Q.

I wear monthly disposable contact lenses and have noticed that my right eye is not quite as sharp as it used to be, although this doesn’t happen all the time. My eyes feel hot and gritty towards the end of a shoot. I have purchased some top quality shooting glasses which are good, but don’t appear to address the problem. Do you have any suggestions?

A. There are a few issues to investigate here. It is good to see you have developed a method of hitting the birds so I assume you have been shooting for a while. It would be interesting to discover what eye dominance grade you are (see the article in the February issue of Clay Shooting magazine) because if you have an element of middle vision or a left tendency you may be experiencing the phenomenon of dominance switch. As you are regularly shooting behind, this indicates your point of reference has moved, and the barrel is not pointing where you think it is.

Research has shown that in some individuals eye dominance can vary depending on the horizontal angle of gaze so a right eye dominant shooter may subconsciously switch to their left eye when looking at long distances in certain directions.

Couple this with additional features such as poorly fitting eyewear, a large nose which can cause occlusion, or a change in your prescription, and this may be the cause of your difficulty.

The first thing I would suggest is to have an eye examination and find the reason for the blur in your right eye – correcting this may give the right eye the sharpness it needs to maintain dominance.

Whether you need a new prescription or not, consider changing your contact lenses – monthly lenses are not ideal for shooting: they are good for the first week or so but can gradually spoil due to protein and lipid deposits, affecting comfort and of course, vision. If you have a dry eye tendency, then this can be exacerbated by old lenses. It is well worth investing in a few pairs of Daily Disposables for shooting so you have a fresh clean lens every time. Most prescriptions are available now, even catering for astigmatism.

Lastly, if the issue persists, try a dominance correcting device to give you that extra confidence. Your coach or Sports Vision optometrist will be able to advise which is the best for you.

Ed Lyons

Not surprisingly Duncan Lawton clearly remembers becoming the first person to shoot 100 straight in a registered English Sporting competition—even though it was almost 32 years ago. His achievement came at the Buxton Skeet and Trap Club on June 22^nd 1980 using a Remington semi-automatic. “I had a stinking cold and wasn’t in the mood,” says Duncan. “But in those days I was fanatical about shooting and I’d entered with Tony Heeks (now the England Team Sporting Manager), so along we went. I can still remember the 10 stand course which included some really tricky targets.”

Duncan, a softly spoken, modest Staffordshire-man, explains that while he sets out to break every clay in every competition, the idea that he might achieve 100 straight occurred to him only when he’d shot seven stands with no misses. “It was then that I thought ‘I can do this’, so we decided to shoot the two remaining tricky stands next and leave the easier one until last. Luckily I shot well on the two difficult ones and once I’d got to 90 straight I knew I could do the 100, as long as my nerves held—which fortunately they did.”

As with many achievements it is often only some time later that the enormity of it sinks it. “Oddly, once I’d done it, it was a bit of an anticlimax,” says Duncan. “There were lots of congratulations but it was only when I got home that it started to hit me. To start with I wondered, as I expect others did, if it was an easy shoot, but to put it into context half of the England clay shooting team also took part and the nearest score to mine was 93, so I knew I had done well. But the odd thing was that George Hume, who was on the England team, was there and asked me how I was doing when I had shot about 40 straight. He then said ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if we see history made today’, which is rather uncanny.”

Duncan’s achievement is even more impressive considering that he is a self-taught shooter. “I come from a shooting family, so my dad, granddad and great-granddad were all shooters,” he explains. “My dad got into clay shooting when it was in its infancy in the 50s and went on to shoot for England in Sporting and for Great Britain in FITASC. So shooting was familiar and I learnt from copying him. I started with a BSA177 air rifle when I was a boy, nicking air gun pellets from the shop we ran, and then began shotgun shooting at the age of 10.”

Competitive shooting followed with Duncan and Dad winning the “Father and Son” class at the British Open Sporting for four years in a row. Shortly afterwards Duncan began competing for Staffordshire and then, when he was only 16, was picked for the England senior team. “Even though I am very competitive that was a pretty big deal for a young country bumpkin”, he says with a smile.

In 1979, when he was 20, Duncan shot as an individual in the Belgian FITASC Championships—the first time he had been abroad—where he not only came 2^nd but also became hooked on the discipline. “Because of the extra variety it is nearer to live shooting and was more akin to what I had been brought up with. It suited my temperament because it relies more on shooting skill than the huge mental discipline that Sporting or Skeet require.”

