UK Grand Masters, Southdown.

[Peter De La Mare]

Against my better judgement, I booked in today for the 200.

 

I'm shooting all 200 on the same day, 0900 and 1300.

 

I'm assured that the weather will be nice.

 

It had better be.

[Catamong]

Peter,

 

It will be a better shoot than the fiasco at Southern Counties, (AKA the British Open), sadly it turned out exactly as I predicted, a complete farce.

 

Dave will be using both valleys, I'm shooting at 9.00 & 13.00 eith Paulos and a few mates on the Sunday, fingers crossed on the weather front, but I'm sure you'll find it a much more enjoyable experience.

 

Cat.

[Mungler]

Good luck chaps

 

Looper and battue central?

 

Cat - you shoot Southdown a lot - what's the set up likely to be, what's considered a good score etc.

 

I have shot it once with Tosspot and found it tough but rewarding - I did not like the huge quantity of battues and loopers which I cannot shoot for toffee

[Catamong]

Mung,

 

I'm afraid all grounds seem to throw a lot of loopers nowadays, the Classic at Upavon in Wilts last year was a good example, a looper of some description on nearly every stand, the trick to shooting them is in getting the timing right, it's usually better to shoot them just as they're at their peak, a lot of newbies shoot them far too late, having failed to catch them 'cos they've held the gun in the wrong place to start with.

 

I think the reason there are more thrown nowadays is that there are special traps now made specifically for loopers, they're a relatively new invention, and the old style standard trap has a job throwing the as it has to be nearly on its side and the clays cannot feed well.

 

You've probably only shot the valley nearest the clubhouse, there is another, even tastier one just over the hill to the west, where you will be shooting birds well below your feet, also some long crossers and incomers from across the other side of the valley.

 

Most people struggle to shoot to their average at Southdown, which in my case is about 85.5 on registered Sporting, so I'd be happy with anything over 170.

 

Digweed will probably win the shoot with a score around about 188 - 190, could be more if the weather is favourable.

 

Well worth a visit.

 

Cat.

[Peter De La Mare]

So not the best shoot to try and save my ailing average from dumping me into class C at the next review The Open certainly didn't help either!

 

I really enjoyed shooting at Southdown the one time I've been there, so I'm looking forward to another good day and some new targets.

[tosspot]

Oh Dear Oh Dear Oh Dear

 

Well that was a humbling experience Met up with Mr Mungler early doors for a nosebag then of to S.Down

 

down the lane for 09.00 stand 3 to find our squad which composed of one Mark Marshal, an AA and B class shooters plus ourselves, started steady and ended on a 77 Mung74 which was quite pleasing Mr Marshal on a 93

 

cup of char then off to Happy Valley

 

Jesus wept, stand 3 to find a 40yrd rabbit down the bottom of the valley with us perched up high, with an incomer launched from tother side a good 80yrds away falling 35/40 yrds in front, a sign of things to come

 

hit 4 of those Mung 5 Mr Marshal 4

 

then proceeded to fill my card with 3's and 5's Mung going nicely on steady 6's

 

total abject despondancy it was like i wasn't there, Darren the AA class shooter lost the plot and gave up and M.M missing more on single stands that he did over the whole previous 100

 

Give Mung his due he kept plugging away and ended on a half respectfull 65 and myself the lowest i've ever shot over 100 birds a 52 :wacko:

 

so Mung done me by 10 with a 139, me a 129 well done mate

 

I have never seen so many quality shooters miss so many birds, they weren't that outrageous just very technical, hats off to Dave for setting a good course.

 

Good luck to all shooting it over the next three days

Edited September 18, 2008 by tosspot

[Dunkield]

so Mung done me by 10 with a 139, me a 129 well done mate

 

Something tells me that isn't the last we will hear about that - I take it he isn't home yet?

[Mungler]

I have just found out it's his birthday, he kept that quiet all day - I can see why however.

 

That second course was the hardest thing I have ever shot. Very rangey and very technical and deceptive.

