As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs I tend to suffer from cheek bruising when I shoot. It has got to the point where I actually cannot shoot within a week of another shoot because my cheek is still bruised and/or swollen. I recently tried a cheek pad which I ordered from the States and used it for first time at my first shoot at Lains Shooting School. After 150 cartridges there was barely any bruising which was FANTASTIC!!! The extra height on the comb gained by the pad also did not seem to affect my shooting so I thought that the problem was finally solved.
The other day I got delivery of a book called “Mastering Skeet”. Great little book and while flipping through it I happened to stop on a page where the guy mentioned cheek bruising. So I stopped and had a read of that section and it was quite a revelation!!! Basically and in a nutshell, it is because like most beginner shooters I put my head down onto the stock at a slight angle in order to get a good sight picture down the rib. What this does is cause my cheek bone to be in direct contact with the stock, and the skin stretched tight across the cheek bone. When the gun recoils, the stock moves sharply back and forth against my cheek bone causing the bruising.
What the guy in the book recommended was to put the gun up into your shoulder, then swivel your CHIN towards the stock without tilting your head until your CHIN makes contact. Once making contact, drop your head STRAIGHT down onto the stock. This movement bunches up the skin on your face under your cheek bone. This now causes two things to happen if you’ve done it right. 1) Your cheek bone is now cushioned by a thick layer of skin which absorbs and cushions the recoil without bruising the cheek bone, and 2) you are now looking down the barrel of your gun with your eyes in an almost perfect HORIZONTAL position.
It is hard to explain this in text but when I did this in front of a mirror it was quite an eye opener. I mounted the gun in my normal way and was rather surprised to notice that my head was tilted ever so slightly over to the right (I’m a right handed shooter), and my cheek was pressed firmly against the stock and the skin stretched tight. Without seeing this in the mirror I would never have guessed I was doing that. Using the new technique my head ended up almost perfectly horizontal, which is the ideal way to look down the barrel, and I now had a nice bit of loose skin between my cheek bone and the stock. The book clearly explains that if your head is tilted slightly, as mine was, it can cause you to misread your sight picture and you can end up missing the target. The reasoning behind this is that our brains automatically try and right our eyes to the horizontal when our heads are titled and this is done so subconsciously that we don’t realise it. As a result, as you point the gun at the target and get ready to fire, your brain is starting to right your head back to the horizontal. By the time you squeeze the trigger your head has lifted up ever so slightly, causing a miss as you are now no longer looking straight down the barrel.
Anyway, I went to shoot at Lains again on Saturday and spent the morning going round their excellent layout and deliberately did not use my new cheek pad. Instead I made every effort to use the new “swivel chin towards stock and drop head” method and it actually worked a treat!!! I came away after 100 clays with very little cheek tenderness, and no bruising which was awesome!!! The only reason for the tenderness was simply because on some of the stands the targets took me by surprise and I lifted my head. I knew I’d done it and made a concerted effort to rectify it afterwards. So, I paid £11 for that book and just one paragraph has solved my cheek problem. Well worth the money in my opinion… :o)
Monday, July 13, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
My first Skeet
On Saturday 20th June 2009 I was at Bisley with my mate and after a few DTL rounds I suggested we try a round of skeet. My mate had been having some misfire issues with his gun but he said yeah why not so we joined some people at one of the English Skeet stands for a round. I have to admit I was nervous. Not just because it was my first round of skeet, but also because there were other people there. However they turned out to be a great bunch and welcomed us warmly. Within just a few shots I LOVED skeet!!!! It was fantastic… The targets were challenging without being impossible, and the far more social aspect of it was refreshing with most of us talking to each other between shots. This contrasted dramatically with DTL where everyone has to remain quiet until the whole round is finished because of the acoustic releases. Granted my first score was poor as can be expected, but on a couple of stands (mostly 1 and 7) I managed to get all 4 birds and killing the pair gave me such a buzz I felt like a kid again!!! I got so excited on stand 7 that after killing the last pair quite convincingly I walked off the stand without breaking my gun and one of the blokes had to politely remind me to do so…. Quite embarrassing…
