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First-Time Clay Pigeon Shooters

If this is your first time clay pigeon shooting, you’re joining thousands of people that take part in this very popular leisure activity every week in the UK and Ireland? As a newbie, the following may prove helpful so you’ll know what to expect.

Who Can Go Clay Pigeon Shooting?

Anyone from the age of 10 years old can go clay pigeon shooting. It is an inclusive sport that welcomes anyone of any gender and ability. Groups, such as stag parties, hen parties and corporate teams have made this sport the top-ranking leisure activity in the UK and Ireland. Individuals and family groups have not been slow in joining them for what is an amazing experience that can become highly addictive.

Clay Pigeon Shooting v Trap Shooting v Skeet Shooting

First of all, don’t get muddled with names as clay pigeon shooting is also called – trap, skeet, and sporting clays. Each has different rules and the clays are launched in different directions. However, the goal is the same – to shoot the clay frisbee-like disc out of the sky with a gun. As a first-timer, you can be guided 100% by the experts in regards to what clay shooting package to choose. The Big Shoot are the UK and Ireland’s biggest network of clay pigeon sites.

What to Wear When Clay Pigeon Shooting

The best advice is to dress for a trip to the countryside and the prevailing weather on the day. So, closed shoes or wellies, clothing should be in layers so you can remove a layer if it gets to warm. A waterproof coat or jacket together with a hat and some fingerless gloves if you are going shooting in the winter months.

Safety First

On arrival at the clay pigeon shooting range, you will be greeted by your instructor and be offered tea, coffee and biscuits in a shooting lodge. While you sip your chosen brew, your instructor will go through a thorough safety briefing this will include gun safety and the rules, which in any sporting activity are designed to keep you and your fellow participants safe.

You will then be handed essential protective equipment such as eye and ear protection, which we recommend that you wear all the time when you are out on the clay shooting stands.

Gun Etiquette and Techniques

Before you venture outside, the instructor will need to find your dominant eye. Everyone has a dominant eye, so don’t let that worry you. Once he has established which is your dominant eye, he will give you the most suitable gun to maximise your experience. You may find that you are left-eye dominant when you are right-handed. It’s important to get that established.

Your instructor will then show you how to hold the gun properly. This is vital if you want to hit as many clay targets as possible and accounts for most of the missed clays when you are a beginner.

Your Clay Pigeon Shooting Instructor is an Expert So Listen Up

It is understandable that you are excited and can’t wait to get our there and smash a few clays, but paying attention now will make a huge difference to your experience. You will be accompanied by your instructor and he or she will continuously help and instruct you as you move from one stand to another. Some of the key factors are:

- Body Position. Your body position is extremely important. You need to be well-balanced, with your knees slightly bent and your feet slightly apart. The foot on the trigger-hand side of your body should go behind the other one. Lean slightly forward with a little more weight on your front leg than the rear. This gives you good control of the gun as it fires and allows you mobility to track the target as it moves.
- How to Hold the Gun. How you hold the shotgun is also very important. You should have a hand on the stock near the trigger and the other on the forearm of the shotgun, which is basically under the gun, just before you get to the barrel. The heel or butt of the stock on your shoulder and then your cheek needs to be pressed to the stock of the shotgun. This positioning gives the best accuracy.

When to Shoot a Flying Clay Target. Shoot where the clay will be, not where it is. This means you will have to point your shotgun in the clay’s path of travel. It will take a few practice shots to fine-tune this skill. Successfully hitting clays is about hand-eye coordination and for that you need both eyes open. Don’t be tempted to squint.

Once you have successfully completed your first-ever clay pigeon shooting experience, and believe me you will always be successful as instructors are only happy once they have you blasting the clays to smithereens.

If you are part of a group booking, most venues offer a medal, certificate or trophy for the best shooter of the day after holding a friendly competition towards the end of your session.

Now all you need to do is pick your location for this exciting first-time experience. With 168 clay pigeon shooting venues in the UK and Ireland, The Big Shoot is the place to ensure that you get the very best clay pigeon shooting experience available. So jump on the website, put in your preferred location and you will get a choice of locations and packages.

By CJ

What Is Down The Line aka DTL?

We have over 160 fantastic clay shooting sites across the UK and Ireland, which deliver first class thrills on a daily basis. There are a variety of clay shooting disciplines for you to take part in, so for a complete beginner, it can be difficult telling them apart. Here, we’ll give you the low down on Down the Line (DTL) shooting, so you can see why it is one of the finest disciplines around.

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DTL is one of the most basic trap disciplines, but differs from standard Olympic shooting in plenty of simple ways that you may not instantly notice, if you notice them at all. For example, under Olympic rules you aren’t allowed to shoot with cartridges above 24g- here, anything below 28g is fair game. But, enough of the boring technical stuff.

