Sporting Gun UK – May 2019

instruction

Buyingyourfirstgun

Suits you, sir

Ifyouarenewtoshooting,it is easytobedistractedbythebreadthofchoice

andprevailingfashionwhenit comestochoosinga gunthatis rightforyou.

Malcolm Plant highlights what to look for and, as importantly, what to avoid

L

etmestartbytellinga story.I was

refereeingatoneoftheEngland

selectionshootsforthesporting

claysteama fewyearsago.My

standonthecourseata NorthYorkshire

groundwasa pairofhighleft-to-right

crossingtargetsfroma tower.Theywere

a ratherchallengingpairfromtwodifferent

trapsonreport,oneaftertheother,and

atslightlydifferentangles.Buttheywere

hittablewithanyshotgunincompetent

hands—12-or20-bore,thoughthelighter

28-borewithitssmallerloadofshotpellets

mayhavebeentestingthe pattern of the

shot cloud somewhat.

RIchaRd Faulks

Therewerefourpairstobeshotandthe

steadystreamofcompetitorswasoccasionally

producingsomeonewhocouldhitthelot

andleavethestandwitha satisfying8 on

theirscorecard.A gentleman,whoI didnot

recogniseasa local,arrivedatthebackof

thesmallqueuewaitingtoshoot;hehad

a smallgroupofdisciplesintowandwas

explaininghowtohitthetypesoftarget

theywereencounteringontheircircuitof

thecourse.Let ’sjustsaythathe sounded

extremelyknowledgeable.

Whenit washisturntoshoot,hestepped

forwardandaskedif hecouldsee“twopairs

of the targets, please” so that he could select

hischokesanddecidehowtoshootthese

crossers.Therulessaythatif youhavebeen

inthequeueyoushouldusethistimeto

determineyourapproachtothetargets,but

it wasa lovelywarmsummerafternoonand

I didn’twanttoupsethisday,soI saidhe

could.Ashechangedhischokes,I glanced

aroundtoseeif myqueuewasbackingup.

Thatwasfine,buttherewerea fewnodding

heads,smilesandwinksatthereferee.

“PairLost.PairLost.Loss/Hit.Hit/Loss.

Thankyou,sir.Unload.” He walked off with

2 onhiscard.

So,steponeinbuyingyourfirstgunis

takingadvicefromsomeoneyoucantrust.

MostgunshopsarereliablebutI knowof

oneintheMidlandsthatsolda right-handed

guntooneofmyfriends,forhisleft-handed

son,withtherecommendationthatit fitted

himwell.A shootingcoachwhoworkedon

anadjacentshootinggroundpointedout

thisratherfundamentalmistake.Theerror

was rectified with a different gun.

Themultipurpose

acquisition

Forthebeginner,it isperfectlypossibleto

buya shotgunthatwilldomostthingswell.

If youareinterestedindoingsomepigeon

andvermincontrol,togetherwithjoining

thelocalDIYgamesyndicateandpractising

orcompetingattheclayclubsinthearea,

there is definitely an affordable gun for you.

Don’tshellouttoomuchonyour

firstgun—yourmoneyisbetter

spent on introductory lessons