Make mine a single

The editor returns to his roots with a single-barrel shotgun on a walked-up day with friends

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What I’m going to tell you flies in the face of all received wisdom. It was never meant to be anything more than a joke, but it was a turning point in my recent shooting. Over the past year or so I have been struggling with my marksmanship. Anyone who has experienced this will know how impotent this can make you feel. If it goes on for a long time you really feel like giving up. I followed my own advice and sought professional help.

The instructors — yes, there were several of them — helped massively. With them I was on form and they sharpened my technique. After a couple of sessions I was ready for the field — but that’s where things fell apart again.

All I needed was an instructor to hang over my right shoulder and tell me where I was going wrong, then I would be able to shoot well.

I started trying different cartridges, experimenting with putting more lead in the air by opting for heavier loads. This was folly and I knew it, but I was desperate. All that happened was I got a sore shoulder. So much so that I saw a physio who, after examining my shoulder, said: “You must do a lot of shooting.” I didn’t dare tell him that I felt I never did enough.

Losing streak

Part of the problem, I thought, was the fact that I shoot many different guns (lucky me), so when it came to using my own gun it just felt like another unfamiliar gun. My losing streak continued.