Fieldtester looks deeper, so you choose smarter
What do you shoot? Among Fieldsports Channel viewers, deerstalking is the big one with 38% of you out after deer, followed by 31% of you foxshooters, 15% of you are target shooters, 11% of you shoot wild boar and 5% hunt other overseas big game. There is plenty of overlap
Buckinghamshire pigeonshooters Jamie Leggett and Chris Mingo like to do things in style. Over several months, they built a pigeon hide on an old trailer. It is fitted with every mod con, as you can see here. Find out what they consider makes the ideal ‘pigeon hide trailer’.
With more and more game shooters in the UK moving from their old non-steel-proof shotguns to modern steel-proof guns, what’s the best over-and-under shotgun for the money and is it proofed for shooting steel shot? Gunshop owner Ian Hodge of Ian Hodge Fieldsports talks through his bestsellers. The
Swarovski’s new binoculars have an amazing field-of view, great quality glass at an eye-watering £2,370. Tim Pilbeam tries them out as he searches for this year’s best hunting (and fishing) binoculars. Forget light transmission, forget ease-of-use – they are last year’s optic USPs. Swarovski’s three new binocular launches
What clay guns do Fieldsports Channel viewers use? There is one clear winner, one runner-up, and viewers vote up several of the smaller shotgun makes for fit, looks, customer service and value for money. First up: 87% of you who shoot clays shoot the sporting disciplines, 22% of you
Back in March 2020, 3,500 of you filled out our survey on what kit you use. Nearly 300 of you told us about your airgun optics, and here are the results. There’s one brand that has half the market. In third place, it’s MTC, and the model you are
How does Sako’s new Powerhead Blade bullet work on deer? The non-toxic load is a winner on the range and in ballistic gel. Roy Lupton takes it out in the fallow rut in the South of England to try it out on a fallow buck. Find out how he gets
Everyone has an opinion about their knife – not always good. Fieldsports Channel viewers are often critical of their own blades. Perhaps the perfect knife is yet to be made. Lockdown saw you the Fieldsports Channel viewers filling out our survey: 3,500 responses of which 528 were on the
This month we go green and test the shotgun shells with the best eco credentials. Presented by David Wright, Jason Doyle and Tim Pilbeam with help from Jack Clutterbuck from Raytrade they examine the top products the manufacturers and distributors have to offer. Is it about steel is
You want to get a fair price for your gun or sell guns? If you’re thinking of selling your guns, how can you find out how accurate used gun values are? Gunshop owner Dan Pool from Braces of Bristol answers the question, ‘How to value my shotgun’ and explains what
You should clean your rifle moderator every time you shoot your gun, says Robbie Sheddon at Cluny Country Guns. Robbie shows us the results of what happens if you don’t give your gun suppressor or ‘silencer’ a little bit of care and attention. Cluny Country Guns stock lots of
How much does steel shot affect your barrels? We speak to Jack Clutterbuck from Raytrade, UK, importer of Turkish shotgun make Yildiz, about how we need to rethink our relationship with our shotguns. For more, visit: RaytradeUK.co.uk YildizShotgunsUK.co.uk
Johnny Muston from gunshop R&K Stockcraft puts his reputation on the line by explaining what he thinks is – pound for pound – the best springer air rifle on the market. Using his years of experience, he chooses the rifle that is the most accurate for under £300. He
High-profile dog-owners including F1 driver Lewis Hamilton endorse and feed their pet dogs a vegan diet. So can our domesticated ‘wolves’ do well as herbivores? We ask animal physiologist Dr David Marlin about the nutritional value of vegan dog food. Plus we do a simple taste test between meat,
Moderators, suppressors, silencers – they are becoming more and more popular worldwide as countries relax their restrictions on them. So which ones are the Fieldsports Channel viewers buying? A massive 3,500 of you responded to our March 2020 survey about kit and 10% of those answered the section on rifle
As tech hits the lamping market, the fox and rabbitshooters who prefer lamping to night vision and thermal now attach torches to their scopes. You find your animal with a handheld torch, and you quickly acquire it in your scope with your rifle-mounted torch. While handheld lamps are still narrow
In a world of thermal, Roy Lupton tries out a night vision scope. He takes the Pulsar Digex N450 night vision scope out after foxes. Find out how he gets on. Click here for more about the Digex night vision
Ballistic is a much over-used word. You may associate it with nuclear weapons. The word is pointlessly used to describe long-range missiles with nuclear warheads. It has nothing to do with the power of the payload. When you use it with the word ‘missile’, ‘ballistic’ means there is a
What’s the difference between target and hunting rounds? Sako Cartridges’ Aki Suvilahti says the biggest difference is in the manufacturing process. The hollowpoint boat-tail bullets that Sako makes for its hunting cartidges have to be manufactured more precisely than solid target ammunition. “Production consistency is all about accuracy,” he
To a non-shooter, all bullets seem the same, but there are hundreds of different calibres out there. ‘Calibre’ is based on (but not always the same as) the diameter of the bullet in millimetres. Are you choosing the right calibre for your shooting? You’ll probably get different answers from
You pull the trigger – and a lot of chemistry and physics takes place in a split second. Aki Suvilahti from cartridge manufacturer Sako says there are, generally, three different types of primer. For calibres such as .222 and .223, there is ‘small rifle’ primer, which has low energy.
