Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2016 i Shooting Gazette

THE BRITISH Shooting Show returns to Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire on February 12-14. The three-day event is now in its eighth year and will again play host to scores of leading names in the fieldsports world. Everything from clothing and accessories to shotguns and vehicles will be on display across the 450,000 sq ft exhibition area. Away from the comprehensive retail area, visitors will be able to experience shooting simulators, airgun and archery ranges, as well as watching gundog training, wildfowling and cookery demonstrations. If you’re heading to the show then don’t forget to visit the Shooting Gazette stand to meet our team and take advantage of yet another fantastic subscription offer. For more information on the 2016 British Shooting Show, and to purchase tickets, visit shootingshow.co.uk…

The romantic setting of a family stalking trip to Scotland makes for a superb setting for this contemporary whodunnit by D.P. Hart-Davis. The family stalking holiday to Scotland is steeped in romance and goes back to Queen Victoria and her love affair with Balmoral and the Highlands. But not all families are well suited to spending a week in the wild with any number of expert marksmen and women in their midst. With broken marriages, petty jealousy, grudges and the question of inheritance on the horizon, this stalking party quickly descends into a deathly spiral. And when the local police, experienced old stalkers, wealthy land owners and urban visitors all get involved, the result is an engaging and entertaining read. The mystery of who did it is, of course, central…

Q Is it bad form when a gun leaves a shoot day without telling anyone (other than the shoot captain) because the weather was not to their liking? William Rowse posted: “Okay I guess, as not all shooters like bad weather.” Helen Smith posted: “It would be good manners and in the interest of safety to let a member of the shoot know you were leaving regardless of the reason - it’s the gun’s choice!” Dave Barnes posted: “Surely if that same person is paying his share of the day, apart from being unusual, would this cause any issues? I don’t think it would unless that person had been invited - that would be extremely bad form.” Dan Doherty posted: “It takes two minutes to let everyone know your leaving…

Of all the Victorian hunter-naturalists, Abel Chapman deserves some of the highest praise for the acuteness of his observations and his unparalleled interest in the natural world around him. During his life he travelled widely across the world, enjoying lengthy safaris in Africa and exploring the wilder parts of Spain. His legacy includes the formation of the Sabi Game Reserve, which in due course became the Kruger National Park, and he is also widely attributed with having saved the Spanish ibex from extinction. But the more tangible results of his copious note-taking and diaries were a profusion of excellent books on wildlife and the countryside. Perhaps the finest of all his literary efforts is Bird-Life of the Borders, in which Chapman relates a huge amount of material gathered at first…

Q: Can you clarify what the penalty is for shooting a pheasant out of season? On February 2 for instance... A: Really? Why would you possibly want to do this? Some might feel that the pheasant season starts and ends too early but there is no excuse whatsoever for shooting a healthy pheasant on February 2. So don’t do it. As for the penalty, you have committed an offence under the Game Act 1831, which states that: “… if any person whatsoever shall kill or take any partridge between the first day of February and the first day of September in any year, or any pheasant between the first day of February and the first day of October in any year… every such person shall, on conviction of any such…

“ How can you care about birdlife if you also shoot some birds? ” In his spell-binding column this month Patrick Laurie writes about what some people perceive as a curious paradox among game shooters. The idea that anyone can simultaneously love observing birdlife and encouraging the conservation of all species but also enjoy shooting game birds appears anathema to some. In fact Patrick is writing about blackcock in particular, but the logic applies to all forms of conservation undertaken by game shooters. Our highly technological 21st century world attempts to put every facet of life into a compartment which can be understood by the computers and smart phones to which we are all becomingly increasingly addicted (and sadly I include myself in this category). But the question “How can…

TRAVEL Greystoke village and castle are just five miles west of Penrith near Junction 40 of the M6. Penrith is half an hour from Carlisle and an hour-and-a-half from Manchester and Newcastle. Both Penrith and Carlisle railway stations are main stops on the West Coast Mainline. The nearest airports are Manchester, Newcastle and Leeds/Bradford. STAY The Boot & Shoe pub (01768 483343) is right in the middle of Greystoke village but only has four bedrooms. It is extremely convenient for the shoot and offers a classic village pub atmosphere with pub food, Black Sheep bitter and lots of happy locals. If you are after something a bit more upmarket then the Roundthorn Country House is only six miles away. CATERING Shoot day catering includes elevenses and a lovely home cooked…

