Clay shooting grounds

[Simonmealing001]

Hello all 

 

I’m looking for a clay ground I’m based in Wallingford Oxfordshire near reading and looking for somewhere to get a couple of lessons and somewhere to practice 

thank all in advance 

[ehb102]

E J Churchill's is 40 minutes from you. 

[Westward]

Barbury Shooting School is just off M4 J15 so also pretty easy. And there is always Oxford Gun Co but I have my doubts about their instructors.

Edited December 10, 2017 by Westward

[Simonmealing001]

My I ask why you have your doubts about there instructors 

[welshwarrior]

I'm incredibly bias but I'd also say EJ Churchill.  

[Salopian]

Yes Daffyd , I also  have serious doubts about EJ Churchill 's Instructors , especially Fletch , Terry and that Wiltshire Welshman.

[welshwarrior]

5 hours ago, Salopian said:

Yes Daffyd , I also  have serious doubts about EJ Churchill 's Instructors , especially Fletch , Terry and that Wiltshire Welshman.

Who's Terry? 

No Wiltshire Welshman either there is one who's in Surrey ?

[Simonmealing001]

Hello Welsh warrior  I’m I right in thinking you work there ? 

I have my sgc so can I turn up and shoot working my way around the stands or would I need a escort? 

Also  what are your prices as looking at your web page it give a couple of prices for a 1 hour lesson eg  £160. , £80 and £105 

thanks s 

[Salopian]

Who's Terry? 

No Wiltshire Welshman either there is one who's in Surrey ?

 

Aah , so Terry has left then ,  Wiltshire , Lichfield , Surrey , Travellers get everywhere quickly nowadays 

[Westward]

On 10/12/2017 at 20:33, Simonmealing001 said:

My I ask why you have your doubts about there instructors 

No names, no pack drill but I've come across them a few times. Let's just say that IMO you'll get better value elsewhere.

[welshwarrior]

2 hours ago, Simonmealing001 said:

Hello Welsh warrior  I’m I right in thinking you work there ? 

I have my sgc so can I turn up and shoot working my way around the stands or would I need a escort? 

Also  what are your prices as looking at your web page it give a couple of prices for a 1 hour lesson eg  £160. , £80 and £105 

thanks s 

Yes I'm a resident instructor you can't just turn up except on Monday morning which is roll up and no booking is need.  The rest of time you'll need to book a caddy or instructor.  There are loads of different packages so best to ring and discuss what will work out best for you or drop me a PM.  

[oldypigeonpopper]

hello, there is a local claypigeon club under the name of marcham that shoots at east hanney every 2 weeks, not sure if have instructers but i am sure there are some good shots there that might help, our good  lady shot Sian on here maybe able to give more info,

[Simonmealing001]

Ok thank you east hanney is not far at all  that would be good if anyone has any info on it thanks 

 

Welsh warrior  ok thank You i will get it contact 

Edited December 13, 2017 by Simonmealing001

[oldypigeonpopper]

3 hours ago, Simonmealing001 said:

Ok thank you east hanney is not far at all  that would be good if anyone has any info on it thanks 

 

Welsh warrior  ok thank You i will get it contact 

hello, you could try contacting oxfordshooter or Cyrus 1988 on here fore marcham club, also there is one at brize norton, have a google

[Simonmealing001]

Thanks I’ve dropped them a email

[buze]

@Simonmealing001 There is also https://www.theoxfordshireshootingschool.co.uk -- I haven't been there, but I will got this very saturday with my wife, as they are 'paired membership' with Atkins Grants Lang where we are members, I have no idea how far is it to you, but it looks like a nice ground.

I went to the http://www.oxfordguncompany.co.uk/ today AAMOF - didn't shoot there but visited the gunroom and shop and had a nose around the grounds, looks very nice as well. The 'senior' chap in the gun room there (Doug, I think) is a true enthusiast and I had a lovely chat, I really enjoyed that. Again, no experience shooting there, but they have their own youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLiDtWlCiii8B8uKql1ggWg

Both of these grounds are significantly cheaper than Churchill.

Beside Churchill being 10 minutes from my office, I've not visited in over a month... Quite frankly the last 2 caddied round I did there were just boring (and booking was ... painful). Given the that, the price (even as a member!) I now tend to look a bit further out... A good time to go to Churchill is for 1) the CPSA days (I unfortunately missed the last 2) and 2) the 'summer' 'late shooting' sessions where you can shoot a few very nice Compak setup, as well as Skeet without having to book (and at reasonable price). Also, the 'late shooting' is very social, you meet mates etc while during the rest of the year it's a very impersonal experience. I shot skeet with that chap John (84yo!) a few times and that really made my day.