For those with no knowledge of English Skeet, the layout is 7 stands arranged in a semi circle with 2 traps, one on the left in a high tower and one on the right in a low tower. Stand 1 is directly underneath the high tower, while stand 7 is directly under the low tower. Stand 4 is in the middle. The traps are set to throw the birds a set distance at a set height in such a way that the clay from the high tower would cross paths with the clay thrown from the low tower. All stands except 3 and 5 shoot 2 singles (one from each tower) followed by a pair. Stands 3 and 5 just shoot 2 singles. On all stands except 4 and 7 high tower must be shot first for the singles, but low tower should be shot first for the pairs on stands 5, 6 and 7 due to the target presentation (it’s easier basically….). At stand 4 however, you can nominate which clay to go for in the pair, and stand 7 you shoot low tower first for singles. As the total number of clays and stands only adds up to 24, your first missed shot must be taken again and this is counted towards the final score of 25. If you kill every bird on every stand, you can nominate your final 25th target on stand 7. The diagram below gives you an idea of what a typical skeet layout looks like:
As you can see skeet gives you a much more varied, but at the same time predictable target presentation to DTL and for me personally that adds a little bit more excitement. Don’t get me wrong here, DTL ain’t easy as my scores can prove, but I personally think I am going to enjoy skeet a lot more than DTL. Since my first skeet round I’ve done about another 3 rounds and my score has slowly improved. As I said I seem to be better on stands 1 and 7 but I think I am starting to see the “lead picture” I need for the targets on the other stands. It was quite amazing the last time I shot just exactly how much lead I did need to hit the clay, especially on stands 3, 4 and 5, and you don’t realise it until you actually smoke one…. I have also learnt that follow through is VITAL. If you just point and shoot you will miss most of the time.
Anyway, I am planning on trying out a few more grounds near me that have skeet layouts so I can try and improve my score. I am hoping that in a few months time I might be doing well enough to enter the competitions at the Fareham ground as it is the closest one to me and by joining the comps they run every time they are open means I can enjoy some good skeet shooting close to where I live and start working towards my first official 25 straight for which I’ll get a badge!!! How cool!!!??? No not really but still….. :o)
For those with no knowledge of English Skeet, the layout is 7 stands arranged in a semi circle with 2 traps, one on the left in a high tower and one on the right in a low tower. Stand 1 is directly underneath the high tower, while stand 7 is directly under the low tower. Stand 4 is in the middle. The traps are set to throw the birds a set distance at a set height in such a way that the clay from the high tower would cross paths with the clay thrown from the low tower. All stands except 3 and 5 shoot 2 singles (one from each tower) followed by a pair. Stands 3 and 5 just shoot 2 singles. On all stands except 4 and 7 high tower must be shot first for the singles, but low tower should be shot first for the pairs on stands 5, 6 and 7 due to the target presentation (it’s easier basically….). At stand 4 however, you can nominate which clay to go for in the pair, and stand 7 you shoot low tower first for singles. As the total number of clays and stands only adds up to 24, your first missed shot must be taken again and this is counted towards the final score of 25. If you kill every bird on every stand, you can nominate your final 25th target on stand 7. The diagram below gives you an idea of what a typical skeet layout looks like:
As you can see skeet gives you a much more varied, but at the same time predictable target presentation to DTL and for me personally that adds a little bit more excitement. Don’t get me wrong here, DTL ain’t easy as my scores can prove, but I personally think I am going to enjoy skeet a lot more than DTL. Since my first skeet round I’ve done about another 3 rounds and my score has slowly improved. As I said I seem to be better on stands 1 and 7 but I think I am starting to see the “lead picture” I need for the targets on the other stands. It was quite amazing the last time I shot just exactly how much lead I did need to hit the clay, especially on stands 3, 4 and 5, and you don’t realise it until you actually smoke one…. I have also learnt that follow through is VITAL. If you just point and shoot you will miss most of the time.