The layout of a DTL shoot is 5 stands laid out in a crescent shape, 16 yards from a traphouse. The traphouse will throw a random target to both sides of a centre post, roughly 50 yards away- the target will usually leave the trap at around 42mph, so it is a test of every shooter’s skills to crack it open as fast as possible. This is one of the most basic, yet challenging disciplines to master, so you’ll really need to bring your gun slinging A-game when you shoot with us.

In clay shooting championships, DTL is scored out of 300, with 100 different tricky targets to take down. You get 3 points for a first barrel kill, 2 points for a second barrel kill and absolutely no points if you lose a target. Luckily, at our sites you’ll be developing your skills to a professional standard, not putting them to the test in one of the most difficult sports competitions out there!

Unbelievable Clay Shooting Facts

After a recent delve into the history of clay shooting we’ve unearthed a real treasure trove of unbelievable clay shooting facts – and some of these incredible staggering stats are too good not to share. So prepare to be amazed because we’ve got Guinness World Records Galore, the odd luxury gun or two and even some bizarre training trivia!

1). Cricket balls, stones and even potatoes were used as targets before the invention of clay targets, but the most direct ancestor of the modern-day clay is the glass ball target. Glass ball targets were brightly coloured, filled with feathers and launched by a small catapult-like trap. When hit they would shatter and throw a plume of feathers into the air. Smashing!

2). It wasn’t until 1800 that the first clays (as we know them today) were created, and because they were made of clay and shaped like saucers they quickly became known as “mud saucers”. Despite the popularity of glass ball shooting, glass targets created too much debris and mud saucers were seen as the perfect replacement.

3). Holland & Holland have been making bespoke shotguns since 1850, and their incredible craftsmanship and attention to detail makes them some of the most sought shotguns in the world. Creating these masterpieces takes time though, and in total it takes over 800 hours to produce one of their iconic side-by-side shotguns, but some things are definitely worth waiting for, wouldn’t you agree?

4). Olympic gold medallist Peter Wilson shot to fame when he bagged gold in the double trap at the London Olympics in 2012, but he owes some of his success to a bizarre training method employed by his coach Ahmad Al Maktoum. To make sure the Olympic champion could ignore all distractions whilst shooting, Ahmad used to whisper in his ear during training to try and put him off. Thankfully the trick worked and Peter held his concentration to bring home the gold.

5). Sticking with the Olympics, have you ever sat down to watch the shooting and found yourself wondering what makes the clays explode with a brightly coloured cloud of smoke? We have, and despite quizzing the boffins at The Big Shoot we’ve never managed to figure it out. It turns out we were probably overthinking it a little bit though, because it’s as simple as packing coloured chalk dust under the clay before it’s launched. The chalk dust not only makes the scorers job easier, it also lets the watching crowd know when a clay’s been hit.

6). The world record for the longest clay pigeon shot stands at 130 yards – just short of 120 meters! The incredible record was set by clay shooting legend and 26-time world champion George Digweed back in 2011, and despite numerous attempts his record is yet to be officially beaten.

7). Double and single barrelled shotguns may be the norm at most shooting grounds, but did you know you can also get your hands on three and four barrelled shotguns? That’s right, over the years multiple manufacturers have tried to improve on the standard shotgun by adding more barrels, but it’s not exactly been a great success. For smashing clays we’d suggest sticking to a decent double, but if you’re looking for an investment three and four barrelled shotguns are the ultimate collector’s item.

8). The fastest time to shoot 25 clays is a staggering 24.25 seconds – that’s a clay every 0.97 seconds! US shooter Tyler Leinbach set the record in July 2015, smashing the world record held by Brit Drennan Kenderdine by over 5 seconds.

9). Swedish gunsmiths VO Vapen are world famous for creating incredible shotguns and in 2011 they produced a record breaking rifle that cost in excess of £500,000! With only five of their famous Falcon edition rifles ever made these one-of-a-kind creations are a real collector’s item, and should any of them ever find their way to auction it’s expected they’d sell for in access of £1 million!

10). When Theodore Roosevelt’s A.H Fox Shotgun came up for auction in 2010 it became one of the most valuable shotguns in the world. The gun, which had been used on a year-long safari by the former president sold for a staggering $862,000, making it one of the most expensive shotguns ever sold at auction.

The Big Shoot’s winter shooting tips

Now the days are shorter , wetter and wilder, Christmas getting closer – but that shouldn’t stop you shooting! As long as you’re properly prepared, there’s nothing better than taking on the clays on a crisp winter day. So to help you keep your commitment to clay shooting we’ve put together our top tips for winter shooting.