After impressing in Belgium Duncan then shot his 100 straight before being picked for a Great Britain selection squad competing in the French Championships at Villeneuve sur Lot in June 1980. There he shot well enough to be chosen for the World Championship squad. The selectors were proved correct in their choice. Only a couple of weeks later at the same French ground the rookie GB shooter took 2^nd place in the World Championship shoot off. This Duncan describes as the perfect springboard to the following year’s World Championships in Madrid, where he became the youngest ever person to win, still using his trusty Remington semi. “I really wanted to be conformist and use a traditional over and under,” he adds, “but I had got used to the semi and how it handled despite it needing a lot of maintenance, as all semis do. I was renowned for having a bag of spares and stopping, often in the middle of a competition, to get my screwdriver out and start stripping it down.”

More success was to come, but after winning the European Championships in Zurich in 1982 Duncan’s personal life came to the fore and shooting took a back seat. “I got married, then I got divorced”, he explains, “which put a spanner in the works and changed my focus for a while.” But in the late 1980s he got back on track, going on to win the World Championships in Andorra in 1991, this time as an individual.

“Shooting as part of a team was always difficult. It was hard to get away for selection shoots, which tended to be at the other end of the country, meaning I was exhausted when I got there and didn’t perform well. And, as amateurs, we had to pay our own way and it was expensive. So I decided to go it alone, which is what many of the big names such as George Digweed, Richard Faulds and Ben Husthwaite, do today, and which suited me and the family much better.”

Today, as well as running the family business in the village of Croxton in Staffordshire, Duncan is still involved in shooting as a coach at the West Midland Shooting Ground where he works 3-4 days a week. “I stopped shooting competitively in the mid 1990s”, he says. “I lost that edge and desire and when that happens performance drops, so I turned to coaching which I get a kick from. It’s challenging because everyone is different and people learn in different ways so you need to tailor the teaching to each individual. But it’s a similar sort of challenge to shooting; instead of me trying to hit a clay I am using my knowledge of how to do that to teach someone else how to hit them, which gives me a big buzz.”

Clearly the shooting bug never quite goes away. Duncan has not only been asked to help set up the course for the EJ Churchill Classic competition in June but is also taking part in the Europeans in Lisbon later that month—despite saying he no longer shoots competitively. “It’s just for fun and to catch up with people,” he says with a laugh. But as he points out, in a couple of years time he will be 55 and eligible to compete as a veteran. Watch this space: maybe a Lawton comeback is just around the corner.

The repeating shotgun has always held a special appeal for me. It was of course the Americans who first designed the best and most reliable kind. The development of the gas operated repeating shotgun was a by-product of America’s military requirement for a self-loading rifle, and the .30 cal Garand developed by the US Government’s Springfield Armoury was adopted by their Army as early as 1936.

While, for the entire course of World War II, British and German forces were still cranking away with their bolt action Lee Enfields and Mausers, GI Joe was simply thumbing home a preloaded clip into his M14 rifle or M1 carbine and getting off rounds as fast as he could pull the trigger. I know which kind of gun I would have preferred in a firefight. In the post-war period Winchester and Remington both produced gas-operated shotguns but in recent years the Italians, particularly Beretta and Benelli, have picked up the ball and run with it.

The Beretta X400 Xplor introduced in 2011 is a state of the art repeating shotgun that Beretta bill as the only shotgun a hunter needs, I’ve been shooting the new A400 Xcel, the Sporter derivation.

Action

I’ve always believed that the auto loader can be as good looking as any other category of shotgun in its own way, and the A400 is certainly that. Its lines are graceful and, as with all good design, form follows function in the best possible way. The blue anodised aluminium alloy receiver is at first a bit of a shock but it grows on you, and like all Beretta finishes it promises to be extraordinarily durable. Nicknamed the Blink the A400’s gas operated cycling system is, Beretta claim, 36% faster than any other semi-auto. The gas piston is smaller than previous and a steel gasket serves a dual purpose of sealing the piston and scraping clean the inside of the gas cylinder as it cycles. At the rear of the piston is a sleeve to which the action bars and bolt carrier are welded and the A400 assembles and disassembles for easy cleaning. Connected to this sleeve is the action return spring and the bolt locks into the barrel extension by means of a rotating head.

Stock

The sample A400 GMK sent me was obviously the cooking version without the kick-off recoil system or the shot counter in the stock. As I didn’t have them I can’t describe their advantages but that suited me fine, I can count up to ten anyway and I imagine the recoil system is most useful with big hunting loads. The full pistol grip provides a comfortable hold but undoubtedly the stock’s best feature is the shims that can be inserted between it and the action which alters the amount of drop. They provide the opportunity for a better off-the-shelf gun fit than any double gun and for me that’s a huge plus and a good reason to go down the auto loader route in this price bracket.

Barrels

Beretta’s tri alloy cold hammer forged barrels are legendary for qualities of durability and standards of finish. The A400 is no bargain basement auto loader but in every aspect of the gun you are getting the best in materials and design. As the A400 is a Sporter, I only patterned the gun with 1oz target loads and, with Express Super Comp, the Optima bored barrels with the compatible HP choke tubes printed well distributed patterns with every choke constriction.

Shooting Impressions

My sample gun came with 30” barrels which with the auto’s long receiver, provide a line of sight equating to a 34” barrelled over and under. With a single barrel however weight up front is significantly less and with an all up weight of 7lb 10oz I had a relatively light Sporter with no compromise on pointability. On some fast but fairly low driven doubles at Francis Lovell’s Oxfordshire Shooting Ground I discovered that this very long gun was surprisingly manoeuvrable. On some longer crossing targets the combination of fast handling characteristics and a very long barrel was equally effective. Having a stock with exactly the right comb height also added to the pleasure of shooting this hugely capable self loader.

I can enthuse about almost every category of shotgun, side by side, over and under and repeaters but a modestly priced auto loader, which the A400 is in comparison to double guns of similar quality, has a special attraction for me. That the Beretta A400 Xcel Sporter could in the right hands hold its own in competition with many other kinds of much more expensive double guns, has an element of democracy that is especially appealing.

Technical Specifications:

Maker: Beretta

Model: A400 Xcel Sporter

Bore size: 12

Barrel Length: 30”

Action: Gas operated self loading

Chamber: 3”

Chokes: Optima HP 5

Rib: 10mm

Stock: Full Pistol adjustable for drop

UK Distributor: GMK, Telephone 01489 579 999. website: www.gmk.co.uk

It was undoubtedly one of the high water marks of the sports presence on TV. Something that saw celebrities such as Ian Botham teamed with clay shooting stars like AJ “Smoker” Smith competing on our screens on the BBC in a primetime slot, sponsored by the likes of Budweiser and Daihatsu. Starshot was something that many of us grew up with but thanks to the tragic events of Hungerford it was consigned to the history books, and for many that was the end of it. However it has now been resurrected and stands to be seen around the country once again.

I was in my teens when I first saw Starshot on TV and I was instantly hooked, it looked like a lot of fun, the fast shooting antics of the competitors soon earned my admiration and under the floodlights at night it looked quite the spectacle.  It was something I wanted to try, but of course all too soon it disappeared, never I thought to be seen again.  However John Bridges from Lancashire had other ideas and has now realised a 20-year ambition to see it back in action once again.

“I was a Sporting shot when I started but once I had tried Starshot I never shot anything else, I think its just so addictive and so much fun I was hooked instantly.  This has been a real labour of love for me, I had hoped that it would be relaunched a few years after Hungerford as had been the intention of the previous owners but that never happened and the unit ended up laying derelict in a building for 16 years until I eventually managed to buy it. The whole thing has been stripped, renovated and rebuilt and I don’t think there is one of the original nuts and bolts in the entire structure.”

“It’s quite simple to do, the goal is to shoot at and kill each target in its designated square with one shot. Do that twelve times plus the final simultaneous pair and away you go. The format and the birds never change. The only variation is that each target gets progressively faster as you move up from one to 12 – to a degree you literally have to ambush the final four. If you straight all 12 of the sector birds and the sim pair at the end the maximum score is 88, though once you’ve done it you will want to keep going so addictive can it be”

The unit is set to be travelling around the country this year running qualifiers ahead of a final scheduled to take place at Grange Farm near Leicester, just as well then that the unit is considering its size remarkably portable, taking less than 2 hours to install on site.

Having tried it I was somewhat taken aback by just how much fun it is. Spot shooting is the key to success and those who dawdle will find themselves struggling. If you can shoot well instinctively then you may surprise yourself as I did, missing just two targets for a fairly respectable score. With the birds rising quickly and having to be shot within the required “segment” a somewhat unusual stance is required, leaning over at 45 degrees enables you to see the clay quickly and without using that technique success is almost impossible. Once you get used to that then the fun comes by the bucket load, the top four segments are the easiest and feel almost leisurely compared to the bottom four which are simply a matter of seeing the target and pulling the trigger, so short is the moment of opportunity.

Would I do it again? Almost certainly, and judging by the reception it got at the British Shooting Show it seems likely that there will be plenty of others queuing up to have a go.

Martin Knagg is the current British Champion and has been at the top of the discipline throughout its chequered history “I shot it for years and I’m overjoyed that it’s back again, I absolutely love it. It’s a great spectacle and a good spectator sport as well.  As for technique, in any discipline you have to be able to see it to shoot it, and the canted over stance helps a lot. Its not about trick shooting, you just need to work out where you’re going to shoot it and get on with it.”  As for equipment the gun needs to be light and fast, Martins “little Nell” being a game gun that has been cut down to 24 ¼ inches with zero choke for speed and pattern size.

As for the future John is in talks with several grounds and organisations about adding extra dates into the calendar for the 2012 season, and his long term goal is to once again see it back on our screens on a regular basis. If his determination and passion for Starshot is anything to go by, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he manages just that!

For further info visit www.starshot1.co.uk

Confirmed 2012 Calendar Dates

26/27 May – Yorkshire Game Fair, Stockeld Park, Weatherby

3 June – Fauxdegla,Wales

24 June – Grange Farm SG

30 June – Euroguns,Browning Open Day, Doncaster

5 August – Cheshire Game & Angling Fair – Peover Hall
18/19 August – Drumlanrig Country Fair, Scotland

25/26/27 August – Cheshire Game Fair Tabley.

Final = 7th October, Grange Farm, Leicester

Last month we looked at the background to my Positive Shooting System and something of its development and history. This month, we get on with the practical business of turning you into a better, more consistent, more disciplined and more focused clay shot. As you may already note, I choose my words carefully. Positive Shooting II is a simple but sophisticated way to make you shoot better. Lest there is no doubt, my approach to instruction is to make you, the individual shooter, more aware of what you need to do to be successful. No BS. No pixie dust. Nothing, indeed, that has not been tested experimentally and proven to work well. There is an element of flexibility too – we are all different and Positive Shooting II takes note of that.

You’ll get detailed, prescriptive information, always working to the KISS principle – Keep it Simple Stupid – when possible. Here are a few things to get us going as we begin our journey towards your improved shooting performance. First, I ask you to make a contract with yourself. If you want to improve, you must be open minded to change – you will have to work hard and in a directed way (without being obsessive or metaphorically beating yourself up when it does not all go to plan initially).

As well as sound basic technique – the subject of the next few articles – self analysis, good preparation, and perfect focus are at the heart of Positive Shooting. So, let us begin my discussing the Positive Shooting triangle of fundamentals, as mentioned last month. They are universal principles of good shooting, part of my holistic approach, that allow you to assess your performance and progress.

Visual Contact, Balance, Rhythm

These things are still at the heart of the system, because they allow you to easily assess your shooting and that of others (and I always advise watching other shots, good and bad, if you want to understand shooting). Visual Contact is about sustaining hard/fine focus on the target for the duration of the shot. You have to ‘stare the target to death’ as one client put it. If you improve your visual discipline – and we will devote a whole article to it in due course – you will improve your shooting. Very few clay shooters are sufficiently disciplined in this regard. Vision in our context is not just a natural ability, but a skill to be learnt and developed.

Any distraction will tend cause your visual discipline to break down (good shooting psychology therefore is essentially about little more than maintaining good visual discipline and movement no matter what). It is something that must be constantly practised and developed. Most of all, and safety apart, you the shooter must realise its absolute importance to success. Sustain fine focus on the moving target and you will unlock your natural abilities. It sounds simple, but the reality is that it takes much effort.

Balance is applicable to many aspects of shooting, but let’s keep it simple as promised. The most important aspect of balance is being in balance, and free of unnecessary tension, at the moment the trigger is pulled – thus allowing a good swing, follow through, and a generally fluent, efficient movement. You will not be in balance if your stance or body position is poor, if you have failed to consider the break point, if your gun does not suit because it is ill fitting, over or underweight, or if you have not learnt to hold it efficiently (in a manner which promotes good movement, consistent mounting and muzzle/recoil control).

Rhythm, or as some might prefer to call it, timing, is our third universal. Good shots have great mounts and great timing. Their shooting appears effortless and easy (because consciously or unconsciously they have set themselves up well and operate with maximum biomechanical, visual, and mental efficiency. When shooting gun down at clays the shot is always conducted to three beats with the tempo changing depending on the speed, angle, and distance of the shot. It is always ONE, TWO, THREE. Gun up shooting is usually conducted to two beat time.

Watch people shoot – perhaps ask someone to video you as well. Are they/you mounting the gun prematurely then slashing at the target? Are you riding the clay? Are you hesitant? In any of these cases, it is likely that your rhythm is not what it might be. If shooting gun down, I do not advise mounting the gun prematurely on ‘ONE’. As you see the bird, move smoothly to it or with it (butt down, muzzles up to line) depending on technique of forward allowance. The gun mounts to the target or behind it on ‘TWO’, and the shot is taken on ‘THREE’. We won’t complicate the issue with considerations of maintained lead yet.

Now since the triangle concept was developed 20-odd years ago, there are some other things that have crept into my thinking more and more as I watch and teach. These new areas of interest, nevertheless, relate to the principles highlighted in the triangle. Watching someone (or indeed watching, sensing, or, feeling yourself) shoot, there are some other general principles worthy of mention and which I now consider routinely when making a general assessment of someone’s shooting.

Preparation was always part of the deal (though it is not mentioned in the triangle). I have a heightened awareness of body tension now during the shot (which is, of course, related to balance), and of core body function – whether or not the individual has good upper body rotation for example. There are other things too; whether or not they use the front arm well and whether they consider adjusting body position (and notably shoulders) to the line of the bird when required. On crossing targets, I am looking for a perpendicular relationship of the muzzles (assuming an over and under) to the LINE of the bird. Generally, I might note my increased awareness of line as well as lead in all forms of shooting.

Finally, my observation is that people who shoot tend to fall into two camps. Those that have a thinking approach, and those that might be described as ‘feelers’. Generally speaking, the thinkers need to learn to feel more, and the feelers to think and not just trust to instinct in all situations. Positive Shooting II develops both aspects of your shooting persona.

After finishing the stand I watched the clay again and decided it was probably further than I thought. The stand was empty for awhile and I asked the ref if I could shoot a couple of first birds. I shot them assuming they were 40 yards and sure enough each broke. I seem to fall into this trap regularly, how can I prevent repeating this mistake?

A. Firstly, anytime you miss it is wise to strive for a different target-muzzle picture on the subsequent attempt. I will not discuss the steps to analyse the target flight line here that guide you in this process but I do have a suggestion that will help, become better at estimating distance!

I am not meaning to be flippant. This is one of the areas of shooting that I think is guided somewhat by myth. Distance and lead are of course related and the myth is that we all see lead differently and we can’t really know how far the clay is or perceive what four feet in front looks like. The only reason we can’t is because we have never learned to.

If you follow these suggestions you will become skilled at estimating distance and perceiving lead. Measure distances in ten yard increments out to 60 yards and mark each increment with about a four foot tall two by four stake. Get a six foot long two by four to balance on top of the stake and mark it into two foot sections (It would be good to have an eight foot one as well if possible). Place it on top of the stakes and place targets on the marks and study the set up at various distances. Mount your gun on targets noting the space awareness between the clays at different distances. Use standard and midi targets.

By knowing the exact distance to and between the clays you will begin to associate the size of the clay and with a known distance and your mind will begin to form a target/ distance/lead relationship that will carry into your Sporting rounds. You will learn what three, four, five feet etc. looks like at a given  distance.

Another helpful hint: it is 40 yards from station one to station seven on a Skeet field. Spend some time studying that perspective and it will help you accurately estimate distance on the Sporting course.

The Clay Shooter of the Year Awards are always a highly coveted event and this year was certainly no different. With shooters and sponsors from across the world of clay shooting in attendance, the day was an ideal opportunity for old friends to catch up and engage in a spot of friendly competition.

The day started with a 100-bird Sporting competition, where top shooters and novices alike had the chance to shoot the Handicap Classic course at the Royal Berkshire Shooting School. High gun of the day was Mickey Rouse who shot a very respectable 96 to take home a bottle of France’s finest champagne and High Lodge won the team event with a combined score of 437.

The awards themselves saw the most successful shooters in the country recognised for their incredible achievements over the last year – a particularly tough feat for the Clay Shooting team to whittle the shortlist down to the top five.

Amber Hill proved just how deserving she was of an award over the past year, racking up a number of titles in Colts, Junior and Lady classes. At just 14, Amber is already competing against the top ladies in the sport and has recently made the move to Skeet where she was selected for the England team. After such a fantastic season, it is no wonder that she has her sights set on the 2016 Olympics.

Clay Shooting royalty George Digweed was also in attendance at the Awards, and has certainly shown why he deserves an award this year. As well as wins at the ICTSF World Sporting, the Triple Classic and the FITASC Grand Prix to name but a few, George wowed onlookers at Bisley Live where he shot a clay from 130 yards.

Unfortunately Peter Wilson couldn’t be in attendance at the Awards, but his acheivements in 2011 are notable nonetheless. Wilson was the first GB shooter to gain an Olympic Quota place, winning silver in Chile in March, and followed his success up with a gold in China a few months later. He also went on to card a new British Double Trap record of 149 ex 150 at Southern Counties in September and saw himself on pole position in the ISSF world rankings.

Irish shooter Jim Doherty was also unable to attend the awards, but his successes this year are certainly admirable. His win at the Krieghoff DTL Classic was backed up by titles at the English and British Open DTL Events. No doubt 2012  will hold more successes for this fantastic shooter, and we look forward to hearing what he gets up to.

The GB FITASC ladies team were proud winners of this year’s Team of the Year award which recognises their combined efforts. Pet Easton, Janine Preece, Becky Bream and June Speakman have made a particular impact amongst the GB contingent’s successes in the FITASC world, winning both the European and World Championships. Despite tough competition from the Spanish at the Worlds, the GB team held their nerve and finished just five points ahead to take home the gold.

Jason Allaway was our final winner, a Nottinghamshire based shooter with three major titles to his name in 2011 alone. Perhaps the most notable success of the year was his visit to the Beretta World, a title he had long dreamed of winning. Allaway shot a whopping 111 to make the final of the championship and went straight in the shoot-off to seal his win. After such a successful year, we are without doubt that Jason will continue his hard work into 2012.

Occasionally a shooter makes history, and it just so happens that Cheryl Hall did exactly that after the winners of the Clay Shooter of the Year awards had been announced. On the 27^th December 2011 at Southdown Gun Club, Cheryl became the first ever lady shooter to card a 100-straight, and it seemed only fitting that we recognised this achievement at the awards. Unfortunately Cheryl was called away on business at the last minute and so was unable to collect her award, but we would like to take this opportunity to congratulate her. No doubt Cheryl is preparing for a successful 2012 and we wish her the best of luck.

Unfortunately it is never possible to congratulate everyone, and it was no enviable task having to pick just five winners. 2011 was a highly successful year for our sport, particularly in the build up to London 2012, and it’s encouraging to see so many successes both in Great Britain and abroad. We have some great contenders for Olympic medals this year and no doubt their successes will help to raise the profile of clay shooting in the future.

Vic Harker weighs up the competition in the Men’s Double Trap event

The most recent clay target event included in the Olympic Games in 1996 is Double Trap. That Great Britain is considered a serious contender for a medal in this discipline at the London Games is very much due to Ian Coley, the British team’s coach and manager. Having identified the UK’s potential in this game as long ago as 1990 when the ISSF introduced the event as a World Championship; his prophecy was fulfilled almost immediately. Kevin Gill won silver in the second World Championship, Peter Boden won the event outright in 1991 and in 1994 Gill won a second Silver Medal. Always the principal promoter of the discipline in the UK Coley introduced 16-year-old Richard Faulds to Double Trap in 1993, and three years later at the Atlanta Olympics he made the final in the event. In the 2000 Games in Sydney Faulds became the second British shooter to win a gold medal in the history of the Olympics.

