Innholdsfortegnelse for May-2018 i Sporting Gun

It’s been a busy month visiting two of Europe’s biggest shooting shows. The British Shooting Show at the NEC and IWA in Nuremberg, Germany, showcased the latest shooting kit that will hit the UK over the next year. We thought we’d give you a sneak preview of things to come. However, we couldn’t get it all in, so more will appear next month. Two new shotguns that really caught our attention was the Browning Liberty Light and Fausti’s new Sporter, the XF4. The Liberty is designed for shooters who want a lightweight gun and it looks stunning. We put a video clip of the Fausti FX4 on the Sporting Gun Facebook page and it got a lot of interest, so we will keep you updated. This month we tested a…

Credit where it’s due I often read about poor service from the police when it comes to renewing/varying shotgun and firearm certificates. For this reason I would like to highlight the excellent service I recently received from North Yorkshire Police Firearms Department when I applied for a couple of variations. I dropped my application off at the police on a Saturday afternoon, the following Tuesday morning I had a letter from the firearms department requesting a few details, which were duly delivered by hand on Wednesday. The following Tuesday morning my new certificate, complete with requested amendments, was delivered. Well done North Yorkshire Firearms Department! John Shields Via email Beating retreat This is my wonderful daughter, Millie, when she was nine out with her father beating. She’s now 14 and…

Verney-Carron Perdrix jacket This smart and lightweight jacket offers great freedom of movement and is silent. Made from 85 per cent polyamide and 15 per cent polyester it is waterproof and breathable. An unusual feature of this new jacket is that it has detachable storm cuff. Great if you are wearing it over the top of a tweed jacket. Available in both mens and ladies versions. Price £125 Visit: www.ligne-verney-carron.com Sterling T-16 Recoilless gas-ram airgun The revolutionary dual piston arrangement on the T-16 offers match level accuracy in a recoilless rifle that does not need an air bottle. Price: Estimated RRP £1400 Visit: www.sterlingarmaments.com The Harkila Lynx This jacket comes in a new digital Axis MSP camo, which is printed on both inside and outside, so you don’t get flashes…

Although foxes spend a lot of time on the move – patrolling their territories and seeking out feeding opportunities, they also like to rest up frequently. Indeed, if the weather is appropriate, they’ll often enjoy an extended sunbathing session. Out in the countryside this is usually done in a quiet place such as a hollow on a secluded bank, however, in built up areas they tend to be far more brazen, frequently choosing an open site like a shed roof. I’ve also observed foxes walking out into a field full of rabbits at night and then curling up as though intent on a deep sleep. After some 20 minutes or so, when most of the nearby rabbits have completely forgotten about it, one will stray too close and then, before…

GUNDOGS GRAHAM WATKINS A professional gundog trainer for more than 35 years and runs Gamegoer Gundogs. VETERINARY NEIL MCINTOSH A practising vet in Scotland. TUITION TONY BRACCI Bisley Shooting Ground’s deputy shooting manager and master gunfitter LEGAL DAVID FROST Author of Sporting Shooting and the Law. TECHNICAL MIKE GEORGE Engineering author with a deep love of gunmaking. PIGEONS PETER THEOBALD Author of Woodpigeon: The Ultimate Quarry. STALKING GEORGE WALLACE Former National Gamekeepers’ Organisation’s firearms consultant. RABBITS ED COOK Professional rabbit catcher working over 30,000 acres. PEST CONTROL & WILDFOWLING TOM SYKES Passionate wildfowler and pest controller.…

“I struggled to say anything other than good things about this gun” With game fair season kicking off, I relish the thought of wandering around the Gunmakers rows looking at the many shotgun makes and models about to hit the stands. It was while I was at the British Shooting Show in February, at its new venue in the NEC, that I found my latest review. It had been a while since I have been asked to look at what I term “top-end”, so when the boss asked me to take a look at the William Evans “St James” I wandered across to the stand for a good look. I was very impressed and I couldn’t wait to get a closer look. The following week I was pleased to see…

What is your role at RBSS? My role is incredibly varied, I’m one of the senior shooting instructors, I design the courses for competitions and layouts for our charity shoots and corporate days. I’m also involved in our “Really Wild Clay Days”. The big event is currently the Handicap Challenge, what is that? It’s 100-bird sporting, which is a bit quirky in the way that you shoot seven sporting stands, a 20-bird compact and also a 20-bird grouse flush, so it’s slightly different to your normal 100-bird. Now it its 20th year, the concept is very similar to golf, where you add points to your score upon completion of the course. This is calculated either from an RB handicap or the CPSA average, if you have shot more than 500…

