doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com The Glorious 12th 2026

The Glorious 12th of 2026 is upon us and here is what the Financial Times writes about it.

https://www.ft.com/content/c25a1ce8-7fed-48ce-8dc5-9853d33d0f87

Unfortunately the article is behind a paywall.

Ken

I did not pay to read it.

I had heard from a YT video that grouse numbers were slightly up this year from the previous year

Here’s an article open to the public. It predicts good things for people he Glorious 12th!

https://fieldsports-journal.com/news/grouse-moor-recovery-2026/

I would say that the traditionally good early season moorshave had an increase in birds over last year.

I found it paywalled also.

Here is an archive link to the article to get past the paywall: ‘Glorious 12th’ kicks off UK shooting season as debate rages about its future

How would the numbers now compare to the numbers in the late 1980s, when Sir Joseph Nickerson put up such impressive numbers of grouse taken?

75-100 birds/ square km, but on the best ground in a good year upwards of 150
I have heard 250 about 10 years ago.

Gross moors are valued on the number of birds harvested on it over a 3 year average

I was able to access the article by seeing the word "free" on the title page.

Thanks, but I wanted to know how that compares, as I asked. Density doesn't help me relate.

Nickerson, in '88, shot 3390 grouse on the moors. In his best season Lord Ripon killed 3435 . . . . with a 12 bore. Nickerson used a 28 bore to take just a few less.

CZ, do you have any idea how those numbers would compare to today? I understand that it's impossible to know how many shoots were undertaken to do those numbers.

Well, I think Lou Browning explained it to me best probably 20 years ago, he said,” don’t worry about the estates that you can never get on. Worry about developing a relationship with the best estates that you CAN get on.”

That was fantastic advice. And the reason is, because in a country with a landed gentry, especially when the moors are adjacent to one another, people can just shoot among friends every day of the season if they want to. Shoot mine today, shoot yours tomorrow.

Etc..

If a person shot well, and Nickerson shot well, and you started today, let’s say and shot (25 brace) 50 birds a day for the next 60 days that’d be 3000. They don’t shoot on Sunday, and most Moores only shoot a couple days a week per section, so if you had enough friends and enough money, you could probably pound out 4000 birds in a season.

That said I shot adjacent to a moor that was closed, where the Saudi royal family only shot it once every five years when the volume of birds was at its maximum, and they were taking 5000 brace off that more in a couple Days. Shooting 4 guns per butt, each person, double gunning. running the birds, one-way, and then running them back the other.

Obviously birds that have been flying all day long are quite tired and fly slow.

I guess that's as close to an answer as I'm going to get on this thread.

Thanks, CZ.

Truth of the matter Stanton, is it’s not worth my time to bother to produce a quality response. I have 20 years plus experience on this website. I know what it turns into. It isn’t worth it.

I’m the only person left here that celebrates it and actually shoots red grouse. The rest are mostly people looking for an opportunity to mock and deride.

If the question is the unanswerable who is a better shot Nickerson or ripping?

Lord Walsingham shot himself to financial ruin.

I think Ripon and Walsingham were more dedicated shots than Nickerson.
So the first two guys probably shot at more birds, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Nickerson had a higher season. Long percentage of first shot kills.

Another year - how fast do they fly by now. This from last year:

My wife is from County Durham in the UK. I really enjoy visiting the Pennines when we go over to visit her folks. I have also been lucky enough to attend the Game Fair twice and traveled all over Scotland. It truly is a beautiful area of the country.

Stan;

I think in regard to your thoughts on grouse numbers today versus what they were on Nickerson's shooting estate and the shooting estates of his friends/colleagues in the past, it is likely a function of estate management as much as the cycles of grouse populations up and down for the entire country. Although I do not know that. Both you and I, with me here in South Carolina and you in Georgia, have lived in the days with large populations of wild Bob White quail and now good populations of them are only in properties where quail habitat is managed to support quail. So we can understand the need to manage for good grouse populations. It is been a long time since I read Nickerson's book and I do not remember what he said about proper estate management for grouse.

For those of us who subscribe to COVEY RISE magazine, the entire issue just shipped is about Scotland and shooting there with several well written articles by Simon Reinhold and one article about a shooting estate.

I have a question about Nickerson: Who owns his matched pair of Purdey/Woodward 28 bore O/U's now??

Kind Regards;
Stephen Howell

Thanks for the thoughtful reply, Stephen.

I'll try to look back through my copy of Nickerson's book soon. Concerning the 28 bores, I had in my mind that he had a trio of them, but I could be mistaken. I'll see, soon.

So, the rest of us, the unwashed masses who don't get to shoot driven grouse, don't deserve an answer from you. Thank you anyway for gracing us with thy presence, O Great One.

