Table of contents for August 2023 in Sporting Gun

SNAPSHOTS The Welsh government has been criticised for being in thrall to ‘greenwashing’ initiatives that have seen large tracts of agricultural land in Wales sold off to large companies looking to offset their carbon emissions. Many such companies, often based in London, use such land for tree planting and rewilding projects in return for carbon credits. Gethin Jones, a contributor to our sister title Shooting Times, said: “The planting of non-native trees in Wales has been disastrous for conservation, by providing safe havens for predators such as foxes and corvids, right next to prime nesting areas for endangered species including curlew. It is often the case that the new landowners, whether the land is used for forestry or rewilding, prohibit traditional pest control on their properties, which is essential for…

Most serious decoyers will tell you that they have favourite times of year when it comes to shooting pigeons. It may be the start of the spring drillings, or the emergence of the early pea shoots, and is usually connected to the fact that there will be an increase in shooting opportunities. My favourite period is fast approaching, because July signals the time when pigeons have access to the protein-rich bounty of cereal crops. With spring drillings a distant memory, woodies have had to exist on a variety of green crops such as stunted rape, clover or pea shoots, and, while they can survive on such a diet, it will not build their fat reserves, essential for successful breeding. Granted, pigeons are recorded as breeding in every month of the…

Ashcombe Shooting Ground and Adventure Centre will be familiar to many readers in the south-west. For more than three decades, clays have been flung across this beautiful corner of Devon. But change is afoot. A new team, headed by the well-known clay aficionado Don Brunt, has taken root on the Ashcombe Estate, and its efforts to further improve the venue is already showing fruit. “Ashcombe Shooting Ground first opened 30 years ago under the stewardship of the Staples family,” Don explains. “They did a great job in creating the foundations for what we hope Ashcombe will become in the future. The current team came to Ashcombe last year. While the Skeet, Rabbit Skeet, High Tower and Compak facilities were all in place when we arrived, we have been working on…

TUITION Clay special Most shooters will have fond memories of their first gun. It’s one of those milestones you don’t forget, like your first car; or first love! Buying your first gun is an exciting time, but it can be worrying too. You’re making a big investment, and you don’t yet have the experience to feel confident about your choice. You’ll be offered all sorts of conflicting advice by well-meaning friends and fellow shooters – who are probably little better qualified than you are. First of all, remember there’s no rush. I’ll assume you applied for your shotgun certificate (SGC) and that everything went to plan and you are now the proud owner of your very own SGC, along with an empty gun cabinet just aching to be filled. You’re…

TUITION Clay special I spent many years competing on the domestic and international scenes for DTL, then Double Trap and then Olympic Trap. During my competition career I had my podium moments at home and abroad. More recently, I have moved into coaching and I get to watch a lot of people shooting in all circumstances – in training, in qualification rounds and in finals. I have also officiated during international finals. I love to watch the nail-biting moments that are presented with finals and shoot-offs at major competitions like the World Cups, European Championships, World Championships, Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games. One thing I have learned is that many different sorts of people become champions. However, there are some common characteristics that bind them together, and I have started…

TUITION Clay special We should all be proud of the fact that there have been no recorded firearms-related fatalities on British shooting grounds for more than 30 years. But don’t let this lull you a false sense of security. Even the best-aimed shots can still cause permanent injuries to eyes and ears. Thankfully it’s never been easier, or cheaper, to stay safe on the stands. Eyes I bet anyone who’s suffered the excruciating pain of a fast-moving clay shard making contact with their eyeball, or has been diagnosed with cataracts as a result of too much UV exposure, wishes they’d worn eye protection. When it comes to eyesight, hindsight won’t help – foresight is what’s needed. It’s not uncommon for shooters and spectators alike to be struck by an errant…

Do you flinch when you fire your gun? Most shooters will say no – and yet look what happens when they get a misfire. Without the anticipated noise and recoil, any tensing up and snatching the trigger is plain to see. Often they’ll feel foolish and laugh it off in the moment, rather than stopping to think about the problem it’s highlighted. There’s a lot of self-denial and shame surrounding the subject, with shooters not wanting to own up to being ‘soft’ or ‘frightened of the recoil’. Let’s be clear that I am not talking about ‘trigger freeze’ here. That is a related but different problem where your trigger finger locks up tight on the trigger with the first shot, instead of releasing again. That prevents the trigger mechanism resetting,…