Anyway, I don't want this to sound like Churchill bashing at all, it's not -- it's more of a 'careful shopper' advise from my own experience :-)

As a 'beginner' I personally would look for places where you can do Pay-as-you go/claymate or whatever systems allowing you to shoot 50 times the same target if you feel like it. Interleave practice with tuition -- don't get lessons back-to-back; take ONE lesson, walk out and practice for a little while by yourself, then take another lesson -- and provide some questions you came up with. A caddied 100 clays round will serve no purpose whatsoever in that setup.

I'm just speaking from my own personal experience of course, I'm sure the PW collective will ping in as usual and strongly disagree with pretty much everything, as a matter of habit.

 

 

 

[Simonmealing001]

21 hours ago, buze said:

@Simonmealing001 There is also https://www.theoxfordshireshootingschool.co.uk -- I haven't been there, but I will got this very saturday with my wife, as they are 'paired membership' with Atkins Grants Lang where we are members, I have no idea how far is it to you, but it looks like a nice ground.

I went to the http://www.oxfordguncompany.co.uk/ today AAMOF - didn't shoot there but visited the gunroom and shop and had a nose around the grounds, looks very nice as well. The 'senior' chap in the gun room there (Doug, I think) is a true enthusiast and I had a lovely chat, I really enjoyed that. Again, no experience shooting there, but they have their own youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLiDtWlCiii8B8uKql1ggWg

Both of these grounds are significantly cheaper than Churchill.

Beside Churchill being 10 minutes from my office, I've not visited in over a month... Quite frankly the last 2 caddied round I did there were just boring (and booking was ... painful). Given the that, the price (even as a member!) I now tend to look a bit further out... A good time to go to Churchill is for 1) the CPSA days (I unfortunately missed the last 2) and 2) the 'summer' 'late shooting' sessions where you can shoot a few very nice Compak setup, as well as Skeet without having to book (and at reasonable price). Also, the 'late shooting' is very social, you meet mates etc while during the rest of the year it's a very impersonal experience. I shot skeet with that chap John (84yo!) a few times and that really made my day.

Anyway, I don't want this to sound like Churchill bashing at all, it's not -- it's more of a 'careful shopper' advise from my own experience :-)

As a 'beginner' I personally would look for places where you can do Pay-as-you go/claymate or whatever systems allowing you to shoot 50 times the same target if you feel like it. Interleave practice with tuition -- don't get lessons back-to-back; take ONE lesson, walk out and practice for a little while by yourself, then take another lesson -- and provide some questions you came up with. A caddied 100 clays round will serve no purpose whatsoever in that setup.

I'm just speaking from my own personal experience of course, I'm sure the PW collective will ping in as usual and strongly disagree with pretty much everything, as a matter of habit.

 

 

 

 

Hi thanks for the response

I think E.J. Churchill’s and the Oxfordshire are about the same distance  but from memory given it’s a Friday eve  E.J. churchill more and you needed a caddy where as the Oxfordshire you did not  ( as long as you have your sgc ) also pricing was a bit kinder on the wallet 

 

thats the plan as I found it worked with me for golf of having a lesson  then hitting the range on my own then going back a few weeks later with my improvement / problems and questions  so I’m glad I’m thinking about it the right way

[buze]

As planned we went to Oxfordshire shooting school yesterday. As expected, ground is Claymate so PAG -- pretty much the same style of stands as AGL (they are 'sister sites'). I think there are 11 stands so not a big ground. The birds were on the 'easy' side of things; I particularly wasn't feeling stretched by anything, even tho I was shooting my hammer gun. Still, good targets, if you are at the beginning of your shooting journey, you'll have lots of fun there.

Clubhouse smaller than AGL, but really excellent kitchen -- the lady knows her stuff, we ended up discussing how to cook a terrine. 

Overall it was a nice trip out, it's exactly 1h from our house in Burnham, so we'll re-visit.

[Simonmealing001]

Thank you for the reply I’m just starting out so sounds right up my street  I don’t mind pay as you go as long as I keep track of where I’m at  but at the same time if I only want to do 30  then I can stop there I’m not a big club house person but as long as I can top up on coffee and maybe a bacon sandwich I’m happy  but always up for food talk