The Complete Guide to Wing Shooting: The Ultimate Handbook to a Specialized Sport [Hardcover]

Alex Brant (Author), Thomas McIntyre (Foreword), Will Hetherington (Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Wing shooting is an art and science all to itself. Here is a complete primer on this unique sport, with much of interest to the intermediate and advanced shooter-an all-encompassing guide to the subtleties that make shooting so addictive.
Chapters cover:
" Fundamentals of shooting
" Becoming a better shot
" Four methods of creating lead
" Realizing potential
" Finding a gun that fits
" Maximizing efficiency with lead
" Lead alternatives
" Safety
" Etiquette
" Choosing and shooting side-by-sides
" Choosing autoloaders
" Barrels and related matters
" Eye dominance and cross shooting
" Dealing with recoil
" Choosing chokes and loads for game shooting
" Choosing chokes and loads for clay disciplines
" Sub gauges
" Practical ballistics
" Shot strings
" Training the eye
" Footwork
" Practice
" Accessories
" Cleaning your gun
" And more

With helpful advice on the nuances of gun fit and discussions with experts like Tom Roster, Cliff Moller of Briley, Mike Rose, and Ken Eyster, dissecting such subjects as buffering agents and antimony content, The Complete Guide to Wing Shooting should be on the shelf of every serious shooter, hunter, and gun lover.

About the Author

Alex Brant, is the founding editor of Harris Publications, the co-founder, editor, and publisher of The Hunting Report, and columnist for the UK's Shooting Gazette magazine. He's also a steady contributor to several magazines, including Sports Afield, Shooting Sportsman, Outdoor Life, and the NRA's American Hunter and American Rifleman. He ran the driven shoots at Ireland's Humewood Castle and Shillelagh. An avid traveler, explorer, and hunter, he has taken more than twenty African safaris. He also has bird hunted across the globe, from North America to Spain and to Africa. When he isn't spending his time between the handful of U.S. outdoor sports club of which he is a member or participating in driven shoots across Britain and Spain, six labs compete for his attention.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press (November 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592286488
• ISBN-13: 978-1592286485
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,246,168 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Where's the Beef?, March 22, 2009

By 

Darin Larvik (LaGrande, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete Guide to Wing Shooting: The Ultimate Handbook to a Specialized Sport (Hardcover)

With the title of "The complete Guide to Wing Shooting: The Ultimate Handbook to a Specialized sport" the stage was set for greatness! I slogged through the book with great determination to find something that justified the title. The "Specialized Sport" I thought was about wing shooting unfortunately, it is acquiring riches. This thing reads like a conversation at a ball for royalty. The author has a lot of experience in shooting at preserves and $5000/day English style shooting for the uber rich. Lots of talk about Purdeys and other $100,000 guns. Lots of talk about how to handle your gun loaders (what to tip, why you should not shoot them, and how many to hire depending on the shoot). I thought the material would be about becoming a better shot while hunting not slaughtering as many bird as possible just for the glee in killing and making sure you don't have any physical exertion. The author wrote a book to a very narrow audience that I am sure would find rather droll. The book is very thin on usable tips for most people. I will say the jacket cover sold me the book.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A primer of wing shooting fundamentals, March 17, 2006

By 

D. Donovan, Editor/Sr. Reviewer "California B... (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Guide to Wing Shooting: The Ultimate Handbook to a Specialized Sport (Hardcover)

Any hunter narrowing his focus to wing shooting simply must have THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO WING SHOOTING: THE ULTIMATE HANDBOOK TO A SPECIALIZED SPORT in hand: it provides hunters with a primer beginning with the fundamentals and moving to safety, etiquette, choosing autoloaders and considering barrels, and much more. Discussions with experts cover any pros and cons of equipment choice or methodology, while chapters pack in detail and even some color photos.

4.0 out of 5 stars A wide book of range and information, January 16, 2010

By 

Keith Bukovich (Trenton, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Complete Guide to Wing Shooting: The Ultimate Handbook to a Specialized Sport (Hardcover)

After reading here some of the earlier reviews of Alex Brant's work, I began to wonder if they had the same book I did.

While the author is an American, he has done the bulk of his shooting in the United Kingdom where, I assume, he resides presently. Indeed, he is a columnist for the UK magazine THE SHOOTING GAZETTE but has also penned articles for the American magazines THE SHOOTING SPORTSMAN and SPORTS AFIELD (where some of this book's material first appeared). Alex Brant is a widely varied sports shooter -- both with game and clays -- and has done so all over the world. Being as diverse in experience as he is, I am not surprised that I found his book to be thought provoking as well as informative. While I might not choose this book first off for a beginning shooter, I do think it offers something worthwhile for both intermediate and advanced shotgunners. Clearly, the author has a strong dedication to wing shooting and this comes through in his writing. I found the mid-chapters to be most worthwhile reading: Becoming a Better Shot; Shotguns and Gunfit; and The Truth About Chokes and Patterning. (Chapter Nine: The Last Word on Nontoxic Shot was also well done.)

What may have put off some of the earlier reviewers here on Amazon was when Brant described and gave advice
on British and overseas shooting sports -- especially the English institution of the driven pheasant shoot. That form of wing shooting is not very common here in the United States, so when some American readers came to chapter ten on How To Hit Tall Driven Game and Long Birds, the subject seemed, if you forgive the expression, foreign to them and perhaps elitist. I sincerely believe American shooters and hunters should become familiar with driven shooting techniques to make themselves better and more well rounded shots and hunters. (The opposite is also true, British and European shooters need to understand the methods of American walk up hunting more so they can better understand North American preferences, strategies, and gun & cartridge choices.)

Given all this, I think Alex Brant's book has something positive for everyone interested in better wing shooting whether they be European or American. His writing style is crisp, direct, and easy to follow and the book covers a lot of ground -- it is not just for hunters either, because chapter four on Clay Games and Shooting Method is the longest chapter and Brant is on solid ground. I think this book would make a useful addition to any shotgunner's library and don't be surprised if you find yourself referring to it more than once. For open minded readers who are willing to appreciate the difference here and there and are willing to broaden their minds, I recommend this book.