Gun collecting can be an expensive business. We all read the auction reports of some 1920 Woodward over-and-under selling for £35,000 or the King of Italy’s unique Holland & Holland…
Diggory Hadoke
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The surprisingly long-lived history of the sporting rifle
A young Prince William — now the Prince of Wales — shot his first Highland stag at Balmoral aged 14, as was widely reported in the press at the time.…
Unusual calibres – there’s no reason they can’t make good go-to rifles
Legal restrictions have corralled the British stalker towards an ever smaller range of rifles and cartridges with which to head for the woodland or hill. They have robbed us of…
Lead ammo ban could put an end to .22 rifles
The ban on lead ammunition could be a disaster for thousands of gamekeepers, vermin controllers, farmers and target shooters. This is because finding acceptable ammo for the basic .22 rimfire…
Tips on buying a gun at auction
I have been frequenting gun auctions since the late 1990s with a view to buying a gun at auction and writing about them for the sporting press since 2003. Over…
What does a ‘best’ gun actually mean?
A recent sale elicited a good question and disinterred an old discussion. The sale concerned a J. Blanch & Son sidelock ejector made in 1903. We know it was made…
British guns proofed for steel: it’s time to buy a bit of history
The late Cyril Adams, who made a fortune selling restored British guns to eager American buyers, recalled walking into Purdey’s one afternoon in search of old guns and being told…
Clay pigeon shooting history: how it all began
Clay traps today are super-powerful, complex, remotely controlled and capable of throwing clays on many different flight patterns to simulate a variety of birds. (Read can I set up clayshooting…
Gunsmithing at home: when you shouldn’t DIY your gun
Home gunsmithing The guns you may be planning to work on were made by time-served craftsmen at the top of their game. Time may have been unkind to their creations,…
How to keep your guns and rifles truly secure
The Home Office reported this year that there are almost 1.4 million legally held shotguns and 600,000 other legally held firearms, which are mostly Section 1 rifles, in the UK.…
Are vintage guns not up to the rigour of modern shooting? Our writer puts some to the test.
If I had a box of bismuth cartridges for every time someone has told me that vintage guns are nice, but for the amount of shooting they do “you need…
Best royal Shots – who would be on the A team?
Fieldsports have long been a passion of British monarchs and their families. But who are the best royal Shots? Shooting-obsessed monarchies the world over have been customers of our best…
The history of punt guns and punt-gunning
Punt-gunning today is a curiosity. Once it was a business. To some Victorian sportsmen, it was an art to be learned and practised. The punt, the punt-gun and the punt-gunner…
Vintage rifles can still be viable
There are historical and legal reasons for the decline in interest in vintage rifles in this country. When I was a child, to have a modest collection of sporting and…
Is a 20-bore better than a 12-bore for long, walked-up days?
The proposition was put to me recently that the ideal gun for walked-up shooting is a lightweight 20-bore side-by-side shotgun. It got me thinking, in these days where 20-bore mania…
Are today’s Shots less accomplished?
Driven shooting has been an established sport in the British Isles since it was introduced by the mid-Victorians. The sport of shooting had previously been largely a matter of a…
Why Holland & Holland ‘Royal’ guns are sought after
Mark Sullivan works quietly at his bench, producing the heart of many bespoke gun-building projects. An auctioneer by trade, he used to work at Holland & Holland. Now he works…
Five famous guns and their owners
Should my guns eventually be catalogued by an auctioneer, I expect my ownership to make not a jot of difference to the valuation. Frankly, nobody is going to pay more…
Is it time to buy an English classic gun?
Always wanted an English classic gun? If you are anticipating a drop in the price of English guns in the wake of the announcement that lead shot should be phased…
How have other countries coped with the lead shot ban?
For advocates of lead ammunition, the arguments have become academic. The leaders of our major shooting and countryside organisations have signed a statement in support of the removal of lead…