Shooting Times & Country – 07 August 2019

SPORTING ANSWERS

52 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

Sika came from Japan but there are variations

A story of a pretty littlegun

GUN HISTORY

Onthefrontcoverofyour
5 Juneissue,I notedthatthe
single-barrelledshotgunshown
hada barrelsimilartothatofmy
percussion20-boreofabout1840.
Thoughtheguninthephotograph
is a breechloaderofa muchlater
date,thebarrelhasthesame
hexagonalcrosssectionoverthe
firstthirdofitslengthasmine,
droppingtoa taperinground
sectionjustwherethefore-end
ends.Inmycase,however,the
barrelhasanaddedsquare
sectionalongtheundersideto
holdtheramrodloops.Mygun,
unfortunately,hasnonumber
normaker’snamebutthe
Birminghamviewandfinalproof
marksareclear.Doesthisbarrel
designcomefroma knownmaker,
orwasit commoninthe 19th
century gun trade?

Thebarrelprofileofthesingle-
barrelledshotgunshownonthe
coverof5 Juneis typicalof19th
centuryfirearms.It notonlylooked
goodbutalsohada practical
application— it allowedtheweight
ofmetaltobeconcentratedinthe
breechsection,wherethepressure
oftheexplodingchargeis at its
greatest.Thepressurefurther
upthebarrelwasmuchlessand,
asa consequence,thebarrelwalls
didnotneedtobesothick.Thisonly
appliedtoshotguns;inthecaseof
rifles,manymodelsandtypeshad
full-length octagonal barrels.

Thisnotonlymadethemstrong

enoughtowithstandthegreatly

increasedpressuresbutalsothe

additionalweightconferredgreater

stabilitywhenfiring,leadingto

increasedaccuracy.Theadditional

thicknessalsoreducedbarrelflex,

whichmadea riflemoreaccurate.

Inthelate1920s,manypretty

littlerookrifleswithfulloctagonal

barrelswerevandalisedandturned

into.410shotgunsbecausethe 1920

FirearmsActlicensedriflesforthe

firsttime.Manypeopledidnotwant

thebureaucracyandgrief— it existed

thenasnow— thatcamewithapplying

tothepolicefora firearmcertificate.

Theiroctagonalbarrelshadtheir

outerprofilesturnedtotheone-third

octagonal and two-thirds round.BH

Rifleswithfull

octagonalbarrels

wereturnedinto

.410 shotguns

STALKING

Isthereanysimplewayto

determinewhattypeofsikawe

haveinanarea?I haveseena

markeddifferenceinantlersize.Is

this down to food or is it genetic?

Thisis a complexquestion.Sika

intheUKoriginatefromthe

mid-Victorianperiodwhenlive

specimenswerefirstimported.These

arenowconsideredtohavebeenofthe

typicalJapaneserace.Aswellascoming

toEngland,theywerepresentinboth

IrelandandScotland,firstindeerparks

thenbywayofreleasesandescapes,

andbecamenaturalised.

Intheearlypartofthe20thcentury

additionalspeciesofsika,notablythe

largerManchurian,couldbefound

inparksandlivingwild.Addedto

thismixwasthearrivalandprobable

interbreedingofothersubspeciesof

sika,includingtheFormosavariety.

AsRichardPriornotedsomeyears

ago“thelate-Victorians’passionfor

experimentwasnotmatchedbytheir

recordkeeping”.Addtothisthereality

ofsikacross-breedingwithreddeerand

youhavea majorpuzzletosolve.

Today,withaccesstoDNAanalysis,

theissueoftheoriginandmakeupofa

particularanimalshouldbedecodable.

However,thatdoesn’thelpindeciding

whatyouarelookingat inthefield.

Bodyconformationandsizeoffer

pointers,asdoesthecolourofthevelvet

onthegrowinghead.Thesizeofthe

antlersandthenumberofpointsalso

offercluestothegeneticmakeup.

Genetics,ratherthannutrition,is the

maindriverofthevariationinanimals

and,inthelong-term,a typeofdeer

uniquetotheUKmaybeidentified.

PopulationsinotherEuropean

countries,particularlyFrance,are

similarly affected to our own.IW

Sika variation

Ourfrontcoverofthe5 June 2019 issue

showed walked-up sport with a breechloader