Table of contents for June 2021 in Sporting Gun

Over the drill Geoff Garrod has been keeping his eye on a newly drilled field of wheat, which has started to attract the attention of the local pigeon population. But the birds were clearly still in ‘rape mode’ and Geoff and his friend had to watch helplessly as they flew over the hill and far away. With a farmer to please and bags to fill, it was clearly worth a second attempt. But would the birds turn their attention away from the rape towards the spring drillings? With camo netting in place, Sniper hide poles to test and a strong wind concealing the sound of their shots, it was looking like a bountiful day……

The recent ISSF World Cup in New Delhi was a high point of 23-year-old Amber Hill’s career. Having scored a world record equalling 124/125 in qualifying, Amber went on to finish the main event on 21 March tied on 51 with Kazakhstan’s Zoya Kravchenko. After a nail-biting shoot-off, Amber found herself one clay ahead of her Kazak rival and made her way to the top step of the Women’s Skeet podium. Along with a gold medal to add to her collection, Amber also claimed an all-important Olympic quota place. Amber will now join Aaron Heading, Matthew Coward-Holley and Kirsty Hegarty as they prepare for Tokyo 2021. This will be Amber’s second chance at Olympic glory, having narrowly missed out on a chance to shoot it out for bronze in Brazil…

Olympic Skeet uses the familiar two-house layout but the sequence is different to English or American (NSSA) Skeet and the targets are faster. Significantly, athletes must call for the targets with the toe of the stock level with the natural drop of the elbow (indicated by the individually fitted yellow ISSF strip), roughly just above the hip. To make things more interesting, the targets are released via a random timer, with anything from a zero to three-second delay. It’s a little bit like a white-knuckle ride – fast, fun and hairy.…

Lotte is getting bored. Being taken out for walks is not the same as tracking deer. Every deer path on the walks we do is scrutinised, nose to the ground. That is until she gets a whiff of deer moving then the nose is up taking in a volume of air that you wouldn’t think she had room for in that tiny body. A colleague brought a deer to the larder and it took some effort to keep her off the carcass. One thing is for certain; she hasn’t forgotten what she was born for. The boredom also has its drawbacks. She is now on to her third bed, as she drags it around, heaving it on to my knees to play her games. The beds don’t last long. I…

We later moved onto this platform which presented some brilliant targets and emphasised the need for every shooter to create a bespoke plan for each shot. Having mapped this target out and made our plan, we again noted the importance of foot position, posture and using the cage. Inevitably we shoot from a cage, box or hoop in which we are restricted when shooting, but shooters often make the mistake of not using the cage correctly. When competing I often see shooters standing in the middle of a cage/stand as if their feet are stuck in a concrete mould, which can make things harder for them. To highlight the influence the cage can have on you, I had Rhys shoot from two sides (far left and far right) of the…

There are two areas that I would like to highlight. First, rabbits: with this, the starting position may require the body to be bent forward from the waist to allow the stock to get located in the shoulder correctly as it is mounted; and secondly, a fast going-away target, where the break point would need a very fast mount. This will involve a conversation about whether it would be easier to shoot it in the shoulder pre-mounted. Why would you make it harder? Gun down is an advantage most of the time, but sometimes, as the rules allow, start in the shoulder when it is an advantage to you, rather than risking a poor mount or to help buy some time on a quick target. Choosing when to start gun…

Initially this may seem a repeat exercise of the standard steadiness to dummy exercise, but the difference is the dog will be moving when the dummy is thrown. You can do this in two ways, depending on the breed of dog and your available training ground. The first way is to sit the dog at a distance from you and recall it, then halfway towards you blow the stop/sit whistle and throw out a dummy. The second way is to hunt the dog in front of you, blow the stop whistle and throw out the dummy. Initially throw the dummy between you and the dog and be prepared to block the dog should it run-in. As the lesson is learned, you can up the temptation by throwing the dummy in…

“Being able to read your dog’s body language is so important but unfortunately it is a skill that many handlers never achieve” A few years ago I was doing a photo commission on a driven day and the shoot captain had two rather smart-looking labradors. He was proudly telling everyone who would listen that he had paid a lot of money for these highly bred, fully-trained gundogs from a well-known professional trainer. To be fair, they sat nicely at his side but at the end of a drive he just turned them loose and by the end of the day they were running around like headless chickens. All the months of training were forgotten. It wasn’t the dogs’ fault, nor was it the trainer’s – it was a classic case…