Frenchman Laurent Hild fell in love with Scotland the first time he came on a stalking trip to Glenample Estate in Perthshire 22 years ago. He waxed lyrical about the country and his dream one day was to buy a Scottish sporting estate. He fulfilled his ambition when he bought Tressady Estate at Rogart in Sutherland more than two years ago. He recalls: “Since 1993 I have returned to Scotland at least once every year. For me, it was natural when I could afford it to buy a sporting estate in Scotland instead of anywhere else. “I viewed Tressady Estate in January 2013 when it was on the market. I understood that some people had looked at it but were scared of a crofted estate. I visited and spoke to…

Roost shooting today is difficult... it has become a sport to test the most experienced shot. Roost shooting at its best can be one of the finest sporting experiences, with challenging overhead shots at the limit of your range, often taken through branches. However, I have a question in my mind, because memories of roost shooting in my younger days – 40 or 50 years ago – consist of wave upon wave of flocks coming to their favoured wood, flying steadily over the tree tops like squadrons of Lancaster bombers keeping a steady line and speed. In my teens, armed with my first gun, a cheap Italian single-barrelled .410, I learnt to pick these off with a controlled swing and a predicted lead. Today I wait in the woods with…

It is certainly an interesting exercise to compare these two guns directly. They have almost identical dimensions yet handle quite differently, largely due to the weight and balance of the guns. The classic 'Field' 20 bore Silver Pigeon will handle quite quickly and may be a little flighty thanks to its shorter 28” barrels and resultant reduced weight next to its sporting brother. Conversely, the added weight of the Sport gun with adjustable comb and the extra heft felt in the rear hand will likely make most users shoot in a much smoother, more deliberate style. I probably wouldn’t recommend a 20 bore gun with 28” barrels to most men, but it would be perfect for a youth or lady. So, who is the Silver Pigeon Sport with adjustable comb…

Land Rover Defender residuals have been getting stronger as the remaining build slots fill up before it goes out of production, but it is unlikely that any new Defender will ever beat the £400,000 that one went for at the end of 2015. The 2,000,000th Defender was built by Land Rover-owning celebrities such as Bear Grylls, Theo Paphitis and Monty Halls, and featured a few special bits of trim, but it was more the good causes for which its Bonhams auction was fundraising that caused its price to soar. If you’ve a tatty old 110 sitting in the barn, I’d not be booking the round-the-world cruise just yet.…

The Anysharp Pro knife sharpener by Anysharp £25 Available at The Knife Sharpener Guy stand (Gunmakers Hall B Zone 33) Ladakh jacket and trousers by John Field £300 (jacket) £210 (trousers) Available at Westley Richards stand (Gunmakers Hall 2 Zone 4) Field Collection gunslips by Albion Sporting From £139 (each) Gunmakers Hall 2 Zone 5 Pigeon Select No.6 shot 30gram game cartridges by Eley Hawk From £188 per 1,000 (Gunmakers Hall 2 Zone 5) Anti corrosive gun sleeve by Fur Feather & Fin £26.50 Gunmakers Hall 3 Zone 29 Curtainmesh camouflage netting by Entwistle Guns From £9.50 (per linear yard) (Gunmakers Hall 3 Zone 33) Malton bridle leather cartridge bag by Croots of England £272 (Gunmakers Hall 2/ Zone 6A)…

OUR LAST working tests of our 40th anniversary year were held at Myrtle Farm, Wookey Hole near Wells by kind permission of Mr and Mrs Ted Lunnon and Mark Lunnon, writes Ian Wilson. This year we were back for our novice and open walked-up tests run on field trial lines. Our hosts very kindly cleared a barn and set up a large table and bales for our use. Our judges were Judy Rainey and Annie Wales and the event was kindly sponsored by Skinner’s. The novices started in the morning with steward of the beat Iris Wright putting into action the 2015 version of her ‘cunning plan. This involved guns/throwers who were wired for sound throwing dummies apparently at random so that neither handlers nor judges knew what was coming…

