Everyone's experience and advice will be different. So saying, here's mine.
The best thing is to have a shoot of your own, however modest. You can then invite your friends , who will reciprocate by inviting you to their (bigger, grander???) shoots. As you can see from my profile, I live in Texas and we have a dearth of good driven shoots in my area. Not hilly enough, I guess. You can still accept invites, but there'll be the need to reciprocate, and a dinner at the Savoy won't cut it.
So, most of us count ourselves lucky if we can join roving syndicates and shoot days at a variety of different places. Here, you all pay your ways, although there may be a well-deserved discount for the shoot csaptain who has a big job in putting it together and may bear financial responsibility if a day is under-subscribed. This is great fun and you can shoot all over the place and get a wide variety of shooting and accomodations. Some days you dine in ducal lodges, some days it's sandwiches from the motorway stop eaten in a trailer. All is good and you should never turn down an invite.
As Henrique points out, you can also buy individual days, and there's nothing wrong with that. The shooting world is remarkably small and you'll find yourself shooting with people you've met before. Probably resulting in some more invitations.
Eventually, you'll have to reciprocate. You can take a whole day and invite 7 or 8 friends. Or, you can invite friends, for example, to shoot quail in Texas!
As for forming the line, you draw pegs each morning, using pretty little devices with numbers marked. Some look like shirt collar stays, some are old silver. After each drive, you move by 1,2 or 3. Sometimes odds move up and evens move down so you don't find yourself poaching off the same people all day.
As for the guns, you rarely see what others are shooting. Your guns will stay cased until you reach your peg. Of course, the loaders will often compare what's being used, but there's little showing off. If you are shooting something different, you might offer another gun the opportunity to borrow it for a drive. I shoot either a pair of lightweight 12 bores or a pair of 20 bore O/Us. In either case, 28grams will do for even the most dastardly shoot, although the 20s have chokes and I might bump them upo a notch for certain estates like the Brigands in Wales or Chargot late in the season when it's all wary pheasants, especially if certain absolutely humbling drives are on the menu.
I believe one company selling everything from single guns to whole days.(gunsonpegs) sponsors this site. Another absolutely reliable agency is run by Ian Coley, who is the British Olympic team coach.
www.iancoleysporting.co.uk . or, you might try one of the superb estates owned or mannaged by Gwyn Evans. No points for guessing where in the Isles he comes from.
www.bettwshall.com. In my experience, you'll find a warm welcome with whomever you call and with the other guns you meet. As Dig says,There are rules, but they're designed to increase everyone's enjoyment and keep everyone safe. Try it, you may just enjoy it as much as I do
