Clay Shooting May 2020

With Covid-19 coronavirus spreading across Europe and beyond, every aspect of daily life is affected, and shooting is no exception. As this issue goes to press several European countries are going into lockdown, with movement and public events cancelled or severely curtailed. A number of big international shooting competitions have been postponed, and no doubt more will follow. At the time of writing, most clay shoots in the UK are going ahead, with shooters advised to take common sense precautions such as hand-washing and avoiding personal contact. That may change, and in any case many people are taking it upon themselves to self isolate to some degree. Only time will tell, but the ramifications of this virus will widespread. The economic effects will go far beyond those directly affected, and…

Clay shooting competitions and trade events are being cancelled and postponed as part of measures to restrict the spread of the coronavirus that causes the disease known as Covid-19. Several international championships as well as smaller events had been postponed as this magazine went to press – including the Tokyo 2020 Shooting Test Event which had been scheduled to take place from 18 to 25 April at the Olympic shooting venue, the Asaka Shooting Range. Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee openly declared its “full commitment to the success of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 taking place from 24 July to 9 August,” while also appearing to hedge its bets in a statement that said “The IOC EB encourages all athletes to continue to prepare for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.…

Browning have launched their new competition shotguns for 2020, including four new models of the B725 Sporter, and a new Ultra XS Pro, the Exquisite Adjustable, with a deeply engraved action. There are also two new B525 Sporters: a black-action Shadow, and an adjustable comb model with Trap style fore-end. The new B725 Sporter has a reworked stock and fore-end, and matt black barrels with extended chokes. It comes with fixed or adjustable comb, and schnabel or Trap-style fore-end, making four possible variants, at prices of £2,329 for fixed stock and £2,525 for the adjustable version. The Ultra XS Pro Exquisite Adjustable is priced at £4,599 and comes with five Invector Plus titanium chokes. The new B525s are priced at £2,099.…

Clay shooting looks to be safe from restrictions on lead shot for at least another year. The European Chemicals Agency, ECHA, has delayed its planned review for 12 months, following a presentation from the ISSF showing that lead shot on clay ranges presents minimal risk to the environment. Meanwhile, a statement that was issued from the major UK shooting organisations, encouraging a move away from lead shot and single-use plastics, referred only to shooting live quarry. The CPSA state: “We at the CPSA have been involved in the discussions with the game-shooting organisations and whilst we understand their decision to voluntarily remove lead from their sport, this will have no effect on clay-target shooting.” See editor’s comment page 90.…

Alan Rose retires Popular shooting instructor Alan Rose has retired after more than 60 years of service at West London Shooting School. The ground thanked Alan for his many years of dedication to the shooting school and the industry, and wished him a happy retirement. Sporting Targets Fitasc Sporting Targets report a good turnout for the first shoots in their 2020 Fitasc series, despite some challenging weather conditions. Steve Brightwell and Martin Myers both shoot an awesome 95 to take the honours at the first event, with Paul Lovick winning the second shoot in the series with 87. Details on the website www.sportingtargets.co.uk Matt medals in Nicosia GB’s Matt Coward-Holley took bronze at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Nicosia. After taking an early lead, missing just two of his…

A carefully worded statement issued by the CPSA has done little to shed any light on the circumstances of Ben Husthwaite’s disqualification from last year’s World English Sporting at Northbrook in the USA. After the event, the US governing body, the NSCA, said that it had reached a decision which was under appeal, without stating what that decision was. Subsequently they announced that the matter “had been resolved,” but ended up giving no further detail. The CPSA issued their statement on 12 March, saying: “The CPSA Board reviewed information available with regard to the disqualification of an individual at the WESP 2019 Championships at Northbrook SC IL USA and can confirm that individual is no longer a member of the CPSA.” They add: “...the ICTSA have accepted an application for…