Another attempt at the High Tower Challenge

I was convinced last time I shot the high tower challenge at Sporting Targets that I could do better than I had. The interesting thing about clay pigeon shooting is that it can it can deceive you and have you believe that anything is possible.
I had one last go at improving my score from 23 up into the high 20's. I was certain that I should be able to hit all of the close fast birds which would easily add 6 to my score.

Try as I might though it didn't happen like that. The first round I shot another 23 which I was pleased with, but then backed it up with a shocking 20 on my secnd round. It turns out that hitting those six targets isn't as easy as I had thought it would be...... oh well, there is always next year!

Sporting Targets Video 3

The third Sporting Targets video Gun Shop;

Second Clay Pigeon Shooting Video

Sporting Targets second clay pigeon shooting video is here;

Clay Pigeon Shooting

Sporting targets has just released a Corporate Entertainment new videos;

100 registered Competition at Sporting Targets

Sunday the 20th saw July's 100 bird registered Clay Shooting competition. It proved to be a tricky shoot with many challenging stands. It was dry, sunny but with a gusty breeze so it offered some clays that skipped and jumped just when you didn't want them to.

I managed to scrape a 60/100 which I was disappointed with. I dropped lots of what I consider to be easy targets. Whether that was due to concentration issues or me refining my gun mount which is still proving troublesome. On the up side at least the gun didn't kick the shit out of my cheek so things are improving once more. I did find that sometimes my gun mount costs me and I almost know before I shoot that I will miss as the mount feels wrong.

I will keep practicing to see if I can be more consistent.

How easy is it to forget the basics?

The answer to that one is simple........ remarkably so!! As I have improved my shooting and my scores have gone up, I have gained consistency. In doing so I have tried to pay attention to my set up procedure, feet, weight, gun mount head, eyes etc...... but while I have been making sure that my left eye was true to the rib of the gun, I have allowed the stock to gradually rise up my shoulder.
This has resulted in the stock kicking seven bells out of my cheek every time I shoot.

Last night I redesigned my gun mount so the stock is back where it should be in my shoulder..... and then shot really badly !!

I will get some practice in if possible before the shooting competition at Sporting Targets on Sunday

Sporting Targets High Tower Challenge Part Two

I must be a glutton for punishment, either that or I don't know when to walk away? The Summer High Tower challenge at Sporting Targets is one of the hardest clay pigeon shooting competitions there is. Last time I scored 22/50 twice but felt that with a little application that I could get 26 or 27.

It turns out I was wrong! This time I scored 22/50 backed up with a truly woeful 19/50. I would like to tell you that the second score was as a result of my trying something new in order to improve and it not working out, but in truth I just missed more!

It is a really taxing competition because it mixes targets at different ranges, you have a first bird at 65 yds with a 15yd high speed crosser on report. These second birds always seem to attract too much lead.... well.... in my case they do!

I am still convinced that I can get a high 20's score, probably just need 10 or 15 more goes at it!

Lack of practice makes imperfect

I missed two whole weeks of shooting so I was dubious as to how well I would get on. It turns out the answer is "terribly!" It was as if I had never shot before, stopping the gun, bad gun mount, bad stance and foot position etc...... it was all shocking. I ended up with 28/60 which although the shoot we were on is tricky, it is no where near that tricky!

I will be back this weekend at Sporting targets to get some proper clay pigeon shooting practice in so I can get back to where I should be.