Well, the foul weather had been forecast for a few days, and it turned out the forecasters were not wrong, it was wet, wet, wet and that’s not the Scottish band! 16 members turned out, which considering the weather condition, was an excellent show. CGC provided an excellent breakfast service for us and even an impromptu morning coffee delivery to the stands, very much appreciated thank you.

The competition was for the Trevor Watling Memorial Trophy, 40 bird O/R pairs. 13 shooting doubles in the competition and the remaining 3 shooting single targets. The course was set over 2 stands, kindly reserved for us by the CGC, being the skeet sporting and ABT sporting. These were both undercover and Martin kindly provided a small marquee adjacent to the skeet stand to add social distance and extra weather protection there which was most welcome.

The skeet sporting stand showed a wide selection of crossers, loopers, teal, incomers and a long crossing rabbit to test us all. 10 pairs or 15 singles in total. The ABT sporting stand showed a selection of good crossers, quartering away, overhead, battue and a sneaky quartering away rabbit which caught some out. Some of these were somewhat testing targets, but all hittable with our old guns if you pulled the trigger at the right time and were in the right place! Another 10 pairs or 15 singles in total.

There was some good shooting in both groups, and considering the weather and targets, was excellent to see. Paul Revere and Bev, shooting in different squads, both tied with a brilliant 30/40 necessitating a shoot-off for the trophy. 2 tricky targets were chosen on the ABT sporting stand, Bev went first and missed both, Paul smashed his first target in fine style to win. Well done.

Sandra’s squad:

There were 8 in our squad, 6 shooting doubles in the competition and 2 shooting singles. We started on the Skeet Sporting stand where most had reasonable success. The long fast R-L crosser (D bird) is worthy of note, none of the doubles shooters hit any of their 2 attempts at this. Simon shooting his single had a similar fate, but Clare also shooting singles hit both hers! Skill or luck, the jury’s still out! As we left this stand Martin and Paul were neck and neck on 15, Graham on 14, Mike and Tony both on 12 and Chris on 8 in the doubles. Clare on 11 and Simon on 9 in the singles.

The ABT sporting stand next, and again some reasonable success by most but generally scoring less than on the first stand as the targets were perhaps a little trickier. The exception was Chris who increased on his first stand score. The quartering away R-L rabbit passing in front of the ball trap shed roof, was a funny target, with no one hitting it twice but everyone apart from Mike and Clare getting one of them. On finishing this stand Paul had scored another 15, Martin a 14, Graham an 11, Chris a 10, Mike and Tony both an 8 in the doubles. Clare a 6 and Simon a 5 in the singles.

Considering the damp conditions, we had very few, if any, misfires which was an achievement in itself. Paul however, did have a double miss and concluded he had not put shot in both barrels, Mike had also had a similar senior moment! As already mentioned, Paul Revere was top of our group and went on to take the trophy. Martin a good second in the group with just one point behind on 29 to take third place overall. In the singles Clare came top overall with a 17/30 with Simon in second place with 14/30.

Bushey’s squad:

There were eight shooters in this squad, seven of whom were competing in the 40 bird on-report competition. The eighth shooter was Dick who shot with his single gun at 30 birds. It was good to see occasional visitors Martin Burroughs and Allan McNab competing in the competition. Because of the abysmal weather we were very grateful to be shooting and loading under cover. Unfortunately the atmosphere was so damp that there were still a number of misfires throughout the day in this squad.

The squad started on the compact layout based around the ABT range. The 20 targets, as always, were very testing, with long range crossers from both left and right, a tricky quartering rabbit and an extremely fast clay from above and behind the shooter which was not visible until clearing the roof of the shelter. Despite the level of difficulty there were some surprisingly good scores with targets being broken really well at very long ranges, showing how well these old guns pattern. Top scorers on this layout were Viking and Bev with 16 and Bushey close behind with 14. We moved on to the sporting targets based around the skeet range. Some loading under ‘canvas’ and the remainder around the covered shooting stand. Again a wide variety of targets were presented, these being perhaps a little easier than the previous layout, although some of the fast rangy loopers caught out most of the competitors. Bev finished with a final score of 30 making him joint first overall (until the shoot-off that is!), closely followed by Bushey with 28 and then Viking with 26.

