Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2021 i Sporting Rifle

The old adage ‘never wish your life away’ makes a lot of sense but I have to say – as I’m sure most of you guys will agree – I will be happy to see the back of 2020. I’m confident we will be through the worst of this pandemic by Easter 2021 and that will be something to look forward to. Everyone across the globe will have had their lives affected by this terrible virus and 95 per cent negatively – there will be some who have profited for sure. Thankfully the countryside has mostly survived the restrictions, but the rural economy would be hard pressed to stand another drought. But enough of the doom and gloom; 2021 will be the year the world won over a vicious virus…

This month’s article is a bit of a mixed bag; which is similar to the variety of hunting I normally pursue at this time of year and also of the effects of Covid measures on hunting and the hunting industry. For a start, let’s look at some of the results that Part Two of velocity testing revealed. In the last article we looked at a broad spectrum of factors that may affect muzzle velocity and in turn affect accuracy. You may recall that at the end of that testing I had a few questions that still needed an answer; Does a taped muzzle/moderator affect velocity or accuracy? Is there a difference in accuracy between moderator, brake and bare barrel? And, at what point do we see a significant jump in…

Mossberg has been making guns for over 100 years, with O.F Mossberg & Sons founded back in 1919. The first one I ever used was the Model 500 shotgun, and this remains one of Mossberg's most popular lines. In recent years rifles offered by Mossberg have started to garner a solid following in the US, something that will surely follow more in the UK. I have already reviewed one of the chassis-based varmint weapons, the MVP-LC in .223Rem, so I am more than happy to be having a look at the Patriot Predator in .308 Win. Opening the box reveals a dark earth coloured stock, with a matt finished barrel and action. After a standard safety check of chamber and magazine – you should always do this – I was…

ISSF SOCIAL MEDIA REINSTATED In a bizarre case of monitoring of online content, Facebook decided to remove International Shooting Sports Federation’s (ISSF) official page from their site in November. The page was deleted for a week, between 4 and 11 November, and the ISSF Administrative Council member Anna Leshchikova said the federation has also sent a legal query to Facebook, however, they are yet to receive any reply. “We have sent multiple inquiries to the Facebook support team [and] ISSF lawyers sent formal letters asking to restore the page as well. But there is still no answer. Unfortunately, at the moment as there is no feedback from Facebook,” Leshchikova said. Being the world governing body for one of the oldest Olympic sports, ISSF page had over 600,000 members, including many…

Game Puff Pies SERVES TWO Ingredients 50g Carrot, diced50g Onion, diced20g Chestnuts, chopped25g Pigeon, diced25g Pheasant, diced25g Partridge, chopped2x Red skinned potatoesReadymade pastryFresh thyme1x Egg yolk Equipment Baking trayEgg sliceKnifePastry brushSaucer The British Game Alliance are a not-for-profit organisation that promotes the value of game and explores new markets at home and overseas…

February is a bit of a strange month in the countryside! For a start, the last day of the pheasant season has come and gone and whilst the guns in many cases have been cleaned, oiled and put away, for the keepers both amateur and professional the work continues with feeders, depending upon the circumstances of the shoot in question, either being taken in or topped up and equipment cleaned and sterilised. Thought will also be given to any changes that need to be made from experiences learned in the last season. It has been a trying time for stalkers of all types of deer with a decided drop in the demand for venison due to the Covid pandemic. As I write this the vaccination programme is underway and hopefully…

The political argument against trophy imports anexports is ‘probably lost’ and could do ‘economic damage’ according to Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the head of the all-party parliamentary group on shooting and conservation. Speaking exclusively to Sporting Rifle’s sister title, Gun Trade News, Sir Geoffrey remarked: “Nobody wants trophy hunting on red list or endangered species. But the deer – where they are plentiful and need culling anyway – I think it is a bit of a shame to ban those trophies coming to this country. “I also think there’s a bit of a worry if we ban trophies being taken out of this country. A lot of [tourists] come and pay a great deal of money to shoot these animals – which again need culling anyway – and some of them…

