Grouse about modern guns
The recent popularity for high-bird shoots has escalated the trend for longbarrelled, weighty game guns designed to cope with the heavy-load cartridges this type of sport necessitates.
There have always been fads for guns and this got me thinking. A couple of decades back, it was not uncommon to come across a ‘grouse gun’ advertised for sale in the shooting press. I believe that a grouse gun was reverse-bored, so that the heavier-choked barrel was fired first on the front trigger and the open-bored barrel by the rear trigger. This made good sense as, in theory, the first shot taken at a bird from an incoming pack of grouse would be taken well in front of the butt, with the second shot being made as the pack neared or crossed the line of butts at closer range.
Meanwhile, the standard double-barrel game gun was made for use on walkedup game, with the front trigger first firing the right (and open-choked) barrel, leaving the heavier-choked barrel for use on the departing bird at distance. While useful for rough shooting, this system is at a disadvantage for use on driven game, a fact that many acquaintances who use vintage guns have acknowledged to me. How many of us possess the calm necessary to remember to fire the back trigger first when on a ‘hot peg’?
I haven’t seen a grouse gun advertised in recent years, and from recollection they were mainly best-quality side-bysides built by the better British makers. I suppose modern game guns equipped with single selective triggers (SSTs) or interchangeable chokes have given their owners the adaptability they need, though I have heard the SSTs’ follow-up shot is not as swift as that of a doubletrigger gun.
I can see two problems with the new methods: I would have to remember to put the open-bored choke tube in the correct barrel or have the foresight to switch the barrel selector before the first drive. Perhaps the Victorians and Edwardians who shot during our sport’s golden age were better off with their purpose-built grouse guns after all.
M Lorne, via email
Beginners and the end
I have been a reader of Sporting Gun for more than 35 years. I know these are hard times for the print media, but I still enjoy reading a physical copy of a magazine as opposed to anything digital.
However, following the merger with Clay Shooting magazine, I believe that Sporting Gun has now moved too far away from what I enjoyed it for. That was stories about pigeon shooting, rough shooting, game shooting, the first-person accounts of Peter Theobald, Geoff Garrod and other contributors.
I understand the business decision behind merging with another title but, for me, the magazine is now too full of instructions for better shooting, how-to guides and many Q&As, none of which interest me. It feels as though it is pitched at those new to the sport, which is admirable, but it is not what I bought it for and, sadly, I won’t be renewing my subscription.
I wish you well.
Tim Greenfield, via email Ed – Thank you for writing in. It ’s always good to get feedback. Geoff is still very much with us, as is Peter Theobald. The extra tuition and competitive clay shooting is on top of the usual Sporting Gun content. We try to cater for shooters both new and experienced. I’m sorry you won’t be renewing, especially as we could do with your support at this time, but thanks for being such a loyal reader and subscriber. A load on the mind I’ve just read an article in the May issue of the CLA
Land & Business magazine about lead shot alternatives. Part of the article stated trials showed that “thin-walled game guns did not show damage when using a standard performance 24g steel shot”.
I cannot imagine some Guns feeling confident of a clean kill on some of the high birds driven on my local shoots using a 24g load. How can these loads be classed as a suitable alternative to lead?
Mick Naisbitt, North Yorkshire Ed – I have yet to be convinced of the wisdom of ditching lead shot in favour of steel. One thing’s for sure, it will change the way we shoot and we will probably be shooting birds at much closer range than before to ensure a clean kill.