Dick struggled a bit with his single, but he assured me that he enjoyed the experience!

Scores:

Next Meeting:

 Saturday 19th June at Cambridge gun club for the ½ Ounce Recession Trophy, 30 bird singles. 30 Singles and 40 doubles targets will also be set, for those not wishing to enter the competition.

Mike and Bev provided the words

Because of Covid restrictions it has been 2 years since we last shot for the 1/2oz recession trophy a 30 bird singles competition. A respectable 16 competitors turned up who were divided into 3 squads.

With Covid restrictions in mind, Bushey had kindly fashioned ½ oz shot scoops out of .410 cartridge cases for all the competitors so as to avoid any horrible Covidy germs being transferred by using a shared scoop. The weather looked set fair for the competition, which was a relief as the previous few days it had been bucketing down. The shoot was based around 3 stands, the horse pond, stand 2 and stand 3. There were 10 targets to be shot on each of the 3 stands. As usual a wide variety of targets were presented, which were all within the capabilities of our ½ oz load and the competitors - or so we thought! Comparing this year’s results with the last few years, the scores were well down. The following is a report written by a competitor in each of the squads - this should be interesting!

Bev reporting for Clare's squad:

There were 5 shooters on this squad with Bev choosing to use his flintlock, the remainder their percussion guns. We started on stand 2 where 10 tricky targets were to be shot. Clare and Bushey scored well here each hitting 6 of the 10 targets. Bev was starting to regret using his flint gun scoring only 3 hits. Phil and Chris struggled on these targets getting only 2 and 1 respectively. On to stand 3. Everyone made a better fist of these with Clare, Bushey and Phil each breaking 7 targets, Bev 6 and Chris 4. On to the final stand at the pond. Bev was clearly making a dash for the finishing line and managed to top score here by breaking 6 of the 10 targets. Bushey was next with 4, Clare and Chris 3 each and finally Phil with 2. So in our squad Bushey ended up with 17 which was the trophy-winning score, Clare 16, Bev 15, Phil 13 and Chris 8. Clare was particularly happy as she had a £10 bet with Derek who only managed a 15. A big thanks to birthday girl Sandra who scored and button-pushed.

Henry reporting for Martin’s squad:

Shooting ½ ounce was definitely a shock to the system, making even easy clays challenging. My experience of shooting was that the patterns appeared to be looser and made long and edge on clays quite a challenge. It was lovely to see Viking shooting flintlock with a good score of 8, although he did have one senior moment when he spent several minutes searching for his shot flask having forgotten that it wasn't actually required...hey ho! Derek ended up with the same score as me with 15. Kevin was not far away on 13 but it was Martin who led the squad with 16, shooting very well. Simon scored a good 7. Nobody in the squad had a very good experience at stand 2 and the targets were tough. Most memorably for the 2 targets that no one could hit in our squad as they were very hard, both quaffing away with one being edge on and another being at a great distance. Overall, though some very good scores, considering the great shooting from Bushy with 17. Finally a lot of people mentioned how good the idea of the scoops were and what a fabulous thought they were, so special thanks to Martin for thinking of it and to Bushey for making them. Also a big thank you to my Dad Paul for scoring for us, and to Grandad for his support.

Jon reporting on the remaining squad.:

A small but perfectly formed squad of Graham, Tony, Dick, Jon and John started off on the pond stand.  Notwithstanding the challenge of the lack of lead, some of the targets to be equally challenging.  Maybe the long layoff because of COVID was to blame, but it seems no one was “in the groove” on Saturday.  We started shooting at the pond and by the time we had finished this stand it was evident the scores were not going to set the world on fire.  Stands 1 and 2 were not much different with everyone struggling to find form. However, Dick also was having the additional challenge of a few misfires which entailed a lot of muttering under his breath.  Graham was top of our squad with 16 with Jon trailing on 9.  Sandra was once again doing sterling work keeping us all in order and manning the buttons.  It was a fun competition, and we all enjoyed the shooting and being together again.

