GOING FORWARD TOGETHER

The editor meets a young shooter – and reveals his grand plan to help the readership solve its shooting problems

I’ve known young Tommy Giles since he was tiny and he’s always been a polite, studious, respectful lad, who loves the outdoor sports and especially airgun shooting. His love of country sports is no surprise at all, because his father, Tommy senior, is a renowned breeder and trainer of gundogs.

It was during a conversation with Tommy senior that I discovered young Tommy had earned himself a rather special reward for working hard around the family home, and for generally being a good lad. The reward that 15-year-old Tommy junior managed to earn was … a limited edition Daystate Genus supergun. Blimey! I once worked on a farm through my entire school summer holidays and my dad bought me a second-hand bicycle. Tommy junior did quite well, then.

A DESIRE TO LEARN

The chat with Tom senior revealed his son’s request for me to teach him how best to get the most from his incredible rifle. I’m always up for a bit of passing on what the years have taught me, so I arranged to meet Tommy to assess his shooting style and what, if anything, needed fixing.

At the time, I was still evaluating the Brocock Bantam Sniper MKII HR outfit we’ve just given away as our special competition prize, so I took it along to see what young Tommy thought of it. I always try to include the opinions of others in my assessments of airguns, and Tommy was obviously smitten with the Brocock.