General Info
Shooting is one of the most popular country sports in the UK, and there are almost 200,000 current shotgun certificates in Scotland and N. Ireland.
The sport takes many forms, and is enjoyed by people from all walks of life. There are countless variations on the way people enjoy shooting, ranging from top-quality (and expensive!) driven grouse, partridge and pheasant shooting to ‘rough shooting’, which can simply be one man and his dog hunting for quarry or shooting woodpigeons over decoys.
Deerstalking is also popular in the UK, and there is very good quality deerstalking available on many estates. There is also a substantial population of deer widespread throughout the UK, and many prefer to obtain the shooting rights on a particular area of land and enjoy their sport in that way.
Clay pigeon shooting is extremely popular, and thousands of people take part in this branch of the sport each year. Quite apart from being enjoyable in its own right, shooting clays is an excellent way to sharpen up your skills before the beginning of the game shooting season, particularly if you do so under the instruction of an instructor.
Airgunning is also a widely practiced sport, both at artificial targets of various kinds and also at live quarry, which tests not only accuracy but general fieldcraft in getting within the effective range of your weapon.
Shotguns were developed specially for shooting at moving targets, and traditionally, ‘side-by-side’ guns were and still are most favoured for shooting game. The ‘over and under’ style was developed for shooting clay pigeons. In recent years, an increasing number people are using ‘over and unders’ for game shooting. Both types will do both jobs – it is a matter of individual preference.
Semi-automatic shotguns were designed for a type of shooting, such as wildfowling, where the shooter was likely to have to wait a long time for his quarry to appear, and a large number would then appear together. By having more cartridges in the gun, he would be (perhaps!) able to shoot more of his quarry while they were in range. Originally, these guns were able to hold five or even more cartridges when fully loaded, but after recent changes to the law, the number is now restricted to three.
In the days when ‘five-shots’ were permitted, truly good shots have been known to have five birds dead in the air at the same time! Much more commonly, one or perhaps two kills would be made, and the remaining shots missed. The general consensus is that making the most of two shots is more efficient than trying for more.
It may be interesting to note that even in the days when ‘five-shots’ were permitted, a man competent in the use of a double-barrel ejector gun could actually fire more cartridges in a given time than someone using a five-shot. Obviously, for the first five shots, the five-shot would be faster, but because they take a relatively long time to reload, the double barrel would catch up and overtake while reloading was being done, and overall, the double barrel would always beat the five-shot!