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Hello Chaps. I am a relative newbie in the world of Clay Pigeon Shooting, and I am well and truly enjoying my new found hobby. I acquired my shotgun certificate on the day I finished work before Christmas. When I first started the application process on the 10th October 2015 I sorted my photographs and filled my forms in and sent them off via recorded delivery. I then booked and had a shotgun safety and shooting lesson of 50 clays from my good friend John at Rixton and Astley Shooting Club who goes under the Pigeon Watch username "Webber" I would highly recommend this to a new shooter because as a BASC Shotgun Coach, webber will show you everything from which cartridge is recommended for shooting clays all the way down to the smallest details in safety and gun care in a nice and calm relaxed atmosphere, after I had completed the lesson, I was presented with a hand signed certificate of completion from webber. I then purchased my cabinet online and firmly installed it and then waited for the phone call from my FEO. The phone call came from my FEO on the 24th of November and he booked an interview for the next day! He came around and had a brew and a chat with me about general shooting matters, asking me how I got into the sport and general safety questions, he was really helpful and advised me on how to transport my shotgun and etiquette about gun ownership. He then asked me about my experience of gun handling, I then produced my certificate from Rixton and Astley Shooting Club, with which he was very impressed as the main points of gun handling is listed on the certificate and practiced on the lesson. He then inspected my gun cabinet. He was impressed that I had bought the more expensive five deadlock Brattonsound cabinet for extra security. after another brew and a chat he left in good spirits and told me it would be around eight weeks for the certificate to come through. Over the next few weeks I got all of my insurance with BASC sorted and began buying bits and bobs for my kit like certificate holder, ear plugs and glasses etc. I then woke up on the 18th December and there was my shotgun certificate sitting on the mat! I got straight onto webber and told him I would be bobbing up to his shop the following weekend. The following weekend I went to Norgas Cartridge Company in St Helens where I had an extensive choice of guns that where personally recommended by webber for my purpose of shooting clay pigeons. it's always the best to take the advice of a professional shooter like webber and not to jump straight in and buy the first gun that takes your eye. as you can buy a gun that will not fit you and be completely impractical for your purpose. You really need to think about the practicality of what the gun will be used for. webber then tried each gun in my shoulder and checked my eye level with the rib and we narrowed my choice down to two cracking guns. I decided to go with a Baikal Model 27 in 12 bore which fit me perfectly with a rubber stock extension. which he threw in for free with the kit I was buying! if that's not top notch customer service I don't know what is! I then had a very good christmas and eagerly awaited the boxing day shoot at Rixton and Astley and webber's birthday! I got there late because I am a lazy sod and slept in til 12PM I did manage to get a round of 25 clays in on the practice stand though in which I hit 13/25 with my new gun. Using Clever Mirage 7 1/2 28G cartridges, it's fair to say I went home buzzing! When applying for a shotgun certificate my advice as a newbie if you are local to Widnes/St Helens would be to take a lesson with webber to understand the aspects of gun safety and handling, and take the advice like I did of someone like webber who knows what they are doing and not jump in head first. All in all it took 69 days from sending the forms off, to having my certificate in my hands. Cheers to Webber for all of your help and advice! If you shoot at Rixton and Astley, I will see you there!