It is mighty frustrating, but we are hoisted with this ridiculous legislation here in the the UK, so will just have to get on with it.
For myself, most of my shooting is driven game at partridge and pheasant; I shall not be using steel in any of my guns. I do not believe it has the same lethality as lead. Besides, my old girls were made for lead cartridges. I shall be using the Bioammo Blue Diggory writes about here:
https://www.vintageguns.co.uk/magazine/blue-is-the-colour Note that 2 1/2" cases are now available.
Some of my shooting friends have started using these cartridges in their old British guns and report back most favourably. I still have my usual lead cartridges to get through before I begin using the Blue.
I do not feel that Holts is about to be flooded with masses of old British shotguns going for a song and ripe for export to North America, though! Sure, there have been more such guns coming to auction but that is generally because the younger generation of game shooters have been bought up and trained using O/U rather than SxS. They are not as sentimental as my generation of baby boomers about using their fathers, grandfathers and great grandfathers guns, as I have been fortunate to do. When I decide to stop shooting I shall, as things stand at the moment, be selling my guns because none of my four children have shared my passion, despite all being introduced to it at a young age; just the way it goes, sometimes.
Tim
