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….