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| en48 Member Since: 17 Jul 2019 Location: Wiltshire Posts: 38   
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Walfy,
If you don't mind me asking, where do you shoot? I'm near Chippenham. I'm aware of a few places, some reasonably local, but the only one I've taken to is near Swindon, which is a bit of a trek. I used to shoot at Lyneham, which was like having my own private ground. So I'm a bit spoilt... Thanks, EN |
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27th Nov 2019 11:05pm |
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| diesel_jim Member Since: 13 Oct 2008 Location: hiding Posts: 6093 
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^^^^ was that at Barbury?
Plenty of byways around there as well.... shooting and laning in one day; What's not to like? |
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28th Nov 2019 6:12pm |
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| en48 Member Since: 17 Jul 2019 Location: Wiltshire Posts: 38
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Barbary - indeed.
Byways - have actually invested in a new 25k map. Haven’t looked yet... But yes, could be an entertaining day..! |
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28th Nov 2019 7:46pm |
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| diesel_jim Member Since: 13 Oct 2008 Location: hiding Posts: 6093
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There's loads around there... as you go up the hill (from Swindon) towards the school, you can go left, right, or straight up the hill to 4 mile clump, which then splits in a Y to some nice scenic lanes.
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28th Nov 2019 8:00pm |
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| en48 Member Since: 17 Jul 2019 Location: Wiltshire Posts: 38
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Excellent...
Will definitely have a look! |
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29th Nov 2019 3:49pm |
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| Thon Member Since: 22 Nov 2015 Location: Salisbury Plain Posts: 696
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There's Widdington Shoot, near Upavon and if you are OK to go a little further (and perhaps meander there via Salisbury Plain) there's Lains Shooting School near Thruxton. I can certainly recommend Lains and have heard good things about Widdington. |
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29th Nov 2019 10:24pm |
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| en48 Member Since: 17 Jul 2019 Location: Wiltshire Posts: 38
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Thanks Thon!
I’ve heard of Lains - think I’ve driven past it. Good to have a recommendation though. Widdington sounds interesting - will google it..1 Cheers, EN |
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30th Nov 2019 9:22am |
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| Avelingporter Member Since: 25 Jan 2016 Location: Southampton Posts: 406 
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If you can go a bit further again, Spitfire shoot just outside Stockbridge is worth a visit. Better than Lains as you have open choice in ammo. Unless Lains has changed recently, you have to use low noise soft cartridges there due to a towny f$$kwit spoiling their whole operation.
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1st Dec 2019 5:09pm |
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| en48 Member Since: 17 Jul 2019 Location: Wiltshire Posts: 38
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Another one to google - thanks.
I assume said towny moved there after the club was established?! My favourite is retired senior military officers buying houses near RAF stations that have been there since WW2 and then complaining about aircraft noise... |
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1st Dec 2019 8:09pm |
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| walfy Member Since: 29 Aug 2007 Location: Frome Posts: 2661 
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Sorry, just seen this. I shoot at Mendip Shooting Ground. Prob just as far as Swindon to be fair.It's the only ground I've shot at to be fair. I like it. Used the DTl range and the skeet range, liked the former, dislike the latter. Mainly because I can hit clays on the former and not on the latter. You have to use the shells provided by MSG, something to due with the permit to shoot there. The do offer 21 and 28gram shells, I've only ever used the 21 and am told that it is more than sufficient for all targets there. Avalon Guns has opened a shop up there so you can buy all your trinkets, or even a new gun if you want. I'm still waiting for my SGC to arrive in the post so both my guns are held in the armoury at Avalon. I take them out to shoot, clean them and they hold them for me. Can't wait for the SGC to come through, which will give us freedom to shoot where we want to. I've been offered to shoot with friends on their farms but with their guns and clays. It then becomes a bit awkward when it comes to paying for the privilege, as I don't want to lose the friendships, I've always said I'm busy. But when the guns come home, I'll take them up on the offer. On the plus for MSG, there is an awesome cafe there and the full English is MASSIVE and cheap. £7.50 IIRC with tea and toast as well 110 D250 SE HT 110 USW SOLD RRE HSE Dynamic Gone, wife killed it VOLVO XC60 R Dynamic with some toys Polaris RZR 900XP SOLD |
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3rd Dec 2019 9:51pm |
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| Avelingporter Member Since: 25 Jan 2016 Location: Southampton Posts: 406
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En48.... towny moves in, complains about noise from Lains, who had been there 25 years. Ruined their operation. Then kick up a fuss about noise from Thruxton race circuit and to cap it all goes all in about noise from the A303.
Only gets a change to Lains. But locals not impressed and refuse to deal with said towny, won’t be served in the shop or local pub. Eventually after a few years gets the message and moves one leaving chaos in their wake. Why do some townys thing the countryside is quiet. It’s not, it’s full of people and industry, crowing cockerels ...and shotguns !!! Hurrah. |
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3rd Dec 2019 10:08pm |
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| en48 Member Since: 17 Jul 2019 Location: Wiltshire Posts: 38
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walfy
Ahh, I know Mendip. And I'm completely with you - I couldn't shoot skeet if my life depended on it. I'm actually a very good rifle shot. But target shooting bores me. And I don't really like killing things for 'sport'. (I'm fine with people who eat what they shoot...) I much prefer clay shooting - sadly, I'm just not very good at it. Can't beat a good farm shoot - I miss being being able to put a couple of traps out and shoot what I want to..! Hope your ticket comes through soon... Cheers, EN[/img] |
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7th Dec 2019 1:59pm |
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| Thon Member Since: 22 Nov 2015 Location: Salisbury Plain Posts: 696
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You can use Hull Comp X there now rather than their branded cartridges. Personally I have never found it much of a problem because I always shoot there and am used to the way in which they work. I can see if you switch between venues it could be annoying to keep switching ammo. It is such a shame both their hours of opening and cartridge type was restricted - absolutely nonsensical with the proximity of the A303, Thruxton circuit and the Thruxton airfield. |
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7th Dec 2019 10:39pm |
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| sako243 Member Since: 08 Jul 2014 Location: Wales Posts: 1222  
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OK had a quick skim through and some half decent advice here.
