I did not know buckshot was this restricted in UK or the Continent.

Peter and Bramble: Do you fellows know when the ban on buckshot went into effect in your countries? Is it a recent law or has it been in effect for many years? Bramble, I have some eley SSG. I assume some is loaded in UK even if it is not legal for hunting use?

Can anyone comment on the laws regarding buckshot use in other European countries?

Thanks for your posts. Very interesting!

As for the vertical vs horizontal targets, one of the interesting things about shooting at 80 meters was watching the pellet strikes. Some struck the ground many feet in front of the target board or elsewhere. I really have no idea how big the "pattern" was as I'm sure I didn't see all strikes and just the ones I saw clearly indicated a very wide dispersion of the farthest pellets.