Patrick’s top tips
• Make sure you explain what you are doing at all stages; if you use a particular call, for instance, say what it is and why you are using it.
• Do your best to point out any wildlife you see as for many people these animals are rarely, if ever, seen.
• Be specific as to what they should wear. Quiet, warm, non-rustling clothing, thermal under-layers and a warm hat as well as good footwear will make their evening much more pleasant if it’s cold. A face mask is a good idea in moonlight.
• Ensure that you have enough food and drink for everybody.
• Explain the safety procedures — a map and address and postcode will allow them to raise help in a hurry if there’s an emergency.
• If there’s a risk of squeamishness, leave them at the shooting point when you go to pick up any carcasses.
Semi-auto and pump-action shotguns have been around for a long time but have not been as popular in the UK as they have in the USA. Shooters shy away from them mainly because of the uncertainty of how to operate and handle them in a safe way. Those that use them usually love them, and I believe that there are some great benefits to their well thought-out design.
My introduction to a fixed-barrel gun was a semi-auto back in the 1980s. My job as a gamekeeper meant that I used shotguns for work. I had a couple of over-and-unders that did not fit me very well so I purchased a second-hand semi-auto, which came with a set of spacers and washers. After asking around as to their purpose, I found that I could adjust the cast and drop on the gun by inserting the spacers in-between the stock and action. Having a gun that fitted well was a revelation for my shooting and my love of the semi-auto was fired. They are also cheaper on the whole, due to a manufacturing process that involves less man-hours and, of course, just one barrel. This is no reflection on quality.
Some history
I couldn’t write an article on fixed-barrel shotguns without mentioning John Moses Browning. He first designed a pump-action shotgun for Winchester in 1893, with an external hammer. He also designed the Winchester 12, a hammerless gun from 1912. By then he had also made a semi-auto. The Browning Auto-5, patented in the early 1900s, was the first of the long recoil semiautos and stayed in production until 1998. The first semi-autos were long action, having the barrel and breechblock move back after firing to expel the spent cartridge and load the next. The short action followed and then the gas-operated autos, which bleed off some of the gases from the fired cartridge via a port in the barrel to operate the action. This helped with reducing the recoil and removed the long action ‘shuffle’ as the barrel didn’t move, just the bolt. Gasoperated semi-autos are most common and with self-adjusting gas valves that stay cleaner in use and are not as fussy about cartridges as they were.
When using a fixed-barrel shotgun safety is of the utmost importance. With a breakbarrel shotgun, when the action is open