Bradford Shooting Ground 4/2/23

Sometimes, taking a break from something can be a good thing. In my case, not shooting for about a month and a half (had to watch the finances) helped recharge the batteries a bit.

So, when I turned up at Bradford today, I was ready to go out and see what I could do with the new Lyalvale Express Super Comps provided by Martin over at MJ Sporting (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088727362828).

Normally, I would go and pattern test a new cartridge to see what the pattern looks like, how dense and uniform it is, and which chokes work best with them. This is mainly to remove any doubts about the performance, and eliminate them from the list of possible reasons for poor results.

But, I can’t do that at home, and I haven’t been anywhere with a pattern plate recently - so I had to simply load them up and see what I got.

Martin himself tested them extensively before choosing them as his sponsored cartridge, and Malcolm Brown has used them for many years and rates them highly, so I wasn’t too concerned.

After the first 3 shots, and 3 balls of soot in the sky, I wasn’t concerned at all! At halfway, I had 50/150 on the board and nearly all of those (apart from a couple of kills in round 1 which were “iffy” – just knocking the rust off…) were smokers.

Then, I found myself in a familiar situation. I’m halfway through on a perfect score, and the pressure cooker starts building.

Today, I made it to my 19th target before the valve blew – a hard right-hander on peg 5, and a shot that felt different to all the rest – no timing to it whatsoever. The second shot connected perfectly, but the chance for the 300 was gone.

No matter – I was simply pleased that the day was going so well, especially after a full on 2-and-a-half weeks of working as much overtime as was available, churning through machining orders as efficiently as possible to get the Production Assembly department what they needed.

Perhaps that caught up with me in the end because the “fuel tank” began to run low, and round 4 was a challenge. I lost a target through a lapse of concentration, but rallied and got the rest to finish on 99/296.

That was enough for 1st in AA Class, and a share of the High Gun spot with Keith Woolcock, no less! Well shot Keith – there’s no way you’ll be staying in B class if you keep putting in scores like that!

Another shooter making great strides at the moment is Paul Gorrett – after missing the first one out, he went on to shoot a 99/288 and pick up 3rd in B Class, 4 points behind Frank Reynolds on 98/292 in 2nd.

The A Class win went to Malcolm Brown who finished on 99/294, and Peter Pinno was 2nd in A with 97/288.

C Class was won by Matthew Rowland with a 94/274. I don’t remember seeing him on the circuit before, so it’s great to see a new face.

Well shot to all of them, and thanks to Matt for providing another fun day out on the range.

Now, a word on my year ahead plans for those interested.

Unfortunately, I’m in a tricky position. My shotgun certificate renewal is STILL pending, and the temporary permit I currently have runs out on the 28th of February.

I’m a big advocate of “hope for the best, but plan for the worst - just in case”, which means that I am once again preparing to move my guns into RFD storage if necessary.

Of course, this means that I can’t plan any big shooting events, and I certainly can’t put my scores in for England team selection (deadline midday on February 20th). The Home International is in Ireland, and I would need a permit from the Irish Police to take the gun over there, the requirements for which, I believe, are rather strict.

In my current situation, I don’t see how I can commit to a full England selection process, or anything else, without knowing if I’ll be in possession of my guns in 3 weeks time.

There’s no point getting worked up about it – that won’t make Devon and Cornwall Firearms process things quicker, and I don’t want to do anything that will jeopardise my licence. So, as usual, it’s wait and see what happens, and I’ll keep you posted.

I am however going to the British Shooting Show this year, for the first time. It’s running at the NEC over the weekend of the 17th, 18th, and 19th of February, so that should be an experience!