drone

I went up there this am after contacting them via their club website, I've not shot properly for about 20 years and my 17 year old son hadn't shot at all so he had the gun and a 70 bird card. AJ the instructor was really helpful and got him started, He hit his first clay so that was good and got 18 out of 70 which I thought was good for a first attempt with a gun not really made for clays ( a winchester mod 23 sbs). He came away happy as a pig in **** and I'm so glad I didn't have a go as I'm not convinced I could have done better. John explained all the membership requirements to us and I'll allow my son a cooling off period but I have a feeling that we'll be back to try the live bird shooting. Thanks John and AJ couldn't have been a better introduction to the sport for my son and a great reintroduction to the game for me.

Couple of memories, really stick in my mind. When I was young we had permission on a farm that bordered Llangorse lake, when it rained in the winter the lake flooded over the reed beds and filled the lowlying fields several hundred yards from the lake, I'd waded out to some scrub oak with my trusty stevens 77 when there was a swirl in the water I ****** myself as it was a ginormous pike, I took it with a shot and was just pulling it out when some tufties went overhead, I took two out but they fell probably 50 yards toward the lake, I was having those duck so I waded ashore, stripped off and waded back chest deep out to them, on my way back my brother and my mate were falling about laughing their guts out seeing me stark naked and fluorescent pink. I couldn't find the pike even though I'd put it down where my gun and kit were but the tufties roasted up nice. The other was my first day out with an AYA 10g, at the mouth of faversham creek, just before sunset some whitefronts flew over and I got off two shots at one of them which I thought I'd hit but they flew on toward sheppey my old lab H was watching them looked up at me and then legged it off through the mud, the tide was rising and it was about half way up I tried every thing to get the old boy to come back but he swam over to the sheppey side, raced up the bank over what was the nudist colony picked something up and turned to look round. It was the first time I'd taken binoculars and I was glad I had, because I saw him about a mile away so fired two shots toward him so he'd hear the noise over the wind and started blowing my whistle, he must have heard as he ran back toward me until he crossed his line then came straight back to me with the skankiest long dead bird either a gull or some thing like that. I fell about laughing but we drove over there, took about two hours, I popped him over the fence and off he went about 40 yards and pick up my first whitefront, one pellet had hit it just behind the sternum and he'd bled out. The old dog slept solid for the next day, as did I. I can't finish without mentioning Sid Wright we had some good times together, the last time I met him his wife had recently committed suicide (mid 80s?) but he was still out on the marsh. One night he and I were out under the moon for wigeon some time in the 70s, sid wasn't shooting too well but I had a rem 1100 and really filled my boots, Sid wouldn't help me carry them back, you shot em you carry em was all he said. A couple of years later I was out with him again with a Win 101 and he told me a story of the sod who shot 47 wigeon with an automatic and wouldn't even give him one ( actually it was less than half that number but hey I never corrected him)!! RIP mate.

Thanks NS, I googled it, looks like the airsporter misses out as theoben don't list one for it, pity I'd like to try it. Dekers, I bought my spring and bits from them I appreciate that things have moved on, don't have a problem with that, just wanted to get the best out of the old gun with the pellets I found in my shed.

I don't have a clue what a gas strut is. Please enlighten.

*** is a gas strut :blush:

I have an ox spring but it's the one I can't compress. I have a new seal already fitted, why didn't I think of U-tube? Thanks for the replies folks!

I've gone back to page 44 to find info on my airsporter, there's not a lot for what I once considered was my dream airgun(second one I've had btw and the first one I've been disappointed with.) I've tried allsorts to get a new spring in it, in the end I put the old one back. It'll still punch a hole through one sde of a heinz baked been tin and put a severe dent in the other side but I'd really like to get the new spring in. Is there anyone in the Dover area of Kent that does this kind of work? The other question I have is what's the best scope for it, it has slots milled into the chamber for the bsa scope mounts but they are about as good as a chocolate fireguard in retaining the scope. The last time I used it (mid 80s) I got so annoyed I lobbed the scope into the back of the garage and proceeded with the iron sights. Then it got thrown in the loft to gather dust with the other bunch of carp in my collection. Is there a conversion that can actually attach a scope rig to the thing? I really want to make this gun work as I've just discovered nearly 2000 marksman pellets that used to be the bees knees in my youth.

I've an old bsa airsporter, just respringing it, forgotten how damn hard it is to compress that spring, mind the spring is more than 30 years old....with all that faffing I'd like to try a pcp but will probably get a ruger 10/22 instead if I get an itch that's hard to scratch, if you know what I mean.

I'm talking about the morning after the night before, too .

Give the other half one. It won't take the heebies away but if you're anything like me you'll fall asleep when you roll off.........

Thank you for the welcome, it's so calming to have folks take the time to talk, one of the big challenges when joining something new, thanks.

try www.basc.org.uk with all due respect to the other forumites the basc will give you an answer that will allow you to completely comply with the law. I'm not saying the guys who replied have got it wrong it's just the basc will get it right.