Double trouble I am getting my first cocker spaniel pup next week and the breeder has suggested that I should get two at the same time so they will keep each other company and make training easier. Is this the right thing to do? Fran Ardley says: Many professional trainers may well keep a couple of pups from a litter so they can ‘run them on’ to see what their potential may be, but for the novice owner I would strongly advise against it. The main problem is that if you get litter siblings, they will tend to bond to each other rather than you, and this can certainly make training far more problematic. Training one dog can take a lot of time and there are many pitfalls that you…

The phrase “he’s got a good nose!” regularly punctuates conversations at shoots, often uttered with a degree of pride by dog owners recounting tales of exceptional retrieves. Stories might involve their dogs scaling trees or swimming great distances to claim the day’s most robust running cock bird. In fact, some enjoy voicing this phrase almost as much as those in the beating line relish shouting “woodcock”, irrespective of the bird’s flight direction. All dogs, without a doubt, possess a good nose. Certain breeds, particularly the hound breeds, are regarded as having superior scenting abilities, with gundogs – particularly the labrador – also high on the list. Scientific estimates suggest a dog’s nose is anywhere from 10,000 to 100,000 times more potent than a human’s. However, in the context of a…

At last your firearms certificate (FAC) has arrived. You’ve read through it carefully before signing it, so now is the time to head out and choose your new rifle set-up. The FAC will specify the calibre open to you and you have probably selected the sensible choice of a bolt action. No doubt you’ve already done some research and have a good idea of what you are looking for, but if you are prepared to be open-minded and compromise on smaller details the options and potential savings may be greater. Restraint It is often possible to find balanced packages of rifle, telescopic sight, mounts and sound moderator offered for a reduced price, and many newcomers find these suit their needs. Some self-restraint may be needed though – for instance, that…

More of the same I have trouble at my local shoot on one stand that fires the same target from the same trap on-report. I hit the first one but fail to connect with the second. Why? Tony Bracci says: The fact that you hit the first target proves it can be done, so there must be a variable that you have overlooked. If you do what you did on the first target, the second would also break. Your checklist could be: did you start the gun in the same place? Did you shoot it in the same place? Did you shoot the same method? Did you start gun-down for one and gun-up for the second? Did the gun follow through consistently on both targets? Next time, try to ensure…

INSIGHT Gun collecting can be an expensive business. We all read the auction reports of some 1920 Woodward over-and-under selling for £35,000 or the King of Italy’s unique Holland & Holland rifle exceeding its estimate by thousands. All we can do is watch and drool. However, I have been fiddling around with old guns since I was a pre-teen (please don’t tell the 1970s police) and have had enormous amounts of fun with some very inexpensive things. With a bit of perseverance and a sprinkling of luck, it is possible to find small projects or inexpensive little sidelines that can be fun to play with and rewarding to clean up and use. With a budget of under £200 for every purchase, a willingness to do basic stripping and cleaning and…

REVIEWS The Beretta 694 Pro is essentially a 694 with a TSK stock on it. The TSK is a fully adjustable stock, and when I say fully, I mean completely. Many shooters buy a standard walnut stock with an adjustable comb. Some shooters might even get themselves a custom-made stock. The TSK stock will let the individual shooter who buys the 694 Pro fully customise the stock to their requirements, even to the point of customising to each discipline, should this be what they want to do. When you hold a TSK stock to your shoulder for the first time, you immediately realise how its sliding system allows you to ostensibly copy the mould of your own shoulder and the particular place where you mount the gun into that part…

TUITION Clay special Variety is the spice of a clay shooter’s life. However, even the most experienced clay-breaker can struggle with the differences between disciplines. To help enlighten beginners and seasoned Shots alike, we’ve put together a guide to some of the most common disciplines shot in the UK. English Sporting (ESP) English Sporting is the most popular form of clay shooting in the UK, with the CPSA reporting that more than 50% of registered targets shot come from the discipline. Originally envisioned as a replacement for the shooting of released live pigeons, English Sporting courses consist of a series of stands dotted across any number of terrain types, with targets often designed to replicate the flight paths of game animals. Generally, each stand of an English Sporting course will…

