Q: As we move towards the pheasant season can you recommend the best cartridge load for driven pheasants. I don’t mean skyscraper high pheasants, rather standard ones. A: I think cartridges are very much a personal preference and I would say that whatever gives you confidence when you are shooting is the correct cartridge for you. Shooting…
Over-and-Under
William Powell Perdix
The William Powell Perdix is not just a partridge gun, more a gun for all seasons that performed very well on test
Fausti XF4
A former shooting champion once told me that if a gun looks good it would shoot well. He explained that rather like a sports car if the lines of the gun flowed nicely, then it should handle superbly. When I first saw the XF4 at the IWA shooting show in…
Zoli Pernice 20 bore
The Zoli Pernice 20 bore will make an inarguable case for the heart as well as the head, combining great handling with eye-catching looks. That’s what I believe Zoli hopes. Excellent flowing lines It certainly is a pretty thing to behold, thanks to a lovely round body and excellent flowing…
Fausti Class RDX
Having been asked to test this new gun, I was a little surprised to open the case and find a 20-bore and not a 12-bore as expected. However, it was a delight to handle — a fine example of what the Italian gun makers do so well; a slim, elegant…
Are English guns the best?
English guns, best in the world. Holland & Holland, Boss, Purdey, William Evans, Westley Richards — names that are coveted around the globe, the finest examples of the gunmakers’ art. Or are they? Harder to buy a London gun today I have always been surprised at how many people turn…
ATA Arms SP Silver
ATA is a Turkish company that grew from one man’s abilities and skills, with its first over-and-under shotgun being produced in 1973. The company has been better known in recent years for its semi-automatic shotguns, so I was quite taken aback when I took delivery of this new ATA model…
ATA Sporter
As my search continues for a sensibly priced over-and-under for me to use at the end of the season, as well as into the spring “clay season”, I have been asked to take a look at the ATA Sporter. I looked at their semi-automatic earlier this season and was very…
Beretta 690 Field 1 20-bore reviewed by Shooting Times
I have become somewhat blasé regarding the various models produced by Beretta. To the uninitiated, the dealer’s rack appears to have an array of products from Beretta that look the same. They share similar lines in style, they have ranges based upon the same action and different actions are similar…
Should I shoot game birds with a side-by-side or over-and-under?
Tradition will always be on the side of side-by-side shotguns. In recent years, over-and-unders have grown in popularity. This is largely due to people going into gameshooting having started on clays. But this doesn’t mean that if you’re an over-and-under user you shouldn’t try a side-by-side. In fact, it might…
Fabarm Axis RS12 Sporting Black AS reviewed by Shooting Times
Fabarm seems to have a knack — whether by accident or with purpose I can’t decide — to find a way to design and build guns that fulfil their purpose so that it becomes difficult to pin down the reason why that particular gun suits so well. Floating barrel system…
Is the side-by-side shotgun history?
“Snobbery and inheritance are the only reasons why people use a side-by-side.” So said one keen Shot, once described as the best of his generation. “But I’m not that bothered. I just like to shoot straight.” Once upon a time, the side-by-side was the only gun to use. Turn up for…
20 popular second-hand all-rounders
If your budget is £750 and under Baikal This is one of my top 10 guns built in the last half century and it’s cheap, reliable with the Baikal reputation for toughness. On most over-and-unders the ejectors can be turned off, and firing the top barrel first is selected by…
Browning 725 Hunter UK Premium II reviewed by Shooting Gazette
Apparently, for any product to truly be a success in this day and age it seems it must be offered in a bewildering array of models and specifications. Take technology giant Apple, for example. Once known for making a few uniquely stylish products to exacting standards, in 10 years its…
Beretta 690 Field I shotgun reviewed by Shooting Times
When a gunmaker is established with a strong following, there still arises from time to time the need to bring something new to the market. There are three possible routes. First, something new and revolutionary that could be a great success or could offend previously loyal customers, for shooters are…
Miroku MK 60 Sporting Grade 5
One of the very great pleasures of reviewing shotguns (aside from the obvious) is the experience of visiting Elderkin and Son in Spalding. Not just because I am sure of a comfy spot on the sofa and a cup of tea, but because I get to watch so many people going through the process of buying a shotgun from…
Browning B725 20-bore Hunter Light
The B725 is a continually evolving platform that Browning is using to develop an ever increasing range of guns with. The 20-bore version has come out of the last two to three seasons. One of the later editions is the new Hunter Light. The 725 is the natural successor to the 525 series, which itself was preceded…
Benelli 828U 12-bore
With this series of guns, Benelli has cast aside convention. A newcomer to over-and-under guns, the company has previously been more concerned with the manufacture of semi-automatic shotguns, an area where it also broke the mould with its patented inertia drive system. Benelli’s semi-autos don’t use the pressure of the charge in the barrel to cycle the bolt (gas operation),…
Lincoln Vogue over-and-under 20-bore
Is appearance important? Of course it is, especially when it is your shotgun, your pride and joy, whether family heirloom, sought-after second-hand model or brand new “just out of the box”. But beauty is always in the eye of the beholder and what suits one owner may not appeal to another. There are certain basics that most shooters…
The rise of the over-and-under
On a shoot day in October I had a fascinating conversation with a fellow gun about his switch from a side-by-side to an over-under. After more than 30 extremely successful years of game shooting with the former, he decided the time had come to seek out even greater consistency, particularly on the high birds, and make the switch.…