As can be seen from the scores and the reports it was a very close contest with a lot of indifferent shooting. It remains a total mystery why the scores were lower than normal this year. Perhaps the targets were harder than we first thought, perhaps the .410 scoops only contained 1/4 oz of shot (only joking Bushey), or maybe it was because we were rubbish!

Scores:

Next Meeting:

Sunday 18th July at Cambridge gun club for the annual Holts open trophy, 40 bird singles. All are welcome and 10 o’clock start.  If anyone wishes to trap/score for either an am or pm session, please let Clare know asap.

A Bev production with additional reports from Henry and Jon.

Well after a 2 year wait due to Covid 19, the annual Holts-sponsored competition was allowed to take place.

This is normally a well looked forward to and equally well attended event, and this year although slightly down on numbers, was still fairly well attended with 24 shooters turning up from all over the country including Birmingham, Staffs, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and even as far as Scotland! Unfortunately Nick and his Holts contingent could not be there due to everyone self-isolating following a Covid contact at Wolferton. Such a shame as I’m sure they would have enjoyed the day and we their company.

The weather forecast for the day was dry and very hot as it had been for several days prior to event, and they were right! A very warm start to the day which got hotter as the day progressed, finally reaching around 35deg C in the afternoon. Not ideal shooting conditions and I’m sure many were suffering come the end of the day, I know I was!

The 40 bird sporting competition was set over 6 stands, with either 3 or 4 of each target being shown on each stand. It was a good selection of targets, with all being hittable with the muzzle loaders.

Stand 1: A teal straight away in front & a high L-R crosser.

Stand 2: A R-L crosser and a L-R looper.

Stand 3: A low L-R crosser with a touch of quarter & a high R-L crosser.

Stand 4: Another teal straight away in front & a L-R crosser with a touch of quarter.

Stand 5: A high and distant L-R crosser & an overhead going away.

Stand 6: An “easy” incomer & a fast R-L looper.

And so to the results! There was some good shooting and some excellent shooting amongst the 24 competitors and I think everyone enjoyed the course and the day. There was a 3 way tie for 3rd place and bronze medal between Sam Pegg, Graham Bush and Fred Garrod all on 30/40, necessitating a sudden death shoot-off on the Pond stand. Sam went out first followed by Bushey to leave Fred as the victor after 4 targets. Martin Crix shot very well to take silver medal with 33/40, but Paul Revere shot a brilliant 35/40 to take the gold and fine silver tankard. Paul was using his Berretta O/U tri-centennial gun to very good effect and was also the winner in the 2018 competition, so he must really like this day!

Each stand had a dedicated trapper/scorer which really helped the smooth running of the day, so thanks to all of them. A special mention to Cath who kindly spent all day at stand 6 as she was unable to shoot. Fortunately for her it was the only stand under cover from the blazing sun! Thanks also to Fred and Little John, who used the buggy to ferry round the infirm, the tired and those who just cadged a lift! This was also well received. Thanks also to Sandra and Liz for taking names and money and issuing cards at the start, watering the scorers and checking scores as the cards came back later in the day. Further thanks to Martin and Clare for setting the course and generally making sure things went smoothly on the day. And finally, another special mention to Stewy from the Warwickshire Branch who after suffering a little “blip” in the hot sun, and once fully recovered he went on to shoot a fantastic score of 28!! A big thank you to Stewy's fellow shooters for taking care of him and to Claire, one of the Club's First Aiders who quickly attended. It was good to see you finish the course Stewy and we all look forward to seeing  you at the Helice comp next month!

Scores:

Next Meeting:

Sunday 8thAugust at Cambridge gun club for the Archie Owens Flintlock Trophy, 30 bird singles. 30 Singles and 40 doubles targets will also be set, for those not wishing to enter the competition.

Mike  provided the words

A windy but fine day greeted the 11 shooters, numbers a bit down, but it’s that time of year when other things sometimes take priority!

5 shooters entered for the 30 bird singles Flintlock Trophy, and with the windy conditions, was always going to be testing for them. The remaining 6 shot singles and double percussion guns apart from Goaty who opted for his BP breech loader gun today.