TUITION Clay special A coach is much more than just someone who will tell you “you’re in front of that” or “you missed that one behind”. They will help you develop skills and behaviours often without needing to teach or tell you, but rather by asking stimulating questions that you can answer yourself. Coaches help guide you to reach your potential and achieve your goals. They are there to lead, but also to put you first. A coach will help you navigate your way through reactions to winning, losing, making mistakes, taking risks and facing obstacles that stand in your way. As an athlete it can be difficult to stay ‘on track’. If you’re entirely focused on one thing, you might lose sight of other equally important factors. For example,…

In comparison to sports like football and tennis, a layperson could be forgiven for assuming that clay shooting probably doesn’t require that much physical training – that is, exercise of the whole body rather than just your trigger finger. As many of us would be quick to point out, a full day of shooting, whether on the clays, at a sporting shoot, controlling pests or stalking, can be both physically and mentally taxing. Most athletes supplement their skill-based training with other forms of exercise aimed at building general fitness or strength, but many shooters tend to neglect this aspect of their beloved sport. Could fitness training help you become a better shooter? Clay shooting does not require marathon-level cardiovascular fitness or a bodybuilder’s muscular physique, but a solid foundation of…

VINTAGE When cataloguing some items for auction, a fair amount of detective work is required. Take these pistols pictured here. They are signed ‘M Smith’ and cased, but the case appears to be for a much longer-barrelled pair. These guns are of the so-called ‘heavy overcoat type’, a style much favoured by the constabulary and the coastguard for that matter but are of much better commercial quality than is usually encountered. The barrels are also marked to the ‘Public Office’, suggesting municipal use. The lid handle escutcheon gives more information in that the enclosed pistols were presented to a Mr William Corbett for his services as ‘Constable’ from October 1839 to October 1840. The internet and its reach is a valuable tool in our work nowadays, and often a search…

The Game Fair is set to host four top-tier gundog competitions this year, including two Home Internationals (one for HPRs and one for spaniels/retrievers), the Euro Challenge, and a new minority breeds competition. Taking the lead is Francesca Prentice, this year’s gundog chairman, whose exceptional organisational and administrative skills ensure they run like clockwork. Francesca grew up with labradors as a child, and when her sons were little, she acquired a chocolate labrador. “She was from working lines but we only ever had her as a pet. I had thought of having something different but you just cannot beat them around young children. She was totally dependable and a wonderful family member,” Francesca explains. Once her boys were older, Francesca decided to go down the flatcoat route: “My uncle had…

An article that caused some concern among shooters in my area of the south-west was recently published in The Telegraph. It claimed that since the Hunting Act 2004 came into effect, fox populations have been in catastrophic decline and that urgent action was required to remedy the situation. It said the solution was to overturn the act and allow dogs to hunt foxes again. While they were at it, the people quoted in the article made lots of other assertions, including that since “foxes are small, agile and often shot at a distance, wounding rates can be high”. They also said that they didn’t like snaring. Letter Apparently 103 vets signed the letter sent to ministers, but as there are currently nearly 25,000 registered vets in the UK, that means…

When I embarked on my fox-shooting career, things were markedly different from today. Initially, very few of us specialised in fox shooting, and those who did were largely motivated by the financial rewards the skins brought. The same was true for rabbits. Rabbiting rights were purchased and, given the vast numbers of rabbits existing in those pre-myxomatosis days, the sale of rabbits and their skins could be very lucrative. Nevertheless, it paled in comparison to the extremely profitable trade in fox skins. Fast forward to today and the market for fox pelts has vanished, rabbit populations in many areas have plummeted to an all-time low, and one would be hard-pressed to make a living from rabbit and fox skins as I did all those years ago. It’s safe to say…

The birds were definitely coming. They were going to be late but at least we were going to get the birds we ordered. This was great news but it did have a knock-on effect; the birds would normally come mid-July and be ready to shoot mid-October, but now they were coming in mid-August and we wouldn’t be able to shoot until mid-November. The first day was booked as a let day so they had to be fully grown and flying well, so we couldn’t start too soon. This also put pressure on getting the eight shoot days into the diary that we needed to happen to get the income to pay for everything. The let days needed to be on Thursdays, about a month apart, which meant we could get…

As the summer takes hold, many of you will be out on the numerous splendid grounds across the country smashing clays for all their worth, be it for fun or more serious competition in pursuit of personal bests. And for those whose passion is for game, it is as well to remember that the balmy days of July and August will soon be replaced by colder autumn ones and that the shooting season is not many weeks away, so why not take on some clays and hone your technique in anticipation? Sporting Gun wants to help you to improve and to get more from your sport, and in the following 32 pages we have called upon experts in clay shooting to give you advice, some coaching tips and the benefit…

