The next morning Shooter, the kind man that he is, drove all the way from London to Coventry to pick me up from my place and soon we were on our way to Lincolnshire. Here I need to give you an idea about the place we were going to. Lincolnshire is the breadbasket of England and looks much akin to the American Prairies with its unvarying flat landscape. Here, you can almost see your dog run for hours and fall off the horizon. Much of these flatlands were reclaimed from the sea by centuries of filling. Many Dutch engineers contributed to this effort from as early as the 16th century and there are still a lot of people of Dutch origins in these parts, the owner of the farm we were going to being one of them. Everywhere you see lush green fields of cabbage, potatoes, rape, wheat, onion etc and numerous pheasants, pigeons, partridges, rabbits, Crows etc in them. But, it's not these small game that the place we were going to is known for.
J, who towered over my 6’1” joined us soon and did not waste anytime in showing us the “something” that he wanted to show us.He was as excited as us to show us his creation. That something was a big thing. In fact, the biggest thing I have held in my hands.
It’s a 2 Bore single barrelled,hammered, black powder wildfowling gun. The Barrel length is 68”. Yes, sir. You are reading it correct, 68” barrel. Takes 1 ½ oz of powder and spits out 8oz of lead onto 120 yards with devastating effect.
"Weight?” I asked J. He shrugged and curled his lip. Then walked over to me, took the artillery piece from my hands, stretched it parallel to his shoulder with his left hand and said “If you can hold it this way, you can handle it. No problem!” When I tried the same feat, I was very happy that I started my weight training recently or that thing would have ripped my shoulder off. And J is getting close to 60!
Jones rotary under-lever.
The massive hammer cocked
Sighting over the long barrel
Swinging the Big Momma: When I said “It’s an artillery piece”, J said “No, it’s a fowling piece”.LOL.
It was pattern tested at 70 yards. This is the backstop to two more such boards. At 70 yards, it still punched through them and threw almost 6 feet wide pattern.
Now the real question. I asked J if any one could shoot it. He said that it knocked him unconscious the first time he shot it. But, was quick to add that he loaded it with 8oz instead of 7 1/2oz. ST, another friend shoots it regularly and he is not a large man. Three times in a day is the max if one were to retain the limbs,sanity,conciousness and auditory capacities. The weight and length of the barrel helps in taming the beast. The brass cartridges that are used are also made by J in his workshop.I asked him about what would happen if the barrel is cut short. “It will kill ya” was the reply.He says he is getting too old for this stuff,but I don't believe him.
Then we fired up the BBQ and simultaneously began to sight-in the new CZ 425 .22LR of J. We set up a can at about 55 yards and began plinking in earnest.
Also in the picture, a glass of very nice Sloe Gin distilled by J himself.
While we were at it, a police car pulled over out of nowhere. The officer did not bat an eyelid at the sight of the rifle etc. All he wanted to know was if we knew anything about the theft of some tools in the next form. The officer was a young lad and quite friendly. When we asked him to try the 2 bore, he said that he never held a gun!!!
Shooter taking aim with the cannon
Shooter plinking with his TX200 .177.
After the meal, some more plinking, we climbed into the caravan, and had a loooong chat about guns,geese,game,Maggie Thatcher,miners,politics etc, until four in the morning. J’s wit, candour , sense of humour are matchless.I learnt a few ways to express myself.Only,should I deploy them here,I will be banned.LOL.He is a great raconteur.
We woke up to the sound of heavy rain over the roof and it was supposed to be the hottest weekend yet! Typical. Then the land owner joined us and we had another go at the can and by this time the CZ started to shoot really well even with the knocked-up venom scope put on it. It’s a delight to shoot a .22LR anytime and you can do it all day long.
The punt built by J. He explained every aspect of the boat and punt gunning to us.He is building a SXS 1 ¾” punt gun and that, ‘The Big’un’ as he calls it ,will take 8oz black powder and 28oz of shot!
Then we were taken to the holy grounds of wildfowlers, Shep Whites.158 square miles of marshland and home to millions of waterfowl. This is where wildfowlers and punt gunners risk life and limbs to shoot. We were very kindly invited to come in the season to take a shot at Punt gunning.
Here, J spoke at length about the legendary poacher/ wild fowler/ conservationist Kenzie Thorpe. He was so good at what he did, Prince Charles was supposed to have visited his house, a biography was written about him and even the Time Magazine wrote an article about him.
Kenzie Thorpe
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... -1,00.html
A piece of history.This innocuous looking slab of cement is a machine gun post built during the World War-II.
Then, we went on to do some pest control by shooting a colony of rats for a farmer. Only, the wily rodents never turned up.
It was an amazing experience for the so many interesting things that I learnt but more so for the people that I spent the time with.Absolute gentlemen and a pleasure to be with. This would not have happened without Shooter.Thank you,Shooter and J.
Hope reading this, you had as much fun we had.
Best-
Vikram
Post Script: J says he is building a SXS 2 Bore of the same configuration as the one in the pics for someone!"Can anyone shoot it", I asked."Naaaah.Straight onto the wall"!
I see the two bore "cannon" has a provision for pulling the trigger using a string... probably once it is mounted on a punt? J does some fine work, that is a well put together piece he has built - even though I'd gladly pass on the opportunity of shooting it myself 