The course was set over 2 stands being the Skeet Sporting and the ABT Sporting layouts. Both undercover as rain was potentially forecast, but in the end it was fortunately a dry shoot. There were some testing birds on both stands and with the gusting winds, made the targets interesting to say the least- particularly on the Skeet stand! Let’s say hopping and dropping was the order of the day.

It was good to see Pete Dann joining us for the afternoon session, keep coming Pete, we do miss you!

Bev's squad:

The 5 flint shooters who entered the competition knew that due to the gusty wind this was going to be a testing shoot. We started on the Skeet Sporting which we considered would be the easier of the 2 layouts, the wind bringing the targets closer in to the shooters. This was partly true, but due to the variable gusts, the trajectory of the targets was unpredictable and caught a few of us out. A good example was the ‘A’ bird, a simple incomer with the wind behind it and landing no more than 15 yards from the stand. It was moving up and down in the gusts. Martin in his usual confident manner shot the targets a fair way out and hit all 3 of them, the only one to achieve this. Everyone else hung on in the hope the target would stop bobbing about and missed it. Overall everybody shot reasonably well on this layout with Martin, Bev and Fred on 11 from the 15 targets, Graham and Viking on 10, so it was anybody’s game. The ABT sporting layout when there is no wind is very testing, so we approached the layout with some trepidation. This was not helped by looking at the glum faces of the other group who had just shot the layout. Our fears were in the main unfounded and everybody shot really well. Martin broke 13 of the 15 targets, Bev 12, Fred 10, Graham and Viking 10 each.

So Martin walked away with the trophy after accumulating an impressive score of 24/30, very closely followed by Bev with 23 and third Fred with 21. Graham and Viking both got 18. All these scores were well above what would be expected on a windy day using flint guns. This was one of the most enjoyable shoots I have had the pleasure of competing in even though I didn’t win!

Mike's squad:

We started on the ABT sporting. In the doubles, Bushy shot a good 14/20 with his small bore drum & nipple conversion from flint, Mike managed 12/20 but Goaty struggled and left with only 4/20. In the singles, not much between the 3 shooters who all struggled a little with these targets - Phil with 5/15, Derek with 4/15 and Clare bringing up the rear with 3/15. The “G” bird is worthy of note, a distant springing away yellow teal, only Clare and Bushy managed to hit just one, the rest just could not connect! It was interesting to note that the flint squad did somewhat better on this target?

Onto the Skeet sporting. In the doubles, Bushey kept up the pressure with a 13/20, Mike made another 12/20 and Goaty came back also with a 12/20 leaving Bushey as the top gun overall. In the singles, some better scoring on this stand with Derek with a good 10/15 with Phil and Clare both not far behind with 8/15 each. Derek came out top overall, but it was a close thing!

Scores:

Next Meeting:

Sunday 5thSeptember at Cambridge gun club for the Small Bore Trophy (16b or smaller), 30 bird singles. 30 Singles and 40 doubles targets will also be set, for those not entering the competition.

Mike & Bev provided the words

A very fine and sunny day greeted the 13 shooters, 4 who entered for the Small Bore Trophy, with the remaining 9 shooting the same 30 bird single targets. The temperature rose as the morning went on and finished up very hot come the afternoon.

The course was set over 5 stands with 3 x 2 targets on each.

    Stand 2: L-R looper and a high L-R crosser

    Stand 3: L-R battue and a R-L slow crosser

    Stand 7: L-R crosser and a R-L high crosser

    Stand 8: Going away teal and a L-R crosser

    Stand 9: long and high L-R crosser and an overhead going away

There were some testing birds on most, and the sun’s position certainly didn’t help in seeing the targets on stands 2 and 3 (for some anyway!). A big welcome to Rodney, a new-comer to muzzle loading, who brought along and shot a fine double 10B which he hopes to use in next month’s Big Bore competition.

Sandra’s squad:

There were 7 guns in Sandra’s squad with Viking, Derek, Jon and Bev competing for the Small Bore Trophy, a bit disappointing numbers-wise, but it turned out to be a good competitive shoot.