Vet’s advice Neil McIntosh SG’s gundog health expert You certainly have sent a lot of questions, which I will endeavour to answer as best I can. Much information on the internet in this regard is self-promotional and it is best to avoid websites that publicise some ‘super-qualified individual’ who talks pseudoscience (albeit convincingly), then tries to sell you something. Are all brown kibble diets bad? First, consider the statement: ‘All red cars are fast.’ Hmm. Is it a Fiesta or a Ferrari? You simply cannot lump all dry diets into one and discuss them in this way. Some are poor quality but many are not. I’ve read the websites that do this, most of which then go on to recommend feeding raw (and also sell raw). They frequently mention that…

I can’t get my young labrador to go long distances from me without her starting to hunt after she’s gone a short way. The problem started late last season and seems to be getting worse the more I train her. How can I get her out of this habit? Fran says: Running straight is a habit a young dog should develop almost unknowingly from the earliest days of its training. Any straight edge – be that a hedge, a wall or a fence – can become an aid to keeping the dog straight as it goes out and as it returns in those formative stages. This should lay a foundation for straight out-runs when moving on to unseen retrieves as training progresses. If a dog goes a certain distance and…

Over lockdown, did you find it harder or easier to do your job? Ed says: In all honesty, it made little difference as I was classed as a key worker, so I was ferreting daily and shooting as well. The roads were much better with less traffic, making it easier to travel to jobs. The only issue was that some of our larger organisation-type clients stopped spending money as their cash flow wasn’t as positive as it was pre-COVID. All the work is still there, but with rabbits doing what they do best, I will have more to do at some point.…

Bisley, the home of British shooting. Certainly the National Rifle Association, the CPSA and even the British Army’s own target shooting teams all call this quiet corner of Surrey home. Alongside these shooting luminaries Bisley is also home to a host of top-notch shooting grounds and ranges, each with its own specialities and unique characteristics. Bisley Shooting Ground has provided perhaps the most naturalised, almost game-like experience available for more than 130 years. Its winding pathways and heather-lined stands provide a stunning backdrop to a wide range of challenging targets. Don’t be fooled by the rich history and natural feel however, Bisley Shooting Ground is firmly rooted in the here and now. “Since the NRA took over the business last August, it has invested heavily in fully modernising and upgrading…

White wool felt became very expensive and so was reserved for premium grade cartridges and was often insisted upon by the most serious of game and competition shooters until plastic wads arrived. Cost has always been significant in cartridge production and so various alternatives were developed. These included cork, cheaper forms of mixed material fibres to create ‘brown felt’ and even devices that were in effect sturdy cardboard tubes with the ends sealed to produce such examples as the Air Cushion wad.…

In the lead up to Christmas, Browning started to announce some of the new products joining its line up for 2021 including a range of new clothing, accessories and of course, new guns. Among these was the all-new semi automatic Maxus II, which hit the gun shops in February. The Maxus was released in its original form in 2009 and we have seen a number of variations to the cosmetics of that model over the years but no major changes in design or build. The Maxus II however is a completely new look, new feel semi-auto with a sleek modern design and improved ergonomics. The fundamental internals remain in the most part unchanged, but you will find some great refinements to the appearance and handling of the Maxus II. I…

When Browning launched its new X-Bolt rifle in 2008, I was teaching wildlife management at a well-known land-based college. We were fortunate enough to add a couple to our armoury for practical purposes and it was soon apparent during range sessions that they were highly popular rifles among the students, both for handling and accuracy. They quickly became a first choice for completing DSC1 shooting assessments and other tests, even when the alternatives included marques renowned for their ‘tackdriving’ (accurate) performance. CHARLES SMITH-JONES SAYS:“Whatever you are looking for in a rifle, you will probably find it among the multitude of X-Bolt models” Whatever you are looking for in a rifle, you will probably find it among the multitude of X-Bolt models offered. Blued, stainless, fluted and heavy barrels are all…