INGREDIENTS Serves 1 Cooking method 1 Peel and cut celeriac into 1cm cubes. Melt the butter in a pan and sauté the celeriac in the butter for about four to five minutes. Halve the mushrooms and chestnuts and add them to the celeriac, then add the white wine, season and cool. 2 Soften the spring onions in boiling water. Season the pigeon using rapeseed or vegetable oil and salt and pepper. 3 While the celeriac is cooling, heat a pan with a little oil until it starts to smoke. Then, fry the pigeon for three minutes on each side until both breasts are slightly pink. 4 To serve, put the celeriac in a bowl, place the pigeon and the spring onions…

“Once you see Sally’s work you will want one” Sally Evans is based in South Gloucestershire, in the rural hamlet of Kington near Thornbury, working full-time as an executive PA at an adult hospice locally. But when she’s not working, she is creating beautiful works of art as her alter ego, Alba Feathers. Sally, back in the day, went to art college and worked on display and design in retail before marrying, having two children, and then sadly getting divorced. She then did many jobs to keep the family going, even training as a retained firefighter. At the same time she was working at a local pub and got to know members of the shoot and Berkeley hunt. “I had always liked feathers, particularly pheasant, and my daughter wanted a…

“Successful designs and ignition methods endured for hundreds of years, but others didnt” Certain items that we take for granted in everyday life often have quite a short production time, relatively speaking of course. Take the video recorder for instance; there was a time not that long ago when almost every household in the western world possessed one, now hardly anyone does. Even the revolutionary “Compact Disc” is rapidly disappearing in favour of MP3 downloads. The same is true in the world and history of firearms. With the progress of technology being much slower in older times, most successful designs and ignition methods endured for many, sometimes even hundreds of years, but others didn’t. It is some of these lesser known designs that we will look at today. Snaphaunce The…

GUNS adj— adjustable ble— boxlock ejector blne— boxlock non ejector brls— barrels c/w— complete with cyl— cylinder db— double barrel dt— double trigger ej— ejector ex con— excellent condition fac— firearms certificate fc— fixed choke gc— good condition grd— grade hg— hammer gun imp— improved ltwt— lightweight m/c— multi-choke mod— modified o/u— over and under ono— or near offer ovno— or very near offer p/x— part exchange pa— pump action rf— rimfire rnds— rounds (ammunition) sa— semi-automatic sb— single barrel sbs— side by side sle— side lock ejector slne— sidelock no ejector sst— single selective trigger tge— teague chokes u/l— underlever vgc— very good condition DOGS b/w— black and white ess— English springer spaniel ftaw— field trial award winner ftch— field trial champion ftw— field trial winner hpr— hunt, point…

More medical madness I read your article “Medical Madness” in the March 2018 issue of Sporting Gun with great interest as only last week I was referred by my GP to the accident and emergency department of my local hospital. My GP gave me a letter to take with me, which obviously contained my name and full address, and I was concerned to see that at the bottom of the page where it gave a summary of “active health matters”, it said “holds firearms licence”. This information could have had no bearing whatsoever on my health problem, so there was no need for my GP to have passed this information on to the hospital. Not only that, I handed the letter over to the consultant at the hospital and I…

Decoying over a huge field of oilseed rape – roughly 120 acres in all – it was my shooting buddy Ed’s turn for the prime spot. This was a comfortable and roomy dug-out on sloping ground right in the centre of the field. My pitch was in a rather more exposed position – a net hide beneath a prominent sycamore tree situated halfway along the boundary bank to the west. Having been shot regularly throughout the winter, the birds had, to some extent, become reluctant to venture within shotgun range of the perimeter hedges. They had learned by experience that it was not the safest place to drop in for a feed. Nevertheless, things had started off well for both of us just after first light, with a regular procession…

The Institute had a stand at the British Shooting Show in February, at its new home at the NEC. As usual, lots of people dropped in to ask questions and find their local coach, but a perennial enquiry is: “If I book a lesson or two with a coach, what am I going to learn and how do I know the information and instruction is of high quality?” Let’s have a look at the fundamentals that must be included in the first encounter. Safety The safe handling of the shotgun is obviously critical and should become second nature. No-one is intentionally going to point a shotgun at someone else or indeed their dog whether the gun is unloaded or not, but the education process requires the point to be stressed.…

