New tower at Westlands

[Scully]

Mate and me had a ride out yesterday. Judging by the look of the stands we were the first to shoot it. 
It’s positioned just to the right of Stand 1, which is disconnected for obvious reasons. Feels a bit hemmed in really as it’s in a dip and surrounded by a high fence to prevent peppering from other stands, buts it’s fine, and the targets seemed a longer way up than they actually are as they’re 70mm, I think he said.

Anyhow, they’re certainly hittable. Took me a few shots to find where I needed to be, but 1/4 and 1/2 will do it. The young trees in leaf behind seem to quickly appear in vision as the bird makes its path, but if you take the first as a crosser it seems to give you more time. 
It was around 1330 when we started, and a clear sky, so the sun may be something to always contend with on sunny days as it was yesterday, but it can be on any stand really. 
The first trap eventually developed a fault unfortunately, so we just did with the B trap. 
The other tower traps on Stand 6 seem pretty straightforward by comparison, and after consistently hitting both birds as report birds, we go onto pairs, which at first we hit, but then for some reason I start missing the one on the right, and struggle to find it again even as a single. Don’t know why that is, but it happened last time also. 🤷‍♂️
Anyhow, had a good afternoon in gusty conditions, which saw us ‘tree clipping‘ a few times as the wind kept some of the birds low. 
This is without doubt my favourite ground now; just turn up ( no booking necessary ) sign in, pick up your card and away you go. 
Had a word with Aaron about building a driven grouse butt. It may happen. 🙂

[Konor]

I’ve enjoyed a couple of days at Westlands ,it’s a good set up. I have been over to Bisley at Braidwood too and was impressed. Their last stand out is a grouse butt and they also have a variety of incoming birds on a few stands located beside a semi circular area of high ground. Plenty of crossers too, It’s worth a try if it’s within striking distance Scully.

[Dave at kelton]

Look forward to trying this next time out. Was there last week with my daughter and had a good day. I just cannot find that crosser off the high tower and it’s not for want of trying.

[BlaserF3]

I too like shooting here, there's a good variety of targets and the no birds are becoming less. The staff are friendly too'

Off up one day next week  😀

[johnphilip]

A great report , my favourite  grund  even at 180 miles round trip . Not been over for a while . Is the new clubhouse built then . The old one would have made an amazing shed 😀😀

[Scully]

1 hour ago, BlaserF3 said:

I too like shooting here, there's a good variety of targets and the no birds are becoming less. The staff are friendly too'

Off up one day next week  😀

The only no birds we got were due to that new A trap packing in. That was out of 300 shells. 

39 minutes ago, johnphilip said:

A great report , my favourite  grund  even at 180 miles round trip . Not been over for a while . Is the new clubhouse built then . The old one would have made an amazing shed 😀😀

New clubhouse is up but interior not finished yet. I think one of the lasses said before Christmas, but it’ll be tight I would think. 

2 hours ago, Konor said:

I’ve enjoyed a couple of days at Westlands ,it’s a good set up. I have been over to Bisley at Braidwood too and was impressed. Their last stand out is a grouse butt and they also have a variety of incoming birds on a few stands located beside a semi circular area of high ground. Plenty of crossers too, It’s worth a try if it’s within striking distance Scully.

Googled Braidwood. Hadn’t heard of it. It’s just under two hours from us, so maybe, some time. 

[BlaserF3]

I used to shoot at Braidwood before it was sold to Bisley, the Christmas shoot was really good and you were served a three course dinner for free.

[Scully]

21 minutes ago, BlaserF3 said:

I used to shoot at Braidwood before it was sold to Bisley, the Christmas shoot was really good and you were served a three course dinner for free.

👍

[Cawdor118]

Westlands is great, stayed for 3 days and shot 400+ clays there... Bisley is even better though, its got about 5 options at every stand and honestly, you need 2-3 days at it to shoot all combinations without getting sore. Both are excellent and both worth the 4hour each way trip for me. 

However, of the 2 Bisley is the best. 

[storm in a teacup]

I do like westlands and its only a couple of miles from my house, I will have to give it a go as I've not been in ages.

[Scully]

I’ve just realised the title might be misleading; it isn’t a ‘new’ tower but rather the same one, but with a much higher trap launching targets more or less at a right angle to the other two tower traps, over where stand 1 was, as opposed to over Stands 5 and 6. 
My apologies for any misunderstanding. 

