Sporting Shoots 2021. Reports and discussion.

[Richard59]

Not been out for a while, work though took me to within era er no within gunshot of Barbury so too good a chance to miss and shot todays Sportrap shot with usual bunch of chums plus saw many others also. Now have always felt Barbury do put on a test, and the break clearly hadn't improved my shooting! As always can think of one / two (or plenty) that escaped my pattern, did though hit enough of the awkward stuff and a fair few simos to bring a smile. None of the squad thought we had shot well / done the layouts justice that said it looked to be a low scoring event judging by the scores when I left, mind you some superstars still to shoot who will probably see what I thought were exocet dots as bin-lids. Few weeks ago the place was awash with heavy rain & mud, today it looked almost pristine and as well as the reg the social shooters were there in abundance, the place looks to be thriving which is a big positive for clay shooting in this area. 

 

[Richard59]

Out again, Oxfordshire, did not feel as busy as last time there, found plenty of space in car park which was overflowing last time there. One of the few places you can get a hot drink in a "proper" mug not a paper or plastic / polystyrene poor substitute, was early enough to see and have chance of a pleasant and amusing chin wag with a few before our start. Our merry gang was just a three, as was the squad in front and from start to end we shot it in just shy of hour & a quarter, still have plenty of cobwebs & was rather poor on too many stands, yes hit everything but not consistently enough. Yes the wind did pick up and probably affected a few targets, still should have done better though, one of our squad finished on 91 which he was pleased with, even more so when he was told he was leading the shoot, that said some star AAAs where munching big slices of cake whilst awaiting a start.

 

[Will Hewland]

Out again, Oxfordshire, did not feel as busy as last time there, found plenty of space in car park which was overflowing last time there. One of the few places you can get a hot drink in a "proper" mug not a paper or plastic / polystyrene poor substitute, was early enough to see and have chance of a pleasant and amusing chin wag with a few before our start. Our merry gang was just a three, as was the squad in front and from start to end we shot it in just shy of hour & a quarter, still have plenty of cobwebs & was rather poor on too many stands, yes hit everything but not consistently enough. Yes the wind did pick up and probably affected a few targets, still should have done better though, one of our squad finished on 91 which he was pleased with, even more so when he was told he was leading the shoot, that said some star AAAs where munching big slices of cake whilst awaiting a start.

Nice to see you briefly! It was their best course I’ve done there I would say. It used to be a bit easy, then last month they just overreacted by making half of it vicious sim pairs. (Might have hurt the entry for this month..). Today was wind affected in places but otherwise had some good firm targets mixed in regardless. 10 stands again, which I think they really want to make 11 or 12 now. 
 

I really missed a few easy ones by being too careful and a few on last pair which 5 pairs doesn’t help, but managed a 91. That won’t win it for sure though as you suggest. I was very pleased to see my mates young daughter hit a PB of 83 as she has really got her act together and smoothed it all out after me nagging her for two years. Another happy round for a chap I coached last Monday who has been stuck in low 50s of late. Bad start but managed 67. Nice start to the weekend.

 

[bisondan]

Another reasonably consistent weekend behind the gun.

86 at Ham Cross yesterday, my first visit and a very impressive bit of ground with a nice mix of targets.  Just took my eye off the ball a few times, missed one or two on most stands.  Bit unlucky with lots of no-birds on stands 8 & 10, probably cost me a couple on each.

Gunsite this morning, felt a bit tougher than the last one he put on and was enjoyable.  Was glad to be out early there as it got very hot very quickly and I battled my way through the last few stands, could feel the energy evaporating from me and struggled to keep my timing and concentration but still finished on 88.

Should have worn a cartridge pouch, the extra layer of the vest doesn't help, I also need to stop counting how many away I am.

 

[Will Hewland]

Honesberie for me. White hat, lots of cold water, finding shade when I could. It’s usually really fast to get round but lots of trap troubles today so it took 1.75 hours, still OK..

