Shooting Kit

A decent pair of gumboots. My current favourites - worn pretty much daily  - are the Royal Leaf wellingtons from Gumleaf.  

 Photo - Jonathan Young

A  good, light, waterproof shooting coat, with easy-access cartridge pockets capable of taking 25 squibs in each pocket.  Annoyingly, “waterproof” is a relative term, meaning it could be showerproof or truly capable of keeping out heavy, sleeting rain.  So before you buy any shooting coat have a look at what’s called the hydrostatic rating. If it’s 1,500 it’ll keep you dry in showers but if you want one to keep you dry in a deluge you need a coat that has a hydrostatic rating of 10,000 and above. Most are sold in a dark olive green, which apparently is what the market demands, but all coats darken with rain, making you a very distinct blob in a grouse butt if it’s raining. So I prefer coats that of a lighter colour. I don’t wear tweed ones  - they hold water and ruck up at the shoulder when you lift your arm, making a secure gun mount difficult. The secret to keeping warm is not a thick coat but a series of layers. 

 Photo - Clare Mills

I start with a thermal long-sleeved vest, then a green shirt and a v-neck green pullover. Over  that goes a Uniqlo ultra light down vest, a brilliant product that really keeps in the warmth but rolls into a tiny bundle that you can keep in a game bag.  All very green, I know, but as birds can see in the ultraviolet spectrum I’d rather that incoming grouse or pigeon didn’t see a white shirt collar.  

 Photo - Jonathan Young

These come in different lengths - plus-twos, plus-fours, plus-sixes or plus-nines. The difference lies in the length of cloth below the knee: plus-fours hang 4in below, plus-sixes, 6in below, and so on. The longer the overhang, the more likely for rain to run off the top of them over your boots rather than into them. You’ll often see moorland keepers in plus-nines and some guns, but most guns stick to plus-fours and plus-sixes. I like both. 

 Photo - Charles Sainsbury-Plaice

They’re pretty horrible to wear but unavoidable if it’s pouring. You need those that have zips or stud fastenings at the end so you can pull them on over boots. 

 Photo - Charles Sainsbury-Plaice 

Although I’m 6ft 2in, we’re mostly taller than earlier generations; yet so many shooting stockings on the market are not fit for purpose - they’re too short. Shooting stockings should be worn outside the breeks, which means they need to be long enough to come about 6in above the knee and then fold down over the breeks and held in place with the knitted garters. So consider the length carefully before you buy. And the material. Cashmere and lambswool may sound luxurious but they’ll wear out quickly on the heel. So look for ones in a wool/polyester mix.  

 Photo - Charles Sainsbury-Plaice 

You really can’t wear a baseball cap on a formal shoot if you’re a man though somehow they don’t look wrong on ladies. A trilby might look smart but can only be worn with ear-plugs - not full ear-defenders. That leaves the traditional tweed cap and “fore-and-afts”. My favourite cap is the Olney bond tweed cap, now discontinued, but others still make the bond style, which is a wider and with a more pronounced peak than a normal tweed cap. “Fore-and-afts”, which have a peak both at the front and back, were very popular up to the 1970s and now may be making a revival. 

 Photo - Jonathan Young 

Still mostly worn on formal shoots though cravats are coming back into fashion. I like plain knitted ones and avoid those obviously festooned with gamebirds. Smacks of trying too hard, akin to horseshoe cufflinks worn by an occasional hacker. 

 Photo - Hannah Freeland

Still built and usually bespoke but very seldom seen now on the shooting field. More often worn at breakfast before the wearer sheds the jacket and dons a shooting coat. Secret is to have a full shooting suit made with both trousers and plus-fours - so the jacket and trousers can double up as Sunday church wear - plus a tweed shooting vest. A combination of plus-fours and shooting vest is highly practical for dry, warm partridge and grouse days and the vest alone can be worn with jeans on charity  clay shoots and simulated game days. Make sure the vest has an internal shoulder pocket that can take a recoil pad.  

 Photo - Jonathan Young

Most shooting men of my boyhood were deaf or partly so I’ve unfailingly worn hearing protection for over 40 years. And though I’ve fired 100,000s of cartridges my hearing’s good. I think - wrongly or rightly - that full ear-defenders, covering the full ear, afford better protection than the ear-plugs, whether they’re moulded or not. And it’s harder to lose full ear-defenders. Electronic  ones are preferable, partly because you can hear the horn signalling the end of the drive but mostly because you really need your hearing when flighting fowl at dawn and dusk. 

 Photo - Jonathan Young

Payne-Gallwey, a giant of the Victorian shooting world, invented the best cartridge bag, allowing  fast and easy extraction of cartridges, so little point in buying any other style. Best in leather and with a minimum capacity of 100 cartridges.

 Photo - Charles Sainsbury-Plaice 

I never shoot without one unless I have a loader. Not only does the right type allow you to load quickly but it’s incredibly useful to have another 25 cartridges on you when roughshooting or when you’re asked to be the walking gun. Avoid those with deep loops that cover most of the cartridge - they make fast loading almost impossible. The special fast-loading types  - with clips rather than loops - seem a good idea (and I’ve got one) but I’ve found the clips can scratch your stock and shed live cartridges too easily. So, now I use exclusively belts with half loops and a ridge that stops the cartridge slipping down. They make quick loading easy and they don’t spill live cartridges.  

 Photo - Jonathan Young

Mandatory at most clay shoots and shooting schools and you’d be extremely foolish not to wear them grouse shooting, where one misjudged shot by a neighbour could leave you blinded. Essential also for normal shooting, when you’re often facing the sun and will struggle without dark glasses. I always carry yellow ones, too - they really help you pick up grouse against the dark heather and can be a boon in other poor light shooting situations.  

 Photo - Jonathan Young

I’m constantly surprised by owners of guns worth thousands keeping them in cheap, canvas slips that offer very little protection. I’ve winced as I’ve watched guns in the back of an Argo rise up in a heap and fall down again as the vehicle hits a bump. So buy a decent, thick-leather gun slip but avoid those with thick fleece linings that will retain the water if the gun’s put in wet. And buy slips with full-length zips so they can dry properly. 

 Photo - Charles Sainsbury-Plaice 

Change the phosphor-bronze brush regularly as it compacts after use, becoming less effective.

 Photo - Jonathan Young 

With cartridges, pick a make that patterns well in your gun, kills cleanly, doesn’t kick - and stay with it. Everyone has their favourite brand and load. I like 30gm No 6s for most game and 32gm No 5s for pheasants.  When it comes to knives, you can spend a fortune on them but most practical are those with carbon steel blades that sharpen easily. The good old Opinel No 8 takes a lot of beating. 

Photo - Charles Sainsbury-Plaice

Kitchen roll, bore snake, WD40 and gun oil spray. It may be dark and raining when the shoot ends but if you     dry the gun, squirt it with WD40 and then gun oil it’ll be ok until you get home and clean it properly. Always clean the gun the same day of use and if it’s wet, leave it in a corner of the kitchen to dry .

 Photo - Jonathan Young