[Dave at kelton]

10 hours ago, Scully said:

I’ve just realised the title might be misleading; it isn’t a ‘new’ tower but rather the same one, but with a much higher trap launching targets more or less at a right angle to the other two tower traps, over where stand 1 was, as opposed to over Stands 5 and 6. 
My apologies for any misunderstanding. 

👍

[Scully]

Met the new RFD of Westlands the other day. Seemed a canny enough bloke, and I was pleased to discover that he doesn’t intend to kit it out specifically for the dedicated clay shot, which had been a concern of mine. 
He agreed that the majority of shooters who used the ground were game shooters who shot clays, and not the reverse, or clays only. I have nothing against dedicated trap shooters, I just had visions of it turning into the sort of shop where all the guns are dedicated trap guns with ridiculously high ribs and of a price I can’t afford, and nothing of real interest to me. I like a gun shop which caters to all and has a good mixture of secondhand pumps, autos, sxs’s and OU’s of all types, as well as new or high end guns. 
 

[Dave at kelton]

38 minutes ago, Scully said:

Met the new RFD of Westlands the other day. Seemed a canny enough bloke, and I was pleased to discover that he doesn’t intend to kit it out specifically for the dedicated clay shot, which had been a concern of mine. 
He agreed that the majority of shooters who used the ground were game shooters who shot clays, and not the reverse, or clays only. I have nothing against dedicated trap shooters, I just had visions of it turning into the sort of shop where all the guns are dedicated trap guns with ridiculously high ribs and of a price I can’t afford, and nothing of real interest to me. I like a gun shop which caters to all and has a good mixture of secondhand pumps, autos, sxs’s and OU’s of all types, as well as new or high end guns. 
 

I am looking forward to it opening as my nearest gun shop. Agree on the make up of the clientele, would just add wildfowlers to your description.

[Scully]

1 minute ago, Dave at kelton said:

I am looking forward to it opening as my nearest gun shop. Agree on the make up of the clientele, would just add wildfowlers to your description.

Indeed. I meant all disciplines. 👍

With Lakeland Guns closing, Westlands will marginally be closer to me than Malmo. 

[Dave at kelton]

1 hour ago, Scully said:

Indeed. I meant all disciplines. 👍

With Lakeland Guns closing, Westlands will marginally be closer to me than Malmo. 

👍

[Cawdor118]

On 18/10/2020 at 17:45, Scully said:

Indeed. I meant all disciplines. 👍

With Lakeland Guns closing, Westlands will marginally be closer to me than Malmo. 

I believe its to become one of the biggest gun rooms in Scotland? Where does one get enough guns to become biggest over night, or do they already have a shop somewhere with some of the guns that will transfer? 

[Scully]

58 minutes ago, Cawdor118 said:

I believe its to become one of the biggest gun rooms in Scotland? Where does one get enough guns to become biggest over night, or do they already have a shop somewhere with some of the guns that will transfer? 

You have a PM. 

[Scully]

Whilst on the topic of Westlands, mate and me had a trip up last Friday. It was a lot busier than I thought it would be, but good to see.

We generally shoot a 100 with one type or make of shotgun and then another with another. 
First up was the SA’s, mate with his 24” Beretta 400 series lightweight choked at IC and me with my Benelli Super 90 choked similar. 
We shot the new tower stand and had no luck at all, just couldn’t get to grips with it, so decided to walk right round to the skeet layout and work our way back simply because we usually do it the other way round and run out of ammo before we get to the skeet. 
Anyhow, started off really well, killing the first 8 birds before the wheels came off, and mate didn’t do much better, surprisingly. 
We worked our way back and on tower stand 7 (?) things improved greatly, missing only one of 10. Mate was having an off day unfortunately. 
Second round after lunch we changed to OU’s, me with my old Perazzi choked skeet and half, mate with his Mk 38 choked half and three quarters. 
For whatever reason I found the 1st tower stand birds very quickly, with both skeet and half, and was surprised at the quality of breaks with the skeet choke; not smoking them but very impressive breaks nonetheless. I did equally well if not better on the other tower stand. 
Ive realised that the first tower (1) needs a faster swing, that’s all it is. You don’t see a lot of these birds before you need to react, so increased muzzle speed is a must, whereas on the second tower (7)  you can employ a much more deliberate trail and swing through method for either bird, bearing in mind that if you don’t move your feet to take the report bird as a crosser, you’ll pull your muzzles offline. 
Mate really was having an off day and was disgusted with my shooting on both towers! 😀

Have fun and remember......it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing! 🙂
Edited to add that I saw an old boy using one of those top break SA‘s by Beretta; first one I’d ever seen. I should have asked him for a closer look. 