I thought it was a bit gentle today. One good battue in the field, but everything else was easy to medium. I kicked myself for three simple targets missed, plus I missed the first long battue behind. I predict some very high scores as it’s not usually short of the AAA brigade. I hope that if they decide it was a bit easy that the next shoot doesn’t become gruelling. So often, grounds overdo a correction. Three stands can shape a shoot, it doesn’t need to be 10 or 12. 

 

[Doug Pinnegar]

Honesberie for me. White hat, lots of cold water, finding shade when I could. It’s usually really fast to get round but lots of trap troubles today so it took 1.75 hours, still OK..

I thought it was a bit gentle today. One good battue in the field, but everything else was easy to medium. I kicked myself for three simple targets missed, plus I missed the first long battue behind. I predict some very high scores as it’s not usually short of the AAA brigade. I hope that if they decide it was a bit easy that the next shoot doesn’t become gruelling. So often, grounds overdo a correction. Three stands can shape a shoot, it doesn’t need to be 10 or 12. 

It was good to see you again, Will.

The shoot felt normal and well balanced but maybe the lower field was missing a big target? You're right in the sense that it's a gentle balance! The battue on the right of the lower field was a good target, but maybe one more of that level would have made the difference. 

I'll put my hands up and say I don't mind if it was on the easier side (even though you still have to hit them all). It felt good to be breaking some clays again with some consistency after a run of poor form and an evaporation of confidence. 

 

[Will Hewland]

It was good to see you again, Will.

The shoot felt normal and well balanced but maybe the lower field was missing a big target? You're right in the sense that it's a gentle balance! The battue on the right of the lower field was a good target, but maybe one more of that level would have made the difference. 

I'll put my hands up and say I don't mind if it was on the easier side (even though you still have to hit them all). It felt good to be breaking some clays again with some consistency after a run of poor form and an evaporation of confidence. 

Totally agree. One or two big bigger targets is all it needed. But 27% of the entry on 90 or more does need a tweak. 

 

[Martinj]

For information, my booking for this weekend, 20th June at Widdington was cancelled, the shoot is cancelled for the second time this season, what is going on?

 

[tiptop]

For information, my booking for this weekend, 20th June at Widdington was cancelled, the shoot is cancelled for the second time this season, what is going on?

Rumours are that Jeremy is rapidly losing interest in it, both the clay and game side. Not that he has ever had that much interest in the clay side anyway. What with the dwindling numbers of entries its hardly surprising. We've not bothered to try and book since the first one was cancelled.

 

[Richard59]

Rumours are that Jeremy is rapidly losing interest in it, both the clay and game side. Not that he has ever had that much interest in the clay side anyway. What with the dwindling numbers of entries its hardly surprising. We've not bothered to try and book since the first one was cancelled.

Attended ( I won't say shot as I was really dire on both ) the first two shoots there in 2020, the girls / ladies in the office & kitchen were very hard working and really did try to make the events as pleasant as possible, I did not feel that the ground staff had the same, er attitude. The shoots, both of which were quite stiff suffered numerous breakdowns, and although first squad out awaited batteries being replaced seemingly every other stand, & as for the no-birds galore, we all got through lots of cartridges. With squadding, breakdowns bring bottlenecks / delays etc. It is without doubt a wonderful setting, however I didn't & won't return, oh yes feel I shot them badly, did though have winnings at the first, my badly shot wasn't matched in class by many, and that's another reason for entries diving, trying to beat up the AAAs & AAs has a cumulative effect on As Bs & the Cs. With a lot of superstars around it must be a very difficult job to set a fair balance a course these days, they just got it wrong and didn't seem to learn / or change. 

 

[bisondan]

Attended ( I won't say shot as I was really dire on both ) the first two shoots there in 2020, the girls / ladies in the office & kitchen were very hard working and really did try to make the events as pleasant as possible, I did not feel that the ground staff had the same, er attitude. The shoots, both of which were quite stiff suffered numerous breakdowns, and although first squad out awaited batteries being replaced seemingly every other stand, & as for the no-birds galore, we all got through lots of cartridges. With squadding, breakdowns bring bottlenecks / delays etc. It is without doubt a wonderful setting, however I didn't & won't return, oh yes feel I shot them badly, did though have winnings at the first, my badly shot wasn't matched in class by many, and that's another reason for entries diving, trying to beat up the AAAs & AAs has a cumulative effect on As Bs & the Cs. With a lot of superstars around it must be a very difficult job to set a fair balance a course these days, they just got it wrong and didn't seem to learn / or change. 

