THE JOY OF A SMALL-BORE

Reading Jonathan Mcgee’s article (How to live large with a small-bore, 9 November) brought back happy memories of teenage years shooting a .410 at rabbits and pigeons. However, my fondness for the .410 was badly

shaken when I missed a couple of sitting rabbits at 30 yards, much to the amusement of my two shooting companions.

Inspired by ST’S gun editor of the 1960s and ’70s, Gough Thomas, I resolved to pattern the .410 with the Fourlong cartridges that we used, loaded with the shot size that was considered the right medicine for rabbits — namely No 5 shot. I can report that the gun met its full choke rating by consistently putting at least 90 out of 95 pellets inside a 30in circle at a measured 30 yards. Unfortunately, most patterns had at least one bunny-sized hole in them.

No 6 shot performed better, but still a couple of patterns had a bunny-sized hole in them. I had to go to the big city (Chester) to find Fourlong cartridges loaded with No 7 shot. These restored my faith in the old .410 by putting 140-plus out of 150 pellets into the 30in circle at 30 yards, as well as putting more game in the bag.

The 3in cartridges used by Jonathan have a greater shot load in them (18gm versus 12.5gm used in Fourlongs) but when loaded with No 5 shot there would still be just 140 pellets available, which would result in thinning patterns beyond 30 yards. Although Jonathan was satisfied with the Holland & Holland Royal Deluxe loaded with his trusty cartridges, I venture to suggest that this combination with No 6 shot

(170 pellets) or No 7 shot (210 pellets) will bag more birds.

‘‘The wildlife of today is not ours to dispose of as we please. We have it in trust. We must account for it to those who come after.’’ King George VI