Churchill shooting is a method of wingshooting for sporting clays and game birds that developed around 1910 when Robert Churchill wrote the definitive book on the subject. The technique combines hard focus on the target and a trust in the eyes and hands to move the gun where it needs to go. It minimizes the notion of target lead and requires a precise match between the speed of the shotgun and that of the bird.

The method is taught at Orvis shooting schools and used by waterfowl hunters everywhere. Charley Perkins, Orvis’ manager of brand marketing and a lifelong hunter and shooter, uses the Churchill Method to teach 70 of his company associates every summer at a duck camp in Arkansas. He also spends 30 days each season coaching shooters at the family hunting and fishing lodge on the White River in Kentucky.

Churchill was always on the edge of a melee, and he learned that to survive he needed to be armed and atop his horse at all times. He took advantage of his two minutes with the Mauser C96 at Omdurman to change the way he saw combat and to shape the uncompromising, hands-on leadership style he employed as First Lord of the Admiralty in World War I and then Prime Minister in World War II.

After the war Churchill took an interest in sport shooting, and he soon became the most popular and influential figure in British politics. His lust for power and his refusal to compromise made him an ideal leader as Great Britain fought to regain its place in the world. But it was his military experience that gave him the confidence and skills to tackle whatever task came his way, even if it meant leading his country through the darkest of times.

During the 1914-1915 Boer War, Churchill commanded a cavalry division and was involved in some of the most vicious and bloody battles in history. He survived them all because he had the firepower to take on any enemy and because he could think on his feet.

Churchill loved his guns, and he favored the James Woodward & Son 6.5mm Mannlicher rifles that his father had used when he was a grouse moor master. A note in his archives shows that Churchill paid a bill for a breechloader of the same model in May 1901 – almost four years after it was due! In later years Churchill preferred the newer, lighter, and more reliable models offered by Purdey. Churchill shooting