The first time I ever shot a shotgun was one of the scariest and most enlightening moments in my adult life. As a kid I had shot air guns and played with spud guns and catapults. But never in my wildest dreams, did I ever think I would have a go with a "big gun" .
It was a lovely day without a whiff of a breeze and I was totally unprepared for what was to come. My wife, daughter and I were attending our local village show. Unfortunately due to the foot and mouth disease we were unable to have any animals at the show to take part or display, so the organisers allowed a local shooting club set up a have a go stand. The club was run by the landlord of one of the local pubs. They brought a pair of traps some straw bails loads of safety cordon tape a handful of different guns and loads of shells. The wife met up with one of the other mothers and her hubby and they decided to go for a wander while hubby (Craig) and I decided if we should have a go. It was 10 shots for £5 so off we went.
Talk about shake, I was like a hammer drill just standing watching. Craig is from South Africa so guns to him are not unfamiliar. He went and got sized up by this chap from Yorkshire, that was scary as well, because, as I know him now, is a typical no nonsense chap. But a good shot and coach to-boot. There was a trap to the left and another to the right. Easy for beginners, not. So surrounded by bales of straw I watched Craig with this gun swinging away and hitting these little black things whizzing past us about 20 feet out. Easy! I can do that. Not. Dave called me forward; I then started to shake so much I thought I would fall apart. Dave choose a gun which I later found out was a browning 425? I am a tall chap with a muscular frame,, so he said it would suit my body type better than an Italian gun. More than one type of gun, wow, this was a whole new world opening up before my very eyes. He showed me how to hold the gun and where to put it in my shoulder, cool, got that, now time to load it. Dave put in one shell and closed the gun he then put it in my shoulder. "Now when you see the clay swing the gun at it and pull the trigger." Holy shit what was that the gun bucked and growled like a mad dog and promptly smacked me in the face and shoulder. Simultaneous pain in two places and the clay thing just laughed and flew away. "This time more lead" said Dave still smiling and encouraging me to try harder to hit it, so he loaded it again said "pull" what? Thought me daft to the end, I just swung and pulled the trigger at nothing. Did I hit it I asked innocently? "No you didn't" growled Dave. Oops missed again next clay swing bang miss and again and again 6 gone none hit still quaking in my boots. "Right, try again and this time hit it" snarled Dave. "Pull" swing bang, I didn't see a thing so again I asked again "did I hit it Dave" waiting for another snarl. "A miracle has just happened you hit one. Do that again" so with some new found nuts I had another go" pull" swing bang missed again. Another go and I hit it, but this time I thought I missed it again because I was sure I had swung the gun past the clay "that's it" said Dave "you are getting it". At last I had hit some and had one shot left. Last bird said Dave's daughter who was sending the clays out of the trap machine thing. "Pull" swing bang another miss, but I tried I thought. "Here is your score" said Dave 2 out of 10. I thought that was good for a beginner but Dave thought otherwise. He was giving out fixture lists with invites to go to the air field where he ran the pub club to have another go. It turns out Craig hit 8 out of 10 and got both the invite and fixture list I got 2 out of 10 and just got the fixture list. Maybe they are trying to tell me something. Right, that over with we wandered off to find the girls. After a few frantic explanations of what I had done I convinced the wife to come back with me to see what was doing. I think Dave saw me coming and sort of vanished. So it left me the wife and Dave's daughter to do the do. I was having another go.
"Yeah I can do this," I said over and over. A gun was again selected and stuck in my shoulder, yep that fits ok, right this is it "I will I will I will", I kept saying to myself. This time I was given the shells to put in myself it was bad enough shooting it now I have to open the gun, and put the shells in. so here we go. "Pull" swing bang, over and over. "Right" the girl said that's 5 you have had, now try the other trap, so again "pull" swing bang, over and over " last bird" again, "so make it count." The tone had changed from a bored voice to a purr. Again, same as before "pull" swing bang. "I saw that one break," not dust, just big bits, but I hit it. I had not noticed Dave had come back and was watching. "That's better," he said, making me jump. I was still a bag of nerves but had I got the invite, yessss I had hit 7 out of 10 so I was in with the in crowd. I was a clay shooter. I still am nearly 6 years later. I did go to the airfield and hit 11 out of 50 with a gun I have never heard of, let alone have heard of since. The shakes have stopped and now my daughters are hooked, and so are the wife and I. It then took another 2 years to get licences and guns and safes before we could really go for it. Now we don't miss shooting unless there is a really really good reason.