 The squad started on stand 9 where last year’s winner Viking, pulled into an early lead hitting five. The other ‘Small Borers’ weren’t far behind though, with Bev and Derek hitting four. Unfortunately Jon struggled a bit on these. Out of the remaining guns Graham who was using his trusty Pedersoli flinter hit four. Phil and Paul who were suffering from misfireitis managed two each.

 Stand 8 saw Bev hit 5 of the 6 targets which brought him level with Viking who broke four. Derek and Jon unfortunately didn’t do too well on this stand. Out of the remaining guns Graham again acquitted himself well hitting 4, Paul hit 3 and Phil 2.

On stand 7 things started to unravel with Viking inexplicably hitting only three. Bev cashed in on this by hitting 5 putting him in the lead. Jon was now making his move and hit four. Derek could not really find these targets and hit two. Out of the remainder Paul and Phil both scored four with Graham getting half marks with three.

That smug look on Bev’s face was soon to disappear because on the next stand, stand 3, he only hit two of these relatively simple-looking targets whereas everybody else was having a whale of a time. Viking straighted it which meant he was once again the competition leader. Derek hit five and Jon hit three. Out of the other guns Paul got the lot, Graham five and Phil three.

It was getting tense, one more stand to go. This time Derek straighted it, Bev scored a five with Jon and Viking breaking three each. In the non-comp camp, Graham who was shooting his flinter really well, hit four of these targets, Phil suddenly found his form and also nailed four with Paul hitting three.

So it was 21 apiece, a shoot-off was required between Viking and Bev.

The shoot-off took place at the horse pond. The target chosen was a L to R dropping crosser 25 to 30 yards away. Viking went first and unfortunately for him missed, whereas Bev fortunately for him accidentally hit it! So the smug look returned once more.

A big thanks to Sandra for scoring etc

Paul’s Squad:

There were 6 in our squad, all non-comp, and we started on stand 2. Henry and Martin made great starts with 6 and 5 respectively, the others a bit slower and Rodney, getting used to his gun, struggled. Onto stand 3 and a similar outcome, Henry and Martin both with a straight 6 this time and Rodney getting on the score card with 2. Stand 7 saw Henry and Mike straighting it this time, the others around 50%. Onto stand 8 and Tony came alive! Scoring a good 5, Henry probably would have straighted it again had he not had a mis-fire! The wheels dropped off for Martin on this one with an uncustomary 2. The final stand was 9, Henry and Martin both scored a good 5, the remainder around 50% and poor Tony a disastrous 0 to end one of his lesser days!

So the final outcome was a superb performance by Henry with 28/30 to take the High Gun cup for the day. Martin with a good 22 and Mike not far behind him on 21. Big thanks to Paul for trapping and scoring for our squad.

Scores:

Next Meeting:

Sunday 10thOctober at Cambridge gun club for the Big Bore Trophy (10b or larger),30 bird singles. 30 Singles and 40 doubles targets will also be set, for those not entering the competition.

Mike & Bev provided the words

10 October 2021 - Big Bore Trophy 

Well the forecast was fine, but it wasn’t to be initially, causing covered stands to be chosen and targets set in the sometimes heavy showers. But by the time the shooting started, it had dried up! Such is life!

14 shooters entered for the annual pig hunt (Big Bore Trophy) and aired their large guns, 3 shooters opted for lesser pieces, all shooting 30 single targets.

The course was set over 3 stands (the pond, skeet sporting and ABT sporting) with 5 x 2 targets on each. So with only 2 chances at each of the 15 targets, it was easy to slip up and loose points if you missed the first target and didn’t know where you were on it. There were some testing birds on most, worthy of the big bores, and the sun certainly didn’t help seeing the targets on the east facing stands. Targets of particular note were the “incoming duck” on the pond stand (an edge on fast dropping affair which caught most out), the “distant incomer” on the ABT sporting which must have been a good 40-50 yards out and the fast L-R looper on the Skeet sporting which caught a good many out.