Anyway, I am planning on trying out a few more grounds near me that have skeet layouts so I can try and improve my score. I am hoping that in a few months time I might be doing well enough to enter the competitions at the Fareham ground as it is the closest one to me and by joining the comps they run every time they are open means I can enjoy some good skeet shooting close to where I live and start working towards my first official 25 straight for which I’ll get a badge!!! How cool!!!??? No not really but still….. :o)
Cleaning my shotgun
I thought I might pop this section in here as it might help some newbies get up and running cleaning their guns as I’ve learnt a few things already. The first couple of times I cleaned the gun it took far too long… so now I have managed to condense the clean down to about 30 minutes in total. Here is my step-by-step approach for cleaning a typical Over and Under shotgun:
1) Disassemble your shotgun.
2) Remove any chokes if you have them.
3) Using some spray solvent (I use Napier Gun Cleaner), spray the solvent down the barrels from both ends and then the choke tubes.
4) Set them aside to soak for quite some time (I usually leave them for an hour or so, turning them over every 10 – 15 mins or whenever I happen to walk past)
5) Spray some solvent into the shotgun’s action and using an old toothbrush, give the insides a good scrub. By action, I mean the cavity into which the barrel chambers sit when the gun is closed.
6) Mop up the solvent and mess with some kitchen towel. Repeat 5 and 6 if there are some stubborn powder marks.
7) With an oil DAMP (not soaked) cloth (I use one of those yellow duster cloths) give the metal parts of the action and forend a quick wipe down. The secret here is “less is more!!”. Make sure the cloth is literally only just barely oiled. I have some Napier Gun Oil and about once every third clean I lightly mist a little oil over the cloth.
8) I also give the wood a quick wipe down with the oiled cloth but then give it all another wipe with a clean, lint free cloth. Too much oil can be damaging.
9) At this point the action and forend are clean so I put them in my safe and lock them away.
10) After about an hour or two, I go back to my barrels and push some kitchen towel through them a few times with the rod and jag that came in my cleaning kit. What this does is remove the solvent and debris loosened by the solvent.
11) Do the same for the choke tubes.
12) I then spray the barrels and chokes again and leave them for another hour or two, turning the barrel and chokes over occasionally.
13) Now take your bronze wire brush and push this through the barrels about 10 times for each barrel. Remember to push the brush ALL the way through and out of the barrels before pulling it back towards you. This stops the bristles getting damaged. Always start from the chamber end NOT the choke end.
14) Do the same for the choke tubes.
15) Mop out the barrels and chokes with kitchen cloth pushed through with the rod and jag. Repeat this until the cloth comes out clean.
16) If you look through the barrels they should be sparkling!!! If there is ANY residue, spray and leave again. One time I had to leave the barrels for 24 hours overnight to get rid of some stubborn melted plastic wad residue, but it DID come out so don’t panic.
17) Wipe down the barrels with the oily cloth trying not to leave any finger marks on the metal.
18) Assemble the gun and put the chokes back in and give the whole thing a quick wipe with the oil cloth, then another wipe with a lint free cloth.
19) Gun clean is finished.
The important thing to remember now is BEFORE you go for your next shoot, put a couple of small drops of oil (literally one tiny single drop at a time) on the ejectors at the front and back. What this does is while the gun is in transit the oil slowly seeps down into the action and lubricates the moving parts of the gun. By the time you get to your shoot, the gun should open and close smoothly and the ejectors will function properly.
Now it might seem that the routine actually takes AGES. However cleaning the action and forend should not take more than 10 minutes before you lock them away, and the actual effort put into cleaning the barrels is only about 15 to 20 minutes. The rest of the time they sit on your cleaning mat with the insides soaking in solvent.
I have found this to be a very effective cleaning routine and the least amount of effort. Some people I know who actually shoot at County level only clean their guns once a month. I cannot do that as I am too anal about stuff like this and I need to now that the gun is put away SPARKLING….
Also, a good piece of advice. If your gun is very NEW you probably have chrome lined barrels therefore you do not need to oil the insides unless the gun is to be stored for several months before the next shoot. If your gun is quite old, then chances are you do need to oil them regularly so run the mop (should come with any reasonably decent cleaning kit) LIGHTLY sprayed with gun oil through the clean barrels, then make sure you mop as much of it out again with a kitchen cloth pushed through with the rod and jag. If you do oil the insides of the barrels, it might be better to store your gun barrels DOWN in the safe to stop oil seeping back into the action through the firing pin holes. Over time this can cause the wood behind the action to become damaged.
