Arthur’s eight-bore returns to the marshes

I had known Arthur for more than 50 years. He worked all his life in the Northampton shoe trade, a job that included hand-making Harvey Smith’s riding boots, but his passion was shooting and he’d regularly tramp the fields with my father and godfather. He was good with the young and I still treasure a .410 cartridge belt he made for me when I was eight.

As a young lad from a shooting family, I liked collecting cartridges, mostly fired ones picked up while beating on local shoots. Imagine my delight when, one Christmas, Arthur gave me a factory-loaded Eley eightbore cartridge filled with