As it says above, prefer 28" barrel with raised vent rib, must be early model and also have uk proof marks - fixed choke with full choke. MUST have 3" chambers, too. Fair price paid.

I nearly bought one but settled on a single axle, you need 4 tyres for the twin and also there's so much more of the braking system to maintain. If you drive through france and are stopped by the gendarmes they are much more vigorous with twin axles v single ones and also if the caravan is older than 10 years. The only reason I know is that I was pulled over on an autoroute and there was a dutch twin axle in front of me that had been stopped, it looked much younger than my tatty old example but I was in and out in 10 mins and he was still there when I left. I got an improvement notice regarding the hitch on mine which was one of those pressed steel ones, but I changed the van the following year so it didn't affect me. It sounds like a good price, offer him £1950 and see if you get it for that!

Hi to all, I joined the forum back in 2008 but have only lurked until recently. I Hung up my guns over 20 years ago as I got a guilty conscience about overshooting. My youngest son started expressing an interest in shooting so I pulled the guns out and gave them a thorough cleaning and I'm ready to go. I live near Dover in Kent and am going to take a look at Folkestone and District SGC this coming weekend to see if I really have got the bug back. We'll see! Anyway please be gentle with me as so much has changed since I packed in. I have a W&C Scott 10b, Winchester 23 12b, Darne 12b, rem 1100, stevens 77 pump, spanish 20b and a webley b/a 410 and a bsa folding 410 in addition I've an airsporter 22 and a 22 german air pistol. I also have about 200 10b magnum shells with lead filling and about 300 WW 12b 3" magnums ditto left over from the old days. I became a life member of wagbi when it cost about £30 back in the 60s or 70s, can't remember which. Tally Ho!!!

Thanks guys, I was thinking more of decoyed ducks and moonflighting on the coast. I have some friends in east scotland who will allow me to go for the geese on their land; I understand as long as it's not over water or tidal areas that lead can still be used there which will be handy for my 10.

I used to go wildfowling on the foreshore all over the UK, generally on my own or with a good friend, if I shot a couple of dozen in the course of a season I thought I'd done good. One year I went up Leven way arriving xmas day,sad i know, had a whale of a time with a guide and brought home one pink for about 10 shells. Next year my mates and I went up and i got 3 geese. The following year I went up and the guide had about 6 french guns in the squad, my brother had come over from the states and came up with me. I know I took fourteen geese home and my brother took 10, the french guys just wouldn't stop and the guide didn't stop them either. Massacre is the word that sprang to mind, those birds just don't need that. That was in 1987 and i've only been out once or twice since then and took a handful of pintail; I really had a massive guilt complex. This last year my youngest boy expressed an interest in going out for pigeons and so I said I'd get involved again and hopefully I'll be able to communicate the need for restraint to him. I'm going to start another thread about the best way to start a young lad (17 yesterday) in the game.

I bought my mod 23 in the early 80s, it came with 1/2 and full choke. I couldn't hit a thing with the fc barrel so had it opened out to 1/4 choke. It was so successful that I had the right barrel opened up to 1/4 choke as well. The gun was then my ideal wildfowler. In the late 80s I had a bad experience over decoyed geese and a guide with some french guns in the squad, result was a massacre. I hung up my guns then and haven't been out much since. A lot's changed in the 25 years and the main thing is steel shot; the gun has 3" chambers and is proved to 4 tons/square inch. Will it be suitable for steel shot and what sizes should I use for ducks and geese? All replies gratefully received.

Family and I drive down to the costa del sol each year for a few weeks, just a few tips. Buy at least a dozen of Tescos red bull lookalikes, they'll perk you up no end. As soon as you feel tired stop and have a zizz, book your hotel on line before you go and if possible drive on the autoroutes on a sunday when there's hardly any commercial traffic around. We normally get from calais to the spanish border the first day and arrive at the villa about 6 pm on the second, 1450 miles from calais. One of life's great adventures and I look forward to it. I live beside dover so it's not that much further on to get home for me .

Most of them were screwed on, the thread is extremely fine. I have one on a rem 1100 skeet gun with Cutts Compensator and it is quite useful though you have to experiment to get the best settings. This may not be true for non compensator guns as the velocity of the shot with mine must be less than these as the barrel is effectively just over 20 inches with a big lump of well ventilated muzzle brake up front. Anyone who has heard one of these guns with a compensator will let you know how loud the damn thing is, OK I was just a kid when I bought it in 65.

I had one once, used to sling it over my back to take on the foreshore with my 10, good for widgeon etc. You don't notice the recoil too much when you've about 6 layers of clothing on, iirc it weighed about 2 kg and had screw in chokes. Mate of mine with arthritis bought it off me for what I gave for it, £200 new from Greenfields in the early 80s. I used to use maonchi 35 gm(?) nickel 5 shot (they were v cheap in a calais supermarket back then), the barrels heated up very quickly and became uncomfortable, but they also cooled pdq too.