1) Disassemble your shotgun.
2) Remove any chokes if you have them.
3) Using some spray solvent (I use Napier Gun Cleaner), spray the solvent down the barrels from both ends and then the choke tubes.
4) Set them aside to soak for quite some time (I usually leave them for an hour or so, turning them over every 10 – 15 mins or whenever I happen to walk past)
5) Spray some solvent into the shotgun’s action and using an old toothbrush, give the insides a good scrub. By action, I mean the cavity into which the barrel chambers sit when the gun is closed.
6) Mop up the solvent and mess with some kitchen towel. Repeat 5 and 6 if there are some stubborn powder marks.
7) With an oil DAMP (not soaked) cloth (I use one of those yellow duster cloths) give the metal parts of the action and forend a quick wipe down. The secret here is “less is more!!”. Make sure the cloth is literally only just barely oiled. I have some Napier Gun Oil and about once every third clean I lightly mist a little oil over the cloth.
8) I also give the wood a quick wipe down with the oiled cloth but then give it all another wipe with a clean, lint free cloth. Too much oil can be damaging.
9) At this point the action and forend are clean so I put them in my safe and lock them away.
10) After about an hour or two, I go back to my barrels and push some kitchen towel through them a few times with the rod and jag that came in my cleaning kit. What this does is remove the solvent and debris loosened by the solvent.
11) Do the same for the choke tubes.
12) I then spray the barrels and chokes again and leave them for another hour or two, turning the barrel and chokes over occasionally.
13) Now take your bronze wire brush and push this through the barrels about 10 times for each barrel. Remember to push the brush ALL the way through and out of the barrels before pulling it back towards you. This stops the bristles getting damaged. Always start from the chamber end NOT the choke end.
14) Do the same for the choke tubes.
15) Mop out the barrels and chokes with kitchen cloth pushed through with the rod and jag. Repeat this until the cloth comes out clean.
16) If you look through the barrels they should be sparkling!!! If there is ANY residue, spray and leave again. One time I had to leave the barrels for 24 hours overnight to get rid of some stubborn melted plastic wad residue, but it DID come out so don’t panic.
17) Wipe down the barrels with the oily cloth trying not to leave any finger marks on the metal.
18) Assemble the gun and put the chokes back in and give the whole thing a quick wipe with the oil cloth, then another wipe with a lint free cloth.
19) Gun clean is finished.
The important thing to remember now is BEFORE you go for your next shoot, put a couple of small drops of oil (literally one tiny single drop at a time) on the ejectors at the front and back. What this does is while the gun is in transit the oil slowly seeps down into the action and lubricates the moving parts of the gun. By the time you get to your shoot, the gun should open and close smoothly and the ejectors will function properly.
Now it might seem that the routine actually takes AGES. However cleaning the action and forend should not take more than 10 minutes before you lock them away, and the actual effort put into cleaning the barrels is only about 15 to 20 minutes. The rest of the time they sit on your cleaning mat with the insides soaking in solvent.
I have found this to be a very effective cleaning routine and the least amount of effort. Some people I know who actually shoot at County level only clean their guns once a month. I cannot do that as I am too anal about stuff like this and I need to now that the gun is put away SPARKLING….
Also, a good piece of advice. If your gun is very NEW you probably have chrome lined barrels therefore you do not need to oil the insides unless the gun is to be stored for several months before the next shoot. If your gun is quite old, then chances are you do need to oil them regularly so run the mop (should come with any reasonably decent cleaning kit) LIGHTLY sprayed with gun oil through the clean barrels, then make sure you mop as much of it out again with a kitchen cloth pushed through with the rod and jag. If you do oil the insides of the barrels, it might be better to store your gun barrels DOWN in the safe to stop oil seeping back into the action through the firing pin holes. Over time this can cause the wood behind the action to become damaged.
