Townie Posted September 9, 2021 Report Share Posted September 9, 2021 Articles from the first 50 years of The Shooting Times. The attached piece was I think from 1884. Things have changed a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islandgun Posted September 9, 2021 Report Share Posted September 9, 2021 (edited) Nice one I was given a sack full of early shooting times [about 1940 onwards] by a farmer over whos land i scared pigeon on, in the early 70's. My sister threw them out later when i was away in Australia, would love to have a look at them now,...there was a writer for the ST called Colin Willock who wrote under the name of Town Gun are you related Edited September 9, 2021 by islandgun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wymberley Posted September 9, 2021 Report Share Posted September 9, 2021 Cracking find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Townie Posted September 9, 2021 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2021 5 minutes ago, islandgun said: Nice one I was given a sack full of early shooting times [about 1940 onwards] by a farmer over whos land i scared pigeon on, in the early 70's. My sister threw them out later when i was away in Australia, would love to have a look at them now,...there was a writer for the ST called Colin Willock who wrote under the name of Town Gun are you related I took the ST from about 1968 - 1980 and liked Colin Willock's stuff a great deal. Not related, but I did have him in mind when choosing the name! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wymberley Posted September 9, 2021 Report Share Posted September 9, 2021 I don't believe my luck. Many thanks indeed for posting. As reflected in my post, I liked the idea of that and had a shufti. Just got one from the big A for £0.71 in good condition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enfieldspares Posted September 9, 2021 Report Share Posted September 9, 2021 Ha! Many old "Notes from the Hill" extolled the virtues of the .220 Swift for red deer. The sensitive folk at BDS didn't much like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Townie Posted September 9, 2021 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2021 42 minutes ago, wymberley said: I don't believe my luck. Many thanks indeed for posting. As reflected in my post, I liked the idea of that and had a shufti. Just got one from the big A for £0.71 in good condition. Flaming Nora. Mine cost a bit more than that, but I suppose I had the pleasure of supporting a small business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wymberley Posted September 9, 2021 Report Share Posted September 9, 2021 5 minutes ago, Townie said: Flaming Nora. Mine cost a bit more than that, but I suppose I had the pleasure of supporting a small business. Still a few left starting at 82p now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Townie Posted September 9, 2021 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2021 Also got this, which is less fun, but still good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
London Best Posted September 9, 2021 Report Share Posted September 9, 2021 By 1976 I had accumulated a pile of ‘Shooting Times’ 15 years high. After trying in vain to sell them cheaply they all went in the bin. I have not really bothered with the magazine much since. When I have read a hand me down copy I have invariably been disappointed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wymberley Posted September 9, 2021 Report Share Posted September 9, 2021 46 minutes ago, Townie said: Also got this, which is less fun, but still good. What is it about middle ranking army officers and books on shooting? Padding out their pension perhaps. 44 minutes ago, London Best said: By 1976 I had accumulated a pile of ‘Shooting Times’ 15 years high. After trying in vain to sell them cheaply they all went in the bin. I have not really bothered with the magazine much since. When I have read a hand me down copy I have invariably been disappointed. Back along I always thought of ST as a text book in weekly installments - not for many years now I fear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted September 9, 2021 Report Share Posted September 9, 2021 I ordered my first Shooting Times when I left school in 1962 and the cost then was 1s x 6d , the front cover was in Black and White and I would read every letter and word that was printed , W A G B I had half a page and you could catch up with club news as a lot of clubs had only just been formed , I would scan the back page vacancies section to see if their were any jobs going for young trainee keepers , money was tight so I ended up trying to lay bricks until I finally got the hang of it and no keepering job ever came my way . Our first Pigeon hide nets were ordered from the S T and were the old sacking type that weighed a ton and twice that when they got wet , they were very happy days and the S Ts were part of it , I stopped buying it when John Humphries passed on and now if I am in TESCO's I have a quick look and it is light years away from how it used to be and at nearly £3 I certainly won't be buying it anymore . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aldivalloch Posted September 10, 2021 Report Share Posted September 10, 2021 That looks like a right good read, Townie. I, too, used to buy the Shooting Times but gave up my subscription in the late 1980s when it started to go downhill. It seems to have continued on that trajectory ever since, unfortunately. I've got a lot of books on shooting, acquired over many, many years, and find myself wondering what will happen to them when I'm gone. I don't think any of my family will want them. Does anyone feel that a separate sales section specifically for Field Sports Literature would be A Good Thing? Just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wymberley Posted September 10, 2021 Report Share Posted September 10, 2021 As I find that I have to agree with your third bullet point, although in my case "a lot" would be a 'fair few', your final point just has to make sense Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Townie Posted September 10, 2021 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2021 1 hour ago, aldivalloch said: That looks like a right good read, Townie. I, too, used to buy the Shooting Times but gave up my subscription in the late 1980s when it started to go downhill. It seems to have continued on that trajectory ever since, unfortunately. I've got a lot of books on shooting, acquired over many, many years, and find myself wondering what will happen to them when I'm gone. I don't think any of my family will want them. Does anyone feel that a separate sales section specifically for Field Sports Literature would be A Good Thing? Just a thought. I always look out for shooting related books in second hand bookshops and they often have decent fishing sections too. So definitely A Good Thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enfieldspares Posted September 10, 2021 Report Share Posted September 10, 2021 (edited) 19 hours ago, marsh man said: I stopped buying it....now if I am in TESCO's I have a quick look and it is light years away from how it used to be and at nearly £3 I certainly won't be buying it anymore . A waste of £3 sad to say. I reluctantly think that you have good reason. Not what it was at all. And I wrote (and was paid) certainly two articles for them in the 1990s. One was a review of BRNO's 20 Bore/.223 Combination Gun and the other was how to make a beaters' "pheasant shifter". I forget what the other one was. Edited September 10, 2021 by enfieldspares Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted September 10, 2021 Report Share Posted September 10, 2021 4 minutes ago, enfieldspares said: A waste of £3 sad to say. I reluctantly think that you have good reason. Not what it was at all. And I wrote (and was paid) certainly two articles for them in the 1990s. One thing that seem never ending is the amount of editors that keep cropping up , from young girls and boys that don't last five minutes to an assistant editor that take over when the previous one had moved on . I well remember buying a cheapish side by side with no name on it only prof marks on the breech block , I wrote a letter to Gough Thomas is ask him what the prof marks meant as I was only a teenager , he wrote a lovely letter back and telling me it was a Belgium gun made for the trade so name was put on it , he also explained what the marks meant and what size cartridges I could use , it was typed out and he signed it , I kept that letter for ages and when I went in the R N it got left at home and when I came out my mind got muddled with the female race and the letter was never seen again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old farrier Posted September 10, 2021 Report Share Posted September 10, 2021 1 hour ago, enfieldspares said: A waste of £3 sad to say. I reluctantly think that you have good reason. Not what it was at all. And I wrote (and was paid) certainly two articles for them in the 1990s. One was a review of BRNO's 20 Bore/.223 Combination Gun and the other was how to make a beaters' "pheasant shifter". I forget what the other one was. I think I re m reading the article 😊 you should do it again for the PW craft section 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Boggy Posted September 11, 2021 Report Share Posted September 11, 2021 17 hours ago, aldivalloch said: That looks like a right good read, Townie. I, too, used to buy the Shooting Times but gave up my subscription in the late 1980s when it started to go downhill. It seems to have continued on that trajectory ever since, unfortunately. I've got a lot of books on shooting, acquired over many, many years, and find myself wondering what will happen to them when I'm gone. I don't think any of my family will want them. Does anyone feel that a separate sales section specifically for Field Sports Literature would be A Good Thing? Just a thought. I totally agree regarding ST on a downward spiral. Used to enjoy the writing of Colin Willock, John Humphreys, Fred Taylor etc etc. Also accumulated loads of books and have no wish for them to be piled up and taken to the tip when I shuffle off this mortal coil, hence why am gradually starting to sell them on here to people who may enjoy them as I have done over the years. OB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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