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…
Shooting Gazette
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
The Game Fair ticket offers for our readers
To celebrate the 60th anniversary year of the Game Fair, we are offering our readers a special discount on advance tickets to The Game Fair. For it’s Diamond Anniversary The Game Fair is being held at Ragley Hall in Warwickshire from 27-29 July. Game Fair ticket offers Shooting Times, Shooting…
Do dogs have to wear collars?
Q: I pick-up with a very experienced dog person who has a team of dogs under immaculate control. None of them wear a collar. I thought dogs were obliged to by law. I asked him about it and he said that a collar could injure his dogs and he wasn’t…
Why the working cocker spaniel is such a popular dog
Time was when everyone had a black Labrador and was happy. Then there were chocolate Labradors for a bit. Now fox red Labradors seem to be having their moment. But the dog that seems to be really springing up all over the place is the working cocker spaniel. It seems that everywhere you look these…
AYA English Game Round Body 20-bore
This version of the AYA is designed to replicate the very best English Game guns of the inter war years, with lighter barrels and fast handling. They are available as single guns and matched pairs and can be ordered in 12, 16, 20 and 28 bore. The guns come in…
What did we learn from Langholm?
(More background on Rob Yorke here). There is a chunk of moorland in Scotland that has been subject to a 24-year project involving upland land uses, habitat, nature conservation designations, biodiversity, fieldsports and rural economics. It all started with the Joint Raptor Study (JRS), funded by major conservation organisations, on…
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…
Are you ready to enter The Handicap Challenge 2018?
We are excited to announce that with our kind sponsors, Sunseeker London, we will be offering a fantastic prize of £500 in cash for each magazine’s Top Gun for the Royal Berkshire Shooting School’s Handicap Challenge 2018. Participants can shoot the Handicap Challenge course at the Royal Berkshire Shooting School…
Where should I keep my gun cabinet keys safely?
On Sunday August 10 1997 a police officer called at the house of Mr Mark Farrer. He wanted to inspect his firearms security. Mr Farrer was not at home. His mother, then in her 80s, who did not hold a certificate, fetched the officer the key and allowed him access to the gun cabinet. The Chief Constable then declined…
Browning B725 Hunter UK Black Gold II reviewed by Shooting Gazette
With a long history of slow change in its guns, it should come as little surprise that this latest model from Browning – Browning B725 Hunter UK Black Gold II – offers only small tweaks to an existing pattern. Fortunately, the B725 is a very successful pattern for this famed…
Krieghoff K-20 Parcours
Superb guns for taking on clays Krieghoff is perhaps not a name well-known to many of our readers, with a lineage far more closely related to hunting rifles and shotguns built for competition. Founded as Sempert & Krieghoff, the firm has been building hunting guns at its home on the…
Struggling with recoil using a 12-bore?
Q: I’ve started struggling with recoil when using my 12 bore: what can I do to reduce it? Is it time to change to a 16-bore? It’s really strange as my 12-bore fits me well. A: I come across many people who suffer with this and usually it’s a combination…
The new Range Rover Velar reviewed
Were you horrified when Land Rover announced that they were stopping making the Defender? Do you miss being able to buy a nice understated Range Rover with small wheels and teddy bear seats? Does the idea that Land Rover’s chief designer Gerry McGovern has his own range of swimming trunks…
Should I try and hit a high bird?
A: This is a great question as when high bird shooting there is an optimum point at which to shoot the bird, one I often refer to in my lessons as the most vulnerable point. This is when the bird is at its closest but also at a stage in…
Should there only be room on the peg for one?
I like a partner on the peg Not everyone likes to share a peg and I can understand why. I recall a sporting agent who insisted on joining Guns just as they found themselves in the pound seat on the drive of the day and chattering endlessly to them while…
“I’m looking for an elegant second-hand boxlock – please help”
Buyer’s brief: “I am a clay and walked-up game shooter, and I am looking for a really elegant gun to replace my ageing Browning B125. I could spend a little more than £5,000, but I would rather pay out less and use the surplus cash on lessons with a coach…
Do you know the four basics for competent shooting?
There are four basic building blocks for shotgun competence in clay and gameshooting. Stance and balance. Gun-mount and the avoidance of head lifting. Gun-swing and an understanding of the gun and target movement. Lead or forward allowance. Target practice The best place to rehearse and train these competencies is on…
Interview with Sir Ian Botham
How and when did you get into shooting? I’m a country boy so it was a natural thing for me to do: I was brought up in Somerset and since I was 18 I’ve lived in the rural north of England. So basically I’ve been shooting since I was old…