First and foremost as others have mentioned the single most important thing with shooting a shotgun is gun fit. Rifles you can adjust your body around because you're often taking one shot and not quickly. Shotguns not so - with a good gun fit it should be aiming where you are looking and you don't have to think about it. I'm not going to get into a brand wars here but I personally don't like and have never got on with Beretta's and find Silver Pigeons very barrel heavy. My competition gun is, and has been for the last decade or so, a Miroku MK38 32" Trap gun. It's been Teagued (multi-choke retrofitted) but I only ever have 5/8t and 3/4 fitted, in fact when the gun went for re-bluing about 5 years ago it took us 45 minutes to get the chokes out  . Having shot at the highest level I doubt I would spent much more than £1.5-2k on a shotgun, there's really no need. An interesting seg-way but useful for illustrating the point of gun fit: back in 2009ish I was on a course at Doveridge for CPSA coaches and we'd covered gun fit that day. After the day's instruction finished we and the instructors went out onto the ranges for a bang. A few were interested in my MK38, one of the coaches was 5ft something small and one of my fellow trainee coaches was a 6ft8 Yorkshireman. Both tried my MK38 and both shot well with it and found it fitted them (including myself obviously - being 5'9), to the point Tracey (instructor) bought one on the way home at the end of the week and the Yorkshireman was going to look into one because normally he had to chop the stock in half to lengthen it, this was the first "nice" gun he was prepared to buy to lengthen.
Secondly get your eye dominance checked (there's a really simple technique to do this yourself if you want). Eye dominance is far more important than your personal handedness. If you've never fired a shotgun before or done anything significant it will feel as awkward shooting left handed as right handed. If you are left eye dominant even if you are right handed I would recommend learning to shoot left handed. If you shoot right handed you will either have to close one eye or compensate depending on what direction the target is moving. Closing one eye is simpler but means you lose depth perception which is rather crucial. The alternative of compensating is possible but requires a skilled shooter - ergo you have a chicken and egg situation here... Thirdly - "forget" lead you're going to get people saying you're missing behind it, in front of it, over the top, etc., by and large you will be but not because you've got the lead wrong, you'll almost certainly have poor technique first, sort that out (happy to offer some advice). By technique I mean how you hold the gun, picking up targets, body stance, etc. Fluid motion of the gun and correct body stance is more important than worrying about lead when you're learning. Once you have those nailed then lead is easy to teach, getting someone to keep changing the lead picture with poor technique just confuses matter. Fourthly - you're going to have ups and downs, don't worry about it, enjoy it and keep at it, it'll come. Important rule to remember, very few people can make money or are self-sufficient in shooting, so therefore you're doing it as a hobby. If you're not enjoying it what's the point?! I'm going to buck the trend with the advice given here - yes having a local shoot is great for learning the basics and having somewhere regular to go. But the best way to improve your shooting is to see a variety of different targets, local clubs have a tendency to put up similar targets the whole time - not always their fault but sometimes the ground limits what targets can be presented. I was lucky when I learnt to shoot that my teacher had been Welsh champion for circa 10 years on the trot and between us we ran the local shoot and had a reputation for setting tasty targets. Cost wise they've been fairly well summed up - but don't be surprised when things start racking up. I have no idea what a SGC costs - since I renewed mine a while ago and as I have both FAC and SGC they get a discount when renewed together. Shotgun is basically what you want to spend, anything from free to 10s of millions are possible (have a family friend who have a one of a kind Purdey which, if ever went to auction, Christies suggested a reserve of 750k, expecting it to go into the millions if the right people were interested). Annual local club memberships are typically £20-100 depending on the kind of ground. Bear in mind most clubs also like you to be a member of the CPSA, WCTSA, BASC etc., which might add another £100 per annum but does provide insurance for you. Ammunition and shoot entry will be the biggest expense, local club shoots down my way are 40-bird days, £7 / head but you do get a pub meal (stew, bangers & mash, fish and chips kind of thing). Then you've got cartridges, they can vary massively but when I started shooting years ago I was around the £100 / 1000 ballpark, now I'm paying ~£230 / 1000. Slight change in cartridge but even the stuff I shot before is still around the £180 / 1000. If you want to try out the bigger shoots etc., then costs can rack up significantly. When I was shooting a lot I'd be averaging about £250 / weekend by the time you factored in ammo, fuel, food, entry etc. If you want some scary costs then in 2007 when I shot the Worlds representing Wales I'd shot circa 30k cartridges that year, the trip out to the states came in at about £8k I think all in, of which I had to fund more than half of it even after sponsorship etc. Thankfully because of my parents and a bit of money saved up I could go out there and thoroughly enjoyed it, but it was a kick in the teeth financially for a 19 year old... If you've got any questions fire them over and I'll do my best to answer them remotely  Ed
82 Hotspur Sandringham 6x6 95 Defender 110 300Tdi |
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7th Dec 2019 11:32pm |
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