Friday, July 3, 2009
My first Down The Line (DTL)
My mate wanted to get his own gun as well ASAP so we arranged an afternoon lesson at Bisley to try out some guns for him from William Evans. I took my “Bessie” along and after choosing a couple from the shop we asked the instructor if we could try the guns out on the DTL layout as we’d never shot DTL before.
For those with no knowledge of DTL, the trap (clay throwing machine) sits directly in front of you. There are 5 positions to shoot from in a semi circular layout. The trap throws the clays at a slight angle to left or right or throws the clay straight ahead randomly. The clay is thrown at the same speed and height regardless of angle. As you move from position to position the angle also changes so you tend to get quite a variety of target presentations. Each shooter will shoot a total of 5 targets from each position, but only one at a time with each shooter taking their turn. When all 5 are done at a particular stand, the shooter moves to their right to the next position, except the person on stand 5 who now moves to stand 1. Each target can be killed with either barrel, with a kill on first barrel being 3 points, second barrel 2 points and a miss 0 points. The diagram shows roughly what I mean:
Anyway, the instructor took us through the basics and the first few shots were disastrous…. I missed EVERYTHING!!!! I was wondering, “oh cr*p” I got the wrong gun!!!! However when my instructor asked if I was shooting with both eyes open I realised I was. He suggested I shut the left eye (I’m right eye dominant) and all of a sudden I was hitting the targets with remarkable consistency…. Obviously not Olympic standards just yet but certainly not bad!!!! I also discovered where you point the gun before you shout “Pull!” also makes a huge difference. I originally started too low (on the trap house roof) so the instructor suggested lifting the gun a little higher and that also helped a huge amount!!! Recent DTL shooting has shown this is actually quite important. Start too low and you rush to catch the clay and you will miss over the top…. Too high and you cannot see the clay soon enough and your reaction is jerky and you will miss below… you need to find a perfect medium just for you…. As an aside my mate decided on one of the guns that day and ended up with a Miroku as well, a MK38 30” Trap gun that had been sporterized….
Did I enjoy DTL? The honest answer is yes and no… Yes I did because it can be fast and exciting. No because as the release is acoustic nobody talks the whole round and it can be a little too serious. It also seems to be over before you even think it’s started if that makes sense?
Did I shoot well? I’ve tried DTL several times now, at least 4 times at Bisley and once at Southern Counties, and my average score is about 20 / 25. My best score was 23 / 25 but I’ve struggled to get anywhere near that again.
Will I carry on? Yes I will as I like a challenge and I want to get at least one 25 straight EVERY time I shoot DTL. Once I can achieve that I will probably aim to get 50, 75 or 100 straights as that is the kind of bloke I am… I hate quitting….
For those with no knowledge of DTL, the trap (clay throwing machine) sits directly in front of you. There are 5 positions to shoot from in a semi circular layout. The trap throws the clays at a slight angle to left or right or throws the clay straight ahead randomly. The clay is thrown at the same speed and height regardless of angle. As you move from position to position the angle also changes so you tend to get quite a variety of target presentations. Each shooter will shoot a total of 5 targets from each position, but only one at a time with each shooter taking their turn. When all 5 are done at a particular stand, the shooter moves to their right to the next position, except the person on stand 5 who now moves to stand 1. Each target can be killed with either barrel, with a kill on first barrel being 3 points, second barrel 2 points and a miss 0 points. The diagram shows roughly what I mean:
Anyway, the instructor took us through the basics and the first few shots were disastrous…. I missed EVERYTHING!!!! I was wondering, “oh cr*p” I got the wrong gun!!!! However when my instructor asked if I was shooting with both eyes open I realised I was. He suggested I shut the left eye (I’m right eye dominant) and all of a sudden I was hitting the targets with remarkable consistency…. Obviously not Olympic standards just yet but certainly not bad!!!! I also discovered where you point the gun before you shout “Pull!” also makes a huge difference. I originally started too low (on the trap house roof) so the instructor suggested lifting the gun a little higher and that also helped a huge amount!!! Recent DTL shooting has shown this is actually quite important. Start too low and you rush to catch the clay and you will miss over the top…. Too high and you cannot see the clay soon enough and your reaction is jerky and you will miss below… you need to find a perfect medium just for you…. As an aside my mate decided on one of the guns that day and ended up with a Miroku as well, a MK38 30” Trap gun that had been sporterized….
