Fieldtester looks deeper, so you choose smarter

Fieldtester

Best clay gun for under £500

  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

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Hammergun House of Horror – why you need a gun cleaning kit!

  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

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10-step boot-fitting guide

  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.

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Best Night Vision & Thermal 2020

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,

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Browning B525 – what goes into it?

  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

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Browning B725 – review

  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,

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Browning B725 vs B525 – review

  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’

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All you need to know about riflescopes

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

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On Test: Aimpoint Acro + roebuck stalking

  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.

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On test: Pulsar Helion 2 XP50 thermal spotter

  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

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Best break-barrel airguns for 2021

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

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Best Dogfood 2020

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

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Copper bullets – terminal ballistics

  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

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Best shotgun cartridges 2020

  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

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On Test: Barnes Varmint Grenade

  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

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On test: Pulsar Thermion lights up the rabbits

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

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Best PCP airguns for 2021

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.

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Best shotgun chokes for pigeon shooting, by Andy Crow

  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

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Best hunting binoculars

  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

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Best shotgun 2020

Got your shotgun licence? Want to buy a shotgun? Baffled by the choice? Here is what the viewers of Fieldsports Channel shoot. We put our Fieldtester survey in front of you in March 2020 while lots of people were twiddling their thumbs in coronavirus lockdown, and 3,500 people got back

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On test: Aimpoint Acro – see more, shoot more

  Sometimes you shoot an animal at a good range and you are pleased with the result. Sometimes, the animal emerges from the bushes just in front of you. And occasionally, both can happen at the same time. Swedish gunsight manufacturer’s her Aimpoint reckons it has found the solution. We

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How to make a crow decoy

Do you have old, out-of-shape pigeon decoys? Do you have anything even vaguely crow-shaped you can use instead? You can use it to make your own crow decoy, says our viewer Tim in Essex. You need a black bin liner and black insulation tape. That’s the hard part. Cover the

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On Test: Winchester Blindside

On Test: Winchester Blindside

Sporting Shooter magazine editor Dom Holtam takes the Winchester Blindside shotshells out for a roadtest on some pesky geese. Andy Crow has been suffering from 150 geese plundering his young crops. But they are wily birds and every cartridge has to count. This item appears in Fieldsports Britain, episode 265

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Best hunting boots for men

There are so many walking boots, so many makes and models. So which do you choose? Well, there is one clear winner among Fieldsports Channel’s viewers, with nearly a quarter of the market. And we will come to that at the end of this piece. Out of the 3,500 responses

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Yukon Photon XT – review

Jaf Jefferson talks about the Yukon Photon XT, its drawbacks and why he likes it, plus what he would like to see improved. Here is our film of the Photon XT in action Click here to go to the Fieldtester night vision and thermal front page

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Kofs vs Yildiz shotgun – a boy’s first .410

by Charlie Jacoby A post on the Lamping Foxes Facebook group got me thinking. It read: ‘My son turned 11 today, and as a dad I made a promise that when he reaches 11 we will get a o/u .410. So if anyone has any tips on what to get

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Norma Oryx

Used by Fieldsports Channel’s Scandinavian viewers, who hunt deer and moose, the Norma Oryx is designed to knock down animals that have a reputation for being ‘armour-plated’. It is called the Oryx for that reason. The gemsbok is not an easy antelope to kill. Fieldsports Channel surveyed its viewers about

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Hornady Precision Hunter

The Precision Hunter cartridge from Hornady is only the delivery vehicle for its ELD-X bullet range. Anything you read about Precision Hunter should dwell on the ELD-X and so that’s what we are going to do here. ELD-X stands for ‘Extremely Low Drag – eXpanding’. It’s Hornady’s all-range plastic-tipped hunting

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Top rifle ammunition 2020

Best rifle ammunition of 2020

Fieldsports Channel’s viewers are loyal to their ammunition brands and we have the proof Once they find a rifle cartridge they like, they stick to it. During the coronavirus lockdown of 2020, we surveyed our viewers about the kit they use. We received more than 3,500 responses. Of these, 616

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On Test: best copper bullets for deer

  Firearms expert Andrew Venables has a guilty secret (innocent secret?). He prefers copper bullets to lead bullets. In this film, he puts copper bullets through their paces on a range, showing how they win on both accuracy and fillability. Thanks to Tim Pilbeam for letting us use his range.

