Sporting Shoots; where- and how was it? (2018)

[Bebo]

With that many incomers it sounds like the course setter ran out of ideas! 

At Gatton Bottom they are known for liking to put on lots of low incomers, but it was definitely a teal day today.  Personally don't mind teals and only dropped 2 on the sim pair, even though they were all over the place.  I do quite like targets that you have to move the gun a bit and see a gap between it and the clay though.  If I just wanted to shoot straight at stuff I'd take up target shooting with rifles.

Roll on Steve Lovatt’s new one near Guildford. March I think. 

Yes, over towards Godalming.  Still going to be close to 2 hours for me though I think.

 

[Sian]

Westfield for me, Tony had to work this morning, a shock to his system although he managed to get to Horne.  Did the Compak with the EJC boys and enjoyed it.  First layout for me was 4 and I didn’t settle well into it scoring 18.  There were only 4 of us and the movement you have with Compak coming out of stands before everyone finished was the first time I had experienced that in Compak.  Second layout was where the pool shoot is normally and improved with a 22 then the layout to the right of that in the field managed 23 and last one back up the valley to Bill’s layout a 22. So finished on 85 so given how blowy it was I felt I did okay.  Had a bite to eat and went out to the Sporting with Wendy Spackman, Peter Woodcliffe-Thomas and Jamie Gutteridge.  It was a fun round with some laughs along the way.    No disasters just one away repeatedly and one of 2 away  and two of 3 away.  I was very pleased with stand 12 as I missed 2 orange to the wind and the first crosser.  Shot that second bird gun down after that and it was poetry in motion even if I say so myself.   The wind was gusty  but again I felt I did as well as I could and finished on an 82.

 

[Paul120]

They rarely wind the springs up at Horne, as you know. I was thinking about how many of the targets you had to shoot straight at or near as dammit:

Stand 12 - sim pair of teal and high incomer

Stand 11 - long high incomer l/r quartering away that was effectively straight away when you shot it.

Stand 9 - second bird was a flattish teal going away

Stand 7 - sim pair of teals

Stand 6 - floppy l/r thing

Stand 5 - following pair of floppy r/l

Stand 4 - long low incomer and quartering r/l away

Stand 3 - overhead

Stand 2 - r/l quartering away

Reminds me why the days leave and long drives to AGL and EJC are worth it.

We got that selection of targets just by shooting the  ABT in wind this morning.   

 

[Dan525]

Kinglsey Moor for me yesterday. ESP.

Course was nice and varied. My first time at the ground I was impressed with the geography of it - big valley for some low going away targets and nice flat field up the top for simo rabbits.

The wind didn't half interfere with the birds. I seen a couple of dropping targets fly up the opposite way and start rising haha it made it interesting but for somebody like me (class C) it was a bit tougher.

 

[Martinj]

Gatton Bottom.  Some of the targets (actually most of them) were massively wind affected.  Mini in the middle I shot the first pair with the wind blowing and smoked it, missed the next two before I realised that because the wind had dropped it was slowing much more quickly and I was giving it too much before hitting the last one.  Lots of that sort of thing happening all over.  One of the greenish incomers on the platform that was supposed to be well under your feet ended up almost as a driven target.  I wasn't shooting particularly well anyway and ended on a 66, just enough for it not to drop off the bottom of my averages 

It was Gatton Bottom for me too and I enjoyed it, we enjoyed the wind effects, the clays were all over the place, this cost us a few and the overall scores were not high as a result. I thought green clays against a green field was a bit fiendish on stand 2? and the teal especially were "variable." The battue on stand 1 was my undoing.

 

[Bebo]

It was Gatton Bottom for me too and I enjoyed it, we enjoyed the wind effects, the clays were all over the place, this cost us a few and the overall scores were not high as a result. I thought green clays against a green field was a bit fiendish on stand 2? and the teal especially were "variable." The battue on stand 1 was my undoing.

I think everyone struggled on the battue.  I struggled on the first bird on Stand 2, was OK on the green going away one.  They like eyesight tests at Gatton Bottom, the incomer on the platform wasn't easy to see either as it was so edgy (although I shouldn't complain as I hit all of them).

 

[Richard59]

Owls today, Sportrap went on tod and was squadded with a nice quartet form more SW than SE so my bumpkin accent was at home, one had, well by this ones standards a rather good start, big after L1 & L2, oh then stuttered on some rather tricky simos on L3 before my own l-r demons took over on L4, overall though one had a pleasant afternoon and was glad I went, pc was down when I left so no idea of scores

 

[Will Hewland]

Yes, last two layouts were hard. 3 was just fiddly as heck and all long targets on 4. I did a 24 on no2. Otherwise not my best day.. 

 

[Will Hewland]

I’m not the biggest STR fan (mainly because I’m not that good at it probably), but I have really enjoyed all the recent EJC events. Today was no exception. 4 layouts each with a distinct character. The first one was weirdly deceptive and we all came off with low scores. A bit more as expected after that. 84, so nothing spectacular but as I say, very enjoyable. 