“I like this gun so much. It just feels part of me and I’d sell my Land Rover to buy one” It was with some trepidation that our testers inspected the St James from top gunmaker, William Evans. Costing nearly £20,000, it was going to be expensive if they dropped it. But when Steve got hold of it there was an air of reverence as he turned it over in his hands and admired it. “The wood to metal fit is the best I’ve ever seen.” Bryce, who has a vast experience of guns, rates the scrollwork on the action. Checking the fixed chokes he says: “It’s got full choke on top and ¾ on the bottom. That will make for some challenging shooting!” He also notices the barrel…

“Pigeons are not the nicest of retrieves for a dog because the feathers are so soft” I have always maintained that an important aspect of training a gundog is taking advantage of situations that present themselves, especially if, like me, you do not have a dedicated area in which to train. Last week I was commissioned to photograph a chap shooting pigeons and I was asked if I had a dog I could take. Initially I was reluctant because normally when I am working I do not take anything other than my camera. I am there to work and produce images – not to shoot or train my dogs. However, the chap was quite insistent so I decided to take young Ted along. I had already checked that the vehicles…

The roebuck season opened on 1 April and at Greenlee, the start of the season is about catching up on young cull bucks and leaving the older ones until their territory has been decided among themselves, then we can see which of the bucks we will likely remove. This leaves space for the remaining bucks to mature in a less stressful environment and ensures that they have enough territory to reach their full potential. We already know about many of the bucks that will be left because throughout the doe season we have been logging what’s seen in preparation for the season ahead. There will also be some that have moved in and we have not seen before. I had three frustrating outings in the doe season last month –…

Back in 1854, 14 Birmingham gunsmiths got together to make and sell guns for use in the Crimean War. It was the start of one of the biggest companies in British history, and it was to be called BSA or, more correctly, Birmingham Small Arms. In 1861 the company was formally created, with the objective of mass-producing guns. The following year a 25-acre site had been acquired in the city’s Small Heath area, and the factory opened in 1863. In 1866 BSA would acquire a government order for 100,000 military rifles. There are two things arms manufacturers crave. One is technical developments which make an army’s guns obsolete and in need of replacement, and the other, sadly, is an arms race which leads to war. BSA was to get both…

Send us an email at sportinggun_ shopfront@timeinc.com and include: • Your name • Your address • Your postcode • Your daytime telephone number • And, most importantly, details about the item/s you have for sale or wish to advertise. To place your ONLINE advertisement (guns only) and add a picture of the gun you are selling go to: www.gunsforsale.shootinguk.co.uk. *There is a fee of £5 for online advertising for guns costing more than £1,000. This feature is not open to members of the gun trade If you don’t have email Alternatively, if you don’t have access to email or the Internet, you can still send your personal details and information about the item/s you wish to advertise to Sporting Gun, Time Inc (UK) Ltd, Pinehurst 2, Pinehurst Road, Farnborough, Hampshire…

£600,000 A further £600,000 has been added to the Government’s Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund to help finance conservation work. 101,000 The Country Food Trust has produced more than 101,000 ready-to-eat game meals for those who might otherwise go hungry. 25 The Government is to review its 25-year bovine tuberculosis (TB) strategy, with suggestions that it will expand its badger culls, before moving away from the practice in later phases of the plan. No. 1 A four-year-old flat-coated retriever named Rossi was named as the overall winner of the BASC gamekeepers’ classes at Crufts 2018 last month…

“Even weeks after buying a gun, niggling self doubts bubble up” Buying and selling guns is part and parcel of the enjoyment of shooting. It’s all about finding “the one”. All I can say is count yourself lucky if the first gun you clap eyes on fits the bill perfectly and that, shunning all others, you stay faithful to it ever more. The majority of us are not so fortunate; years, months, even weeks after buying a gun, niggling self doubts often start bubbling up. Would I shoot better if it had longer barrels? Is this one too heavy? Would it feel more comfortable with a slimmer grip? Endless other reasons for why we’re not shooting as well as we ought – or thought – drift into mind. Maybe you…