 

Serious note for those about to shoot it - pack lots of 7.5's and nothing less than 1/2 choke.

 

You could use 8's and 1/4 choke on some of the first course stands, but nothing like that for the afternoon I am afraid. Very very rangey stuff.

 

Anything over 150 combined is a score to be very proud of.

[Peter De La Mare]

Prehaps I'll stay in bed instead on Saturday.

[Peter De La Mare]

So Mung, take pity on a geezer that's down on his luck......

 

Got any tips. I have some FITASC 28g 7s and 7.5 extreme range stuff, so that's ok. But what about anything else ? Are we talking bus lenghts of lead required or is it not as simple as that? Where were you shooting that 40 yrd bunny?

 

I presume a stand by stand list of targets along with photo and video tutorials is out of the question?

Edited September 18, 2008 by Peter De La Mare

[Chard]

Give Mung his due he kept plugging away and ended on a half respectfull 65 and myself the lowest i've ever shot over 100 birds a 52 :wacko:

 

 

Not enough sky

[Catamong]

Haha, simply "too much sky", that's typical Southdown stuff, it would seem that the Valley layout is a good few birds harder than the normal "Country Lane" layout.

 

PDLM, the only advice I can give is quite simple, if you miss it, don't do the same lead on the next one, if they're rangey birds, chances are you're behind it, so give the next one another foot lead, until you connect. I've watched so many newbies miss all 5 birds exactly 2 feet behind, because they're mesmerised into thinking they're doing the right thing, and it must be "slipping through the pattern", sadly, there's no such thing, if you're on it, it'll break.

 

I'm looking forward to my 9am start on Sunday, at least I'll know what I've got to beat by then..!!

 

Cat.

[Mungler]

Cat,

 

you could do a 95 on the 1st hundred and you need to get your score card up on the first hundred (in anticipation of a hard going afternoon). You could do an 85 over the second hundred but it would be hard work.

 

Mark Marshall should have had 95 on the first course but he dropped two on the last stand through sheer lack of concentration - the elastic band in his head went and he got 93.

 

I dunno what he got on the second lot.

[Catamong]

Apparently Mark Marshall is leading it on a 176, so he must have done an 83 on the second layout.

 

It's obviously a good deal harder..!!

 

Cat.

Edited September 19, 2008 by Catamong

[Peter De La Mare]

Thanks Cat.

 

Whatever I miss I'm told I miss it in front, I tend to overlead a lot of stuff. So maybe it'll all work out ok.

 

Either way, I'm still looking forward to it. Report on Saturday evening.

[Peter De La Mare]

Soooooooo.....anyone shoot this today?

 

Any tips for a desperate old man? They're gonna take my thumbs if I mess up again.....

Edited September 19, 2008 by Peter De La Mare

[Peter De La Mare]

I don't want to talk about it.

[Mungler]

Come on Peter, spill it. What were the numbers

 

In particular, talk us through the second course......

[Peter De La Mare]

Oh ok then, you've twisted my arm.

 

First course, the usual one. First half, 6 stands, I was feeling quite confident even though the targets were already on the rangey side of what I'm used to and dropped 10 birds. Then it all went looper, looper, looper chandelle, battue, looper, and as I know if there is one type of targer I really struggle with is looppers. I tried the shooting it in the middle routine with minor success, I'm told I was permanently in front of them all.

 

So the result was 66 after a thoroughly **** last 6 stands where I was struck by another PDLMism of smoking the first pair and then missing the rest. Quite why this is I have no idea, and would really like to know.

 

Second course in the valley was quite spectacular. I asked if we were meant to shoot these or just admire and take photos of them. Regarding the 50 yard bunny, hit the last 2 out of 4 by giving it 3ft of lead. Everything else was all very FITASC and a minumum of 40yrds out, apart from a few incomers.

 

Some targets I could have shot all day long and never hit them, some I shot straight.