Bev’s Squad:

Out of the 6 shooters in this squad 5 were competing for the Big Bore Trophy with Cath joining in using her lesser gun. We were in at the deep end starting on what historically has been the hardest layout, the ABT, and it didn’t disappoint. Scores were low with Fred being top scorer hitting 6 out of the 10, Bev and Kevin managed 5, Viking 4, Phil 3 and Cath 2. A few weeks ago I did a laser range-finding exercise on these layouts and the long incomer was actually landing in line with a ‘Fiochi’ advertising board which was 62 yards away, a long, long way out! It was a relief to move on to the skeet layout, but the scores did not improve much with Viking and Bev connecting with 6, Fred 5, Kevin 4, Phil who was now suffering from a very sore mouth due to recent dental work, managed 2 as did Cath. Our final stand was the pond. Phil had decided to retire and offered to score for the remainder of the round. The sun was a major issue for us on this layout. A number of the targets were very difficult to pick up, even so this was our highest scoring layout with Viking coming out top with 8, Fred and Bev 7, Kevin 6 and Cath who was enjoying herself 3. Notably Fred hit both of the very tricky ‘incoming duck’- quite an achievement. So, in this squad, at the end of the 30 birds we had a 3 way tie with Viking, Fred and Bev all scoring 18 which put them in joint 4th position overall. Kevin ended with 15 and Cath 7.

Mike’s Squad:

There were 6 in our squad, all shooting big bore. We started on the Skeet sporting layout, which in hindsight was probably the easier of the 3 stands, but not by much! The looper as mentioned earlier certainly caught us out, with only Simmo getting one, the rest less than that! Highest scores on this were Mike and Simmo on 7/10, with Paul and Dave both on 5/10. On to the Pond and the previously mentioned duck target did indeed cause us problems, this time with only Jon getting one and the rest null-points! We finished with Mike and Dave on 7/10 with Simmo on 5/10 as high scorers. Our final stand was the ABT sporting, as we waited and watched in dread at some of the targets as the outgoing squad finished. We were not wrong, most struggled to some extent with the top scores being Mike on a consistent 7/10 and Dave on 5/10.

It was interesting to observe that Simmo, shooting semolina as wadding, quickly developed mis-fires in his big bore gun. Changing to conventional wadding seemed to cure this which is strange as semolina in smaller guns seems totally reliable. Answers on a postcard please!

So Jon, Paul (back to shooting after a long Covid precaution layoff) and Rodney all had lesser days with these targets, but all enjoyed the day.  Mike &  Bertha shot a reasonable 21/30 to take runner up place overall. Again the bridesmaid!!! Maybe next year?.

Clare’s squad:

The day although threatening rain turned out to be a very bright start for the senior citizen band on big boomers, Archie, Bushey and Martin with the heavy loads and Clare and Derek with their 3/4 and half ounce loads. The start on the pond had us looking straight into the sun for the incomer, the only plan was to wait for the “Fokkers” to show themselves by a rapid descent. The only person to shoot up both was Bushey, victory roll for him, Derek had the wings shot off twice . All went well until the ducks appeared with only Clare and Martin claiming one each. Archie up to this point had only missed two and with his super human effort of loading his big bore with oversized wads and hitting the overhead clay at 50+ yards was well up with the leaders.

The ABT was a pleasure, after chatting with a group of Cambridge Uni students who were well encamped on the stand, they eventually departed after having experienced the pleasures of muzzle guns firing first Derek’s which failed to go off (no powder) and then Clare’s which filled the whole stand with smoke. Down to business. A good start was made by all excluding Archie who by now had regretted not checking his wad fit at home, his decision to retire was the right one, he had proved a point and that cup of tea seemed a better idea. Well shot old friend and a big thank you to his son in law Simon for helping him enjoy his day. The incomer on the ABT stand had us all beaten except of course Martin who dusted both. The half and three quarter pop guns had no chance, it needed a full charge. The long L-R crosser was only mastered by Derek’s half ounce hitting both, Bushy one, Clare and Martin OO !

The Skeet stand was also occupied by Cambridge students although this time by half a dozen lady shots. One in particular could shoot well and she tried Derek’s half ounce worth and dusted both! Martin led the way on this stand by dusting the lot, Derek missed two, and Clare and Bushey three. A good round with lots of entertainment on the way. Feeling good with the young people we met on the way, and having the privilege to have shot with one of our most senior citizens, Archie. Congratulations to Martin for winning the competition with 26/30, we witnessed some excellent shooting that morning, well done.

