Treestalker

I had it happen twice from 2 different batches before binning them. When I examined the cartridges you could see loads of powder halfway up the plaswad. Some of the ones I cut open had light powder charges as well and I'm still waiting to hear from the dealer I returned them to. RC50s are my favourite now.

Awesome cartridge. Excellent on high pheasants and in my opinion equal to the premium "high pheasant" loads out there. I've shot them alongside 34g 5's of other brands and there was no difference in performance on 50-60yd birds. 34g of English 5's has a similar pellet count to the Victory 6's as I've patterned quite a few of them. The Victory/G&L Calibers website has been down for a few months now and I can't remember what the velocity was. They certainly aren't noticeably slower or faster than other cartridges I use.

I wade up the river at night with my headlight and just pick them off the bottom. I'm assuming your stream is shallow enough? As for purging them I kill them and just twist off the centre tail section and carefully pull the gut out.

I wish I'd known you back in the early 1990s when I was experimenting with a 444. I could've saved myself a fortune working up loads and trying them on deer. What is a .230 diameter 44 caliber bullet? Were you using sabots?

I had one for 3 years as a woodland rifle. Most 44 calibre bullets then were designed to work at 44 handgun velocities and were just too explosive at 444 speeds. I eventually settled on Hornady XTPs and Hornady Interlock Silhouette bullets to try and minimise carcase damage. The Silhouette bullets were used in handgun comps to knock down steel rams so technically were non-expanding but did expand well at 444 speeds and performed well in the field. My 444 Marlin was surprisingly accurate and I could squeeze 3 shots groups down to 1" at 100yds. I shot a fallow doe one day from a high seat as she stood on a partially flooded field and was shocked to see the 240 grain Hornady XTP plough straight through then skip off across the flooded field kicking up water until I lost sight of it. I even messed about with the "Dark Side" of down loading the 444 with cast lead bullets but then you can easily fall foul of the Deer Act with muzzle velocities and energy. I once guided an American client who had successfully used a 444 on dangerous game in America and Africa. In my opinion the 444 is let down by a lack of decent game bullets and there are a lot of better calibres out there for UK stalking and pigs.

If you're looking for exceptional long range performance on edgy clays try the cartridges the top trap shooters use. Light recoil and good patterns are what they demand. Fiocchi's Golden Trap is awesome. I agree that there aren't any rubbish cartridges available in the UK. I use any brand 32g "pigeon" cartridges for my pigeon and game shooting. I use them on grouse moors to high bird pheasant shoots and they perform well. I haven't been able to tell the difference between them and the cartridges with 'Supreme', 'Gold', 'Extreme', etc, printed on the side of them. I've done a fair bit of pattern testing and have found the "cheaper" cartridges tend to produce better patterns in the long style chokes like Teagues and Brileys. Confidence and doubt with a cartridge is what affects you the most. Find a cartridge you like, stick with it and ignore what others say.

My black and white springer looks like she's covered in tar spots so we called her Tara.

At a range I regularly use it wasn't unusual to find live 9mm rounds laid around the clubhouse and ranges from people doing stoppage drills and not accounting for rounds. One afternoon an RO mate of mine found the range users that day had left a big box of several Glock pistols behind. A phone call was made and the embarrassed gun owners returned to collect them. I won't name the police force responsible for obvious reasons.

I pick up on a large bag high bird shoot. I'm talking about some birds being 70yd plus on all drives. There are 2 let days and you soon notice a 20 bore shooter by his poor results on the extreme birds. All regular syndicate members shoot heavy loads through 12 bores. The 20 bore is lacking in this extreme example. The heavy long 12 bore is better for soaking up the heavy cartridge recoil. On my syndicate (average pheasant shoot) I am the only Gun NOT using a 20 bore. Last week on a day's clay tuition with Carl Bloxham both my sons were breaking 60 yard clays with 20 bores. Both guns when pattern tested printed patterns tighter than their chokes. This is what 20 bores can be prone to do. In Scotland last year and also in England last season my sons used 20 bores on decoyed and flighted geese with no difference to the 12 bore users. There is not much choice in heavy non-toxic 20 bore loads. Over stubbles in Scotland the 36g Winchester No3 lead were superb. I personally prefer longer, heavier, slower handling 12 bores but the 20 bore is getting so popular now on game shoots. The trend on my shoot seems to be with the longer barrel Caesar Guerinis.

Carl charges £180/day and you can take up to 4 people. Carl's charge is still £180 for 4 people and not £180/person. Clays are then charged at £10/100 and you supply your own cartridges. He is very generous on the clays used and is far cheaper than going to an established shooting school. Carl uses a small bit of Long Marston airfield and all that is lacking is a high tower. If you want high tower work then Carl will meet you at Riseley or Edgehill or a similar ground near you.