Hot or not? That’s the question Paul Childerley puts to Aki Suvilahti of Sako Cartridges. Paul likes hot rounds in his chosen calibres of .22-50, 70-grain .243 – but like all shooters, he has doubts. “So,” he asks: “lighter bullets, faster charge, is it good or is it bad?”
If you’re still finding your way around your rifle, you may want to know what ‘head space’ is. Aki Suvilahti from Sako Cartridges explains. “Head space is a measure, in the rifle, from bolt face to chamber. It is in the part of the chamber that stops the
In March 2020, more than 500 of you filled out our shooting and hunting clothing survey, telling us which jackets and trousers you wear and why you like them. The big prizes are your favourite jackets and trousers. And here are the winners. Top manufacturer for jackets is Deerhunter but
Deer manager Paul Childerley describes what a bonded bullet is good for: “More weight behind it, more stopping power.” Sako’s Aki Suvilahti perfers a more technical definition. “Bonding means that as there is lead core in the bullet, it is chemically fixed to this copper jacket,” he says, referring
Which semi-autos do the Fieldsports Channel audience prefer? We sent out surveys in March 2020 and more than 3,500 of you filled out the questionnaires (it’s as if you had nothing better to do). Of those nearly 500 semi-auto owners responded. The most popular semi-auto among our viewers is,
From Fieldsports Channel’s Fieldtester Scroll down to watch our video reviews of top rimfire rifles The humble rimfire has long been a favourite of farmers, gamekeepers and pest controllers. It’s cheap to shoot, accurate and deadly on pests like rabbits and squirrels. Rimfires are versatile too. Shoot subsonic hollowpoint .22
We tackle vehicles in this survey: the big vehicles you go shooting in, and the little UTVs and quad bikes you use to get around your ground. We carried out this survey in March 2020 when everyone was trapped in lockdown, and 3,500 of you responded. Nearly 400 of you
www.dailymotion.com/video/x7vo4kz What do you wear on or in your ears when you go shooting? Listen up: out of the 3,500 of you who responded to our lockdown kit survey in the spring, 435 completed the survey on hearing protection. It’s something we have been pushing on Fieldsports Channel, especially with
In the first test of its kind, firearms experts Andrew Venables from WMSFirearmsTraining.com and Tim Pilbeam try out nine brands of copper bullets at 100 metres/yards and 250 metres/yards. With more UK venison processors demanding deer are shot with non-toxic bullets, they look at what you can buy in
It’s the first episode of our new monthly Fieldtester kit series, which comes with a whole Fieldtester section of the website devoted to shooting/hunting kit reviews. Visit Fcha.nl/fieldtester In this film, Andrew Venables from WMS Firearms Training and Tim Pilbeam conduct the most comprehensive test of copper bullets they
Thinking of getting started in clayshooting? Or simply want a cheap, knockabout shotgun? Paul Hodson from Staffordshire gunshop Shooting Sports UK gives his opinion on the best shotgun for under £500. For more from Shooting Sports UK, visit ShootingSportsUK.co.uk
What happens when a gun can’t take the cartridge you put into it? Marcus Simpson from Cambridgeshire gunshop Simpson Brothers shows off a hammergun that exploded, alongside other gun horror stories which include; a Browning with mud in its barrel, homeloading mistakes and scope mountings made from plywood. Looking
Professional deer manager Jason Doyle bashes his boots to bits. He explains how to make sure a boot fits you, before you commit to buying it.