Q I HAVE a nine-month-old springer spaniel who gets distracted during our training sessions. We make some progress and then he reverts. How can I stop this? A IT HAPPENS a lot. You are not the most interesting thing going on! A dog has a certain level of concentration and interest depending on the breed, its character, how you both feel, the ground you are on, the conditions, and the level of engagement you are displaying. At some point during a session the dog may lose interest. Think of how you were at school. Conventional wisdom says pack up and try later – train in short bursts, which is an option if you have most of a day free. My approach is to keep it interesting. The bond is there,…

I knew Eric for many years and my sympathy goes out to his family and friends, writes John Jewitt, president of the Three Ridings Labrador Club. Eric acted in three major roles on the committee of Three Ridings Labrador Club, firstly as chairman from 1970 to 1977, then as field trial secretary from 1981 to 1997. And he fulfilled these positions in a professional and efficient way, setting up training classes at Ribston Hall and Allerton Park. He also managed to secure training days at Bimbo Farm, and later at Naburn Lodge, which were greatly enjoyed by many. In more recent years Eric became president from 2001 until 2010 – and gave freely of his time throughout. He and his late wife Pat had been life members of the club…

FOLLOWING THE demise of the CLA Game Fair last year, Time Inc. UK, the publisher of Shooting Gazette and a host of other leading shooting titles, has launched a new celebration of the British countryside and fieldsports: the Field & Country Fair. This new celebration of shooting and other country sports will take place at the stunning Cornbury Park in Oxfordshire on June 10 – 12, 2016. Time Inc. UK has appointed Fiona Eastman as the fair’s show director. Mrs Eastman was central to making the CLA Game Fair the world’s leading country sports event during her 15-year tenure as its director of marketing and show development, growing its visitor numbers three-fold to 150,000. Will Hetherington, editor of Shooting Gazette, said: "This exciting new event presents us with the perfect…

A LIMITED number of the iconic Country Sportsman’s Record Book & Journal by the late John Humphreys are available now through Harper Fine Angling Books. As with previous editions, sportsmen and women will be able to record full details of their days in the field including the bag and any remarks on highlights or unusual occurrences. Copies of the record book and journal are £34 + £6 P&P. To obtain your copy, visit harperanglingbooks.co.uk…

34 THE NUMBER of pieces of overlapping firearms legislation identified in a report by the Law Commission (BASC/ Countryside Alliance) 58 THE NUMBER of different areas managed for grouse shooting where golden eagles are nesting (Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association) 1the number of months (approximately) for Longthorne Gunmakers to complete its move from its old Lancashire premises to a new factory in Northamptonshire (Longthorne Gunmakers). 144,500 the membership of BASC following a 4,000-member increase in 2015 (BASC). £106,000,000 the amount consumers spent on game meat in 2015 according to new research from Mintel (Countryside Alliance).…

A good shoot day is all about pace and timing – it can’t be crash, bang wallop all day long. And the elevenses break comes as the perfect opportunity to stop and reflect on the privilege of spending a day in the field. So in recognition of this most excellent of sporting traditions we have teamed up with Foxdenton, makers of traditional drinks for the perfect elevenses and famous for their Goliath bottle, to select one shoot to feature in excellent elevenses each month. This month our winner is the Six Ashes Shoot ‘SAS’ based in Alveley, Bridgnorth, Shropshire. Shoot captain Tony Head sent these pictures and said: “Clive Rochelle was waiting for an operation on his ankle so he found a new mode of transport for a game cart…

Following the BBC’s inexplicable decision to dump the Met Office after 93 years of reasonably reliable service, there has been much talk of late on weather and climate, which are two very different things. But the residents of Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire have been less interested in the messages coming out of Paris as those coming out of Westminster. Kiribati’s Anote Tong and his 102,351 mates and the Maldives’ 393,500 cohabitants naturally don’t favour being overwhelmed by rising seas or king tides, however warm, and with only 1.5 metres to play with, are obviously pretty vulnerable. But it is the 7.2 million residents of those three English counties who have most recently been up to their armpits in water. Cold water, too. Here’s the thing. As a private weather guru…

Did you find shooting or vice versa? “I spent a lot of my formative years with my aunt and uncle, a shepherd in the Angus Glens of Scotland, and “attached” myself to the local keeper, Dick Barrett. From the age of seven or eight, I spent a huge amount of time with him, a dear man, sadly no longer with us. That’s really where my interest in this world came from. Dick was a grouse keeper on Glenprosen and of course then most of the glen was for grouse. Sadly, now, a lot of the glen is covered with trees. I saw a lot planted, but I haven’t been back to see them come to fruition. My uncle had a gun, he just didn’t take it out very often, but…

