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A Parting Shot

Amongst the turmoil of Coxy leaving us back in September 2021 his beloved Beretta DT10L was put into long term storage. As many of you will know, shooting was what Coxy did; one way or another the sport captured his life. And why not — he was after all so bloody good at it!His guns and rifles, the tools of the gamekeeper’s trade, have all been moved on now. The DT10 is the last of them.This one gun stirs most emotion; we associate it so personally, so intimately, with Coxy. As it is cleaned ...

Trigger Points

Universal on all guns, yet rarely given much consideration, triggers can matter far more than you think. A legitimate part in fitting the whole shotgun, the appropriate trigger set up can convey a worthy advantage to your shooting....

From Good to Great

A motivation driving anyone who picks up a shotgun with any intention of doing well: to become a good shot. And should that aim be achieved, then, pretty much, we’re OK with that. For some – a super talented few – there is room to kick on and up still further. What is it about them? What are they able to do that most cannot? What is it exactly that takes them – nudges them, boosts them – from good to great?...

A ‘Fifth Element’ in Gunfitting

An essential element in all higher level shooting — confidence. The process of gunfitting plays a key role in building confidence in the shotgun and its performance. Gunfitting reaches out toward outcomes that drive your shooting forward. Trying the new and unfamiliar in gunfitting could well be part of the journey toward finding your own ‘fifth element’....

Fit for Cue

Why is a shot taken precisely when it is? Fitting For Cue aims for the answers and to build favoured or preferential cues into the actual hardware of a shotgun. Shooting skills improve when there is a reliable framework on which to build success. Fitting A Gun For Cue is an important part of that framework....

Fit for purpose

“The gun is the essential link between the man and the kind of sport he pursues. It is not enough that it should be well adapted to one or the other. For the best success it must be fully adapted to both.” Gough Thomas....

Fit for comfort

Chris Cradock, one of our great commentators on shotgun shooting, once said of recoil and efforts to fix it: “(is)...a real problem for many. Some sufferers simply give up shooting. Others, more firmly addicted to the sport, will leave no stone unturned to find any palliative to alleviate their discomfort.”...

Gun fitting for accuracy

“If a gun could now be moulded to that attitude, it would conform to the principle of minimum adaptation: it would be that person’s natural gunstock, not dependent on the acquisition of any special habits for correct mounting.” Gough Thomas....

Fit - fit for what?

Even in this information-enriched age there’s generally little widely know about the process behind fitting a shotgun? Evolving historically from the rather secretive world of gun-makers, gun fitting is even now regarded as a cryptic art. Can we begin to understand it all better? Let’s start with a basic question – what is it we fit for exactly?...

All about Harry - Part 3

For now we’ll let Harry, our up-and-coming polo star, park his bike and let us focus instead on advancing your shooting.  This is about your shooting, not the guy’s shooting standing next to you in the queue for stand 4 whose tricked-up Perazzi you’ve just noticed. Nor is it the guy telling an already hard-pressed picker-up that there’s “a few” partridges down “somewhere along” that far-off hedgerow. (The picker-up’s the one without the 20 bore, trying not to telegraph bod...

All about Harry - Part 2

Gathering opinion suggests that to get to the top, you now have to indulge your shooting as more or less a job-of-work. Fine if you have the time, fine if you have got the backing to do so, but what about the rest of us? Is there a way through?...

All about Harry - Part 1

Just what does it take to become a great shot? Being gifted to begin with? Hard work? Never giving up? Well, no doubt success is about all of that and more, plus one other essential ingredient — time. Now, what can Harry show us?...

The gun advantage

Can a shotgun be made to give more? The subject of gun advantage is a productive one, and worth understanding if your aim is to improve. Get it right and the gain to your shooting can be significant. Mike Smith delves into this fascinating subject....

Looking for a different key

For some, frustration with shooting performance is an all too familiar experience, says Mike Smith. A lot of help is out there, but so much of it simply fails. The key just could be to look at your shooting process differently....

Unlocking potential - fitting the whole gun

As Mike Smith discusses, modern methods of production now bring that quality shotgun within the reach of many more shooters. Options to build precisely what you want in to a top end gun opens up the prospect of tapping into another level of gun fitting – whole gun fitting offers to tune-in to individual shooting potential by advancing fitting toward a deeper understanding of exactly what it is that a gun actually contributes to the process of shooting shot after shot....

Where's the catch?

The safety catch is common to all those who shoot game, but how is it used correctly? Who decides what’s right and wrong when it comes to safe gun handling. Mike Smith looks for answers.When does a point of view become a rule? The former can be flexible and shift in response to reasoning or new information – perhaps. A rule is characterised by certainty and applied rigorously. When it comes to the use of safety catches in shooting you’d think it straightforward, but it appears there is som...

Our little flight pond

A corner of West Sussex’s Lower Weald keeps a secret - a small gem that yields both sporting value and genuine wonder in a modern countryside where such things are increasingly rare. Mike Smith tells us all about it....

Flight of the Easterling

Coming a poor second to a pugnacious wren, a disappointing flight doesn’t end well for Mike Smith, but then something very special begins – magic happens. Diminutive, shy and inclined to caution, she none the less started it! The sight of the little wren, affronted and little more than an arm’s length away, shrilly protesting my presence, was so overwhelmingly engaging that my one chance of a shot was lost. A single mallard drake had chattered close, seeking the echoed reass...