You will recall from the last issue that, having trained with our Jadgterrier (German Hunting Terrier) Cas for over nine months, we were waiting for the start of the season on 1 October to put our hard work and training into action. That first weekend was in early October and we were on standby in a well-known hunting area where deer, but above all, an abundance of boar are present. We had to be Covid compliant, naturally. Beaters and hunters were kept apart, everyone had to keep their distance during the briefing and we all had to wear a mask, use separate transport and so on. The first driven hunt started at around 9am. The hunters were licensed to shoot red deer, boar and this year young roe and roebucks.…

“I think you should just open your mouth and take it like a man.” Irenke is my Hungarian dentist, and speaks German with the harsh, clipped vowels of a commanding officer. She is a dentist of the old school; brusque and without noticeable empathy. The no-surprise discovery that I am a sissy has come about as she starts to tackle my teeth before the anaesthetic has started to work. I dare not do anything but follow her orders, so I open my mouth wide and narrow my eyes. The only thing to do is to hope for the best while letting my mind wander… out to a place just a 20 minute drive from this dental chair, and relive the morning’s hunting. 5,000 HECTARE MAN On this morning’s hunt I…

HIK is showing strong growth in the UK so the chance to use one of their monoculars was an excellent opportunity to spread my wings a little. The Vulkan 35mm, 35mK (millikelvin) monocular is a truly ambidextrous unit with a fiercely technical approach to the subject of thermal imaging with focussed functionality for the hunter. “Showing clear edge to edge focus without any globular fish eye effect” A 384x288, 17µm Vanadium Oxide ‘uncooled’ thermal sensor forms the basis of the unit with sensitive NETD rating of 35mK, assuring delicate thermal gradient sensitivity differentiating tiny temperature variations key to detection range and texture rendering imagery from the 35mm diameter objective. Using a comparable human (6ft tall), HIK are quoting 1,029 metres as their maximum detection range. It’s all relative though, as…

On 10 December 2020 The Home Office published documents enabling owners to surrender their MARS and lever release rifles and ancillary items and claim compensation. Any rifle with a chamber from which empty cartridge cases are extracted using energy from propellant gas, or energy imparted to a spring or other energy storage device by propellant gas, other than a rifle which is chambered for .22 rimfire cartridges, is now prohibited. To obtain compensation, you must follow the process, which ends on 9 March 2021, provided that you owned the rifle, or ancillary item, or had contracted to buy it before 20 June 2018. To avoid prosecution (unauthorised possession of a prohibited firearm) you must surrender your firearm or otherwise lawfully dispose of it before the prohibition on possession comes into…

The arrival of the 7mm Magnum from Remington in 1962 conveniently coincided with the manufacturer’s improved 700 series. It’s a design which has stood the test of time and, to this day, remains one of the most popular and versatile actions in America; in the UK, however, Remington has suffered a decline in popularity. This fast, long-range calibre was by no means a new discovery as its introduction, and resultant take-up by other manufacturers, came some 40 years after the .275 H&H, which had been gracing hunting rifles since 1912. Although this calibre was discontinued in 1939, future wildcats – and consequently the 7mm Rem Mag – took inspiration from the calibre’s ability to accurately shoot a heavy 175gn 7mm bullet with high muzzle velocities and a flat trajectory. The…

SPORTING RIFLE ISSUE 191 On sale 4 February End of season sika Thomas Nissen heads to Ireland to hunt the last of the season’s sika stags Bang on Form The Form Carro stock of Remington’s 783 rifle catches Mike Powell’s eye Great British Shooting Awards We preview the Great British Shooting Awards and how to cast your votes! Why we shoot Lifelong stalker David Barrington Barnes explains why he loves shooting PLUS… HawkeSidewinder PulsarAccolade Chris Dalton’s annual CWD cull Talking stalking with BASCs Dr Al Gabriel News, views and talking points SUBSCRIBE NOW Never miss a copy of your favourite shooting monthly again – subscribe to Sporting Rifle and save money every month, as well as getting the mag delivered to your door. With a quarterly subscription starting…

