Table of contents for April 2023 in Sporting Gun

Mark your calendars for the return of the Northern Shooting Show in a couple of months. The show is to be held over the weekend of 6 to 7 May at the Yorkshire Event Centre, Harrogate. Around 25,000 visitors are expected to attend the show, which coincides with the coronation of King Charles III on the Saturday. The organisers said they are expecting a special atmosphere at the show as people celebrate the new monarch and all things country, with an inimitable northern twist. Among the attractions are the EJ Churchill clayline, which includes have-a-go stands, a 50-bird English Sporting competition, a 25-bird Sportrap competition and the Coronation Cup, with £1,000 awaiting the winner of the High Gun prize. Other attractions include the Gundog Field, the World Hunter Target Field…

Eriswell Lodge aims high Eriswell Lodge in Suffolk has been awarded the CPSA’s top Premier Plus rating. According to the association, Stuart and Nigel Smith’s ground, along with others similarly rated, “offer the highest level of shooting experience in facilities, amenities and customer care”. The announcement follows Eriswell’s nomination for Clay Ground of the Year at the upcoming CPSA Awards. Instructor opportunities The Institute of Clay Shooting Instructors will be hosting numerous open development courses over the coming months. The events are an excellent opportunity for coaches and instructors to network and learn teaching techniques from the best in the business. The next event will be a general coaching development workshop at Kibworth Shooting Ground on 3 April. To find out more, visit icsi.org.uk Early birds for East Anglian fair…

Louisa Clutterbuck, director of operations at the British Game Assurance (BGA) has praised the rural community in the UK for supporting her Countryside Ukraine Appeal. Louisa visited south-eastern Ukraine in January with a consignment of winter clothing and medical aid for the citizens of the country, which has now been at war with Russia for just over a year, following the latter’s invasion last February. She also donated a Mitsubishi L200 pickup truck to the Ukrainian military. Louisa ventured to within 75 miles of the front line of the war-torn country in temperatures of -16°C. She said: “It was harrowing to see the level of pain and suffering, made worse by the freezing cold that they are having to endure there; families are being torn apart and people are surviving…

Daddles, digits, brass bands, bunch of fives, lills, meathooks? Whatever you like to call them, most of us probably tend to take our hands and fingers for granted. That is until they start playing up. It’s hardly surprising – we’re Shots after all, not concert pianists or ninja needlepointists. Yet, shooting is hard enough without hand, wrist or finger pain, so it’s prudent to take a few precautions and know what to do if issues do arise. It’s laughable how a paper cut can cause the mind and barrels to wander, yet impossible to find humour in the kind of arthritic flare-up that makes it difficult to pick a gun up, let alone fire it. Joint pain of one sort of another is particularly prevalent in older shooters. When it…

Steve Smiths Shooting Ground was, unsurprisingly, founded by Steve Smith. It was the 1950s and the ground only opened a few times a month for customers to come and smash a few clays. Facilities were limited, but the ground proved the need for a clay shooting centre for the people of nearby Newcastle upon Tyne. “Then my father, Jack Reed, took over in the mid-1970s,” says Chris Reed, who is guiding us through the facilities today. “He continued to grow the business, expanding the shooting facilities while also operating two gunrooms. In the early 2000s we took the leap, closed both gunrooms and brought them onsite, as we’ve continued to develop the ground.” Jack and Chris’s efforts to expand on Steve Smith’s original premise has allowed the ground to grow…

A few months ago I wrote a piece on the practice of training gundogs using the ‘positive only’ method and the fashion in some quarters for constantly rewarding the dog. I find this really difficult to get my head around. Gundogs are high-drive animals, and if you have any aspirations to work them in the shooting field, as opposed to simply having a gundog breed and doing ‘pet gundog’ training, you will at some point need to correct your dog. For example, if you are in a rabbit pen hunting your dog and it chases a rabbit and ignores the stop whistle (that should have been taught to it beforehand) it’s no good giving it a treat when it finally decides to come back to you. The course of action…

Letter of the month The price of shorter chambers I have just read Richard Atkins’s article in your December 2022 issue and would like to comment on some of the points that he raised. He has clearly demonstrated the problems in producing effective steel loads for use in short-chambered game guns. The 24g load that he tested illustrates the compromises made with all shotgun ammunition in that there is a trade-off between pellet size and pattern density. Our usual lead loads of 28g to 32g, using shot sizes 5, 6 or 7, give a minimum shot load of 220 pellets and a maximum load of 385. When you compare this with the 171 in the cartridges tested, it is no wonder that the patterns restrict the effective range to a…

