The Wingshooting Schools of England: Part 1, James Purdey & Sons’ Royal Berkshire Shooting School

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Tags: clays shooting in the uk, Griffin & Howe, james purdey & sons, royal berkshire shooting school, simulated wingshooting, wingshooting in the uk

I’m standing in a waist-high grouse butt at the Royal Berkshire Shooting School in rural Pangbourne, England. Jonathan Irby, the school’s Managing Director, really wants me to make this shot: an incoming formation of four clay targets strafing the scrub at about 50 miles per hour. In a way, this shot is a test to see if I have the stuff for hunting the 20-ounce, acrobatic, mind-bending red grouse that can burst to speeds of nearly 80 miles per hour – exasperating wingshooters throughout the U.K. for the past 150 years.

The New Purdey Sporting Clays Gun is a Trigger-Plate Marvel

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Written by Irwin Greenstein

Categories: Shotguns

Tags: caliber homewood alabama, don currie, Griffin & Howe, james purdey & sons, otter creek farmstead and distillery, purdey sporting clays gun, purdey trigger plate gun, sporting clays

Imagine shooting a British sporting-clays gun anointed with Royal Warrants from every reigning monarch since Queen Victoria, up to and including present day. It’s a 12-gauge tour de force that moves to the target with grace and deportment – even on that low chartreuse crosser that blends against the leafy background until the trees swallow it like a tasty mint.

The Purdey Trigger Plate Over/Under Adds Tournament Grade to the English-Best Portfolio

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Written by Irwin Greenstein

Categories: Shotguns

Tags: driven pheasant hunt, Griffin & Howe, griffin & howe's hudson farm, james purdey & sons, purdey trigger plate gun

Now for the unthinkable: from the workshop of English best gunmaker James Purdey & Sons emerges an audacious 12-gauge clays gladiator fit for the Olympics. The idea may not seem so far-fetched after shooting the new Purdey Trigger Plate over/under.

The topic of Team GB competing with a Purdey shotgun at the 2024 Paris summer Olympics arose from a conversation with George Juer, Purdey’s Manager of North American Sales. He was driving a Polaris as we zipped through countryside hills of the sporting clays course at Griffin & Howe’s Hudson Farm in Andover, New Jersey. I was still talking about a few of the remarkable shots I had made with the Purdey Trigger Plate (even surprising myself), despite that the 8-pound/11-ounce demo model came with extra barrel thickness for high driven pheasants. Final production weight should be closer to 8 pounds/3 ounces.

French Creek Sportsmen’s Club Hosts a Purdey Pheasant Extravaganza in Wyoming

Sunday, October 28, 2018

Written by Irwin Greenstein

Categories: Destinations

Tags: bruce white, brush creek ranch, driven pheasant hunt, french creek sportsmen's club, james horne, james purdey & sons, lodge & spa at brush creek ranch, magee homestead, purdey shotguns, white lodging, wingshooting wyoming

The horn blasts, I look to the sky of burnished blue and pheasants appear over the hillside trees. The birds glide high and fast toward us, riding prevailing winds with gusts like pheasant afterburners.

The volley of shotgun blasts marks another driven hunt as dropped birds get taken up by our eager dogs. I discovered that here at 8,000 feet shotgun shells hold their patterns longer and tighter than at sea level, giving rise to extraordinary wingshooting – although our party includes serious talent.