“This is hardcore beating... not just a stroll through woods.” Technology is a wonderful thing. I have an app on my iPhone that marries OS maps with GPS, so I can say with absolute certainty that the guns shooting Triangle at the Cocking Shoot in West Sussex stand in a ride cut in the woods at a height of 150m above sea level. I can also say that the hill above tops out at 238m above sea level. Let me tell you, that makes for some rather high and testing birds – the South Downs may not have the ruggedness of Exmoor but the shooting is pretty darned good. The South Downs National Park, officially designated in April 2011, covers more than 600 square miles and runs from Eastbourne in…

“ It’s time to take stock and have a proper debrief of the season. ” The end of the season is upon us and it brings mixed feelings. I’ve already written about the shock of the start of the season, likening it to diving into a swimming pool, but how do we feel when we get to the end? Relief is one of the main emotions. There are so many variables that contribute to a shooting season that the nervous energy spent tracking them all can get quite exhausting and, if they are going against you, quite debilitating. So to finish the last day permits some peace from the worries, which are often at their peak in January as the quantity of birds runs down and those that are left…

“ Even as I saw him, I knew that he was the bird of the day; the bird of my life so far. ” Having worked with black grouse over the past eight years, I’ve covered a huge amount of ground across the UK. I’ve helped with brood counts in Wales, counted leks in Argyll and ferreted out greyhen nests in Aberdeenshire. I’m starting to get a reasonably good handle on the birds, and my own conservation project in Galloway has given me a firm grasp on what is involved in looking after them. While my fascination with the species was all-encompassing, I could never shake the idea that I was dealing with a game bird – a sportsman’s bird. The first blackcock I ever saw impressed me with a…

Human While we often think our dogs have character, it is rare to hear an owner actually criticise their canine friend. However, if the dog has a flaw – and my friends would say that it has more than one – it is a tendency to show off. We don’t tend to do field trials and working tests. We know our station in life. At least, I do. The point is that I am not sure the dog does. Show the dog a scurry at the local game fair and we are off and playing to the crowd like a panto dame. Nicking dummies out of buckets. Offering retrieves to pretty girls in the audience. Flirting with judges and time-keepers. At one show last summer there was a swimming pool…

When I was a teenager, an elderly gentleman told me about a Woodward hammer gun that he possessed. He was obviously very proud of it, having owned it for decades, and offered to show it to me. He brought it along and opened the case with a flourish. I eyed it for a few seconds and in my naivety blurted out that it was no Woodward but a Birmingham-built gun. The gentleman went purple and told me exactly what he thought of my young upstart opinion. I was right though, but perhaps a little discretion would have been advisable. Woodward is a common name among Birmingham gunmakers. In London it is not so common though, with the famous James Woodward & Sons at 64 St. James’s Street predominating. In Birmingham…

“I really cannot emphasise enough how essential this piece of kit is.” One of the great joys of fieldsports is a visit to the shops that cater for our passion. On the shelves will always be a lure bound to catch bass, a fly that just has to rise a brownie, a gun that comes up perfectly and boots that tick all the boxes for stalking. In short, and unfortunately for the bank balance, there is always something tempting to buy. The thing is that after an association with fieldsports that started in the cradle 60 years ago, and has spanned a professional involvement of almost 40 years, it is not very often these days that I am truly inspired with a new purchase. That this has occurred twice in…

Both the Field and Sport versions could be considered excellent to shoot, however the Sport was a revelation. It has a lovely 8mm wide rib, providing an excellent sight picture, and came up to the shoulder with what felt essentially no effort. Mounting was consistently good, resulting in strong shooting even on the tricky clays laid on by my instructor Bruce Marks to take full advantage of the high winds. Trigger pulls were satisfyingly crisp and recoil was handled well across both guns, but the Sport did a remarkable job of nullifying felt recoil and muzzle flip, doubtless thanks to the longer barrels and the greater overall weight. The heft of the gun felt in the rear of the hand was very satisfying indeed, and the deeper semi-pistol grip with…

