MERRY CHRISTMAS!

It seems as if I have only just recovered from last Christmas, and here it is again. Everywhere you look, you just can’t escape the festive season. To my horror, we even have a few pages dedicated to yuletide in this issue. Bah humbug! As a Christmas curmudgeon, I’d rather not have the magazine littered with pages about Christmas, but I was outvoted by the rest of the team who are well and truly in the festive spirit.

Unlike me, a dog can find the festive season very exciting. But behind the Christmas cheer lurks danger and even death for our best friends. It all sounds rather grim, but Neil, our gundog vet, reassures us that all will be well on the big day by telling us how to keep our dogs safe on page 78.

As it’s Christmas, we have included a few pages of kit to give you some gift ideas. The selection ranges from large items, like new shotguns, to smaller things like coats and knives. There should be something there to suit everyone. Don’t forget, a Sporting Gun subscription makes a great Christmas gift and could cost as little as £14.99.

If you are interested in getting a new gun, then our gunsmith, Jason, is reviewing a 16-bore Rizzini RB EM. This bore is gaining a bit of a following in the UK, although a wide variety of cartridges are hard to find in some gunshops. However, the gun is available in other calibres.

Finally, I want to warn you that next issue will look rather different. We have been beavering away behind the scenes to bring you a new-look magazine. So stand by for February issue, which will be the first magazine of Sporting Gun’s

40th Year. More of that next month.

It just remains to wish you all a very happy Christmas.

“Unlike me, a dog can find the festive season very exciting, but behind the cheer lurks danger”