Edited November 1, 2020 by Scully

[owain]

On 31/10/2020 at 20:44, Scully said:

Whilst on the topic of Westlands, mate and me had a trip up last Friday. It was a lot busier than I thought it would be, but good to see.

We generally shoot a 100 with one type or make of shotgun and then another with another. 
First up was the SA’s, mate with his 24” Beretta 400 series lightweight choked at IC and me with my Benelli Super 90 choked similar. 
We shot the new tower stand and had no luck at all, just couldn’t get to grips with it, so decided to walk right round to the skeet layout and work our way back simply because we usually do it the other way round and run out of ammo before we get to the skeet. 
Anyhow, started off really well, killing the first 8 birds before the wheels came off, and mate didn’t do much better, surprisingly. 
We worked our way back and on tower stand 7 (?) things improved greatly, missing only one of 10. Mate was having an off day unfortunately. 
Second round after lunch we changed to OU’s, me with my old Perazzi choked skeet and half, mate with his Mk 38 choked half and three quarters. 
For whatever reason I found the 1st tower stand birds very quickly, with both skeet and half, and was surprised at the quality of breaks with the skeet choke; not smoking them but very impressive breaks nonetheless. I did equally well if not better on the other tower stand. 
Ive realised that the first tower (1) needs a faster swing, that’s all it is. You don’t see a lot of these birds before you need to react, so increased muzzle speed is a must, whereas on the second tower (7)  you can employ a much more deliberate trail and swing through method for either bird, bearing in mind that if you don’t move your feet to take the report bird as a crosser, you’ll pull your muzzles offline. 
Mate really was having an off day and was disgusted with my shooting on both towers! 😀

Have fun and remember......it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing! 🙂
Edited to add that I saw an old boy using one of those top break SA‘s by Beretta; first one I’d ever seen. I should have asked him for a closer look. 

I think we might have passed each other on that day, as we also saw the guy with the top break semi auto.

Me and my mate had a crack with him and he showed us how it worked. There was 5 of us, me and my mrs and 2 boys and my mate. My eldest  boy actually broke a couple on the second tower with his .410! Which I was very pleased about. And his younger brother managed to break a couple of easier ones.

Here he is in action on the sporting compak.

 

[Scully]

20 minutes ago, owain said:

I think we might have passed each other on that day, as we also saw the guy with the top break semi auto.

Me and my mate had a crack with him and he showed us how it worked. There was 5 of us, me and my mrs and 2 boys and my mate. My eldest  boy actually broke a couple on the second tower with his .410! Which I was very pleased about. And his younger brother managed to break a couple of easier ones.

Here he is in action on the sporting compak.

 

Ha! 😀Was your lad shooting a Cooey? I mentioned to mate that ‘that young lads using a Cooey’, but I may have been mistaken. 

[owain]

1 minute ago, Scully said:

Ha! 😀Was your lad shooting a Cooey? I mentioned to mate that ‘that young lads using a Cooey’, but I may have been mistaken. 

He certainly was 👍👍

[Scully]

2 minutes ago, owain said:

He certainly was 👍👍

🙂 I remember seeing you all then. We said hello as we passed; we had just spent our last shells on the Tower (7) stand. 
Pleased you had a good day. 👍

[owain]

8 hours ago, Scully said:

🙂 I remember seeing you all then. We said hello as we passed; we had just spent our last shells on the Tower (7) stand. 
Pleased you had a good day. 👍

Yeah we did thanks, it’s good fun up there. And only about 30 mins from home. 
It’ll be good when the new shop opens.

[Scully]

1 hour ago, owain said:

Yeah we did thanks, it’s good fun up there. And only about 30 mins from home. 
It’ll be good when the new shop opens.

Yeah, handy for us also, around a 98 mile round trip.

I think the new shop etc will make it one of the go to grounds in South Scotland.