Bill Horne Memorial DTL 2022 – Bradford Shooting Ground 16/7/22

Yet another day when we’ve been absolutely spoilt for weather, and 5 squads made the most of it.

This event is usually very well attended, so I’m not sure why we didn’t have so many this time. Nevertheless, the standard of shooting was just as high as ever.

It doesn’t get much better than this…

I set out this morning with the sole intention of bringing the trophy home with me, but to do it, I would have to contend with last year’s winner, Chris Smyth.

Chris is arguably the toughest DTL competitor in the South West, and his forte is turning up and putting in a monster score from nowhere. Even if he last shot 6 months ago! At this event last year he outclassed the entire field with a 100/299 – but he isn’t unbeatable!

On top of that, I decided to give the Gamebore DTL Elite cartridges I won at East Yorkshire a thorough testing under competition conditions.

The best performances of my shooting career to date have been with Gamebore cartridges, though I was using White Gold then. I like the brand, so part of the test was to see if it gave me a mental boost.

On paper, it looked very much like a “battle of the titans” – but it didn’t take long to find out that there were others who wanted to get involved!

What we were shooting for - four small class trophies that each winner keeps, along with the main trophy for the High Gun on the right-hand side.

The first one to signal his intent was Barny Jackson, despite some very late night refreshments. I told him before we started that it would go one of two ways – very well, or very badly!

He was standing right next to me on the line, so I had a front row seat. Feeling a little unsteady for his first few targets, he managed to crunch his way through a 25/73, and did a brilliant job of pushing me on.

The DTL Elites and I gelled instantly. My first target of the day was a real corker – it dissolved in a cloud of black soot, and from then on it was full steam ahead – until target number 20...

The shot process ran very different for some reason, and I completely missed it. I was hitting them so well, I couldn’t quite believe what my eyes were seeing – but that didn’t change the facts!

It was time to dig in!

Chris started as expected with a 25 straight, but it wasn’t perfect – he needed his second barrel for his last target of the round. Perhaps running on only 3 hours of sleep had something to do with it...

Another shooter who can be formidable on his day, Colin Chidley, also started off with a 25/73, but unfortunately, he fell behind the fight as the day went on.

Barny continued to battle his less than perfect cognitive state in round 2. By now he was feeling the heat and not exactly comfortable, but refused to let that affect his shooting. Another 25/74 on his scorecard.

I was rapidly gaining confidence and liking my choice of ammunition immensely. The DTL Elites are very smooth to shoot, pattern superbly, and hit like a train. They suit me better than Eley DTL Golds, and there’s no question about it – I need to find a reliable supply!

My new favourite clay busters - 28g of Gamebore Diamond shot, size 7.5.

My second round was an almost textbook 25/75. I haven’t hit targets as hard as that for a very long time! And a good thing I did! Chris was motoring along nicely too with a 25/75 of his own.

Round 3 was basically a carbon copy of round 2, Barny now well on the way back to normal. Another barrel from him allowed me to edge in front, but I was still 3 points behind Chris and had no choice but to keep the hammer down and hope.

Anything less than a 25/75 in the last round and I would need a miracle.

Then, out of nowhere, I had a blip. 2 second barrels, one right after the other, was a big blow to the game plan. But I’ve been in this position many times, and the plan changed to “let’s see how hard we can hit the rest, and finish strong”. You never know what can happen in the last few targets!

Annoyingly for me, Barny was back firing on all cylinders and he didn’t let up. A 25/75 smashed to bits and a 100/296 on the board, his first 100 straight! Well shot that man!

Sneakily, he denied us the pleasure of blasting his hat because he doesn’t wear one! We’ll have to remedy that soon...

My last round of 25/73 gave me 99/295 for the days work. I think that’s pretty good, and really happy with how the middle 50 went – not too long ago I was floundering around 284!

All eyes were now on Chris, with everyone expecting him to cruise the last 25 and put in yet another 299.

Chris during his last round.

And cruising he was, absolutely turning them inside out – until he got to his last target of the day. Bang, bang, “Lost!” 99/296.

He told me afterwards, “In all my years of shooting, that’s the first time I’ve ever dropped my last one out for a hundred straight.”

“Well, there’s a first time for everything!”, I said!

Now, by my reckoning, Chris and Barny were tied, so that meant a shoot-off for the trophy. Oh good! None of us three had been in and looked at the scoreboard properly, so we were surprised to find out that someone had pipped them to the trophy by 1 point!

Unknown to us, Mr Richard Ryan had been having an absolute blast – a 24/72 in his first round was followed by a 75/225 for a storming 99/297... and he entered as Targets-only!

If only I’d straighted that last round!!

That's a decent scorecard - well shot Barny!

But I didn’t, so well shot Richard, that’s a thoroughly deserved win!

The top drawer shooting didn’t stop there either. Nearly all the classes were hard fought with very tight margins of victory.

Nick Shadrick edged A class by 1 point with a 98/291. Andrew Hill and Malcolm Brown were breathing right down his neck with 290 each.

Keith Woolcock was the most comfortable, being quite a way in front of the rest in B class on 95/282.

C class saw a contest between two shooters who have come on in leaps and bounds over the last year or so - Jason Dyer and Al Dungey. The battle went right to the last target of the day.

Jason Dyer at work.

All Al had to do was hold his nerve and get them all first time to make C class his, but he couldn’t quite manage it, dropping 5 points. Jason shot his socks off through gritted teeth and blew his 25 apart like they’d insulted his honour. That 25/75 catapulted him past Al and won him C class by 1 point with a 97/285!

Winners, left to right: Nick Shadrick (A) - 98/291, Keith Woolcock (B) - 95/282, Richard Ryan (High Gun and AA) - 99/297, Jason Dyer (C) - 97/285.

Well shot everybody, and thank you for such a great day of competition shooting! Also thanks to Matt and Ian at Bradford for another smooth and enjoyable shoot with absolutely minimal issues, and to the Horne family for their support. Once again they provided us with individual class keepsake trophies, in addition to the fine cup, to shoot for.

Next week, the training for Bisley continues at Two Counties – a 100 DTL, and something called the Devon Single Barrel Championship...