What will be the best shooting hat for you? And why should you wear one?

It is essential to track down the best shooting hat you can, whether you’re shooting clays, game or out on a stalk. (Read our advice on what to wear shooting here.)

• It will keep the sun out of your eyes
• It will stop your scalp getting sunburned
• It will keep you warm
• It will keep you dry
• If you’re clayshooting it’ll protect your head from falling shards
• You can match it to your shooting breeks or plus-fours.
• It’s a kind of shooting uniform

Read our list of the best caps for clayshooting. 

A cap should fit snugly but not tightly

Read Giles Catchpole on choosing the right hats for shooting here.)

A tweed cap is classic headgear and can not only be worn in the field but on the riverbank, out walking the dog, digging the garden or meeting for a pint in the pub.

How to measure your best shooting hat.

Farlows says: “To measure your hat size, take a tape measure and place it on the forehead.  Pass it around the head, ensuring you include the widest part of the head above ears.”

A cap or hat should fit snugly but not tightly, so that it is secure when you are walking, shooting and climbing over fences.

The best shooting hat – our list

1.Hoggs Of Fife Helmsdale Waterproof Tweed Cap 

Best for price

• Colour: Green
• Sizes: One size
• Fabric: 60% Lambswool 40% Technical Fibres
• Finish: Stitch down peak

+ Good value

+ Waterproof

– One size

BUY NOW 

2. Heather Mens Kinloch Waterproof Tweed Cap 

Best for versatility

• Colour: Brown, light grey or dark grey
• Sizes: 6¾ – 7 5/8
• Fabric: 80% percent wool, 20% polyamide
• Finish: Linen interior

+ Price

+ Well made

– Not 100% wool

Keep the sun out of your eyes and the wind out of your ears when you’re up on the hills after the red deer. If you’re a dyed in the wool traditionalist then this is the best shooting hat for you.

5. Rydale Unisex Fedora Mens & Womens Wool Felt Hat with Suede Band and Feather Decoration 

Best for colour choice

• Colour: Brown, navy, olive, blue, burgundy, mustard, purple, red, beige
• Sizes: Small, Medium, Large
• Fabric: 100% wool
• Finish: Suede leather band and gamebird feathers

+ Good quality

+ Customer service

Designed with country style in mind, this hat is durable from malleable. You might not want to wear the red version out in the field, but it would definitely catch the eye at a racecourse.

BUY NOW 

Best for tweed shades

• Colour: Lichen, Dark Moss, Forest, Linden
• Sizes: Small, Medium, Large, XL, XXL
• Fabric: Tweed
• Finish: Waterproof membrane

+ Fully waterproof

+ Fully breathable

BUY NOW 

7. Schoffel Unisex Tweed Classic Cap 

Best for men and women

• Colour: Arran Tweed, Buckingham Tweed or Loden Green Herringbone Tweed
• Sizes: 56cm, 57cm , 58cm, 59cm, 60cm, 61cm, 62cm
• Fabric: 100% pure lambswool tweed
• Finish: Teflon® moisture and stain resistant coating

+ Unisex

+ Choice of colours

– Price

Whether you’re shooting, fishing or just pottering around the countryside, this is the classic tweed cap. Don’t worry if a muddy labrador sits on it, the stain resistant coating means it will brush off to look good as new. It’ll also repel drizzly rain.

BUY NOW 

8. Harkila Metso winter cap 

9. Hicks & Brown Womens Suffolk Guinea Wrap Fedora

Best for elegance

• Colour: Brown, navy or black
• Sizes: XS, Small, Medium, Large and XLW
• Wool felt
• Finish: Water resistant

+ Guinea fowl feather

+ Warm

A jaunty fedora is just the thing for women shooters, adding an elegance to a shooting outfit as well as being useful and practical. Keep your hair dry and in place, the sun out of your eyes and your mind on your shooting.

BUY NOW 

A Gun talks shooting headwear

John Sugden of Campbells of Beauly:  “The bulk of the shooting that I do is from November onwards, so a cap is an essential for me to keep the head warm! Equally, on an August day on the hill, a slight dip of the head and the peak blocks the sun from the eyes. I always match my cap with the plus fours I’m wearing. A bit of a habit. The best hats for shooting?  I’d feel lost without a good tweed cap on a shoot day, after all, nearly everyone is wearing one, from the guns right through to the wonderful team of beaters. ”

Which is the best shooting hat for you?

1.Hoggs Of Fife Helmsdale Waterproof Tweed Cap 

2. Heather Mens Kinloch Waterproof Tweed Cap 

3. PASQUALE CUTARELLI Mens Wool Tweed Deerstalker Hat 

4. Musto Mens Technical Tweed Cap 

5. Rydale Unisex Fedora Mens & Womens Wool Felt Hat with Suede Band and Feather Decoration 

6. Alan Paine Mens Rutland Cap

7. Schoffel Unisex Tweed Classic Cap

8. Harkila Metso winter cap

9. Hicks & Brown Womens Suffolk Guinea Wrap Fedora