Stan, my memory says you are right, Nickerson had a trio of 28 bores made. I could be wrong but I thought he shot a lot more partridge than grouse. As he ran farming estates, he was heavily into managing for game production. Again my memory might be off, but I think he felt his success ratio with the 28's wasn't off much from 20 and 12's. I have very limited experience but on last trip to Scotland we shot way more partridge than pheasant and I felt a 28 would have been perfect.

According to his book A SHOOTING MAN’S CREED Nickerson did have a trio of 28 bore Purdey O/U guns. “Beautiful 5 1/2 pound guns that suit me very well.”

He “invariably kept one wrapped in cloth and stowed away out of sight in a strong wooden box made to fit the width of my Range Rover..”

Difficult to imagine he would have selected Purdey over Boss for O/U guns. At that time Purdey still built great SXS guns on the Beesley action but the Purdey O/U guns were always lacking.

Today Boss is building great guns and Purdey should refrain from building any guns and focus on peddling Chinese clothing out of Audley House.

I have had my memory refreshed that it was a trio of Purdey/Woodward O/U 28 gauge guns and they were short barreled (26 inches).

Stephen Howell

Nickerson was short and as his daughter said “corpulent”. Short barrels suited his physique.

BTW,
Boss has built 28 gauge O/U guns with solid ribs and barrels of 31”
that still weigh 5# 8 oz.

When I was staying in Kew in 2009 I used to walk down to the river for exercise and walk by the Boss shop (in and old auto license plate mfg. building) at Kew Bridge. Are they still there?

Stephen Howell

Yes, exactly same place. Recently undergone a huge internal update. Very nice now.

Incidentally they were tagged by Banksey. No kidding. He painted an ibex on the side facing the bridge road. It became a tourist attraction with bus loads of Japanese stopping traffic daily. Security was hired.

To complicate matters the remodel was to have a window in exactly that place. Not able to be changed. So, the wall area and painting were carefully removed and curated to a private location for storage.

Banksy art at Kew Bridge on Boss & Co. building

https://fineart-restoration.co.uk/n...-and-restoring-street-art-at-kew-bridge/

Stephen Howell

I don't understand any of this, but then, I don't own any Purdey 28 gauge under over guns. I am content to shoot my very late bar in steel Purdey hammer pigeon gun, probably scarcer than a 28 gauge under over, and much more useful. I would like to hear more about Nickerson's trio of 28s.

Not sure what more is to be said.
Double triggers, straight grip 5 1/2 pounds. Two had extra barrels. 26” on all barrels. No top ribs. No side ribs. Very worn. Built in a very bad era for Purdey. 1969-1973.
Articulated front trigger. Fires top barrel.

I gave my copy of Nickerson book to a friend, so I can't resource, but I recall, he did feel the original Woodward 12 was better than Purdey copy of Woodward action, but his fondness for the Woodward action might explain why he stayed with Purdey rather going to Boss. Of course it could be he felt the same as a past King of England, that " Boss were great guns, but too expensive."

This is my take away as well except the Boss pricing statement. I don’t think price was going to influence Nickerson’s decision.
More likely was the fact that he wanted to stay as close to Woodward as he could and the Purdey was the best option.

Another factor could be that Boss had VERY limited production in the 1960 to the late 90’s era. From 1960-1980 Purdey dropped quality to meet production. Boss dropped production to maintain quality.

In the early 80’s Purdey entered a second “golden era” and built some fantastic SXS guns. (Purdey O/U guns never have had the elegance or quality of Boss O/U guns). Purdey continued building great SXS guns into the early 2110’s. Once sold to Richmont their guns are the worst they have ever built. Ribs fall off, guns fail to fire, zero attempt at regulation. They don’t even know how to check regulation. I would not be surprised if they closed Audley house any day. They have lost hundreds of thousands of pounds annually for years and have a crew who try to pass sarcasm for knowledge. They are only open due to the vast resources of the parent company.

To add to the gun comparison the few Woodward O/U guns I’ve handled were in no way comparable to Boss. Thought functional they lacked a finished look of elegance in my opinion.

This is all very subjective but the market tells the tale. Look at the top end Italian makers. Notably Fabbri. Their guns far more resemble a Boss than a Purdey or Woodward. Who makes a Purdey O/U look alike? No one that I know of but might have missed something.

Did the 28 ga Boss O/U w/ 31" barrels have double triggers or Boss turret single trigger?

Stephen Howell

Straight grip, double trigger. Front articulated.

A bit off the topic, but I think it was a stroke of business genius when Arthur Demoulas bought Phillipsons to add to the Boss & Co. stable.

Stephen Howell