The Dennis Gill Memorial DTL - Bradford Shooting Ground 14/10/23

This is a charity shoot held at Bradford SG every year in memory of Matt Gill's father, Dennis (Matt took on Bradford after Dennis died).

This is the 20th year, and before kick-off this morning, almost £19,000 has been raised for different charities over that time.

As well as the shooting, there is usually a small auction of donated items and a raffle. All the money raised goes into the donation pot, and everyone who wins prize money usually ends up throwing that in as well, boosting the final total nicely.

One of the donated auction lots - a Hornby Dublo Duchess of Atholl train set in fairly good condition, with another whole box of related goodies. I was tempted, having had my own model trains and layout when I was younger - but decided to leave it for someone else.

Today we're supporting Pancreatic Cancer UK. My medical knowledge is extremely limited, but I do know that pancreatic cancer is one of if not the most aggressive and deadly that anyone can get, and I really hope that what we've raised can make difference, even if it's tiny.

The shoot is one that we in Devon, Cornwall, and Somerset always look forward to, and you'll usually find that it brings the best DTL shots in the region together to do battle.

Unfortunately, just as at this year's Bradford DTL Championship here two weeks ago, the number of entries was quite a bit lower than expected. Everyone is feeling the pinch at the moment which explains some of it, but it also shows the sad fact that the numbers are dwindling generally. Some people have moved on to other things, and those that are left are getting older. The number of Veterans on the board today was greater than the number of Seniors, and that does not bode well for the future.

But reflecting on that is a job for another day. Looking around the car park and the clubhouse, I had more pressing matters to contend with.

For starters, my central heating system wasn't ready for the temperature to drop 10 degrees overnight (by which I mean it felt cold!). Thankfully the sun was pretty warm - when it was out!

Secondly, there was no shortage of opposition that could make my day rather interesting.

And thirdly, this was the first time out in a proper competition with the new Jones Adjuster setup on the gun. Not that I was expecting there to be any issues with this - the fit of it felt good in the shoulder, and I was looking dead straight down the rib - but there's always that question before the first shot!

It might look a bit odd, but it makes a huge difference!

The answer wasn't long in coming - a couple of early targets were a bit chippy, but by the time I got halfway through the first round I was pretty comfortable with the setup. And that was just as well, because as the day unfolded the shooting conditions could be described as Testing (yes, with a capital T!).

To start with we had fairly bright sunshine. Then the wind, which was already pushing the targets down and making them all different heights, blew a load of thick grey clouds overhead and blocked all that out. Then those clouds decided to drop a load of moisture on us - before blowing away and letting the sun through again. And then a new set arrived and the cycle would repeat itself.

One of the nicer spells when it warmed up a little, and the targets stood out like dustbin lids!

So really, choosing the right colour glasses was a bit tricky. The bright spells were too bright for the Hi-Intensity Pink lenses I usually use, so I reached for the Purples - and was lucky that they also worked pretty well when it got darker.

Or maybe it was a good decision backed by experience - either way, at the halfway stage of the shoot I'd only dropped one second barrel and was in the lead on 50/149.

The two people who I considered to be the most likely opposition (Chris Smyth and Barny Jackson) were in my squad, so I had a pretty good idea of where they were in relation to me. But Chris' struggles for form continued, and after the first round he was three whole targets and a barrel light. His middle 50 were considerably better, but it went downhill for him again in the last. I felt for him because I know what it's like to struggle when you know you can do so much better - as far as you can tell, you're doing everything the way you should be, but it just isn't happening, and it can be quite demoralizing. Definitely frustrating!

Barny was doing a good job getting to grips with his new Beretta 694, and it looks like he's found a gun that suits him and will let him push on with the next phase of his development as a shooter. At halfway he was 4 points behind me on 49/144, and was giving me something to stay ahead of.

But because I don't look at the scoreboard until the shoot is over (there's no reason to, unless you want to mess up your own performance), I didn't know that my margin for error was a lot finer than 5 points! Jason Reskelly had also had an excellent start, and was breathing right down my neck on 50/148. Brian Prettejohn and Geoff Eltham were both on 49/146, so not that far behind either. Just as well I always expect to have to shoot a near perfect score to win!

The second half of the day was much the same as the first, although the wind seemed to change slightly. Not everyone adapted to it well. After round three, Barny and I were still locked together after perfect 25/75s, while Jason had a bit of a mare and dropped four whole targets and a barrel, which effectively ended his chances of an outright win. Geoff was largely unaffected in as much as he stayed consistent, while Brian missed a couple and barrelled another. Elsewhere, Andy Hill suddenly found his rhythm and began a late charge with a 25/74.

As things stood, I was looking very good and had every intention of filling in the last 25 for a possible 100/299. The only way anyone could catch me was if I dropped points through costly mistakes or weather. In fact, I did both - a straightaway target sailed on unscathed when I missed it with both barrels, and then two others bobbed just as I fired my first shot, only to rise back into the shot cloud from my second.

So I finished up with a 24/70, a final score of 99/294, and feeling like I was a little short of the mark. It was still a good score - but I'd opened the door, and fortunately for me Barny couldn't capitalize. He kindly missed one and barrelled one of his own, and ended up on 98/291.

That was a popular score, because Geoff, after his second 25/75 of the day, also finished on 98/291, and so did Andy after back to back 25/74s in his last 50.

There was a definite separation between this top group and the rest of the field, with Brian being next in line with a 96/286. And there was another clear gap at the bottom end as the C class shooters found it tough going.

Here's the breakdown of class winners:

High Gun and 1st in AA

Robert Dietz 99/294

A Class

1st - Andy Hill 98/291

2nd - Brian Prettejohn 96/286

B Class

1st - Geoff Eltham 98/291

2nd - Jason Reskelly 96/283

C Class

1st - Al Dungey 89/259

2nd Equal - Mick Cunningham (87/255) and Rob Northey (88/255)

Well shot everyone in testing conditions, and thank you to Matt and everyone involved in hosting the shoot, everyone who donated something for the raffle that followed, and to those who supplied items for the small auction.

The final total raised was £1120, which means we did actually make it to £20,000 for charities over the last 20 years! That's a brilliant achievement, and just shows that shooting can do a lot of good in ways that are not always obvious to the critics.

That's effectively the end of the competition season for me, and now I'll be focusing on making sure I'm ready for next year (which involves collecting a pot of £4500!), and getting scores for the England Team selections.