Sako Explorer 100 This premium hunting rifle caused a stir at the show. You can switch barrels and change the calibre by using a torque wrench. There is a choice of stock, either high-quality walnut or state-of-the-art carbon fibre, with soft-grip inserts. Both stocks have adjustable combs, allowing the shooter to tailor the fit. The trigger can be adjusted for weight of pull without disassembly, and the blade moves backwards or forwards within a range of 7mm. The manual cocking mechanism means the rifle is uncocked until you take the shot. It can be easily decocked should you choose not to take the shot. Price: £4,995 Browning Maral 4X Action Hunter Something on the Browning stand that caught our eye was its Maral hunting rifle, which can be configured and…

Clare Haggas Oopsie Daisy classic scarf Clare Haggas scarves are perfect for any country lady, and the new Oopsie Daisy print is the epitome of spring in soft pastel tones. Crafted in England, these scarves are a lovely way of adding luxury to any outfit, and offer a nice change from the greens and browns of country wardrobes. Colour: periwinkle. It is available from 10 March. Price: £125 clarehaggas.com Barbour Devon shirt The Barbour Devon shirt is crafted from a soft cotton blend. Charming tartan patterns are a nod to country inspiration. This shirt could be paired with jeans and ankle boots or tweed and wellies. Colour: cloud/navy check. Price: £69.95 barbour.com Le Chameau Giverny jersey-lined bottillon In the British countryside, wellies are a staple of your wardrobe. Cropped wellies…

SNAPSHOTS My old diesel is banned from at least two major cities in the UK, unless I pay a hefty toll, my CDs stay on my shelves unplayed and my business cards remain in my office drawer. If we move to steel shot, it looks as though my old shotguns will also become obsolete in the next few years. Or at least that is what I was told before reading Richard Atkins’s article (Hard facts, p83). Richard has spent the past few months finding the right experts to talk to about steel shot and eco wads and how that will affect older shotguns. Not an easy task when we are on the brink of something completely new. Reading his article has given me hope that my 1980s Miroku MK 6000…

Farmers will be paid for pest control as part of their crop protection under new measures announced by the Government. The measure is one of six standards contained in the roll-out of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), which is in turn part of Environment Land Management schemes, the Government’s post-Brexit regime in place of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Aside from pest control, farmers will be able to receive payment for actions on hedgerows, grasslands, arable and horticultural land, and nutrient management when they successfully apply to be part of the scheme. The aim of the measures contained in the SFI, which was launched last June, is to support the UK’s farmers to be profitable as they produce food but at the same time enhance the environment and contribute towards…

22 March Airgun Instructor Course, BASC Scotland Centre, Trochry 23 March Eat Game Awards, The Nave at Grand Junction Paddington, London 28 March BASC Shotgun Safety Officer Course, Humberside Shooting Ground, Yorkshire 31 March Season end for all doe shooting and for Chinese water bucks, England & Wales 1 April English Open Compak, Orston Shooting Ground, Nottinghamshire 6 April CountryTastic Show, Three Counties Showground, Worcestershire 9–10 April Kelmarsh Show, Kelmarsh Hall, Northamptonshire…

As the summer corvid control is now underway, I decided to look at some of the tools and tactics that can help yield better bags. Crows have always fascinated me as being a worthy adversary, with their keen eyesight and sharp senses. The damage they cause is considerable and the person employed to control them will need to use virtually every tool at their disposal. The following highlights my methods and gives some recommendations. Calls I have a passion for calling in general and very rarely hit the foreshore without an array of trusty duck and goose calls, and so it is with crows. The first point to make about calling is that it will not work every time and should never be overused. However, calls can be invaluable at…

I was heading towards Devon, following the main arteries, before peeling off northwards and it wasn’t long before the capillaries got thinner and more sinuous and were lined by ancient raised earth banks and beech trees. Old country. These beech hedges will always be a feature of Devon I recall with great fondness and some frustration. They hide a kaleidoscope of landscapes, valleys and plunging hillsides, but they also make life hard for the lost motorist, blocking vision of any landmarks. Luckily, Kentisbury Grange, our meeting point, was quite easy to find. The author Negley Farson once wrote in his renowned work Going Fishing that, where the West Country is concerned: “There is not a day in the year when you may not kill something.” It is a sportsman’s paradise…

Vet’s advice Neil McIntosh SG’s gundog health expert If there is one thing COVID-19 has done, it has made us all far more aware of the risks of the spread of infection by various routes. There are more ways than one that bacteria, viruses, parasites and other organisms can move from victim to victim. Remember that infection can enter the body through the mouth, respiratory system, eyes, genitals and broken skin. Airborne The most common way for respiratory tract infections to spread is through airborne movement of droplets or particles produced by breathing, coughing and sneezing, with the latter two obviously projecting infection further from the carrier. Generally, it is estimated that the maximum spread by this method is around one metre, although small viral particles can travel long distances…

