Bisley shooting expands into the Borders

An interesting article, it will give scotland and the north an aternative to bisley 'south'. I will be watching to see how it goes but I suspect that as I live in Somerset I wont visit it anytime soon, mores the pity. regards sbm
 
We where chatting about this at the shoot today and there seems to be of bad feeling in the camp, memberships have gone through the roof and it seems the clay ground is not a patch on when the Braidwood banner was flying, personally I always thought Joyce and Jim would be a very hard act to follow, there is talk of a pipe range ,but not sure if its up and running yet......
 
Now I may well be totally wrong but I think this story was reported on this site previously.

If I remember right the company that has bought the land mentioned in the newspaper article is not connected with the NRA, but was the company running the sporting clay layout at Bisley and renting the land from the NRA. Like I said previously I may be wrong but if not the story has been misreported and people are jumping to conclusions about the NRA spreading it's wings.

Added
Found it or at least details of the company concerned http://www.bisleyshooting.co.uk/about-bisley-shooting/history/
 
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This is my local clay ground and while I don't get there as often as I used to, I still keep in touch with Joycs and Jim. It was sad to see them moving on from the shoot.

The pipe range is definitely on the cards and I'm sure I read on their website that its use is free on booking. I think it may well also have a chrono on site for use. I spoke to the owners about their plans for its development during the Fair, and thought it was a very good idea. Their rational was that it offered a facility for load testing and zeroing even when the weather was bad and windy, preventing perhaps that taking place before a stalking trip.

Funny as I was told just recently that there had been a lot of improvements to the ground and shoot layout????? Cant comment on the costs though...
 
Seems to be the Bisley Shooting ground which is not directly connected to the NRA. They were apparently, some time ago in dispute with the NRA over the lease of land around the margins of Bisley which they won. The clay shooting at Bisley ticks over but I think the Sporting layout that the company runs nearby seems very well used. I know nothing about Clay shooting but work at the Surrey Bisley (not for the NRA!) and would suggest that it may take a bit more than a pipe range to get people through the door. There are always a few people shooting but it's very rarely busy during the week. If it were me I would be building at the least a 300 m range and similar sporting rifle facilities to the British Sporting Rifle Club. I am guessing that there is a requirement for the range to be a 'no danger area' option.
 
Not that I`m a clay shooter, but a friend is a member and has taken me out twice down there, and I will now be joining as the setup and costs are pretty bloody good.

The pipe range is a novelty IMO, not much else.
 
Was shooting (at) clays there earlier today.

It has improved in appearance, the stands/traps are better and the clays are easier to hit since the take over, but charges for clays and cartridges have also gone up and staff seem to be a bit thicker on the ground.

Membership was £15/yr, this will increase to £45/yr for 'pay and play' and £200/yr for 'full' membership. Cost per clay went up on 1st Jan 2014.

Looks like they are going to try to align it with Bisley South - both in terms of the range of facilities it offers and general pricing structure. Nice flash website exists for both.

The pipe range is (allegedly) nearly ready to go - just waiting for NRA inspection/certification. Frustatingly its grand opening just keeps rolling back. I am looking forward to being able to use it, assuming prices are realistic. Their pricing structure is a bit vague when I ask, but it's a single tunnel with an electronic target set up at the business end.

Personally it is fine for me - geographically handy, suits my occasional (pay and play) use and offers a good range of tidy clay stands to blaze away at. Whether hard core clay busters are happy with it is beyond my knowledge. As Nell says Joyce and Jim will be a hard act to follow.....and any changes were going to ruffle some feathers.

I am not sure if the Borders is truly ready for the full on Surrey approach, there is a massive difference in the potential population catchment areas for a start, but I'd rather have this facility here than not. Will be interesting to see how things go with their simulated game shooting sessions, young shots and ladies days. Overall more positives than negatives from my personal point of view.

As far as I am aware this is a private (fully commercial) company with two (clay) shooting grounds - Bisley 'North' and 'South' - nowt to do with the NRA.

Thankfully the food in the cafe remains good!

hh
 
This is my local clay ground and while I don't get there as often as I used to, I still keep in touch with Joycs and Jim. It was sad to see them moving on from the shoot.

The pipe range is definitely on the cards and I'm sure I read on their website that its use is free on booking. I think it may well also have a chrono on site for use. I spoke to the owners about their plans for its development during the Fair, and thought it was a very good idea. Their rational was that it offered a facility for load testing and zeroing even when the weather was bad and windy, preventing perhaps that taking place before a stalking trip.

Funny as I was told just recently that there had been a lot of improvements to the ground and shoot layout????? Cant comment on the costs though...

Never spoke to them at the fair , but had a good look , as im sure every other warm blooded male did;)
 
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