UK Shooting
I finally had the opportunity for my bucket list trip to the UK and what a week! I was able to buy a couple shotguns to keep there for future trips. Under my visitor’s certificate, I was authorized to buy a 12 ga and 20 ga O/U and a 12 ga SxS. I wound up buying a 20 ga Rizzini game gun and 12 ga Caesar Guerini clays gun. Nothing too crazy but good guns which meet my needs. Hopefully, I will fill the final entry for a SxS through Holts next month.
For the trip, I shot clays at Barbury Shooting School, and took a lesson there, shot at Purdey Royal Berkshire and did the Purdey Handicap Challenge. It was by far the most difficult clays course I’ve shot. I finished the week with a Purdey simulated driven day at an estate. That was absolutely spectacular. I fired approximately 500 rounds over the course of about three hours. During the third drive, they organized us into teams for competition. Thankfully, that was shot over a very familiar duck pond scenario. Our team won the vaunted “top gun” hats and a bottle of wine each, which was a nice touch.
During the middle of the week, I took three days to attend the British Shooting Show and hunt. The show was similar to the sportsman’s show in Harrisburg, with an emphasis on shotguns and bird hunting, which was fantastic. I then drove to Suffolk for a couple days of pigeon shooting and deer hunting, where I managed to take two Chinese water deer and a roe deer.
Overall, the UK more than lived up to my expectations. The shotgunning was arranged by Purdey and Royal Berkshire and they were just incredible. Oddly, I contacted H&H first and their customer service was horrible. So, I called Purdey and they were just amazing. And, much to my surprise, the cost was very reasonable. Of course, I was selective in what I did and my shotgun purchases. But, the clays shooting was not more expensive than the US, and generally less. In the end, it was worth every penny. I’ll need to save my pennies for a while to do it again.
And now, to the Southern! Btw, I met several people here who’d been to the Southern, including the representative for AG&L. Very good people. I look forward to seeing everyone in April.
Joe
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