From now on, the magazine will be bursting with more content, including competitive shooting articles, cartridge reviews, shotgun reviews and ‘how to’ articles, in addition to all the old favourites, making Sporting Gunthe most comprehensive shooting magazine on the market. Also in this issue, we look at the latest news on lead shot. Things have moved rapidly since this time last year, with the National Game Dealers Association now saying that its members will only accept lead-free game from 1 July next year. Lead shot will be banned, possibly sooner than any of us imagined. I am still to be convinced that steel shot is the way to go, and I know that I am not alone. Cartridge makers have already made great progress in a short time with various…

After a long absence, shooters have been back at grounds across the country for the past month or so. Practice rounds and registered competitions are both back in full swing, with squads of six being able to shoot together once again. Thanks to the easing of restrictions, particularly those regarding sporting events and social contact, there is a packed calendar of shooting competitions this summer. The first major event of the year will be the English Open English Sporting, at Barbury Shooting School, near Swindon, on 19-23 May. “It has been fantastic to finally be able to open our doors again,” said Barbury’s Huw Stephens. “Now we are looking forward to the English Open. It is a huge honour to host the competition and hopefully we will do the first…

Dogged would be a fair description of Jo Perrott. To overcome one brain tumour takes courage; to overcome two, both within seven years, takes a particular kind of fortitude, something that Jo has in spades. The salutary effect of Jo’s life-threatening medical condition was the inspiration for a life-changing business – the Ladies Working Dog Group. And changing the lives of the thousands of women in its community who work dogs it is. That’s right, thousands. “Ninety-seven per cent of the men are great but 3% are very vocal about the fact that they do not believe you should be there” It all started at the point when Jo was, perhaps, at her lowest ebb. The return of her tumour resulted in her mental health spiralling downwards and by 2015…

There is a wide variety of wild rabbits across the globe. They come in all shapes in sizes. There is the jackrabbit, which looks like a cross between a brown hare and the European rabbit, and is native to the United States. It has varying degrees of population density across that vast country. There is also the rare and rarely seen Sumatran striped rabbit from Indonesia. Deforestation is said to be the reason for its decline. There are many other wild species including the cottontail, pygmy, several other species of jackrabbit, such as the antelope, white-tailed and black-tailed rabbits, all found in the United States and Americas, the riverine, found in Africa, and the tapeti, also known as the Brazilian cottontail. Not all are prolific breeders and rabbit populations can…

When setting out, the two most important elements are having somewhere to shoot and having the right equipment. The first of these will depend on factors such as where you live and how well you get on with the people in the area. As for the second – well the sky is the limit, but it can be done on a budget. Where guns are concerned, while rimfires and shotguns have accounted for a lot of foxes over the years, they are only suitable under certain circumstances and to do the job properly you should be using a centrefire. Although many people shoot foxes in daylight, the most effective time is at night. This requires either the use of a light or a night vision/thermal device. The cheapest way is…

It is a delight to be able to engage with a new set of readers, following the merger of the Clay Shooting Magazine and Sporting Gun. I felt it important to allow our readers to refresh themselves on everything that we have already covered, as we now reach Lesson 4 of the series. To do this, I took a student of mine, Rhys Plum, over to College Farm Shooting Ground in Oxfordshire, to remind ourselves of the fundamentals for good shooting. Putting it into practice To kick things off, we began by shooting this single left to right rabbit target. 1 MAPPING THE TARGET Before we start shooting, we must first map out the target, just as we covered in Lesson 2. On this particular target, Rhys found it…

Making use of the variety of stands and traps available at College Farm, we set about implementing what we had learned into a competition scenario. A regular drill that I do with students is to not let them move on from a stand until they shoot four or five pairs in a row. This exercise simulates the repetition and consistency needed in a competition. Rhys says, “This stand was nestled up in one of the corners of the ground. As we approached the hoop, it was obvious where one of the targets came from, a trap on the floor on our left threw the first target – a shallow going away bird. I could also make out a tower through the trees on our right, which housed the second target,…

The first two lessons could have been taken with Trap shooting in mind, where gun down is not a consideration. It is an important element to Sporting and game shooting and introducing it as soon as possible is important. To introduce the mount, we need to return to a target the client finds easy. The first exercise is done with an empty and thus safe gun. The gun is closed and mounted in the shoulder and pointed to where you hope to break the clay. Make sure the body is in a natural position because this will help to create a smooth swing. Staying in the shoulder, the gun is drawn back along the line of your swing to the hold point. Here, I would ask the client to keep…