Did I enjoy DTL? The honest answer is yes and no… Yes I did because it can be fast and exciting. No because as the release is acoustic nobody talks the whole round and it can be a little too serious. It also seems to be over before you even think it’s started if that makes sense?
Did I shoot well? I’ve tried DTL several times now, at least 4 times at Bisley and once at Southern Counties, and my average score is about 20 / 25. My best score was 23 / 25 but I’ve struggled to get anywhere near that again.
Will I carry on? Yes I will as I like a challenge and I want to get at least one 25 straight EVERY time I shoot DTL. Once I can achieve that I will probably aim to get 50, 75 or 100 straights as that is the kind of bloke I am… I hate quitting….
My first shoot with the new gun
So now I had a shotgun I wanted to shoot it ASAP!!! Luckily the Fareham club was open the following day (a Sunday) so I took it down there and had a good old blast with it on a few of their practise stands and she shot beautifully… She came up to my shoulder smoothly, didn’t feel too heavy, and most importantly she didn’t kick like a mule!!! I shot about 50 – 60 clays with her that first day. Great stuff…. Unfortunately, I have been experiencing a rather annoying problem with cheek bruising when I shoot and although not as bad as some other guns I’ve tried I’m still getting it with my Miroku and I was hoping that a better fitting gun might have stopped that….. Must be my technique then and I’m lifting my head for some reason. Oh well, need to keep an eye on that and see if I can resolve that little problem…
When I got home I cleaned it for the first time and bloody hell it took ages!!!! I suppose as it was a new “toy” I wanted to try and do it properly and it ended up taking well over an hour!!! I’ve managed to get that down to a much more manageable time now and how I clean the gun will be a topic of another blog coming soon…..
When I got home I cleaned it for the first time and bloody hell it took ages!!!! I suppose as it was a new “toy” I wanted to try and do it properly and it ended up taking well over an hour!!! I’ve managed to get that down to a much more manageable time now and how I clean the gun will be a topic of another blog coming soon…..
Thursday, July 2, 2009
My first shotgun
One thing I’ve learnt in the 6 months I’ve been clay shooting is that choosing your first shotgun is as difficult as choosing your first car. Obviously everyone wants the Rolls Royce, Maserati or Bugatti Veyron equivalent, but like most normal people you cannot afford that can you? I was the same….
I have tried LOADS of different guns. Beretta, Browning, Miroku. I had even tried the lowliest of the lows such as the Hatsan Escort and some Russian thing the shooting ground had nicknamed “Boris” that rattled…. And you know what? I seemed to shoot exactly the same with all of them. Not one stood out. Obviously some were lighter than others, some heavier. Some had more felt recoil, others less. I started to panic. I had my bloody certificate and wanted my first gun but what the hell was I going to spend my money on?
So I decided I was going to go and man-handle every gun I possibly could from every shop I could possibly visit within my price range which I had set to between £500 - £1500. A bit of a vague range you might say, but with the bewildering array of guns out there I had decided I would NOT spend MORE than £1500, and NOT spend LESS than £500. The reasoning was such: I could not justify spending more than £1500 on my first gun, especially if I decided 6 months from now that it wasn’t for me. I could also not bring myself to buy something that was so bad it ONLY cost less than £500, after all I do have some standards…… :o)
The other reasoning for the price range was that it is not only the gun you need to buy. You need to buy the gunslip, cleaning kit, ear and eye protection, shooting vest, chokes (if you bought a multi-choke) and all the other little bits and bobs that come with clay shooting. So I could AFFORD £1500 but if I could get it cheaper then I would. The other factors affecting my decision making would be how the gun felt, was it a make I could sell on EASILY if I decided to give up and what kind of warranty it would come with….
