T.C.

Hi John, I am reminded of the man who jumped off the Empire State building. Half way down he was heard to remark "OK so far!"

Kibworth is certainly worth a try. Good targets changed regularly .

Tracer shells will not help you with this problem. Go and get a lesson from a good coach.

When people talk about "Hard Focus" they are usually referring to what is often called central vision. The centre of each retina contains a small circular area called the fovea centralis which contains a high density of visual receptor cells. It is the eye equivalent of HD and only covers a tiny area of vision.The rest of the eye has a lower density of receptor cells and provides peripheral vision. Peripheral vision is sensitive to movement. Central vision is the part you use to read with.It also seems to be the part that your brain relies on for "hand to eye co-ordination". If you want to be able to place your shotgun in the correct place at the correct time you need to be seeing the target in your central vision. The peripheral vision is useful for picking up the initial movement of the target.Locking your central vision on a target for any length of time is difficult and needs practice.I hope this quick guide is helpful.

Most prescription glasses and inserts will show a distortion of the image if you try and look through them with your line of sight more than a few degrees away from the centre of the lens. This will be reduced if you have shooting glasses that position your eye in the centre of the lens when you mount the gun(rather than ending up looking through the top 25% of the lens with normal glasses)ie. shooting glasses with a prescription lens rather than an insert. It may also help if you make an effort to point your nose at the target rather than trying to see it out of the corner of your eye.As a varifocal spectacle wearer I found both of these things made a big difference. The comment that if you look at the target all you see is a blur suggests a visit to your optician might be helpful!

I found mine too heavy when shooting gun down. I ended up with a Beretta 682 and never looked back.The K80 is overpriced in my opinion.

The standard advice for a newcomer is to buy second hand. That way you should loose less money if you trade your gun in for a different model. Few people stick with their first gun gun once they have progressed with their shooting.Stay with Beretta and get a 686E if that is what you got used to last time.

Welcome to the club of barrel watchers! Looking only at the clay and not focusing on the barrel could be regarded as the Holy Grail of clay shooting . It takes some people years of practice not to aim at the clay or carefully measure the lead. The previous poster is right in saying that Gil and Vicki Ash's book spends a lot of time on this issue and would be well worth buying!

Hi Simon, you have a message.

Try this link to Gill and Vicky Ash in America . I found their books and videos helpful. http://www.ospschool.com/index.html

Hi Salopian I have sent you a PM. T.C.

Does anyone know anything about the history of UK Clay Pigeon Sporting Competitions ? For example when was the first national sporting clays competition and how many people took part ? Who organised it? etc.

Thanks in advance. Greg I would be careful . This gun is 28in when most people go for at least 30in and fixed choke so you cannot change your chokes if you want to shoot another discipline (you did not say which chokes it had . ) I would stick with the standard advice for a newcomer . That is to buy second hand from Miroku/Browning /Beretta and go for 30 in barrels and changable chokes .That way if you find you have made a mistake you can sell the gun on . You will then have a gun that can do most things and will retain its value over time .

Clayman , thank you for your post . I was asked by an American coach if I could find out the answers to his questions . He was patricularly interested to know the year when the CPSA started its coaching system . Can you add any more dates to your post ?

Does anyone know anything about the history of coaching competition clayshooting in the UK as distinct from game shooting . When did it start ? Who started it ? How did it develop to where we are now?If you can help please send me whatever you can .

I used these many years ago and found them of little use . Because of the way your eyes work you can only use them to judge shot for going away targets. If you try them with crossers you will get an a misleading impression of where the shot went relative to the target . It is rather like a missed rabbit where everyone will say you missed behind when you actually missed in front .

To find a magnetic cartridge stick try http://www.townandcountrysports.co.uk/emer...p?idproduct=638 or http://www.swillingtonshootingsupplies.co....artridge-Stick/ or http://www.molevalleyfarmers.com/mvf/store...m_campaign=Base

Most semi-auto guns have a selection of shims to change the comb height and cast . The first thing to do therefore with a new semi-auto is to get it to fit you (with the help of a coach if needed). There is no point in changing your sight picture to fit the gun's set up . It will work better if you change the gun to fit you . In my experience stock length is rarely responsible for a miss if you shoot premounted ; the main difference is in the ease of mounting the gun . If you shoot swing through or pull-away you will have a tendency to miss in front until you can control your swing . It just takes practice . Do not expect too much until you have shot several hundred shells to get used to the different feel of a semi . Plan B would be to stick with maintained lead as much as possible .

Personally , I prefer the 30 inch barrels for sporting as I find the 28inch too light . It is easy to end up with too much gun speed on some shots especially quartering targets.

If you want reliability you need to strip and clean the gun regularly. It takes me about 10 minutes to clean the action and barrel plus another 10 if you need to clean the exhaust valve and sleeve and 5 mins for the bolt. I don't find it a problem but I gather some do . For me the reduced recoil and light weight make it worthwhile . I do the barrel every time I shoot plus the piston and its centre rod . I do the bolt mechanism every 500 shells or so and the valve and piston sleeve every few months .

If you are buying your first semi-auto gun I would advise you to start with a Beretta 391 . They are well made , easy to shoot and cycle most shells. There are a lot of them about so the price should be less painful while spares should be easier to find . When starting out most people feel it is better to stay with well know guns from either Browning , Beretta or Miroku rather than start off with a gun few people are familiar with . Shooting should be fun so when starting I would recommend you keep it simple !

As a Beretta Urika shooter I would endorse the comment that it is an exellent gun for Sporting Clays .Shooting a semi-auto give you much less felt recoil which helps with second barrel shots . The real drawback is that you only have one choke so your choke choice is sometimes a compromise .It will be ok until you get a close clay with a distant edge on target . At this point whatever you choose you will be reducing your chances at one or other target . Otherwise 1/4 or 1/2 will cover most things . If you are consciencious about ejected shells a magnetic cartridge stick will collect them with ease . Be careful , it is easy to get addicted to the semi-auto !

Are you sure you are only bruising your cheek on high birds ? Some people tend to move their arms and gun without moving their head and torso when they shoot crossers. If you do this you will get hit on the cheek or the lip . It is more pronounced if you premount the gun . Look for any evidence that your cheek is not firmly on the stock when you finish the shot . Plan B , get an experienced shot to watch you shoot . It is easy for them to see if you lift your head or move the gun across your face . As mentioned before , a comb raiser ( like a "Cheek Eez) will often help and will give you some protection while you get sorted out .

Gun fit is a complicated issue and most would advise enlisting the help of an expert gun fitter to avoid expensive mistakes if you change your stock.

Eye dominance is a very complicated problem and requires some expert help . It is very difficult to sort out by yourself . I would recommend you get a reliable experienced coach to help you sort this out . In the mean time you could try either some tape over the pupil position on the left lens of your shooting glasses or just close your left eye just before the gun comes to your face . It is possible to persuade your brain to accept the imput from either eye as dominant for a short period . This is especially true if you have a problem with your vision , ie. if you wear glasses with a different prescription for each side . If you want to test this , try the "dominent eye test " by holding your thumb in line with a distant object , then close each eye in turn and see which one leaves the line between the thumb and object unchanged . Then close the dominant eye , focus on the object and open the dominant eye again . with practise you should find you can maintain the image from the subordinate eye for some time .