Dartford Ironman Skeet

I must admit after not shooting fantastically the week before at the Masters I was very nervous of shooting the Ironman especially against my pal Darrel White who shoots skeet fantastically. When we register I shot mid 30s ex 50 and he managed 46 ex 50. Over 400 the gap could have been embarrassing.

I decided to travel up and come home both days to keep cost's down and so I could sleep in my own bed rather than a hotel bed. I set off early Saturday morning leaving at 6:45 and arriving just after 8am to start shooting at 9. A quick sandwich from the Dartford kitchen and I headed over to the ranges.

I started very slowly and timing wasn't great. Peg 8 I blanked which didn't surprise me as I hadn't shot a target like that since February. I still managed to escape with a 20. I kicked on from there and shot two 24s then a 22. meaning a shot 90 on layout 2. Darrel was shooting on layout one and we exchanged scores. he had managed a 92 so immediately he had a 2 clay lead on me. However I think this helped me focus and concentrate even harder.

layout 1 the clays seemed to be moving around more however I managed a 24. Suddenly fatigue really kicked in and I dropped down to a 21. I managed to take on some drink and some food and jumped back up to complete with a 23 and 24. Meaning a 92 and an improvement. Darrel equally improved though putting in a massive 95.

That meant after day 1 he had a 5 shot gap on me. I was absolutely shattered and gave it my all but was still extatic with how I shot and the adrenaline meant I had a good drive home to see Kath & Jack.


DAY 2

Fortunately I wasn't on until 11:45 sunday. I had a soak in a hot bath in the morning as I ached still from the day before and it helped me relax.  I collected my gun from mum and dad then headed back down to Dartford at 9:15. I had a smooth and traffic free trip and pulled into Dartford for 10:40am.

I caught up with Darrel and Mick Kirby who also shot well on his first day. We were all tired however all determined to match and beat our previous days shooting. It was nice to catch-up with Kelly & Scott from Dartford also and promised Tony who runs the pool I would have a go after I shot the skeet.

I started on layout 4 , the wind from yesterday had gone and I started steadily with 23. With confidence I then managed my First NSSA 25 straight. I had only ever managed 1 straight in skeet before and that was almost a year ago also at Dartford. For me I had achieved something that I never expected to do over the weekend with this alone. The excitement of it though did affect me and my next 2 rounds I dropped down to a 22 and 23. Leaving me with a 93 which was an improvement on the Day before.

By now I was exhausted , I was hoping I may have caught Darrel up by a clay or two however he had other ideas and put in a 94 which gave him a further clay gap now. Realistically I had to now shoot four 25's to stand any chance at all and hope he would drop some.

I started the round superb and got round to 6 straight however i then dropped 3 clays on the low house. This really was unforgiveable and let it get to me the next round also dropping another 3 clays. I now knew i had no chance realistically of catching Darrel and calmed right down. I managed a second straight 25 then finished on a 24. Therefore finished on another 93.

Darrel also shot a 93 so we ended up day 2 one clay apart which for me was an achievement on it own.

Final scores therefore Darrel 374  Sam 368  ; only a 6 shot gap.

It was a fantastic weekend and i am very pleased for Darrel who shoots a lot of skeet and has put a lot of work into it..

I finished the day shooting both pool shoots which were very tricky but very enjoyable then headed home to Suffolk for a well earnt rest with my family.

I ended up in the top two of my Class and await the outcome due to some admin problems with others classifications. Fingers crossed some monies are to follow.

Thanks to all my supporters and sponsors especially Joe Garnham of GBS Contracts & Lydia Abdelaoui of Gamebore cartridges for their support.


happy shooting

Sam

NEW Gun & The Masters

So I collected my new gun a week today ; the Caesar Guerini Syren 30 inch barrels . After a successful trip out with one in February.

Simpsons of Newmarket was where I bought it from and they did I sensible price. I picked it up around midday and headed to High lodge for some practice with Adrian. I shot around 110 cartridges and didn't miss too many. I then got the gun back out just before dark to shoot some off with Josh.

Saturday morning we headed down to Hepworth Hall to shoot the Essex Masters. Adrian kindly drove Josh and I down and we met Stu & Joe Clarke. Also on our squad was Eddie Wilkinson.

Unfortunately I was not well organised with my clothing going with just shorts and a short sleeve polo and this was put to the test immediately as on our way out to RED stand one it started hammering down with rain. With a 15 minute wait on the stand we were soaked before we started.

