There’s something truly special about owning a rifle that’s unique and it’s even better if you modified it and made it your own. We all have our own thoughts about the way rifles should handle and look, plus ideas about how we want them to function perfectly for our needs.

It's throwback Thursday and we're taking a moment to reflect on The Game Fair 2021, a much anticipated country event made all the sweeter following a year off as a result of the Covid pandemic.

On Saturday 28th August Viking Arms will be proudly sponsoring the Viking Arms & Lyalvale Express Pump Action Pool Shoot and giving away a Mossberg 500 at the British Open 410 Championship 2021.

This is not a once upon a time kind of story, no. The glorious twelfth is an annual event marking the twelfth day of August every year, it is rather important within the British shooting calendar, because it marks the start of the new shooting season. The twelfth kicks the game season off with grouse shooting, as other birds such as pheasant and partridge don’t come out to play until later in the season, taking an overall much more laid-back sporting approach. I don’t blame them, it’s never cool to be first at the party.

What do you get if you add AR15 accessories to a classic bolt action rifle that wears a tactical stock? The answer is a very interesting combination indeed, in the form of the Mossberg MVP Light Chassis Rifle. We’ve all witnessed the growing interest in chassis rifles in recent years and Mossberg has been keen to offer them, and with this one they’ve really come up with something new. It’s quite a compact rifle, measuring just 33.5” in .223 and 7.5lbs, and you can shorten the stock right down with the flick of a lever, making it smaller still. Anybody foxing from a truck will love this feature.

The Mossberg Patriot is a good honest rifle built to get the job done. “It’s what I’d class as a gamekeeper’s gun,” says Viking Arms' Andy Norris, “It does what it says on the tin, and for a terrific price of under £600.”