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Copper bullets and meat damage

Copper bullets and meat damage

Meat damage is one of Andrew Venables’ primary reasons to move away from lead bullets. For him, the argument revolves around weight retention. “You’ve seen the x-rays, you’ve seen the ballistic media, the different pictures going around on social media. 40% of that bullet is left in the animal. Copper

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Copper bullets and clean kills

  Like every ethical hunter in the Western World, Andrew Venables wants a clean kill. The firearms expert reckons the bullet that does that best is not made of lead. It’s made of copper – because it’s such a fast bullet. “Having spent a lot of time shooting lead bullets,

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What non lead bullets can you buy

  In the 1990s, Andrew Venables was at a US gun show where a mini revolution was taking place. He had no idea at the time that the non-lead bullet Barnes was launching there would change his deer stalking. He says it took about two years for the Barnes bullet

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Deerhunter Moor Padded Jacket with Knit Timber

It’s been a long day shooting clay or game, you probably want to slip into something more comfortable than your all-weather gear. In our survey, Ryan from the UK calls it a, “nice lightweight jacket easy to move in”. Deerhunter says it is “the perfect after-shoot jacket” and our survey

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Le Chameau Vierzonord boots

When analysing reams of spreadsheet data for trends, it’s always easier when one name appears nearly twice as often as any other. That was the case with our wellies survey. To the relief of the team trawling through information supplied by hundreds of Fieldsports Britain supporters just like you (thanks

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On Test: steel shotgun cartridges on rabbits

Steel has well-documented benefits and drawbacks for shooting pheasants and pigeons – but how about rabbits. Simon Whitehead tries out steel shotshells on ground game at his home in North Yorkshire to see how they perform, plus he cuts open the rabbits to look at the terminal ballistics of both

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How to make a hunting knife

  Master knifemaker Alan Johnson talks through the process, including choosing steel, cutting a shape, grinding an edge, making and fitting a handle, and the leatherwork to make a good sheath. He runs Danum Blades in South Yorkshire, the home of British steelmaking, comparable with Solingen in Germany for its

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On Test: Sako S20

Paul Childerley has been using the Sako S20 for a month and has shot more than 80 deer with it. It’s time for him to give his views on how it shoots and whether he likes it. ▶ To go stalking with Paul, email paul@childerleysporting.co.uk ▶ For the new Sako

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On Test: Savage Arms 110 Lightweight Storm

  Jason Doyle puts the Savage Arms 110 Lightweight Storm through its paces. He takes this rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor up into the Wicklow Hills in stormy conditions to try to take a sika hind. Find out how he gets on. For Savage Arms, visit SavageArms.com For more about Hornady’s

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Short Rifle Evolution Green

by Charlie Jacoby In a world where leaving lead fragments in your gralloch can earn you a frontseat in the falconers’ hall of hate, it’s time to swap out your old lead bullets for modern lead-free alternatives. But which materials actually kill deer? Well, RWS decided to have a go

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Knifemaker YouTube channel ranking

These is the list of top knifemaker channels on YouTube. From knife-sharpening how-to videos to films about using knives in the field, they are vying with each other to be the top YouTube channel out there. YouTube’s knifemakers are holding their own. The major change in 2020 is Victorinox’s disappearance

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New launch: Merkel K5 break-barrel rifle

by Charlie Jacoby Generally, I like the sleek, new single-shot break-barrel rifle from Merkel. The company lent it to me for a week of red hind stalking in Argyllshire (my film is at the bottom of this review). It is designed as a ‘mountain’ rifle: lightweight and with the break-barrel

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Swarovski Z8i

by Charlie Jacoby This is the scope offer from one of the big three optics companies. The Z8i is the scope to have if you don’t want the Zeiss V8 or the Leica Magnus. With an 8x magnification, this scope takes your target from 1.7x to 13.3x. It is aimed

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Swarovski modular ATX spotting scope

by Charlie Jacoby For the big game hunter who likes to see their distant game up close, this is the Swarovski spotting scope to choose. Zoom is from 30x to 70x. This one has the 95mm objective lens. Modular means you can take the headpiece off and replace it. As

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Merkel HLX suppressor

Merkel has gone into partnership with military moderator manufacturer B&T to make a moderator for the hunting market. Message from the manufacturer: 200mm long, it has steel baffles, which allows up to 30 consecutive shots without waiting for it to cool. It fits on every barrel with a M15x1 muzzle

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Sako Gamehead Pro on test on deer

  What are the best bullets for roebuck? Paul Childerley tries out Gamehead Pro cartridges from ammunition manufacturer Sako after a roebuck in the south-east of England, plus he visits the Sako factory in Finland to see how they are made. It is the latest in his Stalking Success series.

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Bullet finder: how to choose the right hunting ammunition

Sako’s secretive ammunition factory in Finland opens its doors to deerstalker and big game hunter Paul Childerley. Paul wants to find out which type of bullet does what, and which he should choose for different animals and different ranges. Sako demonstrates the distinctions with the help of its rifle ranges

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On Test: Zeiss’s 2019 riflescopes

We go simulated stalking and long-distance rifle shooting out to 500 metres with Paul Childerley. It’s all so Zeiss can set out its stall to UK gunshops. We are on hand to see what they think of the product line-up. ▶ Click here for more about Zeiss sports optics ▶

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On Test: seven different carbon-stock rifles

Gun reviewer Tim Pilbeam has more than £50,000-worth of rifles to test. He looks at the latest carbon rifles from manufacturers including Blaser, Mauser, Sauer, Sako, Browning, Christensen Arms and Dane & Co – and a Canyon bike. ▶ Blaser R8 Carbon Success ▶ Browning Bolt Pro Carbon ▶ Christensen

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