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South Yorkshire Shooting Show

South Yorkshire Shooting Show

Now in its third year, the South Yorkshire Shooting Show come Game Fair was quite a surprise to me. I live in the town where it is held, so it was remiss of me not to have been before. I took a perfect companion, my eightyear- old son George. His wideeyed sense of fun and curiousity made to do a ‘real’ review on the show. First, the venue; outstanding, the Doncaster Race course has all the equipment to put on such an event, easy access from motorways, great parking, indoor and outdoor areas. The event has three major sponsors- Night Master sights, Hawke Optics and Swillington Shooting Supplies and was held over two days, the 1st/2nd of October. The race course, normally reserved for the horses, housed a shotgun shooting line as well as 50 stands, outdoor activities and an airgun ‘have a go’ shooting range. It was also a good opportunity for me to catch up with friends in the trade and see what is new on the scene.

The large exhibition hall under the main stand had close to 80 stands and I was impressed, as I walked around, with the quality of the event. George was impressed by the number of chances he could get to shoot airguns. There were three indoor airgun ranges and a very large outdoor range run by Rochdale Air Rifle Club, which George spent a lot of money at. He also talked me into a bit of laser tag run by Action Zone (I did love it though!). As for new gear Practical Shooting Supplies (a new kid on the block) they had an impressive stand with everything; CO2 pistol kits, to Adler practical shotguns, they are based in Doncaster too. I was keen to see the E-Z-Load system for loading practical shotguns. What a bit of kit, expensive but the percentage gain in loading time is worth every penny, I will be investing in one for sure.

Another thing that caught my eye was the DPT Ultralight moderator, in a market seemingly flooded with the world’s next best moderators, the DPT does stand out; modular and very, very light and very well made, I had a long chat with Bill, the man behind the importation of the New Zealand manufactured moderators. The PES on my .308 gave up the ghost last year, so the DPT is heading onto that, the .22 rimfire mod over a Volquartsen carbon fibre barrel I was interested in too. Serious shooters are turning to DPT and I can see why.

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Back to airguns and Chris at Wentworth Sporting Supplies showed me the new Diana K98 underlever, this is no cheap toy made to look like a WWII bolt action, it feels and is quality, be it a bit heavy for my George.

They are selling well and I can see why, Chris was impressed by the accuracy too. It really does look like a K98, even with a slot in the rear stock for a period sling, you can mount a scope on the 11mm dovetail and fit a moderator if you want the dual role as a pest control rifle too. I picked up some reloading stuff from Wentworth too; they are very well stocked indeed.

Classy glass

Hawke, as one of the main sponsors, had a massive stand at the entrance to the main hall and their range of scopes, spotting scopes and binoculars has something for every type of field sport. Talking to Jamie at Hawke I booked in the new Sidewinder ED 10 - 50 x 60 scope for a run on my .308, which will feature in Gun Mart soon. It’s a very versatile scope, being perfectly at home on a Field Target competition rifle at a World Championships, to a 1000-yard full-bore rifle. The patented interchangeable turrets are very interesting, as is the TMX reticle; notable also are the solidly built flip up covers, no cheapo plastic ones here and the seamless illumination.

Speaking of show sponsors, the Night Master NMR-20 rechargeable torch is something I have been looking for. It is small but packs a 960-Lumens punch and it is litteraly punchy too, with a glass breaker tip on the base. The USB charging is the modern way to go and with four settings and an emergency strobe, it can do everything, nice. I will be back to the South Yorkshire Shooting Show next year, as too will George; make a date in your diary as well. Thanks too to Swillington, whom I have bought kit from for years, oh and George was faster than Diamond the Ferret through the tunnel in the show arena. I told you it really was fun for ALL the family!

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