As the RRSPORT clay pigeon shooting day was not materialising very quickly (Foxy ) I tried it for myself at Manchester Clay Shooting Club set in 400 acres and I fell in love with it......absolutely amazing venue.

I have been several times now.

I have since applied for a shotgun licence which has been approved subject to the inspection of my gun safe being installed today.

Any of you keen shooters recommend a decent shotgun, I want an over and under which will be used for clays but I may one day progress to Pheasants etc on a real shoot.

Any direction would be appreciated from the more seasoned shooter......I don't want to spend silly money, only just starting out, say maximum £1000 to £1500.

Thanks

beretta 682gold e sporting,try cheshire gun room

I tried it for the first time this weekend also!

Went to Oakley Hill in Basingstoke - very nice place and excellent guy training us.

Havent applied for a licence yet - Was it easy?

Fairly straight forward - call you local force and ask for firearms licensing officer

Fee, form and inspection or two IIRC

smurf wrote:

try cheshire gun room

This is where I'm going

nathanh1 wrote:

Havent applied for a licence yet - Was it easy?

Reasonably......download and fill in the form

http://www.shooters.co.uk/forms/Shotgun%20...20form.pdf

Find out your local firearms licencing office and send it there with 4 photos and a cheque for £50

Then get a gun cabinet fitted.....I got this one fitted professionally by a joiner

http://www.thesafeshop.co.uk/products/2-shotgun-cabinet.html

thanks!

Jonny dont forget a seperate ammo safe!

Nice one JF, we shall have to arrange a meet and blast some clays one day

I was recommended to have lessons first and learn about mounting the gun and then move on to gun fitments

Its not about the gun, but its more about the fit of the gun to you as a individual, no two people are the same etc etc

I went to all my local RFD and tried and looked at lots and lots of gun, taking their advice on fitment

I shot my brothers and dads brownings (a Citori and 525)and was quite constant with them, but each RFD said the Berretta fitted me a lot better, so i ended up buying a Berretta Silver Pigeon 1 30" Sporter for £1275

So I would try for fitment, but look for Browning, Beretta, Miroku (another arm of Browning making gun guns in Japan) and buy the Kreighoff when you are totally hooked and want to spend a few grand

Sporting guns normally weight more to help with recoil, were as game guns weight less due to carrying them all day in the field

Have a look at the one i bought, its got brilliant reviews, and weight is not bad aswell

if your thinking 2nd hand, you could get a few good example of higher grade guns, but check the actions of movement, looseness and pitting in the barrel due to not cleaning it after every shoot, check the black (blueing) on the barrels for chips, dents etc and make sure (if it has Multichokes) that they a removable and not jammed in.

Grades of wood can get silly too, but why spend ££££ on a old Grade 5 when your starting, when a new grade 1 will smash as many clays

This is exactly like mine

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

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You don't need a separate ammo safe for shotgun cartridges, like you do for rifle bullets

But saying that I went to argos and bought myself a digital safe to keep my gunsafe keys in and only i know the combination to this, it is also large enough to hold about 1000 cartridges too

Don't give the misses access to the gunsafe keys, don't leave them laying about etc

as for gun safes, i was told to buy the biggest you could fit in the space

luckily i could only fit in a 3 gun cabinet, so im limited to amount of guns i can have, but that leaves me open to a game edition and a semi-auto when funds allow

npinks

Great info and nice looking gun.

You worried me there Nathan.......so no spare cartridge safe needed, that's good.

npinks do you have a choke on yours? Don't know much about them yet other than it reduce the spray radius.

What are the cleaning requirements.....every shoot? Consisting of what?

Definitely up for a RRSPORT shoot, the Manchester Clay Shooting Club really is good, 400 acres and many different traps.

Once I've got my gun your welcome to join me.

Don't get seduced by pretty guns at this stage a Beretta silver pigeon second hand is a great gun that you'll get your money back on. Spend the money you save buying second hand having it properly fitted. A properly fitted gun will shoot far better than the most expensive hand made gun that isn't fitted. At this stage you wouldn't benefit from a more expensive gun. I still shoot with the same gun I bought when I was 16 nearly 26 years ago and only now am I considering a change.