I've seen some battered 682s on dealers shelves for around £900 and 682 Gold Es for £1500 that look like they've been run over. 30" 686's and 687's are £850+. If a private seller is desperate for a quick sale then you will find bargains. Down south here you'll struggle to buy a decent Beretta cheap. I don't think £1000 is a lot of money if you shoot the gun well and you're happy with it.

It cost us £260 and we shot over 800 clays! Carl is a brilliant coach and really pushes you. As my son said we ended up over 60yds away on crossers and loopers. It suited my full choked 12 but both my son's 20 bores performed well. The 24g cartridges DoubleTap mentioned were Hull Pro Twenty fibre 7.5s.

CCI Benchrest

I'd travel up and have a day with Carl Bloxham. He's the best instructor I've met for Sporting. A surprising number of top names travel to him for help with particular targets.

I take my rangefinder every time I go lamping and it hangs around my neck. I don't use it on the fox but it is useful for a quick distance check on nearby hedges and trees for the longer shots. I don't use it under 200yds but it is useful for the fox that sits out at distance and you can't get closer. My Leica 1200 has an illuminated targeting square and numbers and you can easily see trees and hedges without the lamp on them.

Both my sons learnt with an old Investarm 20 bore. I cut the stock down really short and hacksawed the barrels off to just over 24" before retapping the bead sight. I also added a kick eze cheek piece to bring the comb height up and soften the blow. With all cartridges it shot amazing patterns and with 21g loads they were using it from the age of 6! I only paid £80 for the gun and eventually gave it away to a friend for his son to learn on. With it's 3" chambers my sons shot everything from snipe to canada geese with it. Incidentally my sons are now 14 and 16 and use a synthetic 20 bore Hatsan for pigeons and clays and a 20 bore Browning Medallist for formal driven days.

I can't see them being a lot different to the 50s and 55s in all honesty however some rifles might prefer them to the other weights. I've shot thousands of foxes with the 50 grainers and prefer them to all other bullets on the market, though opinions are like @r5eholes - everyone's got one. Let us know how you get on with them.

I can't fault Thames Valley and have had my FAC for 30 years. My certificates are due for renewal this March but I received my renewal pack early December, had my visit first week in january then received my certificates 3 days later. This has been the norm for me with Thames Valley and I have always had good service when dealing direct with the HQ by telephone and even visiting them when I needed things done asap. I've heard of horror stories north of the county (Bucks) and this was traced back to one FEO now retired.

I love to see the old guns still being used and not cased away as investments. I pick up on a big high bird shoot where the syndicate members each pay £30K a year to shoot there. £100K guns don't seem that expensive in comparison do they?

My sons have got 32g RCs in 3's and 36g Winchester Supremes in 3's, both lead. Just Cartridges near Oxford and Pete Munn (Clays R US) at Thame always stock heavy lead 20 bore loads.

Don't worry DoubleTap - I'm back on it tomorrow for 70yd high pheasants! :blink: Shame the pond was frozen tonight. I've shot that pond over the last 20 years and the teal flights can be unbelievable. Great report.

I use a 10x42 Schmidt with very fine crosshairs and have shot foxes out to 300yds at night with this scope on three different rifles. No bull...t this scope has seen the end of over 2500 foxes. The fine crosshairs can be hard to find sometimes and the red filter has to be taken off the lamp to get a good view of Charlie greater than 250yds but I have so much confidence in this scope. I don't make a point of long shots at night and they are usually only taken as a last resort. I've also shot a lot further during daylight with other scopes such as a Leupold boosted by Premier to 20-50X magnification. This scope is useless at night as the field of view makes it difficult to track the target if it moves a few paces. By the way I'm a regular 1000yd competitor and satisfy my long range lusting with paper targets and clay pigeons placed on the backstop. The Americans are well into long range varminting and Kreg Slack killed a prairie dog at 3,125 yards or 1.78 miles. He and Bruce Artus used to shoot at a 16" steel gong at that distance and a prairie dog popped up and sat just by it. The articles were in the July 1998 Tactical Shooter magazine, Sept 2000 issue of Precision Shooting magazine and are featured in the book Precision Shooting At 1000 Yards.

The 222 still holds a 100yd benchrest record. Overall as a round it is more accurate than the 223 and I shot over 1000 foxes with one before moving onto a 17 Rem and then to a 223. I got a 223 as it was more versatile with heavier bullets but in all honesty there is little between the two calibres with 40-50 grain bullets. The quoted velocity figures for the 222 can be difficult to achieve in short barrelled sporters. I don't know anyone who still has a 222 yet 25 years ago it was what we all had for lamping and Scottish roe.

That's a Reeves cock bird. Noisy old birds with attitude that look weird in flight as the long tail tends to hang down under the bird as they fly over the guns. One of the shoots I pick up on has loads. My mate was on a shoot in Dorset recently when bronze turkeys flew over the line. Give me ordinary pheasants any day.

Aren't Eley now owned by Rio? I'd also heard that the UK production was going to be pretty limited.