Caterham wrote:

/\ many thanks for the comments.

I appreciate there are hoops to jump and I fully appreciate your comments (and while I agree with them it doesn't stop me from having my own 'wants' )

so can anyone give a bit of guidance on the least painful course of action?

Chopperone wrote:

Hi
I am an RFD and own a Shooting Ground ( also own a Caterham )

On my grounds we offer clay shooting, BP clay shooting ,mini rifle, LBR ,LBP,Speed Steels and Practical shooting and Air rifle. We have two Home Office approved Clubs based here and we are accepting new members.
My Range is 100m but also split into 11 practical bays.

Best thing to do is have a think about what you would really like to do and then come and have a look.
Reading between the lines l think you would probably like the Mini Rifle/Practical shooting.
Guy

I think I need to drop you PM later
a caterham and 100m range......what more could I possible wish for......oh and you're 'local'

walfy wrote:

Another dig out of a long resting post.
I took up clays 5 yrs ago, just had my forst renewal come through. Very painless with A&S Police.
Anyway, went shooting on Sunday, I have a Berreta Onyx and the wife a Silver pidgeon. I know my gun is near the bottom end of the scale of good guns but it's a first gun . I have shot it averagely over the 5 yrs of ownership. Never thought much about it, never really shot anything else.
Was just happy with my gun, ground we go to there are very few competition days so it's just a free for all and you shoot what ever stands you like.
ANyway this weekend, we went with a mate who had a very nice DT11. Had a shoot with that, and it felt so much better than my Onyx.
But how do I justify going from a £600 gun to an £8K gun? I
I only shoot for fun, no interest in shooting competitions, due to my inability to hit enough. Its more about the social side of it.

So onto the web I go and see all the DT11 reviews I can find on YT. Then come across a review between a DT11 and DT10. The latter being quite a bit cheaper. But a lot less features.

So should I stick with my first gun and continue as I am. Or do I up my game and buy a newer gun. (Can't afford a new one). If so is the 11 worth the extra £ over a 10?

Gun fit first and foremost, the only other thing that comes into it is your mindset. Cost of the gun, features (?!) all factor into the second.

It doesn't matter how expensive the gun is for fit, if it fits it fits. The only thing that matters is that it should fall to your eye naturally and be comfortable to shoot. If you don't find it comfortable you will tense up etc., if it doesn't fall to eye then you'll be wasting time (even if it's subconscious) making sure the gun is in the right place. If both of the above hold true (fit and comfort) then the gun (perhaps with a little practice) will just point where you are looking and you don't need to consciously worry about the gun.

Mindset (touching on features) if you're not enjoying yourself / finding things comfortable then your shooting will suffer. For example., my main competition gun has changeable chokes. It's been a while since I've shot clays but it's surprising how many people question the fact I never changed chokes (always shot 5/8ths in the bottom barrel and 3/4 in the top*) or cartridges depending on the target. My logic is that those two chokes with my cartridges would comfortably hit anything you're expected to see on a clay ground from stuff a few inches from your barrel to 70+ yards out. If I missed something I missed it, i.e. it was down to my incompetence, I knew the gun could hit it if I put the shot in the right place.

I have (several) friends who shoot at the top level and they're forever changing chokes but that's their choice and they're comfortable with it. I decided to focus on learning to be more accurate and sod changing chokes and cartridges. That way I'm pretty lackadaisical and laid back when it comes to high level competitions, used to off a number of friends with how relaxed I'd be at a major competition.

Remember no one makes money clay shooting so if you're not enjoying it why are you wasting money on it? Surely coke and hookers would be a wiser choice! at least you'd get some enjoyment out of it.

On the gun fit - try as many guns of friends etc., you can before spending money. Personally I've never got on with Beretta's - they've always been barrel heavy in my opinion. I've shot a handful of DT11s that friends have had and they've been horrid guns in my opinion but everyone is different. Ironically the only gun I've ever come across that everyone who's shot it likes is my Miroku MK38 trap gun (and other MK38 Traps that people have had).

Two good examples, I coached the Royal Vet's for a while whilst at Uni and one of the girls there shot their club 20 bore left handed (she was left eye dominant) as all the others kicked her like mules. One day I suggested she tried mine, a 32" trap gun compared to a 28" 20g. Picked it up and immediately got on with it. Years later I bumped into her at a shoot and she'd since had a custom made + fitted Caesar Guerini bought for her as a birthday present. Asked if she could have a go with mine again, went onto the pool shoot she'd just come off again and bettered her score by a couple of clays straight off the bat.

The other example was when I did my CPSA coaching coarse, one of the other "students" was a 6'6" Yorkshire man and one of the coaches was Tracy Meston who's a very slight lady (particularly stood next to the Yorkshireman). Both of them had a go with my MK38 when we used to go out for a bang after the day's lessons. Tracy ordered one in exactly the same setup as mine on the way home, the Yorkshireman said it was the first "nice" (bearing in mind it was only £1800 I paid for it) gun that'd he'd consider buying because every other shotgun he'd ever bought required him to cut the stock in half to lengthen it. Weird that a gun for someone who's 5'9" also "fitted" someone who was 5'2" and 6'6" but there you go we all liked it.

walfy wrote:

But a lot less features.