Towering Targets

In response to the ongoing debate on high bird shooting, Fieldsports headed for the Yorkshire hills to find out just how far a shotgun pattern remains effective.

Taking part were Simon Ward, Dave Carrie and David McKay Brown who is now also making a bespoke specialist gun for very high pheasant shooting.

MIKE BARNES reflects on some very impressive shooting and the findings.

The bath tub shot. The one for the game book. The one you’ll never forget. Yes, the high pheasant shot which even 20 years later you remember vividly. We all have shots we recall, and not just from our own efforts, but watching others too. And now there are any number of shoots which are offering high pheasants and partridges aplenty. Over valleys, from cliffs and quarry edges, or moorland fringes, there are numerous spectacular high bird shoots scattered around the country all presenting birds that represent a thrilling challenge to the man or woman with the gun.

But they beg two questions - how do you hit them consistently and at what point do they become out of range? The answer to the former to some extent relates to the latter, but not entirely.

In the winter issue last year I reported on a visit to a day’s extreme pheasant shooting at Whitfield, in Northumberland. The team leader of the Guns that day was Yorkshireman Dave Carrie, an engaging character and hugely enthusiastic Shot who openly confesses to be something of an addict to long range shooting. Watching him in action I could see why - he brought down some spectacular birds, several of which were indeed at extreme range ie 80-90 yards. Wielding a Miroku 32” trap gun to considerable effect, somewhat unbelievably I discovered he used Express 50gram fibre wad cartridges. He explained: “You use these kind of loads for long range wildfowling, so it makes sense that if I want to kill pheasants at these kind of distances then I need a cartridge which will do the business.” Inevitably a certain amount of missing takes place, but he is a British Champion clay shot, and it showed. His level of consistency on pheasants that most of us would not raise a gun to, was impressive.

By chance this last summer he bumped into Fieldsports columnist and noted shooting instructor
Simon Ward at Monckton Shooting Ground, near Hull, where the two of them shot the ground’s 160’ tower. They found themselves trading target for target stepping back 10 yards at a time, until they were over 100 yards back from the tower (plus the height of the bird). Their styles are very different. Dave is the swashbuckling Botham to Simon’s stroke-making Gower. Both very effective. Simon shot 1oz of 6½s and Dave 50gram 3s - incredibly they both managed 6ex10 at that huge distance.

Dave subsequently contacted me to see for myself. It sounded too intriguing to resist and I in turn
spoke with Simon. A date was set, and gunmaker David McKay Brown also agreed to join us. Always agreeable company, and vastly experienced game Shot, by good fortune David had his new 32” gun to show us.

I spoke with ground owner Mike Jackson, booked photographer Richard Faulks (for mission impossible - man shooting clay at 100 yards) and spoke with Express, Hull, Gamebore and Caledonian, for a sample of high bird game loads.

It would never be a definitive test - this could only be done by shooting a large number of live quarry at given points and then dissecting them afterwards to assess pellet impact, which was clearly out of the question. But all taking part have enough experience to draw some fairly accurate conclusions.

One thing was evident from what we saw - they could both shoot a bit. And some! Secondly, the cartridges were very impressive. After seeing these two in action, I will never ever again blame my ammunition for my failures.

The tower is situated on a bank which means that the clay passes over the guns at 157’. There are ten different shooting points - our men started in the middle, using Express Supreme 32gram 5’s, a load which both enjoyed and it showed (as used by Olympic gold medallist Richard Faulds). The breaking of the clays at this point was emphatic, which was especially impressive as it was windy and the clays were swerving in flight overhead. Undaunted David McKay Brown stepped into the breech with one of his delightful 31” guns and using Hull Sterling 30 gram 5’s, after a couple of early misses he found his gear and hit five on the trot.

From herein on, the Guns moved further away from the tower and the line of the clay, so they shot it as both a right hand and left hander, and at ever increasing ranges. The Gamebore Black Gold game range (as used by world champion George Digweed) has been a great success and Simon liked the 32gram 5, a perfect load for a high valley pheasants. But then they both shot brilliantly with Hull Sterling 32 gram 5s, a load which also found favour with David McKay Brown. Out of
curiosity we put a Gamebore Black Gold 28gram and Caledonian Classic 30gram into the mix,and it was evident more than ever that the standard of cartridge manufacture today is extraordinarily high. They each have their nuances - speed, recoil etc, but the quality of manufacture is not to be questioned. That is with the notable exception of a 50gram imported load (from none of the makers represented) which lost the top quarter inch of plastic when fired! Very dangerous, as the shot would have balled and travelled up to 250 yards. A repeat shot brought the same result.

The quality of kills was so good at this point that we took the opportunity to try two cartridges on a pattern plate at 70 yards. Dave opted to shoot his beloved 50gram Express, while David (McB) chose Hull Sterling 34gram 5, both with 3/4 choke. Interestingly the two patterns were not dissimilar. There was more than enough pattern there to kill a pheasant, but also both had holes which could result in a miss, or worryingly a less than clean kill. Mike Jackson also made the point that all of the shot does not arrive at once - the plume of pellets at this distance would be long and therefore the pattern on the plate was not an entirely fair reflection of what was happening as it travelled through the sky.

