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Well done.

Whilst BASC might think a voluntary ban on lead is fine, HSE are looking at lead shot - full stop, which does include clay shooting. Few share BASC's rose tinted view and suspect that non shooters will lump game and clay shooting together and want to ban lead in both cases. They would argue that one of the main shooting organisations thinks lead is bad and they agree. Some might claim that the voluntary transition to non lead has been a success. That is delusional.

Well, I haven't been shooting for months due to work commitments and other issues, so I finally had a few hours free last week and was determined to get out. We have had lots of drilling recently when the weather has held up so I thought there might be somewhere. In my head I was heading to one farm but I had a text from a local pigeon shooter telling me some fields very close to home were "blue over", so I thought I would look on my way. He doesn't have permission on this land so I knew no one would beat me to it. For info and JDog (who shot this field with me when it was peas), the field is beside a busy road which takes traffic to Skegness but it is big enough to shoot safely. It borders a large block of woodland on its far edge, and there is a good stand of trees alongside another edge which birds often flight up. When I got there, there small flocks flitting about but only a few on the ground (it's beans by the way). I decided the best spot was the hedge dividing the larger field from a smaller one behind, with me facing down the large field and the northerly wind at my back. I thought this would allow me to walk to the stand of trees and shoot any flighting pigeons if they didn't decoy. There was little action to start with, though I did manage to down one bird for the flapper. I had a couple of very large flocks head my way but most traffic was heading along the stand of trees. So, with my cartridge bag and gun I walked down to the trees. This paid dividends immediately, with birds battling a 20mph wind over the trees. I shot quite well, amazingly, and had six down fairly quickly. More followed and when I had 12, I decided that was plenty to carry back to the hide. Back at the hide, I spread the dead birds around and thought I would have an hour to see if any more would come. The attraction of dead birds worked well, with plenty of birds peeling off their flightline and coming to investigate. Some decoyed, some didn't. I shot pretty well, even managed a couple of left and rights. By about 5.30pm it was all over, which was fine by me as I had it all to carry back up the field. I lumbered back to the car with exactly 24 pigeons. A lovely afternoon all told.

To answer your question it's about doing the right thing and the transition so far has been a success, given the challenges faced, such as the war in Ukraine and Covid.

mate ….nice to see someone putting their location on their profile.

If this lead ban thing or as much as it’s called ‘a voluntary transition’ is only for live quarry AND NOT FOR CLAY SHOOTING, is this why BASC has got involved in it and CPSA hasn’t? Because it my eyes, no news (From CPSA) is good news, and BASC seem to be poking and prodding at the subject?

Boom boom!

nice bag of pigeons again, you have done well on those fields. Shot a few white/cinnamon pigeons over the years, also a near white crow, the one below was shot some time back and its been in the freezer with the intentions of getting it stuffed but not got around to it yet, did shoot two near pure white pigeons on a big estate some years ago, on the same day, give them the head keeper who had them stuffed and mounted.

I've just read that article, what a ridiculous mess. Totally unnecessary, and introduced by a Tory Chancellor (one R Sunak). Unsurprisingly, the costs have been passed straight on to the consumer - e.g. in construction. Then, the same genius wonders why inflation is so high. Not since the tax situation for those with buy-to-lets has there been such a spectacular own-goal, that's ended up costing everyone more, and resulted in lost tax revenue. Oh no, wait, IR 35. This deliberate conflation between avoidance between evasion, implying some form of moral superiority, is frankly a level of debate I'd expect on the BBC.

Welcome aboard Why not post your question in the Reloading Section, more likely to get a useful response in there.

been a pleasure meeting you today Scott and helping zero your new scope😁 really glad you liked it 😎 there's not enough of us gentlemen left😢 get some rabbits slotted now!

Selling a Hamilton gun slip 47” internal measurement tip to base handle is showing signs of use, everything else in good condition located portsmouth £50

Not sure how Amateur ended up taking stick on this thread, as he is correct. Some people just don't like facing reality.