I asked Amy, 20, a number of questions that any newcomer or aspiring shooter might want to put to her, as well as asking how she achieved her successes. This is what she said: Amy, how long have you been shooting? When, where and how did you start? I’m a born and bred Bucks girl. I first picked a gun up at the age of eight with very little persuasion from my father, Phil Easeman, at the Long Marston Gun Club, which is a very small and friendly club shoot [in neighbouring Hertfordshire]. I have also been around the countryside and involved with the sport since I was four, picking-up on game shoots with my grandad on the Hampden shoot. Where do you shoot mostly and do you have a…

The progression to ‘stopping to shot’ is simply another step on from the previous exercise, which should be fully learned and understood by the dog before moving on. Hunt or recall the dog and, when it is moving, blow the stop whistle. Then throw the dummy and fire the shot, because the dog has already learned to stop to the whistle and a thrown dummy and shot is just another layer in the exercise. Take things slowly, as there’s a lot to think about, and make sure you follow the sequence. Again, be prepared to block the dog from running-in to the retrieve as the shot will add a bit of excitement to the exercise.…

No, they don’t. They need adequate levels of protein that is digestible and contains the correct level of bioavailable amino acids. Excess protein (the protein that is left after muscle repair, for example) is either burned for energy or stored as fat. Either way, the waste has to be disposed of by the kidneys and that is wasteful and potentially damaging. Most authorities advise that adult dogs need an 18% protein diet, while puppies and nursing mothers require 22.5%, but this is confusing for owners because it relies on a ‘dry matter’ calculation and not ‘as fed’. Furthermore, the quality of protein is measured by its biological value (BV), with egg being the standard at 100, with other foods measured against it. Chicken is about 80, wheat 45 and gelatin…

I have just had a visit from my local firearms enquiry officer (FEO) for my certificate renewal. He told me that one item was totally wrong. He said that I was not allowed to shoot muntjac and Chinese water deer with my .22-250 and it had to be with a .243. He also said that I was not allowed to shoot roe deer in Scotland with it. Can you tell me if and when the law has changed? David says: You have had the misfortune to encounter an ill-trained FEO. The minimum calibre for muntjac and Chinese water deer in England and Wales is .220. The bullet must be no less than 50-gr with a muzzle energy of at least 1,000ft/lb. For roe in Scotland, you need a minimum of…

I have a 12-month-old spaniel bitch that is just coming into heat, and she seems to have forgotten all her training and become very clingy. Is this normal? I took her out for a bit of training tonight and she ran around like a headless chicken. Fran says: When a bitch comes into season, she is flooded with hormones and, as a result, you may see significant changes in her behaviour. I would advise that you do not do too much, if any, training with her during this period and obviously make sure she keeps away from any male dogs. It is not unusual to find that once she has finished her season, she takes on board your training exercises far quicker. Some trainers also notice a change of maturity…

InfiRay Rico RH50 thermal riflescope It’s fair to say that thermal imagery has transformed night, and some day shooting by using heat signature to generate an image. I instantly saw the advantage of a thermal spotter but was initially dubious of the progression to thermal riflescopes, my main concern being clear identification of your target. However, as technology has advanced, the development of better units has resulted in some exceptionally clear scopes, probably none more so than the Rico RH50 thermal riflescope from InfiRay. Quality InfiRay has increasingly sneaked into the night vision and thermal market with the quality of its products at competitive prices. The Rico scope is InfiRay’s answer to offering a thermal scope to compete with the top of the civilian market’s best sellers. This unit has…

My shooting career started way back in 2005 and I have always shot ‘off the shelf ’ guns, although these days they have a custom fit stock. These guns are designed largely for male shooters, so getting the chance to try the Browning 525 Liberty Light, which has been designed specifically for female shooters, was of great interest to me. Browning’s 525 Liberty Light is a pretty addition to the Browning range. Many of you will know that the company is no stranger to lightweight shotguns and Browning has added some new and exciting developments with this particular gun. Light fantastic On paper, the 525 Liberty Light weighs in at 6lb. The one I tested, with 30in barrels, was 6lb 15oz, as weighed on my kitchen scales. It has new…