 

Another interesting fact is that everyone I shot with in both squads were using Krieghoffs and Hidefspecs. Amazingly in both squads there was a father/son arrangements, both with new K-80s. Not sure if it was just fluke, or if I was on the millionaires' only day or something. Another interesting fact was the total complete and utter absense of any semi autos. Everywhere you looked was DT10s/Krieghoffs and other exotica.

 

Cat's advice worked great on quite a few stands where I doubled my lead on whatever I missed first time out and got on it either straight away or with more slight adjustments. I've never shot stands that need 6ft or more lead stand after stand after stand.

 

On the very last stand I was shooting, or rather missing, another sodding Battue. On the last pair the ref took pity on me (could have been the crying) and said 'shoot it right in front of you' so I did and smoked it. So happy was I that I totally forgot about the easy crosser as the 2nd bird and broke my gun and was jumping up and down with joy with the rest of the squad shouting "2nd bird! 2nd Bird!" Ah well, sod it... it'was an easy score so my result is 1 less than it should be, but it's not going to make any difference.

 

60 was the result for that making a total of 126.

 

George D shot 90 on the easy course, and 93 on the hard course and was high gun when I left.

 

Shove Hill tomorrow is going to seem very cramped/cosy and quaint by comparison.

 

I'm ****.

[Peter De La Mare]

Oh, and it took the same time to shoot 200 birds today, as it took to shoot 100 at the Open two weeks ago.

 

We pretty much walked straight onto each stand, or had a short wait.

 

Organisation was awesome.

[Dunkield]

Sounds like it has been the undoing of a few decent shots Peter, I wouldn't beat yourself up over it.

[Mungler]

I missed 8 or 9 dinner plates of the springing Teal on the first 100 out and even allowing for that and mentally going back over it and thinking about the silly ones I dropped and should have thought about more, I would honestly say that even if I shot it again tomorrow and shot out of my skin, I couldn't break 160 which in terms of rankings and tables is exactly nowhere city in the scheme of things! Accordingly, shoot it for fun and experience.

Edited September 20, 2008 by Mungler

[Catamong]

Well, what a great layout it was..!!

 

Numbers were a bit down on what I'd expected, Dave reckons he might just have broken even, that's a pity 'cos it was a reaaly good course, you had to work for every bird.

 

We started on stand 8 of the Lane layout, dropped one on the first stand then straighted the next two, so chugging along fine, then kept missing the odd one or two, generally in front of them rather than behind. Came to our last stand, No 7, a left / right fairly close crossing rabbit and as right / left looping battue, missed 3 out of 4 rabbits and one looper, finished on an 84.. :blink: .

 

Got to the valley layout at 1.00pm, more really cracking targets, straighted the first top stand, No 8, then dropped the odd few after that, (hit 2 out of 4 really long rabbits), again finished on a rabbit stand, (No 7, dropped another 4 there), to finish on an 80, total score 164, nowhere near good enough, but all in all, an enjoyable day.

 

What a pity the British Open didn't have quality targets like that..?

 

Cat.

[Peter De La Mare]

That's a really good result, judging from the results I saw yesterday.

 

Being vain, as I am, I worked out that I'm 1.68 kills behind you on each stand :blink: Quite what that proves I don't know, but it makes me feel better, slightly.

 

Unlike the Open, I'm really glad I went and I'm very certain that I learnt a lot from the experience.

 

Did you find that they'd gone slightly mad on the Loopers, loopers in all forms..... ?

 

I'm surprised they only broke even, as they were raking in cash in the clubhouse. They took nearly £100 from me once breakfast, lunch, and ice creams and drinks were taken into consideration.

Edited September 21, 2008 by Peter De La Mare

[Catamong]

Well, I always reckon if you can shoot a good score at Southdown, you can shoot well anywhere, so if you want to improve, that's the ground to be at.

 

Perhaps there were a few too many loopers, but most of them were pretty tricky, the biggest danger was over leading them..!!

 

Cat.