A reader asked for some advice regarding looking after his friends guns. Graham Downing advises on carrying out shotgun transfer between certificates.
Advice
Our magazines – Shooting Times, Sporting Gun and Shooting Gazette answer your fieldsports questions with advice from experts at the very top of their field.
Our tips include help with gundog training, gun maintenance, shooting skills, legal issues, licensing, technical gun information, ammunition advice, cooking tips, shooting etiquette.
New to shooting?
If you’ve just started shooting you’ll find answers to questions like what is the best first gun or how to buy a gun second-hand. Also what to wear shooting and the legalities you need to know about.
Or do you have a good few seasons under your belt?
If you’re a more seasoned shooter you might have questions about your shooting technique and how to improve it. Or queries about the legalities of gun cabinets and shotgun licences.
Beating and picking-up | Gundog queries | Starting shooting | Shooting etiquette | Shooting clothing | Shotgun certificates and firearms licences | Gun cabinets | Legal answers | Shooting answers|
Some questions about snap caps
Q: I am new to shooting and I keep hearing the term ‘snap caps’. What are they? A: Snap caps protect your gun by relieving the stress on your firing pins when you are ‘dry-firing’ (that is when you are firing your gun without live ammunition). You might do this…
How to get a shooting permission
Persuading a landowner to allow you access to their valuable business with a firearm can make decoying wary woodies or achieving blind retrieves over water look like child’s play. In 1987 I was bitten by the music bug. I bought an album by The Housemartins — a good name for…
What’s the difference between a game and sporting gun?
Can you manage with just the one gun for different types of shooting?
What’s the law on transporting shotgun cartridges?
A reader wonders if shotgun cartridges create a potential explosive hazard in a vehicle. Bill Harriman advises.
What you need to know about coronavirus and going out into the field in England from 13th May 2020
On Wednesday 13th May coronavirus guidance for shooters in England changed. You can now undertake both live quarry shooting and deer stalking in England, following the usual legal process. (The law is different in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.) Clay grounds are also permitted to reopen. The situation in England…
How to practice your shooting during lockdown
Many of us have a lot of time on our hands at the moment so why not get some shooting practice in at home, suggests Simon Reinhold
A keen Gun discusses the practicalities of shooting with mobility issues
Jean-Paul Gaudin, age 46, spent a great deal of his childhood in France and, as he puts it, was “always surrounded by game shooting” thanks to a French grandfather who enjoyed everything from pheasant to wild boar. He shot clays and game sporadically as a teenager, but motorbikes overtook shooting…
Can I shoot a muntjac with my air rifle?
What can I use for shooting muntjac? Q: There are loads of muntjac around where I live and I know you can shoot them all year round. My neighbours have asked me to do some culling because the muntjac are eating everything in their garden. I have recently bought a…
What is the closest to a footpath or public road you can legally use a shotgun?
Where a field is bordered by a public footpath, what is the minimum distance at which one can safely and legally shoot a shotgun?
Gundog puppies and Covid-19. Some guidance.
Here’s some guidance on gundog puppies and COVID-19 during lockdown. It is only guidance so depending on your situation, you should contact the Kennel Club or your local vet who will have definitive advice. Viewing of a potential puppy and its litter mates should be done electronically. If you have…
How game managers can get the best financial and environmental rewards from their land
It is very easy for game and land managers to get sucked into the minutiae of detail involved in day-to-day jobs and chores. It is these important details that make a season work and allow you to adapt to changes in the weather or the demands of the shooting programme.…
I live in the city. Am I allowed to shoot pests in my garden?
Shooting pests on the patio in the city A reader wants to make short work of squirrels and rats. Can he? Q: The only wildlife I see in my city garden are grey squirrels and the odd visiting rat. There are a few parks nearby which are also home to…
When I am out shooting should I always carry my certificate with me?
Is it law that we should carry our shotgun/firearm certificates with us every time we go out with the gun?
A guide to shotgun choke
What is a shotgun choke and what does it do? A shotgun choke narrows or constricts the barrel muzzles. This reduces the width of the shot charge or pattern, so that bullets are expelled more densely to give a more effective result. The more open chokes are, the larger the…