As far as game shooting is concerned, it isn't a progression from shooting clays at all, it is just different. I only shoot game now and have done so from about the age of 18. If shooting game is something you are interested in, then you need to find a local shoot and start beating. the years spent in the beating line are best education you can get for newbie shooters. For those of us who have grown up with the countryside and shooting can take it all for granted but marksmanship is almost the last lesson you need to learn. Quarry identification, etiquette and manners for the other guns as well as respect for your quarry are all of paramount importance (assuming you are already safe) and something not to be learnt in the shooting line but the beating line. I guess shooting is a bit like drinking wine; it is all on the whole pretty nice, but you get to appreciate some aspects that bit more than the rest. I love driven pheasants, the crack of the day, particularly on my syndicate is awesome, but shooting wild quarry is what I would do if I only had one day left  Porsche Cayenne S Diesel 66 Plate

Good advice there Pelyma

Cleaning wise, it's upto yourself, personally I fully clean my gun after every shoot, it's only about 20-30mins after I have shot 50 -100 clays, but would do the same if I had only shot 1, I like to look after it and keep the chromed barrels inside as near spotless as I can

Yes I do have chokes, all guns do, some are fixed, some are swappable, I have put mine in and doubt I will every use the others, unless I end up requiring to shoot steel shot instead of the normal lead, they come out each time for cleaning though

Cleaning I used this guy method, 1 of 4 videos
&feature=youtube_gdata_player

npinks wrote:

I fully clean my gun after every shoot

Crikey, really Nick.....i'm probably just lazy, I dont bother for weeks but should probably get into better practise for this  L322 Big Daddy SUPERCHARGED 5.0 Autobiography - Here & Now!

5 series for the miles

RRS S/C factory built HST - Gone

45 others have been and gone!

I came home the other week and put it away in its cabinet dirty, went straight back out for a couple of afternoon beers,

I remembered about 2 days later as i laid in bed at 11:30pm, couldn't get to sleep till I had done it

It doesn't need saying but I'll say it anyway: the single most important thing in shooting is safety. It doesn't matter how good you are, an unsafe shot will not be welcomed anywhere. There is the simple stuff such as having the gun broken at all times that it is not in a slip/rack or actually being mounted and fired. And there is the other stuff that one needs to remember but is forgotten by some - especially those who just buy their way in to shooting. These are typically the guys who turn up on corporate days with little/no idea and less concern for getting an idea. They swing through the line, shoot low birds, shoot at ground game even when instructed otherwise and basically act like a dick. An unsafe dick.

People don't mind if you're not a great shot (although beaters and keepers will be unimpressed that birds go unshot after everyone has worked hard to put them over you). They may even offer useful advice, especially if you ask. One thing that people do mind is an unsafe shot. Get a reputation as an unsafe person and you will spend a lifetime getting rid of it.

As Pelyma says, if you want to get in to game shooting, the best way is to start in the beating line. You'll have a great day, get some exercise, more than a little alcohol if you pick the right shoot and a general crack with like-minded people. I've been beating for several years now having come to it in my early 30s and really look forward to the days. I'm already looking forward to next season!! I have now gone one step further and have a young springer that I've been training up for beating / picking up. That adds another dimension to the day. As for shooting, I currently only shoot on beaters' days (I beat for two different shoots locally) but have been quietly looking for the possibility of getting in to a small syndicate. I'm not a great shot, but those I have shot with are happy that I am safe. That is good enough for me at this stage.

The best way to improve your live quarry shooting is pigeons. If you can find someone who has permission to shoot pigeons on local farmland and is prepared to let you accompany them then you will learn a lot about shooting. And patience!

As for guns, I have a Browning 525 with 30inch barrels. I just use 1/2 and 1/4 chokes for everything. I remove them for cleaning each time though. It's important to make sure the chokes are clean and well fitted. There are stories of unpleasant things happening when chokes are not cleaned. At the very least you may find they are stuck when you do want to change them.

It's worth checking with your shooting ground / shoot as to what cartridge limits they might have. Some grounds may place a limit on cartridge size (e.g. 28gram). Some places may only allow fibre wads. For clays I use Eley First 28g 7.5 plastic wads. Pigeons I use Eley Pigeon (30g 6.5 fibre) and for pheasant Eley VIP Game (30g 6 fibre). My local gunshop has had good deals on Eley cartridges recently!

Sorry for the ramble - as you can see, this shooting lark can get under your skin. You have been warned!  2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed