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This was my first shoot away from Bisley (with the exception of work) and I was looking forward to experiencing another range and the infamous wind changes of Diggle.

Despite having left in good time to get to the range 10 Min's from where I was staying, the directions I had, sent me to a closed road and a stereotypical bunch of Irish road workers, who neither cared nor knew how to get to the other side of their closed lane.
Thankfully a common sense approach saw me finding the range and getting to the club house on time.
Now, I did not know this, and if you plan on attending Diggle ranges you need to take note, the car park and the club house are in the Danger area once firing commences - certainly from 800 yards out. So the wife and children, who had planned on watching me then disappearing into the local area, had to leave straight away before the gate was shut.

As the first detail shot the rest of us watched a seriously ominous black cloud formed behind us over Diggle village. I can only describe it as looking like a black spectre with long thin talons reaching out into the valley, A bit Harry Potter like.
As the second detail shot, which was my detail, rain came, with thunder and lightning. A little concerning for obvious reasons but we shot through it and our waterproof gear was tested.
I really enjoyed shooting up the valley which I would describe as shaped like a letter Y. Wind could come from any direction and changed surprisingly fast.
I was caught out by this complete change in direction and was slow in making changes to my scope, which when I did make them saw me turn the turret the wrong way and a shot miss the target completely. I lost at least 15 points with that lack of concentration.

1000 Yards gave me a chance to put into play what I had learnt at 800 and with a low wind I scored well - for me, and I finished happy. Lunch was a quick bite as we headed up to the butts and marked for the PM shooters.

The afternoon shoot ran on a bit late and I was met by a rather angry wife who had been sat stuck at the gate for an hour! Before we could go home all the F/TR shooters had our rifles weighed. Thankfully no dramas there.

Sunday started with rain and no visibility of the targetery. It must have taken over an hour and a half for us to finally get out and for me I started in the butts. I saw some good scores being shot and at least one half MOA group being shot. Again I think that we miss out on seeing groups in F class as we do not shoot strings. As the shooters moved back to 1000 yards we could see the wind had started to pick up as some shots were going way left and right.
Unfortunately we did not finish marking the AM detail until 1400 hrs. We then stopped for a 30 min lunch during which I had to make the hard decision to call it a day. There was no way I could stop and shoot then make the 5 hour journey home with both of us due to be at work the next day.

As I was picked up and drove out of the car park I noticed a few shooters turning up and a few shooters leaving. This suggests to me that some shooters did not do their part in the butts and if true leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

I got to meet a lot of very experienced shooters and would love to be able to spend more time in their company, I know both my shooting and re loading would come on in leaps and bounds if I could tap that knowledge more freely.
Despite the unseasonal weather that we had for the two days, I really enjoyed the range. It is both beautiful to look at and challenging to shoot. I can see that there has been a lot of money spent on the infrastructure and it was a pleasure to use the facilities.

If I calculate my costs for the weekend I am looking at around £300, and that is not counting the £84 I spent in the on site shop. In a month that I have started to question the amount that I am spending on shooting and the lack of money I am spending on everything else in life, I have to seriously question my sanity at this complete waist of money.
I felt that I had to attend 2 shoots away from Bisley this year to make the 4 competitions. The F Class league counts your best 4 scores for the end of year places.
It is unlikely that I will attend Diggle again due to the travel and cost involved, which will be my loss. As Bisley does not host 4 F Class league shoots in a season, it appears pointless to be in the league, and if I am not in the league then why bother continuing with F class when there are several other disciplines that I can compete in at Bisley?

Not sure of the answers yet, but I am asking questions like, why does every shoot have to cover 2 days? and if the league wants to grow past the 300 members that it currently has and can not handle, should it not be looking at having more shoots so that everyone can attend 4 shoots?
I assume that the shooters who just turned up to shoot are spoken with, I certainly would not want to be on the wrong side of Mik Mak!

DM

Sorry top hear you had a second drenching in three days, the shooting gods are not being kind to us right now.

