Sporting Shooter UK – August 2019

EXPERTS

ASK THE

SEND YOUR QUESTIONS TO:

Ask the Experts

Sporting Shooter,

Evolution House,

2-6 Easthampstead Road,

Wokingham,

Berkshire RG40 2EG

OR EMAIL: [email protected]

DOM HOLTAM

STALKER AND

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Dom is an experienced

stalker and deer warden

DEAN HARRISON

FOXING

Deano is a lifelong fox

shooter and keen

countryman

DON BRUNT

CLAY SHOOTING

Don is a keen clay shooter

and follows the country’s

top shots on the circuit

ANDY CROW

PIGEONS

Crowman has forgotten

more about pigeons than

most of us will ever know

JONNY CROCKETT

COUNTRYSIDE

Jonny teaches survival

courses and other

backwoods skills

WILL EDWARDS

SHOOTING

Will is an

APSI-qualified

shooting coach

NICK PLAYFORD

LEGAL MATTERS

Nick is an associate at mfg

Solicitors, providing legal

services for rural matters

MARTIN DICKMAN

HEARING PROTECTION

As technical director of

Puretone Ltd, Martin is at

the forefront of Cens Digital

Is there a question

you want resolved?

Magic bullet?

Q

What is it with the 6.5 Creedmoor?

I’ve never known a buzz like it around

a calibre – I assume if I buy one, I’ll

never miss another deer and women will

fall at my feet. Or shall I just stick with my

.308 Winchester?!

A

DOM HOLTAM replies: I feel your pain...

and I have been sorely tempted myself.

Everybody I know who shoots a

Creedmoor has been impressed. Accurate,

versatile, capable of performing very well at

long distance. It’s a great round and, more

importantly, it has a cool name.

However, it is not reinventing the wheel. The

.308 is a great calibre... so is the .243. If you

have to have a 6.5, the venerable 6.5x55

Swedish Mauser has been doing the business

for over 120 years. Or how about the

.260 Remington? It is very similar

indeed to the 6.5 Creedmoor in terms of

ballistic performance and was introduced back

in 1997.

There are plenty of off-the-shelf rifles and

factory rounds that shoot comfortably

sub-MOA and for most of us, that is enough. If

you are shooting competitions, maybe you’d be

looking for extra, but then you’d also be looking

at homeloading and maybe a custom rifle...

and that’s a whole new kettle of magic!

If I was in the market now, looking to buy an

all-round calibre, yes, I think the Creedmoor

would be at the top of my list. Is there enough

benefit for me as a recreational stalker to trade

in my .308 or .243? Absolutely not. Does that

mean I won’t eventually break and buy one

QUESTION OF

THE MONTH

Q

With the general licence issues that have

arisen recently, we still have the need to

control the pigeons who are currently

tucking into all our crops. Is there anything else

we can do?

A

JONNY CROCKETT replies: I was at the

Devon County Show a few weeks ago. I got

involved in a conversation at the NFU stand

about this subject and there were points of view

galore. One farmer said that he had been

watching the tennis from Wimbledon the previous

year and they had employed a falconer to control

the birds around the courts. That has inspired him

to build and set up raptor boxes around his fields.

I thought that was inspired genius. Obviously, if

there is a shoot nearby, there is a conflict, but he

is waiting to see what the results are. It comes

down to pest control versus sport and the

economics of the two.

Alternative pigeon control

For the very latest news visit

http://www.sportingshooter.co.uk

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CHRIS PARKIN

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