Competition clay shooting is not everyone’s cup of tea. Received wisdom says that to do it well you have to use a heavy over and under capable of ‘smoking’ targets at extraordinary ranges, and practice with the same gun ­– a lot.

A survey conducted recently by a food multinational found that 1/3 of Britons ate the same lunch every day, half said they had been doing so for 6 years. Shooting the same gun day in day out I think I would find as dull and monotonous as cramming in gut-filling paste with clockwork regularity. But here’s a little-known fact – not all competitions are the same.

I don’t want to be restricted to one gun, to the same meal or to drive the same car for the rest of my life. I enjoy shooting different guns – their handling characteristics vary hugely, but I also want to test myself in competition. The British Side by Side Championships held annually at Atkin Grant & Lang Shooting Ground is the perfect venue to do both. It has been running for several decades now and showcases some of the best of British gunmaking over the last 150 years.

For those wishing to compete for the title, the test is a severe as any other. If you want to win it, you must temper that desire. One of the curious things in clay shooting is that your main competitor is your ego. As soon as thoughts of ‘it’s going rather well’ and ‘I think I may have a chance today’ start creeping into the front of your mind you are lost. Tension replaces the fluidity of movement and your focus drifts away from the task in hand. For those who shoot this competition though, the enjoyment of being in the company of those of the same mind whose passion for vintage guns built at the zenith of British gun making is obvious. It is worth noting that some of the country’s better-known gun dealers and writers on the subject prefer these vintage gun competitions – they are not as easily seduced by a double-page spread encouraging you to drop the equivalent of a house deposit on a piece of modern machinery when far better quality can be had for significantly less money.

The competition itself is of course 100 English Sporting but it is true English sporting and by that, I mean designed to simulate some aspects of a quarry species flight. One can imagine a Teal (Anas creca, not the steeply rising 90mm diameter ‘midi’ clay thrown with little imagination) skimming the oaks and dropping through a gap looking for a woodland pond would fly just like the looping target found on stand 6. The course is laid out to play to the inherent strengths of a side by side - game shooting at normal, non-extreme ranges (my issues with firing artillery shells at satellites are an entirely different article). Stands 4 and 8 were unusual. A series of ten targets that were in effect mini game drives. Stand 4 was driven grouse from traps named on a board as A, B, and C. You called pull for the first pair which were on report, after that they were called to you by the scorer how they were come “A & C simultaneous” “B on report A” but you have to be on your metal as they are sent as soon as you close the gun or cock the hammers. The C bird was an especially tricky Battue clay that turned in the air to show you broad enough target to hit before dropping. This razor-thin clay was thrown at such an angle that it turned to show a quarter of its belly early before turning back flat but then, depending on the wind, turning broadside before dropping fast. Given that the clever course designers at Atkin, Grant & Lang had included simultaneous pairs in the sequence you could not always shoot it where you wanted to. The final two shots were at all three clays thrown together with only two to count. You must pick a bird out of a covey and not be distracted by the other one, just like the real thing. I knew what I had to do but the sight of glory made me lose my focus, tense up and stop the gun – I missed my last bird. It would have been the only straight on the grouse stand in the competition.

Stand 8 was driven pheasant with the first four pairs on report, the last two shots you again were obliged to decide which of the three clays thrown together you shot. It called for clear decision making, and I was delighted to be one of only four competitors to straight it.

The stand-out fact for me that day though is that I had been asked to shoot a 12-bore in place of my normal 16-bore hammer gun, but it was no ordinary 12-bore. This was a type of gun I had never shot before - a round action, trigger plate, made in 1924 by John Dickson & Son, Edinburgh which I had only had it 48 hrs before the competition. That reads like the prelude to an excuse, but it isn’t. It was, without doubt, the most intuitive and forgiving gun it has been my privilege to shoot and given that I work for an auctioneer specialising in fine guns that it is up against all of the well-known names that it has been my privilege to use over the years. For me, the received wisdom about only ‘shooting one gun to shoot well’ has been debunked after managing to post my highest score in 15 years of shooting this hugely entertaining competition and finishing tied for 5th place. Congratulations go to Mark O’Dowd with a score of 93 which deservedly earned him the title (one must use a British gun to win the British Championship). He is an absolute gentleman and a true connoisseur of fine British gun making.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of this event is that everyone there is clearly reveling in the enjoyment of the use of fine British guns. As well as the main competition there was the opportunity to shoot muzzle-loading black power percussion guns at balloons released from wicker traps opened with a string. These are the very origins of clay shooting and the reason we call pull and birds (balloons in this case) come from traps. Also, you had the opportunity to shoot the modern equivalent on live pigeon trap shooting - ZZ Helice for the chance to win the Hurlingham Cup. Named after the famous London sporting club where fortunes were won and lost in live pigeon shooting, Helice is like nothing you have ever shot. Winged clays must be shot so they break apart within a semi-circle. Your first shot scores three points, a successful second barrel one. The electronically controlled release was handled by Marcus Iddon of sponsors Lyalvale Express cartridges and his enthusiasm all day for this little-known discipline sums up this glorious festival of the British gunmakers art.

You often hear game shooters express their hatred for shooting clays. They should try this competition – here the date of manufacture is the number that matters the most, not the score on the card.