I started very slowly with a 5/8 on a L-R rabbit and a quartering looper. This then followed an even worse 4/8 on a sensible high quartering L-R then a high R-L arguably one of the hardest bird of the weekend in my opinion as it was slow therefore hard to read. I only managed a 4/8.

I continued very poor form throughout the RED course and finished on a poor 62/100 meaning at the half way stage I was almost certainly not going to be in the prizes. In comparison Josh shot a fantastic 77 which was I believe the highest on our squad.

The weather improved drastically at lunch and finally dried out we all went out just to improve on our generally poor showing on the RED (Josh excluded).

Again I started reasonably slowly missing 3 on my first stand however I soon got my head back into it and shot the stuff I should be hitting really well. I had a few slip up on some of the longer birds however finished on an 80 which I was pleased with considering I was using the new gun ad had not done much with it.

I need to do a lot of improving on this to get in the top 3 at the English in May, but firstly comes the BSSA Ironman skeet this weekend. This event is 200 skeet Saturday and 200 skeet sunday at Dartford SG. They have put Disabled Trophies up and being in E Class I feel I stand a good chance of being In the cash prizes if I can start well and not over lead everything.

Fingers crossed...

Exciting week ahead

I hAve a really exciting week to look forward to after the Easter break. The Caesar guerini 30in tempio syren I have ordered is due in stock at Simpsons of Newmarket Thursday . After 8 weeks of not having my own gun and borrowing guns this  be a massive relief . 

Once I have picked it up it will be two sessions of intense practice before I go to the Essex masters Saturday with the gun . The masters was one of my favourite shoots last year . I shot either 142 or 144 there last year so will be looking for 147 plus . 

It's been aucky found for me , my first shoot there I managed to get third In the British open standing . Then last year I managed a top 12 in C class and shot my best round of last year with 103/120 at the ambassador services supersporting .

Fingers crossed...

Updates on my shooting

So a lot has changed since my last blog . After going to the shooting show and picking up a Caesar guerini I decided to try a demo one from Simpsons of Newmarket . It was tempio syren 30inch . I took it on a training day shooting BSSA / NSSA skeet at cosford with the DSG and was lead by Greg Sutton . I had never shot the discipline so was two new things to contend with .

I wanted up on their compak shooting a steady 16 , not too bad considering not shooting the gun and not shooting clays for a month .

We then went onto the skeet and I was surprised at the little differences in the skeet but the speed did affect gun hold position and caught me out a few times . Stand 8 took me a whole to master but eventually I sussed it out .

After the training I phoned Paul Simpson up to order the syren as he had warned me of upto 6 weeks lead in.

I then went onto the compak again and managed a 24 after changing to 1/2 1/2 chokes which I was chuffed with.

We then registered 50 nssa targets . I only managed a 17 and 16 however I was still shooting half chokes so was not too disappointed . 

I heard back from Paul Simpson last week who confirmed the Syren was due around Easter so it is now a waiting game. Time is ticking with the Rsse masters the same week so I hope to get it and out a few hundred through it before the masters.

A week after that I have the ironman skeet at dartford .

This week we start the DSG season at Orston an will be using Adrian's dt10 .

Thank you to Gamebore and GBS support so far this season lets hope it's a good one ...

Good to be back ...

So my blog is back for 2015 after a couple of months away.

I am now upto B class in sporting with my average where I targeted it this time last year at 70%.

Just before Christmas Gamebore kindly sponsored me so I am now officially shooting their shells , clarkes I Walsham are storing them for me which is a blessing with Jacks toys filling the house to the brim.

I shot a couple of registered shoots over the Christmas break mid Norfolk I managed a 75 which I was chuffed with. The following week I only managed a 71 at Barrow having a blip on a single stand costing me 7 clays.

Last Saturday I had a session with Phil Gray and after a slow start I managed to get into the swing of things.

Preparations are now fully focused on the Essex Masters were I am going to look at  putting in something over 148. 

Well done to mark winser on winning the stratstone and a range rover I have voted for him as cpsa shooter of the year.

Finally thank you to joe Garnham of GBS builders for sponsoring me for my major shoots for the year including the masters , British and English opens and the bssa skeet ironman challenge ...