“The general idea is to flush the pesky critters out of the woodland to the Guns” I have a wide range of shooting opportunities that come from the estate where I help control the vermin; one of which being their small fox drives. The headkeeper, Jos, shoots his fair share of foxes throughout the year but occasionally he has to call in the troops for reinforcements. The troops in question are some of the beaters and pickers-up who can devote an hour or two to standing in the lovely countryside, weather permitting, to see if they can bag a fox for the greater good. I always make an effort to get out on these days and thought it would be an interesting subject to cover the basic tactics and fieldcraft…

Only in your dreams would you compete against top shots like John Heagren and George Digweed and actually stand a chance of winning. But the Handicap Challenge at The Royal Berkshire Shooting School (RBSS) gives you just that opportunity. This is because the handicap system evens up the odds to give a level playing field for less experienced shots. To prove this, last year’s competition was won by Kevan Marks who had only just taken up shooting again after a lengthy break and he beat top shots such as John Heagren. The Challenge With this in mind I challenged Robert Cross, top shot and master course setter at the RBSS to take the Handicap Challenge with me. As he is the genius behind the layout of this year’s competition, he…

Sometimes our pockets are not deep enough to afford a brand new gun, so perhaps secondhand is the only option. What’s the best way to go about it though? What do you look for and what are the potential pitfalls? To find out more I visited The Country Sports Shop at in Devon to speak to the experts. I met shop manager Chris Lamb, himself a keen shooting man who particularly enjoys his game and clay shooting. “The secondhand market is a bit patchy at the moment, so it can be good for used gun buyers. The availability of inexpensive new guns is influencing people’s decisions; you can get a new Turkish gun for the price of a pre-owned Italian one. Steel proofed barrels are also becoming a more important…

“Although the traps were new, we caught decent hauls almost instantly” I am lucky enough to work all over the United Kingdom, and one recent job led me to a solar farm “up north”, that said I suppose everywhere is up north when you live in the south! The task for this particular job was to eradicate the rabbits. They had caused vast damage to the landscape, causing trip hazards and potential damage to machinery due to the amount of holes everywhere. They had already killed off the newly planted hedgerows and there was great concern they could start on the electric wires. All valid reasons to remove the non-indigenous species! Rabbit-proofing We started the project by rabbit-proofing the perimeter fence and gates, this was to stop more rabbits entering…

“Be aware, gundog working tests can become quite addictive?” It seems an age ago when we were last working our gundogs. For many, the past month or so has been a time for recovery and recuperation, time to put on a bit of weight and to let the wounds of battle heal. However, now is also the time that field societies and clubs put on their working tests and it’s a chance to get our dogs back out in the field for some friendly competition. So, what is a gundog working test (GWT)? Basically, they test the working ability of gundogs under competitive conditions and try to replicate, as closely as possible, all the scenarios a dog might encounter during a day’s shooting in the field. Classes There’s normally a…

Ingredients Goose mince Garlic powder Onion powder Salt and pepper Mixed herbs Pineapple slices Smoked cheese slices Soft Buns Method This is a simple, but super tasty recipe. I have started mincing the majority of my geese because I find there’s an endless supply of awesome and easy recipes. Goose mince closely resembles beef mince, so what fitting way to cook it than a burger? Add the pepper, garlic powder, mixed herbs and onion powder to the goose mince to taste. Once the seasoning is right, mould the mince into burgers by hand. Add salt and pepper to the outside and then drizzle a drop of olive oil onto them before putting them under the grill or on the barbecue. Flip every minute or so, but refrain from squashing them…

Ingredients  Melt the butter in a non-stick pan and fry the onion, bacon, pepper and mushrooms for about five minutes. Add the meat and fry until the meat is browned, stirring all the time — about another five minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, rice, herbs and season with salt and pepper. Add stock so that the mixture is covered. Cover and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes until all the ingredients are tender. Stir from time to time and add more stock if it becomes too thick or dry.…

Mike George’s buying advice Normally I am a bit wary of recommending lightweight guns, because the recoil can be a bit tiring over a long day’s shooting. However, Fred assures me that he rarely exceeds 50 sporting targets in a day, and doesn’t normally fire that many shots at woodpigeons. As far as his clay shooting is concerned. Fred will have a selection of lightly-recoiling cartridges to choose from, with shot loads as light as 21g. If he takes the semi-auto option, he can pick the lightest cartridge that will cycle the mechanism. The action of the semi-auto will reduce the recoil anyway. It is interesting to note that what is thought of as an ideal gun weight has changed over the years. The recommended weight for a side-by-side game…