Ask any clay shooter what gun and they immediately say Beretta, Browning or Miroku. It is almost like rote and can be very annoying. After all, those 3 are not the only gun makers out there…. However one consistency started to emerge. If you are an average size bloke then a 30” barrel sporter shotgun would be an ideal first gun. The reasoning being: A 28” gun is excellent for Skeet because it is light and therefore fast. A 32” gun is better for Trap as it is heavier and slower while a 30” is right in the middle and good for Sporting clays too. So if you want a general all-rounder then 30” Sporter is the way to go.
So with all that in mind I went hunting… I visited loads of different shops and tried loads of different guns for weight and feel. It soon became very obvious that every gun is unique, and annoyingly for me all the cheaper guns just did not feel RIGHT. After visiting the excellent Chichester Armoury gun shop where I tried several Mirokus, Brownings, Berettas, Lanbers and Franchis it became obvious straight away that the Miroku MK70 30” was the nicest feeling gun for me by a long way (with the exception of the Beretta 682 Gold E which was AWESOME but twice the price….next gun maybe?). It also only cost £1200 so well within my budget and they would throw in a gunslip and cleaning kit as well…. I was sold!!! Sort of….. :o)
As anyone who knows me can tell you I can be a little indecisive at times so I walked out of the shop without committing and spent the rest of the day shopping with my wife and some family who were down visiting with my mind racing. Ironically it was they who convinced me to go back and get it!!! My wife even said to me… “if you want it just get it!!” How cool is she!!??? :o)
Anyway a quick call to reserve it, a frantic drive to get to the shop before they shut and hey presto I was the proud owner of a Miroku MK70 30” Sporter!! The gun came with 3 Invector flush fitting chokes (1/4, 1/2 and 3/4) and was the Grade 1 version which just means the wood and engraving on the action are pretty standard and nothing special. However in my eyes "Bessie" is an absolute beauty!!! The only down side was that Mirokus come in a cardboard box rather than a hard travel case like other gun makes, but to be honest the gun is going to be carried around in a slip anyway most of the time and the hard case would be stuffed in the loft, so not really an issue.
I have tried LOADS of different guns. Beretta, Browning, Miroku. I had even tried the lowliest of the lows such as the Hatsan Escort and some Russian thing the shooting ground had nicknamed “Boris” that rattled…. And you know what? I seemed to shoot exactly the same with all of them. Not one stood out. Obviously some were lighter than others, some heavier. Some had more felt recoil, others less. I started to panic. I had my bloody certificate and wanted my first gun but what the hell was I going to spend my money on?
So I decided I was going to go and man-handle every gun I possibly could from every shop I could possibly visit within my price range which I had set to between £500 - £1500. A bit of a vague range you might say, but with the bewildering array of guns out there I had decided I would NOT spend MORE than £1500, and NOT spend LESS than £500. The reasoning was such: I could not justify spending more than £1500 on my first gun, especially if I decided 6 months from now that it wasn’t for me. I could also not bring myself to buy something that was so bad it ONLY cost less than £500, after all I do have some standards…… :o)
The other reasoning for the price range was that it is not only the gun you need to buy. You need to buy the gunslip, cleaning kit, ear and eye protection, shooting vest, chokes (if you bought a multi-choke) and all the other little bits and bobs that come with clay shooting. So I could AFFORD £1500 but if I could get it cheaper then I would. The other factors affecting my decision making would be how the gun felt, was it a make I could sell on EASILY if I decided to give up and what kind of warranty it would come with….
Ask any clay shooter what gun and they immediately say Beretta, Browning or Miroku. It is almost like rote and can be very annoying. After all, those 3 are not the only gun makers out there…. However one consistency started to emerge. If you are an average size bloke then a 30” barrel sporter shotgun would be an ideal first gun. The reasoning being: A 28” gun is excellent for Skeet because it is light and therefore fast. A 32” gun is better for Trap as it is heavier and slower while a 30” is right in the middle and good for Sporting clays too. So if you want a general all-rounder then 30” Sporter is the way to go.