Scores:

Next Meeting:

Sunday 21st November at Cambridge gun club for the Hammer Gun Trophy (black powder cartridges only), 40 bird pairs. 30 Singles and 40 doubles targets will also be set, for those not entering the competition.

Mike, Derek & Bev provided the words

Well, it was quite cold and breezy but thankfully dry weather which greeted the excellent turnout of 19 shooters, with Derek joining us for the afternoon session.

We were competing for the hammer gun tankard, which sadly was not shot for last year due to Covid19 restrictions. The course was set over 5 stands, being 9,11,12,13 & 14 all along the southern boundary of the site, with 4 O/R pairs being shot at on each stand giving 40 total. Unfortunately due to a malfunction on one of the traps on stand 13 part way through the competition, it was deemed to exclude this stand from the final scores which skewed the final totals somewhat, especially if you had shot well on that stand prior to the malfunction (unlucky for some unfortunately!)

It was good to see some new shooters joining us for the day, namely Oliver and Paul M, always good to see new faces enjoying our sport and hopefully they will come again.

We split into 3 squads and a brief summary for each squad follows:

Sandra’s Squad:

We had 5 competitors in our group, these included our old friends, Archie who had been transported to the shoot by his daughter Janine and Peter Dann (small person) who is managing to get out and about a little more. It was a pleasure to shoot with them once more. Our squad was fortunate, we had very few problems with the traps not working and very little queueing waiting to shoot, which I believe some of the other squads had to endure. Unfortunately Archie did not manage to complete the competition, but he enjoyed the company and hit his fair share of what he managed to shoot at. Peter was struggling to cock his gun so Viking bravely came to his rescue and ‘manned the cocks’ The final result in our squad was not really a true reflection of shooting ability. Because stand 13 did not count, Bev ended up being top gun in this squad with 21, but in reality the highest scores including stand 13 were Viking and Tony with 26 apiece with Bev trailing on 24 and Peter 13. A big thankyou to Sandra for button pushing and scoring.

Mike’s Squad:

There were 8 in our squad, all shooting hammer gun. Kevin retired very early in the shooting after only 2 shots with a pre-existing elbow injury much to his dismay. There was some average shooting and some excellent shooting notably by Sam, who shot a 7/8 on stand 13 to give a final score of 28/40, this would normally have been enough for the trophy, unfortunately with stand 13 excluded, it brought his score down to 21/32 and only joint 4th place. New boy Oliver shot very well until the last stand 9 where he failed to connect with any of the targets to end with 17/32. Dick was having a spate of premature discharges from his gun, need to look at those sears and bents Dick! Rodney having recently discovered a left eye dominance issue had procured a sprung steel/ leather hand grip with built in left eye sight obscuring “ear”, his confidence that this would increase his scores was unfortunately short lived however, need some 1-2-1 tuition methinks? Thanks to the infirm Bushey and Goaty for trapping and scoring for us.

Martin’s Squad:

There was a bit of a mix of guns on this squad, 3 shooters were using hammer gun in the competition, Henry and Clare were shooting their muzzleloaders and John P using his nitro cartridges as he had forgotten to bring the black powder ones. Excluding stand 13, there was some good shooting with John P finishing on 17/32, Martin on 22 and both Graham and newcomer Paul M tying on 23/32 forcing a shoot off for 1st place later on. Henry managed a 12/32 and Clare 17/30 with her single.

The brief shoot off was held on the pond stand with a pair of good targets, Graham shot first and broke one, Paul shot both in good style to take the trophy, well done that man!

Scores:

Next Meeting:

Sunday 19th December at Cambridge gun club for the Brad Randall Powder Horn Trophy, 30 bird Singles. Single and double targets will also be set for those not entering the competition.

Mike & Bev provided the words

The second of the competitions on the day was for the Peter Dann Long Range Flying Eagle Trophy (where eagles look like sparrows!)

This competition was first shot for in 2019 and again missed last year due to Covid19. It was open to any muzzle loader with a 1 ¼ oz shot limit, I would like to think that all entrants followed the shot limit rule which was set to make it an even competition for all.

