The side-by-side shotgun has much to offer the modern gun and should not be dismissed. Side-by-side or over-and-under is no longer a choice between tradition and modernity. So, which should you choose? (Read Mike Yardley’s recent review of the AYA Deluxe No 2 side-by-side.) The side-by-side shotgun – why it…
A good shooting stance is, quite literally, the foundation of sound technique. When you watch a line shooting, it is usually immediately apparent that some are standing well: in balance, stable and erect, with feet suitably spaced. There is a demeanour of calm control. Good weight distribution allows guns to…
Shooting well increases satisfaction and pays due respect to the quarry. It is, moreover, a waste to perform badly when almost anyone may, with just a little effort, shoot proficiently. Competent, elegant shotgun marksmanship is not beyond anyone who works for it. Besides, if you are going to miss –…
The Rt Hon Sir Malcolm Rifkind needs little introduction as the former Defence then Foreign Secretary who went on to chair the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament that oversees the UK’s security services. Yet any fear I had of feeling intimidated is soon dispelled by that familiar, affable soft…
Here, The Field celebrates the best shooting jumpers: an often overlooked piece of essential kit. They can be a gun’s best friend: a versatile extra layer that keeps out the cold but is smart enough to stand alone at shoot lunches or warn with a gilet to shot on milder…
Growing up in the suburbs, country life was relatively unknown to me until I was in secondary school. I’d certainly never heard the words ‘Olympic Skeet’. My father stumbled across rural pursuits and found them a wonderful escape from his City job. He offered me some pocket money to load…
The Welsh countryside has been shaped over the centuries by its rural community, a sense of common culture and a passion for sport. Shooting is fundamentally tied to this landscape. In his foreword to the Countryside Alliance’s Shooting in Wales – For Countryside & Community, rugby legend Sir Gareth Edwards…
I was fortunate to have grown up on a beautiful arable farm in the north-west of England. As the youngest of three daughters, I was encouraged, along with my sisters, to grasp life and live it to the full. Holidays were mostly spent in the fields building ‘handy pony’ courses…
Keeping a gamebook was obligatory when you started out shooting in my day,” says Sir Johnny Scott, who made his first entry at the age of nine. “Much of my early record-keeping was just rabbits but by the time I’d reached 16, it had really started to fill up.” Whereas…
My earliest memory of the shooting field is bumping along on my mother’s back as a toddler out beating. It didn’t go swimmingly. She stopped for a pee and we got completely lost in the depths of the Scottish countryside. I remember being absolutely freezing, and there was a lot…