And as thick as they come. A nice bloke by all accounts but very dim

I dont support the 'voluntary' transition , because it wont be voluntary for long, plus the point of it, as you keep reminding us, is for the 'benefit of the birds' Some of these birds have been bred to be shot, some may even end up on the table, and while you could never put a figure on how many are poisoned , you could put a rough figure on how many are laid down for game shoots of all sizes. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10344-021-01508-z#:~:text=By sharing the mean estimate,5.6–12.5 million) and 2.6 Larger shoots From the SSBS2017 classification of shoot sizes and based on APHAPR2020 release data, 313 large shoots make up only < 9% of UK shoots, yet they appear to release 64% of the birds. In the GOPSOC 2017, it is reported of the distribution of their data that “just over 7% of shoots accounted for half of the total number of birds put down and shot”. How can you plead for the lives of a fraction of a percentage point , while encouraging the 'healthy market for game meat' that BASC has invested time, a considerable amount of members money, and the future of shooting with lead on ? Its blatant hypocrisy, and while I dont criticise others for whatever they want to do with their guns and time, the general public will, and does. The idea that some birds are harmed by ingesting lead shot = BAD , but shooting them for sport/food = GOOD ,wont make sense to most people who dont shoot, and we live in a world these days where people get offended for the most simplistic reasons... As Ive said, Packham et all , have these people as a captive audience, they can out finance us easily, they have the numbers, we cannot win in the long run. But what we dont need is BASC ect holding aloft the 'Peace in our time' note and hoping appeasement will win the day. We need to make a stand, this is why I asked about the fighting fund in another thread, and whether BASC was going to use it to fight , or just roll over. Which if Im not mistaken, it has been doing since 2020.

Hi all Ian from Barnsley South Yorkshire, I do pigeon shooting and clay shooting on a weekly basis. I've been researching reloading advice for a few weeks now, I recently acquired a 20G ATA for a bit of game shooting also I acquired a 410 Jr Yildiz for my grandaughter. The price of the 20G and 410 shells are not the cheapest, so hence the research into reloading. I've never done reloading of any gauge but most of my research linked me to this forum, so I've now joined to do some more research. I'm not looking to reload 1000's of shells but not sure which way to go. Do I go MEC 600Jr 20G with a 410 conversion set at around £500-£550 or the Lee Load-all II 20G and hand load the 410 for around £80-£100.

Well said 👍

Ss title inc good mounts boxed £160

Is your land agriculturally rated for planning purposes? If it's not in production could it be classed as set-aside? You won't be able to used red around stables/livery yards or anything horsey other than fodder production.

Congratulations! Here's to many more happy years ahead

There's nothing like a good steak, and that looks nothing like a good steak.

No interest? Will re-list in line with the 21 day ruling. Mods please remove this listing, thank you guys 😇

What your saying is absolutely right, at no point have I said I am trying to dodge any tax, from the looks of how it’s been set up now I won’t qualify to use red diesel any more. Thanks for all the helpful links and advice.

If the OP meets the requiremetns he won't be 'dodging tax', simply avoiding it as the law allows. Most people practice tax avoidance throughout the year - it is lawful and not immoral. When someone factors, for example, car tax into a choice of purchase that is a form of tax avoidance. Savings, inheritance planning and so on are all forms of lawful (and sensible) tax avoidance. Tax evasion is another matter and increasingly these days people are almost deliberately confusing the two. If someone has a tractor, classed as Agricultural and thus zero rated for road tax the law allows them to use red diesel for agricultural or forestry purposes provided they meet the categories shown in this article. https://www.fwi.co.uk/machinery/red-diesel-rule-changes-hmrc-spells-out-dos-and-donts

I appreciate you don't support the voluntary transition. Its your choice. I believe we need to move away from lead shot for live quarry shooting for the benefit of the birds. Not much more to be said given that you don't wish to listen to the podcast nor speak on the phone.