The Old Swede: July 28, 2025
Where British barrels meet Baltic skies.
Feature Gunmaker
Boss & Co. — Makers of the Finest Guns in the World
Founded in 1812 by Thomas Boss, Boss & Co. has remained one of the most revered names in English gunmaking. The firm’s legacy rests not only on its exquisite sidelock ejectors, but on a commitment to aesthetic minimalism and mechanical innovation.
It was Boss that introduced the over-and-under with a single trigger in 1909—an invention so elegant, it remains nearly unchanged to this day. Their house style is instantly recognizable: sleek lines, restrained scroll engraving, and the signature Boss rose motif.
Each Boss gun is bespoke, entirely hand-built in London by craftsmen working on a single gun at a time. Production rarely exceeds 30 guns per year, underscoring the rarity and quality that defines the marque. The result is not merely a gun, but a legacy. To shoot a Boss is to participate in a two-century-old tradition of mechanical perfection and sporting style.
Explore Boss & Co.
Shooting School
Susugården, Sweden
In the southern woodlands of Skåne lies Susugården, Sweden’s premier shooting school and clay ground—a unique blend of Scandinavian wilderness and Continental sporting heritage. Established on a 500-acre estate, the school offers instruction tailored to both Swedish and international clients preparing for driven bird days across Europe.
What sets Susugården apart is its focus on transitioning between Nordic walked-up shooting and classic driven game. Their instructors, fluent in both English and Swedish field traditions, emphasize instinctive shooting, eye dominance analysis, and terrain-based footwork. The property includes dedicated towers for high pheasant simulations, teal springers over water, and a flighted duck course designed to replicate real marsh conditions.
Susugården also offers seasonal courses on etiquette, gun fit, and continental shoot customs—ideal for British guns looking to understand Swedish protocol and vice versa. With a hunting lodge built in the 1890s and Swedish cuisine served fireside after every session, Susugården is more than a shooting ground—it’s a cultural handshake across the bore.
Book a Lesson at Susugården
Explore Susegardens beautiful grounds
Estate Visit
Sweden’s Driven Pheasant & Duck Estates
Sweden may be famed for its elk and boreal forests, but its driven pheasant and duck estates offer a refined game-shooting experience on par with Britain’s best. Estates such as Säbyholm, Ericsberg, and Trolle-Ljungby have become pilgrimage sites for the European sporting elite.
These estates often blend classical driven pheasant drives—where birds burst from hedged coverts and crest across open fields—with flugskyttar, or flighted duck drives, along reed-fringed lakes and ancient marshland. Dogs and beaters are typically native Swedish breeds, and the pace of the shoot is punctuated by traditional fika breaks (coffee and pastries) between drives.
Most estates offer exclusive two- or three-day packages, with accommodation in Gustavian manors, personalized loaders and guides, and gourmet shoot lunches steeped in local cuisine. It’s the rare fusion of Nordic nature and old-world formality: leather-bound game books, immaculate loaders, and flights of mallard against the Baltic wind.
Driven Shooting Sweden
Gun Dog & Fieldcraft
Flighted Ducks in the North
Flighted duck shooting—flugskytte—is Sweden’s distinctive take on evening waterfowl. Rather than decoyed or over-duck-call tactics common in North America, Swedish duck shooting focuses on understanding the natural flight lines of mallard and teal, often along marsh ridges or lake edges during the magic dusk hour.
The essence of the sport lies in observation. Guns position themselves silently along the flight path, often standing knee-deep in water or behind natural reeds. No blinds, no boats—just patience, timing, and precision. Local gundogs, often Smålandstövare or Swedish Spaniels, are trained to mark and retrieve over water without disturbing flight patterns.
Shot placement is vital, as birds are typically taken overhead or crossing at speed. It is a still, reverent type of shooting—requiring more presence than pressure. Many Swedish estates pair flighted duck evenings with fine fireside brandy and hand-rolled cigars, marking the day not by bag count, but by beauty remembered.
Recommended Reading:
Nordic Wingshooting by Anders Hallgren
Modern Gundog Training in Sweden by Lars-Göran Svensson
Shoot Lunch
The Swedish Five-Course Field Feast
Similar to Britain’s varied shoot lunches or France’s lodge feasts, Sweden’s sit-down shoot lunch is a formal yet natural affair—celebrating seasonal, wild, and locally sourced ingredients across five elegantly paced courses. Often held in candlelit timber lodges or restored barns, these meals are the pride of many estates.
A recent menu at Ericsberg Slott began with cloudberry-cured Arctic char, followed by chanterelle soup, then slow-roasted mallard over lingonberry jus, a palate cleanser of aquavit-infused granita, and finished with spruce syrup panna cotta. Game is celebrated not as excess but as honor—each dish paired thoughtfully with Swedish or Continental wines.
The suggested pairing? A 2018 Blaufränkisch from Gut Oggau in Austria—elegant and earthy, with enough backbone for game and grace for forest berries. The experience transcends lunch—it’s a nod to the Nordic philosophy: jakt och mat hör samman—hunting and food belong together.
Magnus Nilsson
Gut Oggau Wines
Quote from the GunPlow Library
“In the Swedish hunting field, the silence before the duck flight is the holiest moment—when even the dogs hold breath, and the gun rests not as a weapon, but as a partner in stillness. We do not shoot to conquer, but to remember—sky, wind, bird, and time.”
— Jan-Eric Carlsson, Shooting Joy and Tradition (Swedish Hunting Press, 1997)
GunPlow Classic Library Coming Soon