 

[P1Fanatic]

Just back from a busy Four Counties. Glad I got there earlyish as car park was rammed when I left. I started badly on stand 4 dropping 6 from 10 and just leaked points for the next 4 stands. Managed to get in the groove and only dropped 6 targets over my last 6 stands to rescue a 78 which I was actually pretty pleased with after such a bad start and first half of the course. Stand 11 is normally my car wrecker and I thought it was going the same way when dropping the first pair but managed to find them both and only dropped 1 more for a 7/10

 

[Will Hewland]

Just back from a busy Four Counties. Glad I got there earlyish as car park was rammed when I left. I started badly on stand 4 dropping 6 from 10 and just leaked points for the next 4 stands. Managed to get in the groove and only dropped 6 targets over my last 6 stands to rescue a 78 which I was actually pretty pleased with after such a bad start and first half of the course. Stand 11 is normally my car wrecker and I thought it was going the same way when dropping the first pair but managed to find them both and only dropped 1 more for a 7/10

Good to see you Simon. Stands 4 and 11 killed me. L-R still bad since new glasses.. Dropped 11 on those two! Shot the rest reasonably to land 84. A good varied course there, definitely one of their best I felt. 

 

[Sian]

4Cs for us too.  Lazy start so just one shoot today.  We parked in the field and as it was so busy had a few goes on the pool shoot first.  Jumped around a bit to try to avoid queues but inevitable on most stands.  Stand 11 was my last stand and dropped 1 which I was pleased with.  Dropped 3 on the stand (8?) at the other end of the car park, apparently my core was to blame so that was my worst stand. 87 to finish.  I enjoyed it too.

 

[Doug Pinnegar]

Went back to Orston today as not a huge selection on. Some nice variety of clays including a couple more testing targets; I do wonder why they don't get the same volume of entries as other grounds? 

Wheels fell off in the middle but decent start and end. 75. Literally an average performance and one that, as always, could be better!

 

[Bebo]

Court Farm for me today.  Sluggish start, missing stuff I shouldn't on the first three stands.  Stand 4 smashed the first two pairs then missed the next two, no reason apart from I started to think about it and be careful.  Steadied after that and finished on a 75.

Stand 11 pissed me off.  Following pair of slightly quartering teal.  Scorer marked me a miss for the first bird even though I smashed it - it wasn't even a chip, it was clearly broken into at least 6 pieces.  Then on the third pair a really late release on the second bird meant I'd started taking the gun out of my shoulder.  That really effing annoyed me and as a result I missed one of the last pair.  So scored as a 5 on a stand that I'd actually hit 6 on and probably would have hit an 8 on if it had been a different scorer/buttoner.  It's not the first time this young girl has messed up, she doesn't pay attention at all.  Annoying as some of the other youngsters at Horne are really very good.

 

[Will Hewland]

Court Farm for me today.  Sluggish start, missing stuff I shouldn't on the first three stands.  Stand 4 smashed the first two pairs then missed the next two, no reason apart from I started to think about it and be careful.  Steadied after that and finished on a 75.

Stand 11 pissed me off.  Following pair of slightly quartering teal.  Scorer marked me a miss for the first bird even though I smashed it - it wasn't even a chip, it was clearly broken into at least 6 pieces.  Then on the third pair a really late release on the second bird meant I'd started taking the gun out of my shoulder.  That really effing annoyed me and as a result I missed one of the last pair.  So scored as a 5 on a stand that I'd actually hit 6 on and probably would have hit an 8 on if it had been a different scorer/buttoner.  It's not the first time this young girl has messed up, she doesn't pay attention at all.  Annoying as some of the other youngsters at Horne are really very good.

Horne scorers are mixed. They pay badly, which is daft given their good entries..

 

[chippy]

Northampton today another great round. I hit 84 with my new gun.

 

[Will Hewland]

4Cs for us too.  Lazy start so just one shoot today.  We parked in the field and as it was so busy had a few goes on the pool shoot first.  Jumped around a bit to try to avoid queues but inevitable on most stands.  Stand 11 was my last stand and dropped 1 which I was pleased with.  Dropped 3 on the stand (8?) at the other end of the car park, apparently my core was to blame so that was my worst stand. 87 to finish.  I enjoyed it too.

That’s really good Sian. I believe 90 was leading at 3pm..

 

[Sian]

That’s really good Sian. I believe 90 was leading at 3pm..

Thanks Will, it’s always the same you come away and think of the one aways  that you really didn’t need to miss!

 

[schmokinn]

Meadowcroft for me today after 3 weeks off and shot like a blind man,though there were a few really tricky targets.

Left eye trying to be dominant and literally have got to fat for my gun!

Couldn't count high enough for the amount of zeros on the card

 

[chippy]

Couldn't count high enough for the amount of zeros on the card

Been there. not good when you're not sure if it's easier to count hits or losses.