But at 70 yards most would consider a pheasant to be out of range. However to prove just what was possible David took on the clay, by now a very high right-to-left crosser from the tower, and going back 10 yards at a time he eventually found himself at over 100 yards distant. From 30 shots he broke three clays. We then paced it out - it was in fact 110yards, plus height!

 

Conclusions
Simon Ward

 

In some respects the session was inconclusive. But in others very interesting. For a start I thought the cartridges performed exceptionally well. With a brisk wind at Monckton the clays were far from easy but the way that they were breaking was so impressive that you were left in little doubt that if they had been pheasants then the kills would have been clean and instantaneous.

To me, seeing the pattern plate was absolutely pivotal. At 70 yards this was as good as it was likely to get. And yes, there was plenty of shot arriving within a 30” circle to ensure a clean kill.

As a shooting instructor I suggest to all of my clients to raise their gun only to birds which they know they can kill. And I adopt precisely the same philosophy to my own shooting. Never forget that you need a good hard hitting pattern to cleanly kill a fully mature pheasant and we all have a responsibility at all times to ensure that we do not risk wounding quarry. We should keep within the confines of the effective range of a shotgun. In my book this is of paramount importance. I shoot full choke in both barrels and will take on birds up to 70 yards, but I know that beyond that there is too much risk of wounding birds For a very high pheasant I will shoot 34 or 36 gram 4 and 5s. But I would suggest that 32gram 5s are perfect for most shooting, and unless you really want to step up your firepower then a load of this size is recommended. Indeed for the majority of shooting 30grams of 5’s will do the trick nicely. Providing of course you shoot straight!

Two other points arose from the testing. The days when fi bre wads were a poor relation to plastics are long behind us. All of the loads tested were fi bre - and I have used several of them in the fi eld too, the results being equally impressive. It is in the interest of game shooting that we should refrain from using plastic wads.

The other point relates to a subject which I have discussed in this column before - range. It is so important that you understand range - a very tall church spire is 150’, half the length of a football pitch. So a 50 yard pheasant is a long way out there. Beyond that you should really only shoot if you have the ability and the fi repower ie a big load (32- 36g) of large (4/5) shot. Knowing ranges is crucial to good shooting.

David McKay Brown

Scotland’s world famous gunmaker David McKay Brown is also an avid, and very capable, game Shot. His experience of both grouse and high driven game is extensive, so as well as making beautiful guns in his Glasgow workshop, he also knows what he is talking about.

To the point, David said: “I enjoyed Dave’s company very much, but I have to say that I totally disagree with his philosophy on long range shooting. I pattern all of the guns we make at 60 yards, and it is a fact that patterns start to break down at 55-60yards.

“I would also say that 34-35grams is the maximum load you want to be putting into a 8 or 8 ½lb gun - I would guarantee that at 55 yards there is no way a pheasant could fl y through a load of this size at that range. But beyond that the certainty diminishes. I personally seldom use more than 30grams of 5s - and I have also killed many geese with this combination.”

With the current popularity of high bird shooting, David, who has a very healthy order book, is now making a 32” barreled version of his beautiful round action over-under, though a little heavier than its shorter barreled sisters. “I have a number of orders and it shoots really well. I shot a 31” for the last two years, but will be using the new gun this season. You don’t of course gain any distance, but on high birds it is smooth to handle.

“In fact nothing really changes a lot in shooting as the old Eley Diaries used to say that the limit of a shotgun cartridge is 55 yards. Where we have benefitted is in choice and the overall standard of cartridges available today.

Dave Carrie

“I was impressed by the performance of Hull 32gram fibre 5s at 50 to 60yds. I would advise game shooters on the merits of shooting this kind of load, sticking a few 34 gram or 36grm fibre 4s in their pocket for very long ones. I think this combination would suit 99% of all shooters who do get a chance of a good high pheasant. But although they looked OK on clays to that distance and patterned roughly the same as the Express 50gram (or Express 42 gram) load I would not shoot them on the type of birds I shoot at Whitfield or Wales.

“But this is me and a few others being particularly selective and looking to kill at the very limits. I think I proved beyond doubt how far you can break a clay target with the correct choke and pellet on a particularly diffi cult tower three out of 25 to 30 shots at 130 yards. This was clay breaking not pheasant killing but as I was hitting 60 to 80 yard clays pretty consistently (the clay disintegrating) so six out of ten does make a good case for the consistency of killing 60 to 70 yard pheasants and the odd 80 to 90 yard pheasant with the right equipment and the right skill behind the gun. “However I have to conclude that for the above average to high bird game Shot, 32 gram to 36 gram 5s and 4s are the best choice - for very high to extreme pheasants 40gram to 50gram 4s and 3s are best, the first option being 99% of the game scene.”

 
 
 

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