I did a couple last year, gave them the benefit of the doubt first time but the debacle of the second shoot was the last straw for me; no-birds all the way round, and poor targets; I remember one under-powered downhill rabbit coming toward you edge on.

Ive shot registered there since I started shooting seriously and was great when Sean Ponting set it but even then it was terrible for no birds but at least the targets were good.  

With the terrain it should be somewhere that should be packed but they've shot themselves in the foot, all it needs is some better trap maintenance (which Sean constantly told them) and someone to set the targets and it would be good.

 

[wynno]

Westfields shoot today (Wednesday) was cancelled, no notification and I only found out when I sent a text asking about card payments.

 

[tiptop]

Westfields shoot today (Wednesday) was cancelled, no notification and I only found out when I sent a text asking about card payments.

As is their shoot on Thursday 24th June at Garlands, according to their website.

 

[wynno]

As is their shoot on Thursday 24th June at Garlands, according to their website.

And then they moan when those who are booked in don’t turn up……. It works both  ways

 

[Steve Lovatt]

Hi Wynn

i had to cancel both mid week shoots as I’m in hospital this time next week and have too much to sort out before I go in 

sorry for any inconvenience caused , we will be back doing week day shoots in July 

many thanks Steve 

 

[Martinj]

I did a couple last year, gave them the benefit of the doubt first time but the debacle of the second shoot was the last straw for me; no-birds all the way round, and poor targets; I remember one under-powered downhill rabbit coming toward you edge on.

Ive shot registered there since I started shooting seriously and was great when Sean Ponting set it but even then it was terrible for no birds but at least the targets were good.  

With the terrain it should be somewhere that should be packed but they've shot themselves in the foot, all it needs is some better trap maintenance (which Sean constantly told them) and someone to set the targets and it would be good.

I agree with the comments re batteries and trap breakdowns/reliability, no birds etc. from the couple of times I have shot there. The fact remains that the site has huge potential and it would be a great loss to us all if it fizzled out, all it needs is some TLC

 

[jonz]

E J Churchill’s today for the Beretta World shoot, it’s been a few years since I was last there and was impressed with the improvements made. A very enjoyable layout and few big targets but as always dropped too many of the easier ones through lack of concentration. But 10 out of 10 for both Beretta and Churchill’s for a good event 

 

[Jonny English]

Shot the Orston masters yesterday, 200 sporting in torrential rain. Really good course and some entertaining targets ruined by the weather. 

Only critisism was the 6 man squads, rotating who started each layout and the pre printed score sheets. If you had a man down on your squad like we had, it caused all manner of problems. So much so that on the second layout we had to halt proceedings half way through have a 20 min break in the rain and fill out a new score card. This was a problem of varieing degrees all the way round. The rain wasn't helping the scorers either as they had no cover to mark under. 

Nice shoot and will definitely do it again next year but the system needs some tweaks. 

 

[wynno]

Out of curiosity, why did you have to have a new score card ? If there’s a person or person’s missing why not put a line through their name and carry on.

Rain is a bugger, but the scorers / refs should have been prepared, not many grounds provide shelters for them 

 

[Jonny English]

Out of curiosity, why did you have to have a new score card ? If there’s a person or person’s missing why not put a line through their name and carry on.

Rain is a bugger, but the scorers / refs should have been prepared, not many grounds provide shelters for them 

Because of the 6th spot where the person is waiting there is a line of grey boxes across the sheet pre filled out for them as waiting in a diagonal. When you then go from 6 to a full 5 the some of the lines are not filled out vertical and you need to jump forward 5 targets. It's a bit difficult to explain, it's not easy even when you look at the sheet. The easiest way we found was to actually still shoot as a 6 and leave the missing persons cage empty, problems came when the ref thought they could manage as a normal 5, then found out they couldn't.