9 shooters shot muzzle loaders of various bore and 3 shot with non-comp hammer gun breach loaders, Bev bravely shooting it with a flintlock!

The stand chosen for the 12 target competition was the newly reorganized ABT sporting layout which now has a pro difficulty rating of 9/10. This was daunting and we were therefore not too surprised by the very rangy and equally quick targets. 5 targets were shown some shot twice and some thrice, all were challenging to say the least! Notably the very long rabbit target was shown a total of 36 times with only 2 kills! once each by Martin and Fred.

The majority of the participants scored only 3 or less, proving just how difficult the targets were, Martin managed a good 5 and Fred 6 to take the trophy.

Scores:

Mike provided the words

Well, it was quite a misty, damp and cold old day with little wind that greeted the 14 shooters. At least it wasn’t raining.

Pete Dann came along but opted not to shoot with his gun, but camera shots instead! We were competing for the Brad Randell Powder Horn Trophy, 30 bird singles.

The course was set over 5 stands, being 2,3,5,6 &8, with 3 x 2 single targets being shot at on each.

Stand 2: A L-R looper and an incoming target

Stand 3: A slow R-L crosser and a fast quartering away teal

Stand 5: A fast quartering away teal and R-L crosser

Stand 6: A R-L high looper and a L-R slow crosser

Stand 8: A R-L crosser and an incoming crow

All targets were readily hittable with our guns and some “easy” targets were missed with great style and frustration! We split into2 squads and a brief summary for each squad follows:

Bev’s Squad:

Of the 7 competitors in this squad Graham and Bev had opted to use their flint guns which was a bit risky considering the damp conditions. We started on stand 2 and it was obvious from the start that Paul meant business obliterating every target with ease. But Viking was on his heels missing only 1. Bev shot 4, Graham and Fred 3, Dick and Rodney 2. Stand 3 saw Viking continuing to shoot well missing just 1 bird, but Bev was up there also missing 1. Paul appeared to lose concentration and dropped the last 2 birds. Graham got 4 the remainder 2’s and 3’s with the exception of Rodney who found these targets challenging! Stand 5 saw Fred top scorer with 5, Dick, Paul and Bev with 4 apiece, Viking who had a concentration burp hit 2 as did Graham. Rodney hit 1 and as is customary his kill was met with a loud cheer! Stand 6 saw Bev looking surprised as he was top scorer with 5, Fred hit 4, Graham and Viking 3, Dick and Paul 2 and Rodney keeping up his average with a 1. On to the last stand where this time Paul straighted it, Bev and Graham hit 5, Viking and Dick 4, Fred and Rodney 3. So that was it. Top scorer in this squad was Bev with 23 putting him in joint 3rd place overall. Paul was breathing down his neck with 22! Nobody disgraced themselves in this squad and I believe that Rodney achieved his highest score ever in a competition. Well done Rodney and thanks for being such a good sport, accepting our misplaced humour in the manner it was given!

Sandra’s Squad:

There were 7 in our squad, all shooting in the competition. Both Phil and Tony had some ignition woes at varying times, probably the damp weather, which did not help them. We started on stand 3 where most shot all 3 ‘A’ birds with ease, the ‘B’ bird was a different story with 0’s 1’s and 2’s being recorded! On to stand 5 and 3’s and 4’s being the order of the day, Mike managing a 5. Stand 6 saw Martin straighting it, Bushey and Clare on 5, some 4’s and 3’s and Mike completely losing it with a 2 (pesky slow crosser!) Stand 8 saw everyone except Phil getting 5 or 6. The last stand 2 saw a repeat stand 6 performance from Martin, Clare and Bushey. Mike and Derek on 4, and Tony and Phil with just 2, see comment above.

The final squad tally saw Martin romping home with 27/30, a battered Bushey (or should that be Mikhail Gorbachev?)in 2nd place with 24/30, and Clare in 3rd place with 23/30. This stayed the same overall except Clare shared her 3rd place with Bev from t’other squad. Thanks to Sandra for trapping and scoring for us, appreciated as always.

Scores:

Next Meeting:

January 2022, Sunday 16 January, Covid 19 allowing!!

Mike & Bev provided the words