www.dailymotion.com/video/x7vj9m6 First it was foxshooters who discovered how useful night vision is. Then badger cull contractors were trained in its use – and night vision went insitutional. Now deerstalkers use thermal for spotting animals. So, which thermal and night vision do you all use? For popularity among Fieldsports Channel viewers,
Browning calls its B525 series its ‘DNA’. Perhaps ‘favourite grandchild’ is more accurate. If you want to unlock that DNA, looks first at the B525’s locking system. There is a wide, flat bolt, under the chamber. There are two wide surfaces on the back of the hooks, which contact
The automotive industry has moved from ‘any colour as long as it’s black’ to any colour. At the same speed and over the same timescale, the gunmaking industry has moved from ‘it goes bang’ to ‘what do you want to shoot?’ When a gunmaker launches a new mass-market shotgun,
Which do you buy? World Champion Amy Easeman uses a B725 (Sporter Black Edition) for all her clayshooting and pheasant shooting. World Champion Sam Green uses a B525 (Ultra XS Pro) for all his clay and game shooting. Both guns clearly work. The B525 is the classic ‘school gun’
All you need to know about riflescopes youtu.be/YgcwiZ-mvco Can you buy a decent riflescope for under a grand in 2022? Absolutely says Dan Bibb of Shooting Sports UK – and he pulls three examples off the shelf to prove his point. Each one offers terrific optical performance and will almost
You have a buck in your scope at 200 yards, and you call it in to 50 metres. It’s time for the Aimpoint Acro to swing into action. The new sight from Aimpoint sits on the side of your scope, ready for you to take a snap, action shot.
Rabbit shooting just got easier, as Andy Crow finds out. The Pulsar Helion 2 makes nighttime ‘like daylight’ says Mrs Crow, so when Andy is out shooting, he can see just how bad his rabbit problem is. Click here for the Pulsar Helion 2 XP50 at Thomas Jacks
This is the Fieldtester survey where we asked you to tell us about your kit back in 2020, and boy did you respond. 3,500 completed surveys came back to us, 10% of which are about PCPs, 10% of you told us about your airgun pellets, only 5% are about spring-loaded
It’s the results of our massive dog questionnaire, covering dogfood, dog breeds and dog boxes, and thanks to all who took part in it. Our Fieldtester surveys prompted 3,500 responses, which has given us some of the most comprehensive information about who owns what and what they think of out
Firearms expert Andrew Venables and deer manager Ben Heath put two copper bullets head to head. Commenting on YouTube, several viewers give their favourite copper rounds. They are .243, 80-grain “80-grain in .243 sounds good and it will be interesting when Andrew goes with the .308 110-grain and 120-grain
We surveyed you for shooting kit in March 2020 and 3,500 of you told us what you use. We had more than 1,800 responses to our surveys for clay, game and pigeon shotgun cartridges, and here are the results: We asked you to give us a star rating for
Andrew Venables has cooked up what he reckons is the perfect copper varminting cartridge, using the Barnes Varmint Grenade. He looks at how the Varmint Grenade works and how to get the best from it. Click here for Andrew’s film about the perfect copper deer bullet. For more from
Cai Ap Bryn has a rabbit problem. Happily, Thomas Jacks has a new thermal unit that’s refit for shooting rabbits. Cai gives it a go on the range and then takes it out on live rabbits. For the Pulsar Thermion, talk to ThomasJacks.co.uk Click here for all our films with
It’s the results of our massive airgun questionnaire and thanks to all who took part in to. Our Fieldtester surveys prompted 3,500 reponses, which has given us some of the most comprehensive information about who owns what and what they think of out that the shooting industry has ever seen.
It’s a lovely afternoon’s pigeon shooting. Some birds are close – some are far away. So how does a pigeon shooting expert like Andy Crow choose his chokes? Here is his guide. Using a decent cartridge on decoys, Andy uses quarter chokes in both barrels. He is shooting long
It’s our Fieldtester binoculars survey. We sent out the survey during coronavirus lockdown and got more than 3,500 responses. Of these, we had over 600 responses to our binoculars survey. And the results? You certainly spend money on optics. Around half of you own one of the three most