It’s been almost 10 years since Fishmore Hall last hosted Shooting Gazette but we’re still recommending it to shooting parties looking for somewhere in Shropshire. The privately owned 15-bedroom Georgian house sits just to the north of Ludlow, meaning non-shooting guests in your party will have plenty to occupy them if gunsmoke and Wellington boots aren’t their bag. Wherever you’ve been during the day, award-winning head chef Andrew Birch is sure to look after you in the hotel’s Forelles restaurant when you return.fishmorehall.co.uk…

The results of our fifth Shoot Benchmarking Survey run in partnership with the GWCT, covering the 2014/15 season, have recently been published. Many shoots fared better in the 2014/15 season due to improved returns on birds shot and a reduction in total costs compared to the 2013/14 season. The main savings related to feed costs (typically representing 25 per cent of total variable costs) as global grain and protein prices fell. Applying total costs per bird released to the average return (42 per cent) translated into a total cost per bird shot of just under £31. Despite lower costs, delivering a profit at the end of the season remains a key challenge for the majority of shoots. The picture compared to the 2013/14 season improved however, with 37 per cent…

“John Halsted’s victory was no less sweet for being marginal.” Any championship in Scotland is almost certain to be remarkable, and the IGL Retriever Championship held on the Queensberry Estate, Dumfries and Galloway, at the end of 2015 by kind invitation of The Duke of Buccleuch was no exception. Amidst a maelstrom of debate occasioned by the proposed new qualification, the event was mercifully neatly sandwiched between storms Clodagh and Desmond. It was nonetheless a very wet and sometimes windy affair which presented every sort of challenge, as it had done in 1995 and again in 2005 when the Queensberry Estate previously hosted the championship. They were hard and uncompromising events and this one was not to be outdone by the wealth of tradition that this estate brings to an…

AN OPEN stake for golden retrievers was held at Preesall in Lancashire by kind permission of the host and the NGRA guns Tim Broad, David Bellamy, Dennis McDonnell, David Savory, Fred Smith, Philip Wagland and Vincent Wilkinson. The judges were Mr J.R. Gale, Mr G. Coupar, Mr D. Barnes and Mr P.C. Spencer. The chief steward was Mr P.J. Smithies and steward of the beat was Kevin Hughes. Results: 1 (& winner of the Westhyde Challenge Bowl) Jacqui Crew with gr.d. Echobrook Dexster 2 (& winner of the Culzean Cup to the Runner Up) John Williamson with gr.d. Gortons Gaelic Prince 3 Robert Atkinson with gr.d. FTCh Holway Cider 4 Andrew Fisher with gr.d. Vamp Pipssisewa CoM Steve Crookes with gr.d. Millgreen Opal of Moscargrange (owned by Mrs A M…

WHILST WRITING about British gundogs, an American gundog trainer was extolling the virtues of how “these extraordinary gundogs perform with such style and drive yet remain absolutely calm and under control on extremely long shoots” – meaning some drives involving 200 to 500 birds. It’s interesting how ‘English Labs’ (sorry Scotland and Wales but the Yanks think we’re all the same when it comes to gundogs) are perceived across the pond. It is extraordinary and we should applaud not only trainers’ dogs that can sit through big drives but the hundreds of picking-up dogs that do the same week in, week out. Last season I was at a shoot where one picker-up was using six dogs: a mixture of spaniels and labs. All behaved perfectly and did some great work.…

THE THIRD Big Farmland Bird Count (BFBC) will take place from February 6 – 14, the GWCT has announced. Almost 1,000 farmers took part in 2015’s event, counting birds across nearly 1,000,000 farmed acres. One-hundred-and-twenty-seven different species were spotted during last year’s count, including starlings, lapwings and tree sparrows. Jim Egan from the GWCT's Allerton Project said: “More people than ever took part in last year’s count. The more people who count the better idea we have as to how our farmland birds are faring, so I urge farmers to get out and count! "Once again we are asking farmers, landowners, birdwatchers and gamekeepers to spend 30 minutes recording the species and number of birds seen on one particular area of the farm this coming winter.” Seventeen farmland bird identification…

