots.

Teal stand was 10. Bizarrely I hit all the teal well and missed that away over the branch  3 times! Mystery! Slightly over the top perhaps. Stand 11 was long r-l looper and overhead from behind. 

 

[Martinj]

Teal stand was 10. Bizarrely I hit all the teal well and missed that away over the branch  3 times! Mystery! Slightly over the top perhaps. Stand 11 was long r-l looper and overhead from behind. 

OK, I bagged the stand 11 loopers but missed a couple of the curling overheads from behind, I never felt fully in control of those.

Stand 10, I demolished the first two teal then lost it, I was just rushing it, they just needed a bit of LH side if I recall correctly. The going away bird, as you say, needed care not to shoot over the top, especially as it was starting to drop.

 

[donna]

 Cottesloe for Phil and me too. Really enjoyed it, something for everyone and made a change to shoot somewhere different.  Straightened stand 3 the first sim pair, 1 away on a few others but 3 stands cost me, the sh*tty little r-l bumble bee I only hit 1 of those but hit the rabbits, hit all the driven but only 1 of the little floppy things, had a bit of a melt down on stand 9 the sim pairs for some reason, only dropped 1 teal for a 7 and dropped all the r-l crossers on stand 11 but hit all the overhead!  Had a laugh all the way round and it was a good course I thought.  I hope they do a few more on a regular basis. 

 

[Richard59]

Coleys today for the last of "summer series" of shoots there, was on last squad and despite the weather being pretty decent for October and better than some of the previous shoots did feel, from the souls seen and spoke with that there was a rather flat atmosphere at the ground. For the first time we started at our allocated start, St1 wasn't for the faint hearted and for I that rather sent the tone for the rest of the shoot, yes one made a fair few mistakes on some of the "softer" targets that would have fattened out the card, and if Id hit one of the novelty targets on St7 a distant going farther afield crosser off the high tower it would have been luck not judgment, I did follow this stand with more unforced errors aplenty so that stand didn't look out of place on my card. My chums, all very good shots also found it difficult an I did wonder if the shoot was a few targets light of the setters intention, well I hope so. They start a winter series here starting in November, looked to have picked a weekend when there is plenty of other local established shoots on, big call.

 

[El Spavo]

OK, I bagged the stand 11 loopers but missed a couple of the curling overheads from behind, I never felt fully in control of those.

Stand 10, I demolished the first two teal then lost it, I was just rushing it, they just needed a bit of LH side if I recall correctly. The going away bird, as you say, needed care not to shoot over the top, especially as it was starting to drop.

Shame I missed you there, we've chatted in the past and would be good to put a face to another name, especially as we live relatively near each other. 

Always amusing how every sees things different... I thought the teal on 10 required a bit of rh side, and that's the joy of this game I guess. And the overhead on 11 I was doing different to everyone else by the look of it; I could only hit it when it had started curling away... Everyone else seems to shoot it fairly quickly on the straight before it dropped. 

Oh, to be an individual!

 

[Doug Pinnegar]

Coleys for me, and I found some momentum and was able to keep a fairly tidy card. Birds only entry though so my score isn't in the Facebook post but I was 2nd in A class with 84. Sam Usher was HG on 90. That should show you the difficulty of the shoot, and how pleased I was with the end score.

Didn't touch a single one of the mega crossers, although after speaking to those that did manage to connect I think I was 'in front'.

Booked on for 14th November (Saturday) shoot. I do hope that they have other ideas for parking as that car park was mighty full for a standard registered. Let alone with a lot of pay and play customers.

 

[Martinj]

Shame I missed you there, we've chatted in the past and would be good to put a face to another name, especially as we live relatively near each other. 

Always amusing how every sees things different... I thought the teal on 10 required a bit of rh side, and that's the joy of this game I guess. And the overhead on 11 I was doing different to everyone else by the look of it; I could only hit it when it had started curling away... Everyone else seems to shoot it fairly quickly on the straight before it dropped. 

Oh, to be an individual!

yes I agree, though it's not so easy in these days of scheduled squads, (I shot in the 12:40 squad, perhaps we did shoot together? )

TBH I can't remember which way the teal was sloping, I recall thinking I'd missed to one side or the other but it broke so it needed more than I'd originally thought.

 

[El Spavo]

(I shot in the 12:40 squad, perhaps we did shoot together? )

Mate... I was getting in the car for a 50% off chicken burger at the Kings head harvester at 12.40!

 

[Bebo]

Northampton Shooting Ground earlier for their first weekday Reg. Started well, straight on the first two stands, then went downhill once we got out into the field.  My usual sim pairs disasters and also in front of a lot of the longer targets.  I haven't shot there often and I don't think I've got my head around distances / speeds in relation to the banks etc that are there.  On Stand 9 I ended up hitting the second bird on the final pair at a quarter of the lead I originally gave it!  Some sloppy misses on things I shouldn't on the last three stands saw me finish on 69.

 

[Will Hewland]

College Farm today. As ever I picked the worst weather of the 5 days over which the shoot runs each month. But it was more annoying than a way to blame scores. I’m resigned to low scores at the moment..

Its just a great shoot. Lots of longer targets and a real mix on interesting stands. Definitely not an easy affair. A couple of silly misses, but hit some stuff I was glad to see break. A real shame on last stand, I was first up and it was a sim pair that would have been great to watch somebody else shoot first. Got drawn to wrong target a few times and missed 3 out of the 10. Finished on 81. I don’t think this shoot will be won on a 95+

 

[Bebo]

First trip to Oxfordshire Shooting School today. Started with a straight on a soft quartering away looper and teal then melted down on Stand 2, overleading both crossers. Steadied myself after that with just two other stands causing me any trouble - stand 4 2nd target massively wind affected and kept going in front of a low quartering away on stand 7. The rest I was either 1 away or straight on. 78, better than yesterday, but targets were generally a lot softer.

 

[Richard59]

Oxfordshire also, the ground is undergoing some improvement works and was glad to have seen the FB warning about muddy footpaths, as always I was a bit up & down, had three stands that for want of a better word, meltdown / brainfart, St 2 a l-r edgy crosser, kept hanging on then stopping gun as I got too close to timber cage, never changed a thing so didn't hit one of them, St 4  an even more edgy looper, now Im 6 foot but even I struggled to see clay as it only came into view on the drop into a very small "window" hit three but touched the timber rail twice, one of our squad actually shot into & clean through the said timber, not a very good piece of target setting I thought, and St 7 a dropping orange crosser that I shot at in different places in its flight but always well over the top of, muppetry really. Some stands went very well others so so, none of our squad felt as if they'd shot it well, not that we were alone mind. Kirk Bridges with a 95 was leading when I left. 

 

[Will Hewland]

First time back at Owls Lodge today for a few months. Very cool in the wind. I thought it was a great course, not too tough but that’s good when the wind was adding it’s own difficulty.
 

Finally found a bit of form. Got a bit unfairly judged missing on what I would insist was a no-bird on stand 7. I dropped 3 on stand 3 and 3 on stand 10 (which was a bit daft). Just 1 away on stand 8 so finished on 92 which is good for me lately. Hope the form is coming back, it’s certainly been gone for a while.