Loo rolls, ventilators, vaccines, PPE, bicycles, flour, hand sanitiser, gym equipment, guitars, daffodils, political competence. And female Olympic Skeet athletes. The past year has been defined by COVID, Brexit and, yes, shortages. Thankfully, the loo roll shortage was just a flash in the pan and nobody has yet bothered to form an orderly queue for political competence because the wait time is too long. You may not take delivery of that rad full sus mtb (aka a bicycle, to the rest of us) until the autumn, but we do have some good news. The female Olympic Skeet athlete shortage could be over by July, thanks to British Shooting’s Nicki Wakeford. It’s encouraging that more women are breaking into the male-dominated sport of clay shooting, but for some reason this growth…

As hatchet jobs go, the campaign bulling up the benefits of iron shot and trashing lead pellets is a done deal. Whether we like it or not, sooner not later we’ll be spraying steel balls around the countryside with gay abandon. No amount of shouting or kicking against the traces is ever going to change this orchestrated outcome. Lead’s demise was a given the moment the sport signed up to a ban for wildfowling 20 years ago. While the anti-lead propaganda peddled back then was bad enough, today it is relentless. And, depressingly, much of it is being generated and fanned by some in our own ranks. The argument is that it’s better we drive the switch to alternatives than have it dropped on us through legislation. That’s all very…

• If you’ve not been foxing before, see if someone in your area would be willing to take you out for a session or two to show you the ropes. Most foxers are only too happy to help and there are plenty of online forums. • If you’re not sure if foxing is for you, or your budget is too limited to buy all the kit in one go, then a rifle-mounted torch and LED hand-held lamp will get you going. Ludicrous Lumens do all manner of appropriate equipment: ludicrous-lumens.co.uk • Night vision and thermal imaging systems require diligent groundwork since everyone’s eyes are different. If you can, attend a night vision demonstration held by a gun shop or find out what foxers in your area use. Scott Country supply pretty…

At some point you have to undertake what is known as ‘proofing the exercise’. This means you have to test your dog to make sure it has fully learned the lesson you have been teaching it. You do not want to do this too soon, because you should never set the dog up to fail, but once you are confident, you can assess the dog. In this exercise you will not be using the stop whistle but will instead be depending on the dog stopping to a thrown dummy and or the starting pistol shot. Set the dog up exactly as you have in previous exercises and this time, when the dog is moving, either throw the dummy or fire a shot. Obviously you will have to try both and…

I am planning to head up to Cumbria to Sporting Gun’s gundog trainer, Fran Ardley, for a work trip later this month and I will take Percy with me. Hopefully I can get some pointers on just polishing him up a bit. I doubt whether we will get the chance to shoot any rabbits over him this trip, as it will be prime breeding season. It is always good to let the rabbits replenish themselves after a hard winter, but I do have some rabbits in the freezer, so with luck we will be able to get a hunt, flush and simulate a shot rabbit. Then, hopefully, later in the year I will be able to put all the pieces together, ready for what I think we all hope will…

When you go to do a job, is your role to eliminate as many rabbits as possible or just reduce them to a more manageable number? Ed says: It depends on what the client wants. Eradication jobs take time, and with time comes big bills. The last rabbit on a job can take as long as the first 99 as there are lots of checks and follow-up visits. With this in mind, most clients want a happy medium between results and cost. That said, it depends on the reason for the rabbit cull in the first place.…

I have just started shooting Skeet but seem to have trouble with the pairs, often rushing the second shot in a bit of a panic. What can I do to help? Tony says: There are a couple of things to look at the next time you are shooting a round of Skeet. First, are you shooting the first target of the pair in the right place? If you are shooting the first target too late, then you will feel more rushed on the second as it would have travelled further away in the opposite direction. The first target should be taken before the halfway point. Secondly, make sure that you are finishing your shot on the first target, keeping your eyes locked on the target until you see it break,…