So with all that in mind I went hunting… I visited loads of different shops and tried loads of different guns for weight and feel. It soon became very obvious that every gun is unique, and annoyingly for me all the cheaper guns just did not feel RIGHT. After visiting the excellent Chichester Armoury gun shop where I tried several Mirokus, Brownings, Berettas, Lanbers and Franchis it became obvious straight away that the Miroku MK70 30” was the nicest feeling gun for me by a long way (with the exception of the Beretta 682 Gold E which was AWESOME but twice the price….next gun maybe?). It also only cost £1200 so well within my budget and they would throw in a gunslip and cleaning kit as well…. I was sold!!! Sort of….. :o)
As anyone who knows me can tell you I can be a little indecisive at times so I walked out of the shop without committing and spent the rest of the day shopping with my wife and some family who were down visiting with my mind racing. Ironically it was they who convinced me to go back and get it!!! My wife even said to me… “if you want it just get it!!” How cool is she!!??? :o)
Anyway a quick call to reserve it, a frantic drive to get to the shop before they shut and hey presto I was the proud owner of a Miroku MK70 30” Sporter!! The gun came with 3 Invector flush fitting chokes (1/4, 1/2 and 3/4) and was the Grade 1 version which just means the wood and engraving on the action are pretty standard and nothing special. However in my eyes "Bessie" is an absolute beauty!!! The only down side was that Mirokus come in a cardboard box rather than a hard travel case like other gun makes, but to be honest the gun is going to be carried around in a slip anyway most of the time and the hard case would be stuffed in the loft, so not really an issue.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
The next step
The next step for me was to buy SOMETHING related to the sport… obviously I could not buy the gun yet so I bought the safe instead!!! While my application was being processed I bought my gun safe and then spent the next few weeks fretting about where to put it and how I was going to do it considering I am a computer geek and putting a power tool in my hands is tantamount to disaster… Anyway, the Firearms Officer came round (really nice bloke) for the initial inspection, agreed that putting it under the stairs was a good place and after a couple of small mishaps while drilling the bolt holes (there was a bloody cavity in the wall right where I was drilling the first set of holes wasn’t there!!!!!) the safe was up and fitted. The officer returned to check all was good and gave me the green light and my shotgun certificate…. EXCELLENT!!!! Now I could buy my gun!!! Yee Haa!!! Only, it isn’t as easy as that is it? No it never is!!!!! Groan….
Anyway, during this time I had been to a shooting ground called Waller’s Ash in Hampshire with my work colleague who was also applying for his certificate at the same time and we shot some rounds of sporting. Although not great we still managed to hit about 50% of the targets… we also visited Bisley again for more lessons (a very, very good idea if you are starting out… make sure you get a lesson or two BEFORE you jump in….) and had been to a shooting show where my mate and I got a chance to shoot at a practise stand. It was also the first time I shot a semi-auto (Hatsan Escort) and quite enjoyed it.
I have also found a shooting ground near to where I live called Fareham Clay Target Club and shot there on a number of occasions at their practise stand and once around their lovely sporting layout using a club supplied Beretta semi-auto, and if anyone tells you semi-autos kick less than an Over and Under then they are lying as some of them kick worse!!!! :o)
Anyway, as you can see I shot quite a lot, at lots of different places and tried loads of different guns…..so…..you’d think choosing my first gun would be easy wouldn’t you? Well you would be wrong!!!!
Anyway, during this time I had been to a shooting ground called Waller’s Ash in Hampshire with my work colleague who was also applying for his certificate at the same time and we shot some rounds of sporting. Although not great we still managed to hit about 50% of the targets… we also visited Bisley again for more lessons (a very, very good idea if you are starting out… make sure you get a lesson or two BEFORE you jump in….) and had been to a shooting show where my mate and I got a chance to shoot at a practise stand. It was also the first time I shot a semi-auto (Hatsan Escort) and quite enjoyed it.
I have also found a shooting ground near to where I live called Fareham Clay Target Club and shot there on a number of occasions at their practise stand and once around their lovely sporting layout using a club supplied Beretta semi-auto, and if anyone tells you semi-autos kick less than an Over and Under then they are lying as some of them kick worse!!!! :o)
Anyway, as you can see I shot quite a lot, at lots of different places and tried loads of different guns…..so…..you’d think choosing my first gun would be easy wouldn’t you? Well you would be wrong!!!!
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