Good End to a Great Year of Shooting

We had the final DSG shoot of the season on Saturday which was 100 bird Sporting at Sporting Targets.

It was a fairly stiff round however I started fairly well only missing the odd one or two until I got to and evil quartering left to right and a mini that really wasn't doing to much. I let it get to me and only scored a 2/8.  The nest few stands I struggled to get back to my  early form whilst everyone else including Adrian were shooting very consistently. I did finish the round much stronger with my last 3 stands scoring 7,7,7. I hadn't been counting my score at all however I did expect I had struggled to break 70 when people asked what I finished on. When the scores came through I had finished on a 72. I was chuffed with this considering I had missed 6 on a fairly straightforward stand. It was enough to get equal high gun with Adrian & Graham Long however Adrian pipped us on countback. Meaning I finished equal second and winning B Class. It was refreshing to have a new member shoot with us and a hopeful new member.

The DSG also held their AGM and I was very proud to be re-elected as secretary for a further year. After the AGM we had our presentations for the season and I was fortunate enough to win the Sporting & Skeet shield and get Second in the DTL shields. These shields were for overall high gun for the DSG over the season based on the 4 best shoots. I managed 106/120 on sporting, 94/100 on skeet and 90/100 on DTL.

Next season's DSG shields will be hotly contested with new members like Graham Long, Darrel White & Jamie Gutteridge taking more of an interest and also our existing members determined to get some honours.

So what a season; I never imagined in October last year that my shooting would come on so much and got so many honours. The confidence of winning the CPSA disabled shooter of the year has certainly spurred me onto do so well and the support of sponsors like Puff Baker & Joe Garnham of GBS have been terrific then the coaching that Phil Gray has given me has taken me to the next level.

I will certainly be looking to take a further step again next year and defend all my trophies and am going to attempt to add more disabled honours and able bodied honours to my trophy shelf.

I am likely to be going up a class into B and the aim for next year will to be pushing to get into A class.

Dsg & Hepworth ...

So 2 lots of shooting. Firstly a quick trip to Hepworth hall to shoot 120 bird supersporting, sir George had shot a 119 and several others between 105 and 114 so thought it must be a sensible round then to my surprise saw a 107/8 in C class . That would take some Beating and told mr Dyson I'm going after 100. 

I started on stand 5 half way through the round and joined a team shooting the auto layout . Those who haven't shot supersporting it's 3 targets per stand . Generally a o/r b , a o/r c then you repeat those combinations then finish with b and c simmo. Historically I haven't shot simmo well however it seemed to be my day. I had one or two targets throughout the round I struggled with. Notably a quartering right to left rabbit on 8 or 9 . Also I struggled with a white going away bird over the pond and then a left to right close white bird for the better of me a couple of times . Other than that I was delighted with my shooting and finished with a 103. That left me second Saturday morning and it kept me there for the rest of the weekend. It was good to shoot with some new people notably Natasha and to shoot with Phil moss for the first time.

Saturday afternoon I shot at Nottingham with the DSG . It was a really disappointing turn out to be honest only 6 turning up. Just 4 members. 

We started on skeet and I started really goo getting to peg 4 not missing a bird then I missed the right to left single. I then missed peg 6 single right to left and also missed low house on peg 7 single . All silly birds and a 22 which really should have been a 23 minimum. Darrel and Jamie pipped me by 1 and Adrian tied with me.

We then went onto dtl and I changed to 1/4 1/4 choke . I probably should have gone tighter but stuck them in thinkin I wouldn't have to change for the rest of the day. Again I started strong shooting my first 6 with first barrell. Then had a couple of  second barrells and a couple I misses. However I finished appalling missing 3 of my last 4 birds ending on a 20. Jamie shot a 21. 

Onto the most exciting the sporting . It wa very steady and shot over 4 stands. I only dropped 2 clays giving me a 28/30 . Adrian and Darrel shot mid twenties and Jamie tied with me on 28. So we shot another stand to decide and i pipped him.

After a short break we shot the sportrap which was difficult mainly down to having more than 5 targets so you really had to think about the combinations . Again started well with a 5 and a 5 but then some tricky birds meant I slipped down to a 20/25 in the end . Again Jamie pipped me with a 21.

The 4 disabled shooters shot very strong it was just a shame more didn't manor the effort to attend Nottingham really looked after us with good reffing and targets.

So all in all a successful weekend .

Roll on dartford on 27th sept