FORMER SHOOTING Gazette columnist Liam Stokes has joined the Countryside Alliance as its new head of shooting. Mr Stokes will take over the day-to-day running of the shooting campaign in the London office, working in partnership with northern-based director of shooting and moorland specialist Adrian Blackmore. Mr Stokes will now leave his position as a lecturer at Wiltshire College Lackham, one he has held for the past six-and-a-half years. During his tenure at the college Mr Stokes oversaw, amongst other projects, the running of the student-managed Lackham shoot and a grey partridge reintroduction. Mr Stokes said: “I have dedicated my career to educating young people about the social, economic and ecological good that shooting sports bring to society and the countryside. I now intend to use all the modern media…

What was your first shotgun? A Watson Bros .410 side-by-side ejector which is a lovely gun and I am pleased to say it’s still in the family. Where was your first shoot day? At home on the farm in Oxfordshire, which was a great excitement after a spending the whole of the previous season walking with the empty gun. Do you remember your first bird? Yes, absolutely, and I recently found the picture. It was on an early January day rough shooting in the snow, walking with my father, uncle and a couple of others, and it was a beautifully marked cock pheasant. I could show you the spot now. Who is your shooting mentor/ who’s been the biggest influence on your shooting? I’ve been spoilt to have more than…

Ingredients • 600g venison loin• 100g dark chocolate• 200g beetroot• 200g apples• Cornish sea salt• Milled black pepper Method Season the venison and sear in a hot pan for two minutes each side. Place into an oven at SERVES FOUR PEOPLE 200°C for two minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for a further five minutes. Melt the chocolate and paint over the plates. Cut the beetroot and apples into roundels and place onto the plates. Slice the venison into medallions and place onto the painted chocolate. Finish with a little sea salt, baby leaves and serve.…

Dear Uncle Giles Can anyone explain to me why pheasant shooters are often praised and encouraged for having a go at extremely high birds which are really out of range? Such behaviour by foreshore goose shooters would be criticised as the antics of marsh cowboys. TDW, by email Uncle Giles writes The marginal shot is, in my view, about the worst sin in the field. Long, low or dangerous. The marginal shot should have any and all of us sitting bolt upright and shouting, “NO”. No one who is a sportsman should attempt shots which are at such extreme ranges as to be marginal. It is not clever and you don’t ever get lucky with a single pellet. If you shoot at a very high bird, be it goose, gander…

The guns from the day at Greystoke Castle which is featured on pages 36-41 of this issue. Inset: The beaters from Greystoke Castle. The guns from the day at Cocking in Sussex which is featured on pages 24-30 of this issue: From left: George Pearson, Charles Paravicini, the Hon Charles Pearson, Piers Fox-Andrews, the Hon Peter Pleydell-Bouverie, Mark Firth, Patrick Mitford-Slade & Paul Roberts. Right: The pickers-up from Cocking included, from left: Nikki Smallman, Ingrid Giardelli, Emma Fermor & John Murray. Charles McCall sent us this picture of Rex picking-up and he explained the significance: “You very kindly printed my letter and picture of Rex suffering from tetanus in the December 2013 issue so I thought you and other readers might like a bit of an update. "I am very…

TRAVEL The village of Cocking lies less than three miles south of the market town of Midhurst, in the heart of the South Downs National Park. The A286 links the two settlements, with the nearby A272 joining up with the A3 that takes motorists to the southwesterly tip of the M25. Gatwick Airport is less than one hour away, while the nearest railway station is Liss, around 12 miles to the north-west. STAY Guns dined at the Park House Hotel (parkhousehotel.com), an establishment Shooting Gazette visited a few years ago, and it’s clearly lost none of its know-how when catering for shooting parties. An overnight stay is a must. Meanwhile the Spread Eagle (hshotels. co.uk/spread-eagle-hotel-and-spa), a 39-room former coaching inn right in the heart of Midhurst, is worth a try.…

Further to Ian Morton's letter about a Fiat Panda 4x4 as a shoot vehicle in the November issue, I used one as such during the 1990s. I can confirm that you can accommodate self, wife, shooting gear (sometimes for two), waterproofs, lunch etc. plus two labradors and two Chesapeake Bay retrievers - you just have to take out the back seat, which was designed to come out easily in any case. I admit it was a tad cosy! You have to accept a fairly high grime threshold, but since the Panda was used only for shooting and the front was littered with .22 shell cases from rabbit shooting, it hardly mattered. My wife used the Panda when she was picking-up and carried another picker-up as well. One comment on the…