GOT A QUESTION? CONTACT: sportinggun@futurenet.com Sporting Gun, Future PLC, 121 - 141 Westbourne Terrace Paddington London W2 6JR Meet the team FRAN ARDLEY GUNDOGS Owner of Tarncrag Gundog Training, with more than 10 years’ experience. NEIL MCINTOSH VETERINARY A keen shooter and a practising vet in Scotland. TONY BRACCI TUITION Bisley Shooting Ground’s deputy shooting manager and master gunfitter. DAVID FROST LEGAL SG’s legal expert and author of Sporting Shooting and the Law. PETER THEOBALD PIGEONS Pigeon-shooting expert; author of Woodpigeon: The Ultimate Quarry. ROBERT MORGAN ANTIQUES Arms and armour valuer at Holts Auctioneers. ED COOK RABBITS Professional rabbit catcher working over 30,000 acres. TOM SYKES PEST CONTROL & WILDFOWLING Sporting photographer, wildfowler and pest controller. IAN SWEETMAN GUNSMITHING Owner of I S Sweetman Gun & Rifle Makers…

There is some positive news on avian influenza in the UK. Defra announced in mid-February that after successful completion of disease control activities in Leicestershire, North Yorkshire and Suffolk, restrictive measures had been reduced from a 3km protection zone to a 10km surveillance zone. The latest figures released by Defra at the time of going to press show that there have been 172 confirmed cases of H5N1, a highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza, in the UK since last October. The epidemic of the past six months has provided a stiff challenge for the shooting community and, with that in mind, BASC has conducted a survey to try to quantify the effect avian influenza has had on shoot providers in particular, especially with regard to the sourcing of birds. We…

British shooters may be on tenterhooks following the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) announcement that it will ‘explore a pathway’ to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under a white flag at next year’s Olympics. This has drawn sharp criticism from the Ukrainian government, which said that allowing Russian athletes to compete would show that “terror is somehow acceptable”. The Ukrainian government is now calling on all allied nations to boycott the games if the IOC’s plans are realised. Should Team GB join the potential boycott, British Olympic quota winners Amber Rutter (née Hill), Nathan Hales and Lucy Hall would lose their opportunity to compete under the Union Jack, while Matthew Coward-Holley, Seonaid McIntosh, Aaron Heading and all remaining British hopefuls would no longer be able to seek a quota…

Regular readers will know that I often extol the benefits of having a shooting partner who not only shares your passion for pigeon shooting but also goes about the business of decoying in the same way as you. I was lucky when Paul won a BASC auction for a day’s pigeon shooting with me some 13 years ago. We soon found we shared like-minded views on how to shoot pigeons, even to the extent of debunking the various theories that so-called experts expound. We have undoubtedly both benefited from our alliance, pooling a combined 100 years’ worth of experience and knowledge, not to mention the fact that we share the numerous permissions that we have built up over time. Numbers This knowledge was never better illustrated than a day we…

Beaters’ day on the new shoot, as with the majority of shoots, is the last day in the shooting calendar and often falls on the last Saturday of the season. It is an opportunity for the beaters to shoot as a thank you for all their help during the season and, traditionally, Guns would come and beat. This was my first time on the shoot as a shoot day was in progress. I was there to see how it all worked and to meet the syndicate members. As this was a small family shoot, I thought it would be good to turn up with one of my children. My elder daughter is 12 and had not been beating before but has been brought up around shooting. She knows my background…

Well, that’s this shooting season over and done with. And what a strange one it has been. My shooting has been limited this year due to the lack of birds at some of our regular haunts. Our last two beating days were curtailed due to thick, freezing fog, which made it nigh impossible to see any birds, and only a few days before we were literally up to our shins in mud and floodwater. It was a very testing time for the gamekeeper. The last couple of weeks of the season was manic as shoots tried to cram in beaters’ and clear-up days. An advantage of having a couple of dogs is that I was able to swap them about and give them a rest day in-between days, which they…

Hull Cartridge High Pheasant Extreme Hydro cartridge Available in lead and steel 32g and 34g loads, and includes biodegradable Hydrowad. Sure to become a firm favourite. Price: from £519 per 1,000 hullcartridge.co.uk Caltta DMR two-way radios Ideal for working in remote areas or during hazardous weather, the two-way radios have an in-built GPS with ‘lone worker’ and ‘man down’ protection as standard. POA justcom.uk Swarovski ATC/STC 17-40X56 spotting scope This practical scope is ideal for stalking in rough terrain. It comes in three versions; angled view (ATC) in burnt orange or green, and straight view (STC) in green. Price: £1,820 swarovskioptik.com Air Arms Kymira rifle The Kymira has been inspired by multiple air rifles in Air Arms’ archives. It features a fully regulated action, ambidextrous laminate stock and three-axis adjustable…