Milo

That's a corker. Something about buying side by sides is addictive once you start. Not dissimilar to pigeon shooting.

Sport of the Gods. Looking forward to a few afternoons over Christmas.

Good to see plenty of members using side by sides.

Experimentation, discussion and a bit of kit banter are part of the fun for many of us. If I was a professional pigeon shooter I would probably use an auto and something like 32 grams of 6 shot. But I'm not, so I prefer using side by sides and light loads. In the past 40 years I've tried plenty of options from trap guns with 36 gram loads to 21 grams in 28 bores and missed plenty of birds with all of them! Looking back over days in the hide or flighting, ballistics have not been particularly significant to numbers in the bag and had no bearing at all on the memorability.

28gm Comp X kill pigeons perfectly well out to about as far as I can hit them. And I can shoot them all day long through my side by sides.

These videos are very bad for the shooting fraternity. Pattern 40gm 3s (or any load the posers use) at 80 yards and then tell me you'd be confident of hitting a pheasant's vitals even if you could put the centre of the pattern on the bird every time. And this doesn't even allow for a 3 dimensional shot string.

Just for the other side of the coin, I'll give a shout out for JC. Yes, not the cheapest but a better range than any gun shop, five minutes to order and one day delivery work for me. I don't buy anywhere else and they have never let me down.

I bought a few thousand Express 29 grm 6.5 Supreme Grouse for pigeons (red cartridges easier to find than black) and they were fine. Can't say I noticed a difference to any other mild recoil game cartridge.

Anyone who falls for the fantasy marketing is rip off fodder. New types coming into shooting without a support network of fathers, grandfathers, uncles and older brothers to provide points of reference are easy to con.

Bought a slab of 12 bore Express 30g 6 paper and they were fine. Have had a few left overs kicking about for a couple of years with no swelling.

Pill of choice for the side by sides is still RC Professional Game 30g 6shot for pigeons and everything else. No scientific justification; they just seem to work.

Anyone compared these to Chris Green's "Traitor" version of the same theme?

I use various patterns depending on the situation but often deploy 48 Silos at a time. Easy to transport and provide good movement even in a very slight breeze. No hesitation to recommend them.

Depending on the extent of cracking you may be able to have it pinned and glued.

Explains why I can't shoot straight.