Bird shot with primitive weapon (7)
I believe the answer is:
gosling
'bird' is the definition.
(gosling is a kind of bird)
'shot with primitive weapon' is the wordplay.
'shot' becomes 'go' (both can mean an attempt).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'primitive weapon' becomes 'sling' (I've seen this before).
'go'+'sling'='GOSLING'
(Other definitions for gosling that I've seen before include "Little bird" , "Young bird" , "Young waterbird" , "Young goose" .)