I saw in your last article that you seemed to have your ShotKam on a rifle. Do they make brackets for a range of rifle calibres? Tom says: ShotKam cameras were originally made for shotguns but can be used on rifles too. The brackets are labelled for shotgun bores, such as 12, 20 and so on. They do, however, fit most rifles. Rifle dimensions can vary, so ShotKam recommends measuring the width of the rifle barrel at the location where your ShotKam will be mounted with a digital caliper. Here are the dimensions for each bracket as a guide to help you get an idea of the bracket size you would need depending on the rifle measurements: 12-bore – 19.5mm to 26mm barrel width; 20-bore – 18mm to 21.5mm; 28-bore…

I see that you use lots of varied guns when shooting and wondered what mechanism of gun is better for decoying in a hide? Tom says: It is an interesting question. I typically choose the day’s gun by the mood I am in. Each gun type has its advantages and disadvantages. An over-and-under or side-by-side can be a little awkward in the hide depending on the setup, as you can often become snarled up in the netting when trying to manoeuvre the gun into a position to break the action. This can be easily overcome by standing up to reload or building the hide with enough room to do it with ease. Semi-automatics seem to be one of the most common guns in the pigeon hide going by social media.…

Besides checking our cartridges are loaded with the correct wad type to comply with the rules of the ground we are shooting on, it’s likely we don’t give much thought to that small item between powder charge and shot load. Prior to the introduction of plastic, all wads made from ‘traditional’ materials such as felt, fibre and cork and these are increasingly required again today, with grounds insisting on their use for environmental reasons. The one-piece plastic cup wad remains the top choice for major competition use but moves against plastics have increased such that, in the UK at least, cartridge sales have swung back in favour of fibre wad cartridges. The same also applies in the game shooting spheres, as farmers and landowners move away from plastic wad litter…

A British company, called Envirowad, set out to produce the most consistent of any currently produced fibre wads, manufacturing the fibre material to cut them from and employing specialised equipment to ensure accurate manufacture. They brought some to market and appeared at The Game Fair. Samples were submitted for critical analysis and evaluation and they were indeed produced to very precise tolerances. With no plastic laminate ends and nothing harmful in their make up they were a true ‘environmentally friendly’ wad. Unfortunately, making large quantities of such products at a competitive price seems to have hampered progress. Whether Envirowad will return to production following the lifting of Covid ‘Lockdown’ seems uncertain. But at least proved the company it is possible to manufacture very precise fibre wads. Look them up at…

CHARLES SMITH-JONES SAYS:“This gun is a beauty despite a superficially functional appearance” The Perazzi brand sits high among the esteemed makers and its guns can be seen in use at the very highest competition levels. Perazzi users have won 18 Olympic gold medals – a record – and at the 2012 London Olympics alone Perazzi guns accounted for no less than 12 medals – four gold, four silver and four bronze – out of the 15 available. Such consistency is no accident. Founder Daniele Perazzi set up the company after serving an apprenticeship to a local gunmaker in Brescia, Italy, before working on his own and patenting a trigger design he sold to other gunmakers. Perazzi Arms was officially established in 1957, producing its first Olympic grade trap gun in…

Most readers will be familiar with the name Oliver F Winchester and associate it with the bestselling brand of lever-action rifles the world has ever seen. What many will not be aware of, however, is that Oliver Winchester was not a gunsmith and the company in its early days owed much of its success to other well-known gunmakers. “Oliver Winchester was not a gunsmith, and the company in its early days owed much of its success to other well-known gunmakers” Oliver Winchester was born with his twin brother in Boston on 30 November 1810. By the age of seven he was working on a farm, but during the winter months took himself off to school and by 1830 was skilled in carpentry and had qualified as a master builder, supervising…

ROBIN’S CHOICE Robin Scott, former Sporting Gun editor-at-large If we are talking essentials then I’d have to put up my dog, Sam, as the best thing of all. Without him to retrieve the stuff I shoot there’d be no point or justification in pulling a trigger. However, the lad doesn’t count as ‘kit’. He’s family. Worst accessory? No – a cartridge belt. I’ve never bought one but had several given to me as presents. All have been rapidly ‘recycled’ – passed on to younger shooting friends. I ‘get’ the thinking behind these belts. In theory, they’re a neat solution to carrying a supply of shells for the day, or as extras to those stuffed in pockets. But I find them a nuisance. They slow reloading speed, sit heavy on the…