Since then, with Faulds’ medal and Coley’s hard work and enthusiasm, Double Trap has broadened its base in the UK. However it is still a small group, and as Coley constantly articulates “we need more shooters”.  Nevertheless in 2011, straight off the blocks, 24 year old Peter Wilson won an Olympic quota place at the first World Cup shoot of the year and Richard Faulds collected one at his first attempt at the next in Sydney. Let’s not get too excited yet though, our boys know and we should understand the task that faces them in London. Up against the very best shooters in the world they are on home ground with a huge weight of expectation on their shoulders. On present form both Faulds and Wilson are genuine medal prospects, but let’s take a look at the others.

Italy

Inevitably one of the biggest obstacles in the way of other countries winning medals are the Italians. As two times World and European Champion and silver medallist in the Beijing Games, Francesco D Aniello is a huge talent. His ISSF record shows he did not start competing until 2005 aged 36, but what a record since then. His profession is listed as policeman, I doubt he has arrested anyone recently but we can be sure he will be on our case in London.

Just to make things more difficult the Italian second stringer, if you can call him that, is a four times World Champion – twice as a Junior and then as a Senior. Daniele Di Spigno is 30 years old, he began competing in 1993 and as with D Aniello he has no Trap shooting record before then. Incredibly he won his first Junior World Championship in his first year of competition, repeated the performance the following year and his next two Championships were in 1999 and 2002. A run of Gold Medals in World Cup events between ‘97 and ‘04, his last Silver Medal was in ‘07 but there has been nothing since. Let’s hope he’s not just saving himself for London.

Australia

The very first Double Trap Olympic Gold Medallist from the ’96 Atlanta Games, Russell Mark, will be with us in London. Nearly a two time Olympic Champion, only Richard Faulds being able to keep it together in a sudden death shoot-off in Sydney 2000 prevented him. A two times World Champion in ’94 and ’97, at 47 Mark has a wealth of experience but his big wins were a long time ago. However he is an Australian and a battler, I would not therefore be overly surprised to see him in the final at London ‘012.

U.S.A.

Without a single American in the Olympic Trap event and only Joshua Richmond in the Double Trap, there is a big responsibility riding on this 27 year old’s shoulders. A product of the US Army Marksman’s Unit at Fort Benning Georgia, the legendary Dan Carlisle is his personal coach, and I am confident Richmond will make his presence felt in London. A Junior and a Senior World Champion in ‘08 and ‘10 and with a clutch of medals in World Cup events, he is the right age with some good history and represents serious competition.

Russia

The Russians are  constant threat and Vitaly Fokeev was the World Champion in 2006. While World Championships don’t always equate with Olympic Medals they can’t be ignored. Certainly ’06 was Fokeev’s year – he also won the World Cup final. Since then nothing quite as spectacular, but five World Cup Medals in ISSF events in the last five years demonstrates Fokeev is a consistent performer and he set a world record of 148 + 46 when he won his quota place in Concepcion last year.

Vasily Mosin, now 40 years old, likes winning European Championships. He won in 2000, 2006 and last year equalled the world record in Belgrade with 146 + 48 – Mosin is undoubtedly a man who can shoot a score to win anything. It seems the Russians are coming and heading straight for London.

China

The reigning World Champion Jun Li was born in Shanghai in 1985 and began competing in 2003. He also shot 194 to win his Gold Medal in Belgrade last year together with a Bronze Medal at the World Cup shoot in Beijing. But, as with so many other things from this vast and increasingly powerful country, little other information is available.

Nine shooters out of a field of 18, all with records that suggest they could be in the medals and we may not have even mentioned the winner. It’s tough at the top and it can’t get any tougher in the Double Trapevent at London 2012.

Q. I find myself shooting DTL on a regular basis of late and have got to a stage where my scores are roughly the same each time. Can you suggest what chokes and cartridge combination in your opinion is the ideal set up for this discipline.

Steve Morris, Essex

A. The usual choke combination is three quarter and full and the shot size usually 7′s, although 6′s may be used for a little more striking energy at longer range. However, your problem could be because you are not using a trap gun, or always struggle with specific targets. Maybe you should seek help from a good instructor, who can spot any technical problems and then advise you on the best chokes or shot sizes to suit your needs

CM