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Essex Masters


shaun4860
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We shot this yesterday and I would say the targets were as good as I've ever seen up there, any reports of the layouts being "soft" is rubbish, those who shot above 90 on either deserve special praise, to have combined scores over 180 would be fantastic, the 190+'s are simply incredible and I can't see MarK Winser's 193 being bettered. 

I have previously criticised Dyson's targets (on other events) as a little dustbin liddy but both Red and Black felt and shot like a good semi hard registered with a small injection of fun, yes there are plenty of stands that should be straighted by decent shots but there were also plenty where a straight took a bit of doing. 

Having said all of this my personal feeling regarding the two skippy targets of rabbit and battue on Red is that they bordered on unfair not just because they varied but because the rabbit in particular could not reliably be correctly scored. We stood and watched several shooter tackle this and I wouldn't want to bet a pound on accurately calling the hits, at times the shot erupted the water all around the sinking and therefore hidden rabbit, is that a hit or a miss ? Only an underwater camera could reveal the 100% truth. Would you as the ref deny a name shooter a hit if you weren't sure ? Had they at least been crossing instead of quartering the hits/misses would, I think, have been easier to see. 

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I felt the same about the "water rabbits" think they should have been called frogs!!! They were difficult to hit, but the chap in front of me David white sussed them, they bounced twice then slowly glided to the third bounce and sank, thats where he hit them, I managed all 4 and smashed em convincingly (thanks david!) but ballsed up one of the white ones!! Be rude not to copy a successful tactic!

Edited by Evil Elvis
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4 hours ago, Evil Elvis said:

I felt the same about the "water rabbits" think they should have been called frogs!!! They were difficult to hit, but the chap in front of me David white sussed them, they bounced twice then slowly glided to the third bounce and sank, thats where he hit them, I managed all 4 and smashed em convincingly (thanks david!) but ballsed up one of the white ones!! Be rude not to copy a successful tactic!

If it’s the Dave White from Lincolnshire, he is a brilliant shot!

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Hamster how did you get on scores wise across the layouts. Is one layout harder than the other.

I'm shooting Saturday and Sunday thought it was Friday and Saturday. I'll post up my scores good bad or indifferent. Really looking forward to it. Always an interesting shoot and enjoyable.

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2 hours ago, figgy said:

Hamster how did you get on scores wise across the layouts. Is one layout harder than the other.

I'm shooting Saturday and Sunday thought it was Friday and Saturday. I'll post up my scores good bad or indifferent. Really looking forward to it. Always an interesting shoot and enjoyable.

I shot both layouts very poorly, worst in fact than I have ever done in the 6 or 7 times I've entered ! Red (78) is defo harder because it features both of the "skippy" pond targets and stand 13 "finale" has two very missable targets (it doesn't help if the scorer is too trigger happy with the release of the second bird; you'll see), stand 13 on Black (81) by contrast has an uphill jumping rabbit followed by a Teal both of which are hittable, the on report high crosser from behind your left shoulder is also doable if you don't panic and over lead them. I was about 1/2 to 3/4 of a target per stand off my true canter, excuses wise I just couldn't say why because I would repeatedly miss targets that made myself and friends watching scratch heads in disbelief. I don't believe it's because of "clever" target setting (no offence to John or anyone else for that matter) I simply believe in donkey grade shooting, always have always will; you can get fooled by the odd target doing something visually deceptive but you can't fool people with 24 or more birds like that on a full round. 

Fatigue from not sleeping properly the night before and getting up at 4.20 am coupled to the excitement of it all is much more likely to be the cause. 

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Sounds about right to me Hamster, I can shoot very well or terrible for me anyway and not know why. 

Fatigue and not sleeping well before a shoot can do that to you. Talking to someone at the local shoot tonight he said far to many going away targets. Also the water ones were a bit iffy like rabbits can be with how they bounce.

Still not too bad a score as it seems to have tested a few.

Edited by figgy
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I shot today, it was good to see a good few longstanding  PW members there bright and early, I did a 91 on the Red and and an 89 on the Black, if I was being ultra critical I'd have to say there wasn't a decent long crosser on either layout, but, all in all I'd have to say it wasn't a bad shoot, and, as usual it ran pretty well, with no mega queues on any stands.

The very best of luck to all who are shooting over the next few days, I hear that there are c.2400 entries, still the biggest shoot in Europe, possibly the World..?, it's just a pity they can't post nightly scores so that everybody knows how they've done..?

Cat.

 

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Catamong for such a big shoot you'd expect a live score board updated as they come in.

Good darts too

See George Digweed carded 188 

Ben Hustwaite has equaled Mark Winsers 193 to be joint first.

Edited by figgy
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1 hour ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

I thought the general consensus was that it was several targets easier this year!

Perhaps mainly by people who hadn't shot it. Always difficult to give solid judgement on layouts difficulty level because so much depends on how you happen to perform on the day, when someone straights stand after stand of medium to tough birds they can begin to think the layout must be easy. The only accurate way of telling is to study the figures per stand per layout and of course averages per class once the championship is finished. 

The winning scores are often confusingly similar in soft V medium V hard layouts, no rhyme or reason, it's just that someone always tends to shoot a mental score regardless.

I think the reason this particular championship may have mistakenly been assumed to be shooting softer is that several very good scores were made on the first day, the day was in fact led by a AA score as opposed to the expected AAA guys, through slight playful mischief or simply because the person couldn't bring himself to admit he'd shot outstandingly well, words such as steady were thrown around on social media. In my view both layouts (bar the "entertainment") were spot on for a registered or indeed championship level shoot. 

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All the previous times I have shot this I have found the red course the easier of the two.

Others have said they found the red harder.

Its how you feel personally.

This year for me it was the other way round.

The shoot was enjoyable and I will be there again next year.

:shaun:

 

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Shot it yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed the day out. Lucky to be in a good squad although there were eight of us in it! Thankfully everything did run like clockwork. Thought the level of difficulty was excellent as to suit the majority of shooters, some easier and more tricky close targets, medium range with a variety of angles and some longer testers at the end of each course.

I did not shoot anywhere near as well as last year as getting used to a new gun but thought it was a better shoot overall this time apart from the first rabbit stand which was a bit of a lottery.

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I shot on Wednesday and thoroughly enjoyed the experience!  As a newbie to the shooting world and the competitive clay shooting scene I can’t coment on the target setting or difficulty levels, but was over the moon with the scores I’ve set myself to beat next year especially after coming off a night shift getting 4 hours sleep and then shooting at 11am.

I shot 50 on the red course and 55 on the black course. 

 dropping some very silly targets on each of the courses didn’t do me any favours,  would have seen me in the sixties on both layouts if concentration hadn’t lapsed. Either way I have set something to beat next year and enjoyed it so thumbs up from me. 

Too anyone that is still to shoot good luck and enjoy 😁

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