In what many will see as another blow to live quarry hunting in the UK, the Scottish government has announced that it will start work immediately on introducing a licensing scheme to control shooting on grouse moors. Licences could come into effect from February 2021. The proposition would require a licence to operate a driven grouse moor business and that, if there were strong evidence of unlawful activity or serious breaches of codes of practice by that business, its licence could be withdrawn. Mairi Gougeon, Minister for Rural Affairs and the Natural Environment, picked out hare culling, muirburn, medicated grit and in particular, persecution of raptors as areas of concern when it came to licencing breaches. Andrew Gilruth of the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust commented: “Those publicly claiming that…

Just three outings into the doe season I witnessed it happen. From my high seat I saw the does running. My position, on the face of the big wood, allowed me an unobstructed view over several fields. Based on observations prior to 1 November, I expected to see does and calves trekking to and from the woodland via their usual tracks, at least two of which were in comfortable rifle range of my hide. I had done all the usual things: checked the wind, walked in while it was still properly dark and deployed the thermal at intervals. Nothing! The most used deer path was deserted. The field in front of me, in late stubble, had nothing more interesting feeding out on it than half a dozen hares. As the…

After months with hardly a fox to be seen on the place, this last month we’ve had a veritable invasion! It’s to be expected at this time of year of course. This is when the vixens start to come into season and are looking around for a nice territory to raise a litter. And when the vixens are in season, that brings the dogs round looking for a bit of you-know-what, as boys do. As they move around the countryside they inevitably cross onto our bit of ground and, finding it vacant, think it might be a good place to settle down. That was brought home to me just the other morning – and I do mean home, because it was literally on my doorstep that I found a few…

LEGAL Q I have recently got into stalking and want to buy my own rifle. I am 40 now and have an assault conviction from 21 years ago. Will this affect my chances? A David says: Until now you have been stalking without holding a firearms certificate. I assume this has been on private land and that you have borrowed a rifle from the owner or occupier of that private land and used that rifle in his presence. The exception to the law requiring you to hold a Firearms Certificate is a useful one for the occasional stalker. Now you want your own rifle you must make an application for a firearms certificate. You can download a form from your local Police HQ and once you have complied with the formalities…

As a rule of thumb, night vision or thermal add-ons tend to offer a practical use rather than providing optical quality. More often than not a compromise in terms of performance is the price you pay for the ability to turn your usual day optic into a night vision or thermal unit. With Pulsar at the cutting edge of the night shooting market, I was keen to see how well their latest version of a thermal add-on – the XG50 Krypton, supplied by Scott Country, would perform in a review, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. At first sight the unit looks almost identical to the F155 and F455 front-mounted night vision units and in fact most of the controls, the mounting method and the menu settings remain the same –…

E.J. Churchill has built a brand-new gun cleaning facility at its prestigious shooting ground at West Wycombe. Called “The Bothy”, the team had the inspired idea to provide a free to use facility and offer shooters the ideal opportunity to clean their gun out of the sun, wind or rain. Inside the immaculately built new facility users will find four cleaning stations, two racks of cleaning rods and bore mops, two compressed airline hoses as well as cleaning products from KG, Pro-Shot and E.J. Churchill’s own formula of oil, along with padded benches to keep shooter’s guns clean and safe. The gun can be cleaned by users themselves or there are plenty of staff on hand to help. “We decided to show customers how we clean guns here at E.J.…

RIMFIRE Brno .22LR bolt action with Leupold VX1 3-9x40 scope and Parker Hale mod. £200. Gavin Jones 01646 603814 07967 284704 (Wales) CZ452 American .22RF bolt action, 10-shot mag. BSA Sweet17 3-12x40 scope and mod (bipod not included). Good condition. With 500 rounds. £150. Selling due to retirement. Patrick Plavin 01303 863891 07934 597060 (Kent) BRNO .22 RF bolt action, five-shot magazine, ASI Super scope 4x40, wide angle image. All as new with silencer. £275 ono. Michael Darlison 01189 783202 miketat3@yahoo.co.uk (Berkshire) CENTREFIRE Sauer 202 Bolt Action .300 Win Mag. Synthetic stock, sling, bipod, moderator. Swarovski Habicht 4-16x50 scope. Sauer airline case. Bought for wild boar, used just four times. Plus 100 rounds Sako 220gn. £950 the lot. James Radcliffe 01924 402697 Jr_unionroad@btopenworld.com (West Yorkshire) Blaser R93 .308 black edition,…