By and large, shooters in the UK carry far fewer gadgets, gizmos, and trinkets than our friends in the United States, and I’m no exception. We don’t have golf carts or other vehicles on our courses, so we walk. Do that a few times and I guarantee you’ll narrow down your shooting kit considerably.

I personally don’t need choke tubes or an extra trigger group, as my Perazzi has fixed chokes and a non-removable trigger. I don’t carry gun grease or oil. I’ve shot in vests but over the years I’ve come to prefer a pouch. Because we walk, I carry a folding stool so I can have a seat while I’m waiting to shoot, and a good gun slip that I can sling over my shoulder is mandatory.

You may have seen pictures of me shooting bareheaded in the past but now I’m a firm believer in using a cap. I’m quite particular about it; I want the bottom to be a light orange, tan, white or gray. I picked up on that from shooting double trap. I’d look at the ground in front of me while I was waiting for the person next to me to shoot, and only then would I lift my eyes to the focal point.

If my cap had a dark underbrim, it was as if I was standing in the shade. My eyes didn’t adjust quickly enough to the brighter light and the first target would be almost a blur. Using a lighter shade brim lets in more light, and I’m convinced beyond all doubt that I shoot better this way.

The rest of my kit is standard, but I’ll explain why I use what I do. I put great thought into the selection because once I’ve made my choice, I’m going to stick with it. I know that everything I use helps me shoot as well as I possibly can, which is the whole point of competing.

Ammunition

I shoot Gamebore, and I have since 1984. Everybody thinks I have a contract with them, but I do not. At the end of the day, you have to shoot cartridges you believe in, and I would not use them unless I thought I could win with them. Obviously, I have.

I’m not one to worry much about ballistics and such. I think you can get carried away and lose focus on the more important goal, which is performing as well as possible. I prefer to keep it simple. Most of the time I use the White Gold cartridge in 7 ½ or 8s, but I also carry the Dark Storm in size 6½ when allowed by the rules. It’s a slightly faster load and the larger shot works a treat on longer, edgier targets.

Most of the time, though, it’s White Gold and I don’t think there’s much difference between 7 ½s and 8s. I don’t switch between the two on a given day because it would force me to make another decision in the shooting stand, which I don’t want to do. I’ll look at the general setup of the tournament and make a decision. If the ground is throwing closer targets, I use 8s, otherwise, I use 7½s. And I always have my Dark Storms in case a big bird crops up.

In Britain, and of course in FITASC, I am required to shoot the one-ounce shells but when I shoot sporting in the US, I use the 1 1/8 ounce cartridges. Why wouldn’t I? A few more pellets obviously won’t hurt my pattern, and I have zero problems with recoil.

Eyewear

I was using Pilla glasses since before they were Pilla – when they first came on the market, they were called HiDefSpex. They only had one color then, a medium brown and it was incredible. Before that, I never could shoot with eye protection, and back in the day in the UK, you didn’t have to. I couldn’t stand having something between my eye and the target.

But working with Philip Pilla and seeing all the difference lenses he’s created for different situations changed my view, no pun intended. He’s still the only company I know that works with Zeiss, the best optics in the world.  The clarity of those glasses are astonishing. Go to any match in the world and 85 percent of the shooters are wearing Pilla.

Hearing Protection

I wear SWATCOM ear protection, which is the latest on the market. They have silicon pads which are extremely comfortable, even if you’re wearing them all day. I also wear Cens hearing protection for game shooting and I find them incredibly comfortable as well.

To be perfectly honest, I wear headphones on the range because I think it gives me a little bit of extra space that lets me focus on the job at hand. Quite often, when I’m on the range people will want to come up and talk.

Well, when I’m on the range, I’m in my office. You wouldn’t walk into someone’s office and start a conversation when that person’s busy, would you? I should hope not. At any rate, putting the phones on my head is kind of like shutting my office door. It helps me concentrate. Come up to me after I’m done shooting and I’ll be happy to chat.