TUITION Clay special You hear a lot about gun-mount, and for good reason. It’s vital that you mount a shotgun correctly, otherwise a miss is almost guaranteed – the gun won’t be pointing where you’re looking. Not only that, you need to mount the gun consistently every time if you’re going to improve your shooting and build decent scores. So let’s look at what gun-mount is all about, and how you can get it right – not once, but time after time. The key point to remember is that when you raise the gun to shoot, the barrels end up pointing where you are looking. With a rifle you would line up the front and back sights with the target, guaranteeing that the barrel was pointing at the target. That’s…

Anew era for Sporting Gun as part of the Fieldsports Press stable means a new set of readers and chance to refresh on some important lessons that I have already covered in the magazine and in Clay Shooting; lessons that remain of continuing importance. I originally did this with a student of mine, Rhys Plum, at 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 two. On this particular target, Rhys found it best to note particular features on the ground, such as…

August crossword CLUES ACROSS 5The sole objective of fleeing quarry to avoid being caught (6)7 The right to gain entry to land (6)10 Walnut for guns is a national delight! (7)11 _ Hebrides, Skye and Islay are part of these islands (5)12 Face _ , camouflage wear (4)13 One kind of dog leash (4,4)16 How Guns are positioning themselves by forming a queue? (6,2)17 _ shooting, DTL or ABT, for example (4)19 Far away from towns and cities (5)20 Ejector components (7)21 High _ , shooting ground structures (6)22 The type of dog whistle you won’t hear a peep from! (6) CLUES DOWN 1An event such as the Game Fair (8)2 Airgun maker Cometa’s home country (5)3 A test for visibly fetching gundogs (4,8)4 _ friendly, like guns that are…

Permission journey I read your article about moving to the Highlands and gathering new permissions. I have also recently moved and am going through the same process and wonder if you have any further tips as you seem to have been successful? Tom Sykes says: It can be frustrating trying to establish yourself in a new area. I never took my hard-earned permission for granted, but I certainly miss having an established relationship with numerous landowners and farmers. As I said in the article (SG July), I would strongly recommend playing the slow game and try not to rush or pester people too much. It is often dependent on the area where you live, but finding ground up here means travelling, and widening your search area might prove fruitful. However,…

The innovative prowess of Sako and Tikka is widely acknowledged in the shooting community, offering not only cost-effective firearms but also rifles that deliver precise shooting straight out of the box. The legacy of the Model 75 action range, which transitioned into the highly successful Model 85, continues to thrive in the new 90 range of rifles. The 85 range has essentially been replaced by the 90 range. The selection now includes the classic Hunter model with an optional Bavarian stock, and for those who prefer non-walnut, a laminate-stocked Varmint model with a stainless steel barrel is available. The previously popular Sako 85 Finnlight II has made way for the Adventure model, while the new Peak model replaces the Carbonlight with its carbon stock and stainless steel barrel. If you…

Like many of the big names, Zeiss has been slow to embrace the thermal. However, that changed with the release of the DTI 3, a spotter boasting excellent ergonomics alongside a 384x288 sensor, as well as Zeiss’s legendary build quality. Zeiss is back, and this time with the DTI 6/40, a 640x480 12-micron device boasting a claimed 2,000m detection range, an f/1.0 lens, 1024x768 AMOLED display, 3x to 10x zoom and sub-40mk NETD. It features an all-new imaging algorithm plus Bluetooth connectivity to the associated Zeiss Hunting App, and let’s not forget the now ubiquitous video and image recording. There’s nothing particularly groundbreaking in terms of specs, but Zeiss has wisely taken a different route in terms of its target audience and core functionality in a world that’s full of…

With so many rifles, calibres, and rifle configurations on offer these days, for the novice buying a rifle, the options can be mind-boggling. Whether you’re buying a custom rifle, factory rifle or simply wanting to get the most from the rifle you already have, the first thing to consider is what you actually want to achieve from the rifle and what you intend to generally use it for. Sometimes here there will be trade-offs. For instance, you may wish to do a lot of long-range shooting as well as deerstalking with the same rifle. Now, an ideal long-range rifle might have a stock best suited for prone shooting, a light trigger-pull, heavy contour barrel and high mag scope. None of these are necessarily ideal on a stalking rifle so a…