Pheasant Shoot This Weekend

I'm really looking forward to this weekend because I've been fortunate enough to be invited to a pheasant shoot in Norfolk on Saturday. I've had the gun out tonight giving it a clean ready for the big day, I feel like christmas has come early. The shoot is on a farm in Norfolk near Stoke Holy Cross situated a stones throw away from Norwich.

I will be using my Midland Gun Co over and under which is a 12 Bore/gauge. It's a lovely gun but I am looking for a replacement. As you probably are aware buying a second shotgun in the pheasant season is quite hard due to the high demand and there aren't as many nice guns to pick up. I will probably hold out until the end of season because then you find some real good buys. 

Fingers crossed I can get some good photos at the weekend and hopefully a few birds.

Outdoor & More

Clay Shooting In Beeston, Norfolk at Fair Clay Targets

I do enjoy clay shooting but unfortunately struggle to find the time to go, the shoot we go on is in a small village called Beeston in Norfolk. The day is ran by a company called Fair Clay Targets and it's a very popular trap venue which is ran every two weeks.  The shoot offers a variety of locations such a woodland, quarries and open land where they set up various layouts.  We done a 100 bird shoot with some of the guys getting some good scores but I will reveal the results at the end. Here is a few photos from the day:

Jonny with his Miroku

Open traps

Quite the audience

Beautiful Norfolk countryside

Beretta semi auto

Doddy with his Nikko 12 gauge over and under

Taking aim

Woodland trap

Glenn with his Beretta Silver Pigeon

Woodland edge

Well the results are as follows:

Glenn: 77/100
Jonny: 76/100
Doddy: 64/100
Myself: 60/100

Not the best day I've had in terms of results but I've not been for a long time and I started off very slow ..well that's my excuse anyway. I was shooting with my Midland Gun Co 12 gauge, she's a bit of a golden oldie and never skips a beat. For clays I use the Gamebore 'velocity' cartridges they are 28g and cost around £39 for 250. For clays I don't particularly think it matters what cartridges you use and usually just go the cheapest and the Velocities come up best for price.

Tom

Outdoor & More

Morning Wander In The Fog

Last night I had spontaneous moment and decided to get up early to go for a walk around some land I shoot. The land is nicknamed 'The Hill' for obvious reasons, it has a large area of over gown rough with a woodland which is heaving with pigeons, pheasants, magpies and the odd rabbit. I like going there because you never know what you're going to come across and it offers a great variety of game. Today I brought my younger brother along who hasn't shot very much and is more of a fisherman, but I think he enjoyed himself.

Can't beat taking a flask out on these cold days

I was shooting my Midlands Gun Co over and under whilst he took the Hatsan semi auto both 12 gauge. Due to the thick fog the visibility wasn't great but I think it helped because the quarry couldn't see us as well.  The only trouble was we didn't have as much time to react to them.

My brother 

The first hour was very quiet with only a few pigeons but as the day went on it started to pick up a lot more. We were using Gamebore 'clear pigeons' 32g cartridges which I have mentioned previously in my blog but they are fantastic cartridges and would recommend them. 

Gamebore 'Clear Pigeon'

Beautiful morning

Using straw bales as cover

Taking aim (to miss)

Tea break

After shooting for 3 hours we managed 17 pigeons and 2 rabbits which in the conditions wasn't bad going but to be honest we did have a lot of misses. Whilst we were there the game keeper was at the bottom of the land  also pigeon shooting and he got 11 so not a bad total for the day. 

A weekend of Sporting Clays

It's been a while and I'm really excited to get in the traps! The clay shoot I will be going on is in a small village in Norfolk called Beeston. Its a 100 bird shoot with 10 traps and the pressure is on because there are 3 of us going and we are all very competetive. The Shoot is ran by a guy called Alan and he runs a really good day. It doesn't matter about ability or experience everyone is welcome.

I will be using my trusted Midlands Gun Co over and under 12 gauge, I've had the gun for years and its lovely to shoot with. Its not the cleanest gun because I take it out for rough shooting quite regularly and like most of my guns they do get a bit of a hard time.

Midland Gun Co Model 502 12g

For clays I using GAMEBORE 'Velocity' at the minute. These are a great little cartridge and they are priced very competitively. I personally believe that for clay shooting unless you're a competitive shooter the cheaper cartridge will do the job and you don't need to spend the world but you don't have to sacrifice quality for it with these.

Gamebore 'velocity'

Below is the link to the Clay shoot website. Highly recommend them and Alan does a great job.

Fair Clay Targets

no copyright intended

Talk Cartridges

Shotgun cartridges have so many different varieties there are different lengths, loads, calibers,  shot and wad. I don't want to bore you by going in depth of what all of these mean but i will briefly go over them to give you an idea.

• Length -The cartridge length refers to the case length when fired. This will either be measured in millimetres or inches. This is dependent on your shotgun chamber size to find this out research the manufacturer online or visit your local gunsmith and I'm sure they can help.

• Load or Payload -This will depend on the quarry, range and chamber length of your gun. For most game shooting with a 12 gauge gun, 28g, 30g and 32g would be the most common payloads. For high birds 34g would be ideal. You must remember that the use of large payloads, particularly in smaller calibers, poses some problems, especially recoil, and can cause damage to your gun.

• Calibre - The most common size is 12 gauge, with up to 50% of the overall shotgun market in the UK. The 20 gauge shotgun is favoured by shooters uncomfortable with the weight and recoil of a 12 gauge gun. The next most popular sizes are 28 gauge and .410. Each gun can have a different purpose for example 12 gauge for pheasant and .410 for rats.

• Shot - The size of the pellet/shot in the round. It means the diameter of the pellets is approx.

• Wad – This is simple there are two types, plastic or fibre. In terms of money the plastic are (a bit) cheaper, but fibre are better for the environment and farm livestock. In terms of performance I personally can’t tell any difference and I shoot with both.

GAMEBORE 'Clear Pigeon'