Diggle is a lovely range in a stunning location however it does seem to get more than it's fair share of rain on occasion, I spoke to a mate this afternoon who lives in Oldham and he said the local roads were all but flooded at one point Saturday.

Interesting to hear the rifles were weighed as well. I have never had mine weighed but I do make sure it is under the limit by a reasonable amount just in case the scales differ from mine.

This shooting lark is expensive and Christel and I have been talking about this a lot recently, I will certainly be making some changes to the way I shoot next year.

Any pictures DM?

No photographs from myself but I would expect that you will see some on the F class forum or in next months Target Shooter mag as there were at least 2 people taking pictures,

DM

Have you considered TR ?
It's simple, you don't have to reload, if you live near to Bisley you can pick from a year round seris of comps, they employ markers so you don't butt, kit lasts for ever, for example this years Queens prize was won with a paramount a borrowed jacket and lots of gaffer tape engineering and if you are any good there's lots of team events and tours to go on.

There is something about TR that seriously turns me off. I don't know why, it just does.
I know that if I had started in TR I would be a better shot for it, but despite everything I just do not wish to give it a go.
My loss I know.

I did not say but Fox Firearms who has a shop at Diggle let us look over a few of his items including the SGC 9mm "Unicorn" and a .22lr 1911 LBP thingy. I have to say that now I have handled one I would not be offended if someone was to hand me one!

DM

I have to say shooting an NRA organised competition or two at Bisley is as cheap a way to shoot as it gets. I shot two F Open comps during the Phoenix 4/5/600 and 8/9/1000 yards - same day with Markers for around GBP35. CoF was 90 shots plus 12 sighters so a good day out for relatively low outlay. If I had been shooting TR it would have cost another GBP80 for issue ammunition? Still a cheap day out without worrying about finding somewhere to stop over, plus putting the dogs in kennels which would have added another GBP100.

My view is shooting competitions is hugely expensive for the normal person and even at my level I am having to make sacrifices.

A very time and cost effective way of shooting are the range office targets, open to NRA members, the guide to finding the details is on the NRA website.

kingburyshot wrote:A very time and cost effective way of shooting are the range office targets, open to NRA members, the guide to finding the details is on the NRA website.

Another cost effective way to shoot if you are close to Bisley, is to shoot with the NRA Club. All NRA members are automatically members of the Club. All you have to do is register via the NRa Website. Each club day usually has targets at 100/200 yds on Short Siberia, 600 and 1000yds on Century/Stickledown plus gallery rifle. Costs are £15 per half day. There are NRA rifles to use if you want to try something different. On Century/stickledown one of the targets is always an F Class one. ( I like shooting these with my TR and trying to keep all the shots in the Bull as it is smaller than the TR V Bull)

Steve

Steve, do you split the marking between the people who attend or do they have a paid markers?

Dangermouse,

The guys who seemed to be leaving early where in fact the German contingent who had a boat to catch and were getting a bit concerned as time rolled on. We let them go as soon as possible as there were plenty of shooters for the butts.

The guys who came into the range at the same time were Diggle members who were hoping for a plink after the competition was over.

You are correct, shooting in the League is not cheap - I think we had a chat about it over lunch. But, when the League was conceived in 2005, three venues were selected, with two shoots at each venue - best four scores to count. This ensured that each venue received reasonable support - and this has worked very well.

I have some sympathy with your "Why two days?" One day would suit me fine - I shoot every single weekend so I'm not short of trigger time but a lot of guys only shoot the League so they like a good old session - especially if they are coming from Ireland, Spain or Germany - these Europeans are so enthusiastic as there are very few 800 - 1000 yard ranges available on the continent.

As you say £300 is the cost of a weekend away - it's a lot of money but, the League is thriving and we were over-subscribed at Diggle as our maximum is 60 shooters. Then again, I don't think it's necessary to do four rounds - unless you are serious about maybe qualifying for the GB Team in the World Championship. Just enjoy the Bisley rounds and maybe do the odd away shoot - Blair Atholl is a must - and you can drive up to and away from the firing-point and there is plenty for the wife and kids to do - if they like castles!

Vince