Provenance, provenance, provenance. In the collecting world, no matter what you collect, be it cars, watches or furniture, if an item has an interesting provenance it will be so much more interesting and hence far more valuable. Guns are no exception and if you can prove your gun belonged to Frederick Selous, Lord Ripon or some other notary, the value will increase immensely. Consequently, auction houses are all too keen to establish provenance, and rightly so, as it elevates a gun from a simple amalgam of wood and metal to something that lives and breathes history. I recently saw some correspondence with a leading auction house regarding a very nice double .577 Henry rifle. The vendor assured the auction house it belonged to a famous big game hunter and the…

In Woodward’s final bill to Henry Coe in 1936, the gunmaker referred to the “Automatic” gun it had supplied. When hammerless guns appeared in the 1870s, many devices were employed to open the barrels and cock the action. One common system was to use lever cocking, whereby an underlever or top lever was pushed to cock the action and open the barrels. A popular such action was the push-forward underlever patented by Thomas Southgate and James Woodward in patent no. 600 of February 14, 1876. It became known as the Woodward Automatic. Originally it applied to a self-cocking hammer gun but it was soon converted for use in a hammerless gun. When the lever under the trigger guard was pushed forwards, the tumblers rotated to full cock and the barrel…

Even those with only a passing interest in the world of shooting are likely to have heard of the Silver Pigeon. Indeed, my first proper shooting lesson after a childhood spent learning at my father’s elbow with my grandfather’s side-by-side was taken with Beretta’s most famous product – as I am sure it was for countless others at shooting schools up and down the country. As such, I am sure many readers will be rolling their eyes at the prospect of another glowing review of a famously competent and competitively priced Beretta. The sporting variant of the Silver Pigeon in 20 bore guise, however, is a lesson in not judging a book by its cover, as I was able to test the gun directly against a standard 20 bore field…

Q I have recently started to overbalance slightly when missing overhead birds. Do you have any ideas why this might be happening and any advice on how to stop this? A Over the many years I have been teaching shooting one of the most important things I try to do is give a good and clear reason "why". Why you miss behind. Why you miss the line. Why you stop the gun. Why you mount late on the bird. "Why" is so much more important than "where". I feel that when you understand "why" you can put things right faster and more permanenly. It is also very important that you don’t get confused with information overload. I want to try and give you one reason, not five; however when teaching…

SPECIFICATIONS 2.0 D5 AWD 225HP Momentum Geartronic Price: £46,250 Top speed: 137mph 0-62mph: 7.4 seconds Combined: 49.6mpg CO2 emission: 149g/km During one shoot day this season my wife was kind enough to bring our nine-year-old boy across at lunchtime so he could stand with me for the last couple of drives of the day. We met at our host’s house – but should she have needed to bring the lad out to my peg it might well have been the perfect set of circumstances for the new Volvo XC90. Well, it would have been, if Mrs S wasn’t the holder of an HGV1 licence and a member of a family that has farmed the same land since at least the 1300s, which means she’s normally much happier bimbling around in…

The Gastight from H. Holland of London (1876); the Extra Prima from Sterling of London (1900); the Sixteen Brass Case from Sterling of London (1900); and the 12 Gauge Brass Case from Sterling of London (1900). The Spring Green Sixteen from Stephen Grant of London (1880); the Red Gastight from Stephen Grant of London (1880); the 12 Gauge Brass Case from F.T. Baker of London (1900); and the Reliance from Watson Bros. of London (1900). The Beryl from W.R. Pape of Newcastle and Sunderland (1900); the Heather from W.R. Pape of Newcastle and Sunderland (1900); the Recoil Reducing Pressure Case from Armstrong & Co. of Newcastle (1900); and the Gastight from Armstrong & Co. of Newcastle (1900). RARE AND UNTOUCHED ‘FOURLONG’ CARTRIDGES This box of 25 ‘Fourlong’ cartridges for a…

HOW TO WIN For your chance to win a Ridgeline smock in this month’s competition, email your high-resolution pictures to: katemaxim@outlook.com. Please put “Gundog Picture of the Month” in the subject line. The winner will be chosen by the Shooting Gazette judging panel. Good luck! The prize will only be posted to winners with a fixed UK postal address. THIS MONTH’S WINNER They’re lost again Parker.…