NEWS Top guns worth a shot this season

WITH announcement of the NT Waterfowl Hunting Season imminent I thought it timely to check out what new guns were on offer in Darwin for geese and duck this year.

I have never owned a camo gun or used a straight pull gun so I took a Bettinsoli X-Trail Camo under and over along with a Dickinson T-1000 sixshot straight pull 12 gauge to the NT Field and Game clay target range.

I have little experience with manual loading shotguns, firing a pump action once when I was a teen and recently a lever action, that I wasn’t that impressed with as a duck gun.

The Dickinson straight pull changed my thinking entirely about the value of this model as a serious gun for our geese and fast flying ducks too.

I could action the gun effortlessly with the gun still shouldered as I moved to take multiple shots at simultaneous pairs and a continuous stream of randomly thrown clays.

Six from six in reasonably paced succession was enough to convince me of the merit of this gun. I would easily be able to make the most of the mobs that fly over and reach the daily limit with this Dickinson.

The 28-inch barrels suited me and the gun was lively in my hands.

With a starting price of $990 this is great value for reliable six shot straight pull.

The X-Trail Bettinsoli was a dream to handle. This is a quality under and over that is made for the swamp, but would be at home at the Sporting Clays range any day.

The Realtree Max5 camo wrap will make it invisible to geese. The hunter can choose a left or right-handed cast which is a bonus for good gun fit.

It points and moves easily. It only has three mobile chokes but comes with 3.5-inch chambers and 28, 30 and 32-inch barrels. I would thoroughly recommend both these shotguns for the hunting season and the clay range while the birds breed up. The Bettinsoli cost from as little as $1695.

NT Field and Game is holding Sunday Mass skeet and Five Stand Sporting practice this morning from 9am-noon at the Mickett Creek Shooting Complex range, Brandt Rd, Knuckey Lagoon.

Practice is also available every Friday from 4pm until late. All are welcome.