Starting Out, The Best Bang For Buck And Improving Your Results.

[John Lewis 11]

Hello Everyone, Im new to this forum and have heard about it through a friend that is a member. I like what i am seeing and hope i can help new shooters out.

 

Buying a your first gun, Its easy to get drawn into pretty engraving and branding, after all its there to do a job and that is simply removing the pound note from your pocket. That said i would recommend buying a proven brand like Beretta, Browning etc etc. I personally shoot a Beretta 686E sporting, Its a hardy gun and gets some abuse, I take it decoying, clay shooting and even lamping. I would say i have shot in excess of 5000 cartridges though it and never skipped a beat. My advice is shop around, go to a few gun shops and pick a few up, ask the assistant to look down the rib and check the fit. The fit is not essential at this point as this can be adjusted which i shall cover in a moment. When you pick up the right gun you will know, it feels perfect in your hands and when mounted. Most of all it inspires confidence.

 

 

So you bought a gun, Well done, your halfway there, at this point you will be buying magazines from the newsagent and reading all manner of sales patter on the internet. You will read about cartridge choice, load size, shot size, diamond shot, plastic wad, fibre wad, FPS, to be frank its relentless. Here is the tip of the day, they all do the same thing, you pull the trigger and they go bang, assuming you pulled the trigger whilst the gun is pointing in the right place the clay will break and that's what were trying to achieve. I personally shoot Gamebore White Gold 28g 7.5 shot with a plastic wad. They cost £209 per 1000. Why? because i saw Digweed shooting them and i though whats good for him is good for me. I fell hook line and sinker for the exact reason Gamebore sponsor him. That said it inspires confidence and that's what were trying to achieve. I haven't changed the cartridge i use simply because i do not want to find an excuse if i go out and shoot poorly. so pick a cartridge and stay with it regardless if your mate is shooting more than you and he is using a different cartridge.

 

 

With regards to chokes, i have had a play with these, trying to find fault with anything else other than me. What a waste of time, i probably missed more because i was to busy thinking about the choke selection rather than breaking the clay. I shoot 1/2 in the bottom barrel and 3/4 in the top. I normally shoot bottom barrel first unless there is a huge difference in range between the two clays.

 

 

To give you an indication on my results when i first started out. I shot 15 clays out of 70 a whopping 21.4%. I will continue to talk in % terms as it helps with understanding the increase. As you can imagine i was distraught with this and thought the best way to improve is practice. I didnt go every week and over the next few months i saw my best result kick in with 24 from 100 which is 24% a whopping 2.6% increase inaccuracy. Disappointing is the term i would use. No matter what i was doing there must be something wrong. Back to the dreaded magazines and internet. I read about eye dominance, shooting with one eye closed, i watched videos trying to pick out where i was going wrong. It was a frustrating ordeal until one Sunday i was shooting Willow farm in Kent, I overheard someone talking about the recoil pad being unscrewed and screwed back on to change the way the gun fit and mounted. This was interesting. There was a poster on the wall with this guys details on called Paul Hollamby.

 

 

A week went past and i bit the bullet and called him. That Saturday we arranged to meet at the shooting ground so he could see how my gun fitted me. I have to say i was relived to say the least. He instantly noticed my gun was mounting high in my shoulder causing some love bite looking bruises, he also noticed i twisted the gun over when mounted. Here is by far the Best piece of information i had ever received. We went out to the pattern plate with 6 cartridges. He said "raise the gun and shoot the 6" diameter disk square on (we was stood at 16 yards) I mounted the gun, pointed and fired, Miss.. How could i miss a stationary target at 16 yards? 90% of my shot hit the disk 6" low and 6" to the right leaving 10% of my shot hitting the disk. I was amazed, the next two cartridges did the same. Paul spoke to me and explained that when he looked down the rib to my eyes he could see i would miss but wanted to show me on the pattern plate. The way i was mounting the gun was fine but as it didn't fit me i was trying to compensate my head and neck rather than bring the gun to me. He now asked me to shoot the next 3 cartridges 6"high and 6" to the left. thus making a calculation to compensate for the poor gun fit. Bang, Bang, Bang... Each shot hit the disc square on. Could it be this simple? My poor results have been because i have been shooting where the clay is never going to be and just got lucky with the ones i did hit?

 

 

Paul explained there was a few different ways to skin a cat, the first and most expensive was having a Jones adjuster fitted the the butt of the gun allowing us to move the recoil pad at will thus adjusting the gun fit. The cheapest option was unscrewing the pad and screwing back on at a different angle. the both do the same thing however the Jones adjuster was cosmetically better and allowed for change in body size and generally future proof.

 

 

Armed with this information i went and shot a 70 bird sporting. I approached each stand knowing i had to make an adjustment on where i aimed to stand a chance of breaking the clays. 70 shots later i had a score of 40 equaling 57.14% which equates to an increase of 35.74% in accuracy just buy making the 6" high 6" left calculation. Amazed i returned to Paul and asking him to fit the Jones adjuster. A week later and i had my gun back. Now the confidence was oozing from me but in my eyes i still had a mammoth task to beak the previous best of 57%. This in mind i had to remember to trust my eyes once again as now the gun was set up for me and i no longer had to make any calculation. Bang... 44 from 70 equaling 62.85% Over the moon. for the next two Sundays i hit 46 from 70 making 65.71%. Every week that went by i was leaning leads, target pictures and confidence was growing. The following Sunday i hit 48 from 70 equaling 68.57% two weeks ago i hit 70 from 100 =70% and Sunday just gone i hit 71 from 100 =71%. My scores are still on the climb all be it 1% at a time but that is good enough for me. Im now competing for prizes in class C at some of the grounds i go to and have found a new born love for smashing clays. Im yet to win a prize but when i do i shall update you all.

 

 

Remember, Buy a gun that inspires confidence and fits and your half way to getting great results.

Edited June 4, 2014 by John Lewis

[Tiercel 6,986]

A few paragraphs may help the reader, I tried reading it but gave up.

 

TC

[John Lewis 11]

A few paragraphs may help the reader, I tried reading it but gave up.

 

TC

 

What a ghastly wall of text,, inbetween me posting and it getting approved the paragraphes have intergrated,, ill edit now.

[John Lewis 11]

Unable to edit until my restriction is lifted, as soon as this is the case i shall re-apply the paragraphs.

 

John

[HondaHunter 3]

thanks for posting fellow kent, i have only started shooting clays the last few weeks. I currently go to JJ's behind bluewater. i am now entering the frustrating stage of learning a little at a time to improve. i try things and sometimes go backwards but its mostly forwards.