1. Keep your trigger finger toasty

For comfort and consistency keeping your hands warm is key. You don’t necessarily need to splash out on a posh pair of shooting gloves though. Your standard winter warmers should do the job fine, and as long as they’re not too bulky or restrictive your timing and technique shouldn’t suffer in the slightest.

2. Don’t forget your shades

When the sun makes an unscheduled appearance it can cause chaos for clay shooters. A low winter sun makes it almost impossible to spot clays without seriously damaging your eyes. So don’t forget to pack a pair of sunglasses.

3. Take a break (and a brew)

If you’re really starting to feel the cold, don’t be afraid to ask your instructor for a break. Taking a couple of minutes to warm up is sometimes all it takes to get back into the swing of things, and it’s a good excuse to make the most of a flask of tea or coffee.

4. Wrap up, but not too much

While it’s important to keep warm, successful clay shooting relies on a smooth swing and solid mount. Wearing too many layers can impede your technique, so stick to a warm base layer and thick fleece top. Specially designed shooting jackets are also a perfect alternative.

5. Make the most of the clubhouse

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There’s one place on the shooting ground that’s always warm, and that’s the clubhouse. Make the most of the cosy clubhouses before, during and after your shoot.

Men – What We Really Want For Christmas..

Just under three weeks to go, how’s the Christmas shopping going?

There’s still one gift you’re struggling with isn’t there? We bet we can guess who it’s for too, the hardest people to buy for in the world – that would be men!

Yes blokes are notoriously hard to buy for, but believe it or not we’re actually fairly easily pleased. So why not take a quick look at what we really want and you’ll be back on the sofa munching through that box of mince pies before you know it.

A box set..

Whether it’s an old classic or the latest TV blockbuster, you can’t beat a box set. When the winter weather draws in, for some, there’s nowhere better to be than on the sofa and with something decent on the box there’s no need to move until the new year. A guaranteed hit!

Clay shooting kit..

Whether it’s for your dad, brother, boyfriend or husband, if they’re clay shooting crazy they’ll be blown away by some brand new clay shooting kit. We’re not saying you have to fork out for a brand new bespoke shotgun, but something simple like some shooting gloves or a shooting jacket will go down a storm.

Anything made of chocolate..

There’s no such thing as too much chocolate at Christmas, plus you can eat it at any time of day too and nobody bats an eyelid. You can get your hands on all sorts of craft chocolate creations nowadays, so you could probably even find some chocolate clays or cartridge shells – but let’s be honest it doesn’t matter what shape it is it’s getting destroyed!

Anything alcoholic..

While it’s important to drink responsibly and take it easy on the chocolate liqueurs at Christmas, we know most clay shooters love a tipple. Even Santa enjoys the odd sherry and a nice bottle of something festive makes a great present.

A clay pigeon shooting experience..

Yep, the only thing better than some snazzy new shooting gear is the chance to smash some clays. With venues across the UK & Ireland and experience for both first time and experience shooters a gift experience from The Big Shoot really is a must have.

We hope that helps, but if you’re still short of ideas there’s only one place to be: thebigshoot.co.uk

Tunbridge Wells North Wins Venue of the Month

With over 60 fantastic clay pigeon shooting venues to choose from, it gets harder and harder each month to choose our Venue of the Month award. But, as they say, there can only be one winner! After much debate and deliberation, we came to a decision – October’s Venue of the Month goes to Tunbridge Wells North!

Located just moments away from the A21 in the South East, our Tunbridge Wells North clay pigeon shooting site is the perfect location for beginners and experienced shooters alike to get their clay pigeon fix! This site has a number of exciting challenges which are tailor-made to suit the skill level of each shooter individually.

Experience is the name of the game at this site, as the tutor at our Tunbridge Wells North venue has over 35 years of shooting experience. So, there’s no doubt you’ll be turning clays to absolute dust in no time! Trust us, you’re bound to love your clay shooting experience at our Tunbridge Wells North venue. But don’t just take our word for it. Check out some recent visitor reviews straight from the shooting ground:

“it couldn’t have been a better introduction, very hospitable, encouraging, and a little healthy competition at the end. good stuff.”
Owen – 14^th Oct 2018

“first time and did not expect to hit a single target. however instructor (leigh), was patient and engaging, and explained what to do very clearly. the session was great fun, and far exceeded expectations.”
Andrew – 14^th Oct 2018

It’s safe to say that shooting fans from not just Kent, but from far and wide would be foolish to miss out on the Clay Pigeon Shooting experience at Tunbridge Wells North, especially as the venue continues to receive glowing feedback week after week. To find out more information or book your clay pigeon shooting experience, feel free to visit the following link.