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On Sunday's when during my
early teens my uncle
took me around a farm in Derbyshire which held sporting Clay events, I undertook a training
course in Gun Safety and then happily proceeded to miss many clays! (Seems
that gun safe doesn't necessarily mean hitting the targets).
Having lived, breathed and
worked in IT for as long as I remember, I needed a hobby to distract from the
old ball and chain (aka a mouse) and this was perfect, walks in the open country
side and plenty of fresh air!
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Clay Pigeon shooting has long been a
traditional sport of Great Britain we have won many a gold in the Olympic event.
What appeals most is that with
practice any one could potentially qualify for the Olympics and win gold for Britain!
Realistically I may never reach that standard, but it the best thing is being
overweight and unfit isn't a disadvantage. (I suppose I could take up
darts!) |
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Here pidgy pidgy pidgy... |
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You may have been shooting on corporate days
or even with a friend but how do you take up the hobby from scratch?
It's wasn't as difficult as I first thought, all
you need is time, patience and most of all money. The initial start-up costs can be
daunting.
A number of clubs run Open-Days or Training
Days. One particularly helpful one I came across was the Oxford Gun Company
who ran a one day course for around £99 (This was in 2003 so prices may be
subject to change).
This included Gun Hire, Cartridges and Tuition from a qualified
CPSA Instructor. They are a friendly
bunch and approachable, you can find them at :-
Oxford Gun Company
Jericho Farm
Oxford Road
Oakley Buck
Aylesbury
HP18 9RG
Tel: 01844 238308
The course teaches you about Gun Safety,
cleaning and correct handling.
So you've fired a few rounds, you feel like
John Wayne, the head-rush is still with you and your bitten with the bug!
What do you need to do to own your first gun?
Before you can purchase a gun in the UK you will
need to apply for a Fire-Arms or Shot-Gun Licence. This is done through
your local Police Authority.
Pop into your local Police Station and ask to
speak to the firearms officer, request an application for a Shotgun Licence.
The application takes about an hour to
complete, you will need to provide a professional reference that has known you
personally for a minimum of 2 years, 4 photographs and agree to a police search
so they can check if you have a criminal record.
At the time I applied (Around
2003) It cost £50 for the first
application to be processed and if successful the licence is valid for up to 5
years, subsequent renewals are currently £40.
Before your interview with the Firearms officer,
you will be required to install a Gun Safe, Essentially a heavy metal box that is bolted to the
floor or wall and typically concealed from casual viewing. Boxes are available at
most Country Sporting shops, through the internet and Magazines, they will cost
upwards of £100. Some of the more expensive safes are designed to look
like a piece of everyday furniture.
Gun safes are built to withstand a force of
at least 2000N. The Firearms officer will inspect your Gun Safe
installation and must be viewed by the officer before a licence can be
considered.
It can take up to 8 weeks for your
application to be dealt with and approved. So patience is a virtue.
Once approved you can purchase your first
Shot-Gun. I recommend you shop around, most gun fitters will
find models that fit you better, some gun-smiths will allow you to try a
gun before purchasing it, take them up on this offer as you could end up spending a
lot of money on something that looks nice but doesn't suit you very well.
When asking to purchase a gun the store owner will ask for your ticket or
certificate, you must present this on request.
Before I bought my first gun I set a budget
of £500, this I thought would be a fair price to get something decent. I was wrong.
There are some good second hand guns in that price range and the new ones don't hold
their value very well. Spend
as much as you can reasonably afford and look at many of the second hand bargains to be
had, particularly for your first fire-arm.
Eventually, I bought a
Browning GTS Special which has
multi-chokes. Chokes are a subject matter for discussion in their own
right. When fellow shooters bore you to death about changing chokes for
each type of event, you can smile in confidence that most haven't a clue how to
fire at the targets.
In days of old, side-by-side's were used and
many clays were broken, because lets face it they could shoot. Then
technology kicks in... Chokes are designed to reduce or expand the barrel
diameter at the point of exit of the shot, which in turn means either a tighter
pattern of shot or a much wider spread. Choke sizes come in a variety of
guides, 1/4, 1/2, FULL, 7/8ths etc. These are guides because the choke was
calibrated against a certain type of shot and barrel length. Naturally you will use
different cartridges to which the choke was calibrated and therefore the shot
pattern will be different!
Personally I believe that chokes are a waste of time, you can either
dust a clay or not.
You can find some excellent information on
the web, take a look at www.thegun.co.uk ,
www.basc.com and
www.cpsa.co.uk for further information.
Total Costs :-
| Description |
Cost |
| Shotgun Licence Application |
£50 |
| Gun Cabinet |
£130 |
| Safety Glasses (Compulsory as of
January 2004) |
£20 |
| Hearing Protection |
£15 |
| 12 Gauge Shotgun |
£500+ |
| Cartridges (Price reduces when bought
in bulk) |
£3.50 per 25 |
| Gun Club Membership |
Upwards of £40 per year. |
| Gun Insurance for accident and
liability cover |
£17+ per year. |
| Duck Whistle, Deer Stalker and Flak
Jacket optional extras! |
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The final thing you need when shooting is
money! It's not a cheap sport, a 100 birds only registered event can cost
around £22 a time + cartridges, so you look to part with around £40 easily at
the weekend.
Just to help you see how bad a shot I am,
take a look at my scores sheet for 2004!
Jason's 2005 Scores
Andy's 2005 Scores
Lyn's 2005 Scores
With enough events I should get my D
classification...
As you can see, poor Andy is lagging
behind, Perhaps it's the chokes mate! ;-)
I hope this helps you get started and good
luck!
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