In the beginning...

I’m not actually sure how I ended up being a clay shooter but my first experience was with a group of work colleagues at the Acorn Shooting School near Romsey Hampshire. It was a cold but bright day (it was December 2008), with snow still on the fields and although nervous I was really looking forward to shooting a shotgun for the first time.

The first thing our instructor did was take us through the safety drill and I have to admit, even though I’ve shot before (target rifles) I got a little concerned as he started rattling off about all the things that could go wrong, and demonstrated how the recoil could hurt us if we did not hold the gun properly…. Gulp….

Anyway, I was second up to shoot the first practise stand following a bloke who had killed almost every one of the 8 birds so no pressure then!!! However, almost amazingly, I killed every single one of those birds on that first stand…. Granted, looking back now it was a VERY easy target with the clay climbing up slowly towards me then stopping for what felt like a long time at the apex of its climb before falling back to earth. It just seemed to shout "kill me!!", which I did….. :o)

As we then moved on around the course, at each stand I seemed to do remarkably well, missing only the odd one or two and I have to admit by the end I seriously thought that this clay shooting lark was piss easy with a score of 42 ex 48……. Little did I know!!!! I came away from Acorn buzzing and full of confidence with every desire to carry on and made the decision on the drive home to take up the hobby.

I spent the next few weeks gathering information about getting my shotgun licence, how to fit the safe, choosing the right gun, where I could go to shoot…. It was a great time!! Then one of the work colleagues I shot with at Acorn said we should go for a lesson at Bisley and I agreed immediately. The lesson was booked and we arrived there full of anticipation and I have to be honest I was feeling very confident after my stellar performance at Acorn. And guess what…….. I shot like sh*t!!!

I couldn’t believe it!!!!… the setup at Bisley was basically a simplified form of DTL (Down the Line) and Skeet and I seemed to miss far more than I hit anything and I got very, very frustrated. How come I shot like a God at Acorn but here I was shooting like a rank amateur? It did not make any sense… However after shooting now for some time, I have come to realise the targets at Acorn were DELIBERATELY easy… after all, there is no point giving newbies difficult targets and putting them off the sport now is there? I came away from the Bisley lesson very disheartened and seriously thinking of not taking up clay shooting. The instructor had also seemed to be full of talk and little action and despite my abysmal performance had not given me much help. He even had the nerve to say I shot really well at the end simply to make sure we came back and gave him more business… Salesmen…. God I hate them!!!! :o)

Anyway, I HATE to give up so I decided to try again. Same place, different instructor, less expectation and this time I actually shot really well. Although not great, I did kill more clays than I missed and it gave me enough confidence to think about shooting properly. I came away from Bisley that day feeling really good about myself. My shooting career had begun……

Introduction

As a new clay shooter I thought I might put some of my thoughts and experiences down as I slowly progress in my new hobby. Hopefully some of my observations and experiences over time will help others, but this is mostly here for me to try and record the things I've done and experimented with to see if there is any way I can use the info to improve.

I will start off with how I got into the hobby and I will try and post an article or two whenever I have the chance, so keep checking back if you are interested....