White Rabbit

Hello Folks, Like i said earlier, just sharing my thoughts on the subject to see if anyone else felt the same. I 've got no axe to grind re.registered shooters and yes, there are some great guys out there. As i said earlier i reached A class after starting off in C but the whole scoring/classification thing just didn't seem to work in my eyes. Why are the lower classes won with huge scores? Sure some one might have a really good day or a new member is improving rapidly and climbing the classes but it seems to happen far too often for that to be the case. I imagine a fool proof system doesn't exist as people will allways manipulate it in some way to their own ends. A bit sad really. Over the years i've realised that enjoying what i'm doing and the company i am with is by far the most important critera to a days shooting. Be it clays or game. I'm now in the position of shooting well or badly i don't really care as long as the cracks good! If i've shot well i can wind people up, if i've shot badly it's me that has to take the stick! Perhaps my views would change if i never shot well! Re.CPSA Like all organisations it contains a core of very passionate people but that seems to be it's downfall as alot of these people do seem to suffer from AA syndrome slightly and they all think they know best and all want to be heard. Sorry, just my opinion! Re.Claysporting.com I read some of the threads and was gobsmacked. Surely all these people are best mates and are just having a laugh? Richard Faulds on the eve of a big competition had to defend his wife after some nugget said she deserved being sent filthy texts as she sits on his lap and wears skimpy clothes!!! It's beyond belief!! Lucky lad is all i can say! Unfortunatley he shot badly in the competition and had to put up with sarcastic comments afterwards. Is this the face of registered clay pigeon shooting that we portray to sponsors and the public?! Straw bales all the way for me i'm afraid! P.s Anyone ever actually been to a clayshoot that use's straw bales? I haven't for years! Noone makes them anymore! Regards WR.

Evening all, The recent debate over PDLM and claysporting.com has brought alot of things back into my thoughts again. I've been shooting clays for 20 years, starting off at a local small local club. I allways treated it as a social thing and abit of practise for the real thing. (my real passion) In my early 20's i decided to have a go at registered. I reasoned if i was going to do it i should do it properly. I was earning good money and living at home at the time so my money was my own. Afew mates joined me and we travelled every weekend. Sometimes shooting at two grounds in the same day. All ESP. Living in the north east meant we had to travel serious distances to do this but i guessed the expense would be worth it. The targets were harder than i was used to but yes, i did improve and reached A class. What sickened me was the "click" of people that frequent these shoots. On hearing our accents we didn't seem worth talking to. As i said earlier, I achieved A class after starting in C yet in two years of shooting i never won a class! How come i could shoot a respectable 70ish in C class yet a supposed C class shooter had won it on a 90ish! Must be alot of very talented people shooting up the classes i thought to myself! I gradually realised that registered sporting seemed more about money and time than anything else. People with alot of time and money on their hands can travel the country and the world and some may shoot very well but it's because they've had the time and the money. After two years i'd tired of the expense and the rather blatant fiddling that went on. In two years i saw it all. Like i said earlier, big scores winning low classes every weekend, referees being bullied or being abit generous with shooters they knew. I was shooting better and better but I just tired of the whole scene. After reading the recent PDLM thread i went on claysporting.com and it all came flooding back. In fact, it made my blood boil! who do these people think they are! I couldn't believe what i was reading and all i can say is thank god i'm out of it all. Showing off, bitching, chewing on about how much money they've got. Makes me sick! They seem to think they're above everyone else. Even Richard Faulds it seems! To cut a long story short, I rejoined my small sunday club. Shoot my 40 sporting, trap and tidy up then go for a pint and thoroughly enjoy my morning with good friends. Thats the real clayshooting. When the idiots i have mentioned have dissappeared up their own ***** the little man in the little club will still be there and i'm all for it! Sorry if i've ranted on. Just wanted to give you my thoughts. I don't want to start any arguments. Leave that to those idiots!

Followed your advice to the letter and it came off a treat. Thankyou! Steamed the other solid walls and wasn't very impressed so went back to your method for those aswell. Had to do a small area of woodchip aswell. Nightmare!! But got there in the end. Glad it was a small area cos i was losing the will to live! Thanks for the advice.

Thanks everybody. Think i'll give the steamer a go and see how i get on! God i hate decorating!!!

Hi Folks, Got to do some decorating in our new house. Problem is, some of the internal walls are just wall paper applied direct to plasterboard. Can i use a steamer to take it off or will it knacker the plaster board? If i try to strip it dry i imagine i'll end up digging holes into the boards with the scraper? Help! Would it be better just to apply the new paper on top of the old? I 've heard thats not a good idea. Any advice greatly received! Thankyou

Hi All, Been using BASC wall calendars for years for all my shoot dates etc. I couldn't understand why all my Jan dates were wrong til i realised my calendar ends 2009 on a Thursday and starts January 2010 on a Wednesday!!! Anyone else noticed yet?! P.s Can you buy the 2010 calendar online? I can't find it on their online shop.

Dead easy! Its obviously quite an old model. (better quality in a lot of people's opinion). The L stands for Lux ie. a de-lux model. They also did one known as the woodcock which had special engraving on it. Look after it cos it'll hold it's value way better than newer models.

£100 should cover us then. It's a pleasant surprise to be honest. I thought it would be more so i'm happy. Thanks very much.

I'll buy her a thick jumper!! Thanks for your quick response mate. You've been a massive help as i didn't have a clue! Thanks again.

I'd class ourselves as fairly low usage. We might have no option!! Would the £100 a month cover both oil and electricity? Obviously i would er on the side of caution and add a little bit more.

Hi All, I've spent the last 10 years in a tied cottage with all my bills paid for by my employer. Unfortunatley that looks like it is coming to an end and i will have to rent my own place. I've found a nice cottage to rent but obviously have to pay the utility bills on it which is where i'm stumped! I'd like a rough idea so that i can draw up a budget. Its a fairly small 2 bedroomed property that has oil fired central heating. I'm just wondering roughly how much a month or year this is going to cost? I know everyone and every house is different but i'm just after a rough guide as i haven't got a clue! Thanks everyone.

Thanks for that, I think i'm going to ask for a flat rate of £30 a mole for gardens (and try and keep a straight face!) and a reduced rate for paddocks and fields if there isn't enough garden work. I imagine the horsey set would be a good source of work with their paddocks. Hopefully my current job will last to the spring then it's in at the deep end!

Thanks for your replies lads. I'd prefer just to concentrate on moles and hopefully load, beat or pick up as much as i can through the winter when i imagine domestic mole trapping dies down? To get by i really need to be making £100 a day to cover costs and keep a roof over my head. Thats either 3/4 moles a day getting paid top whack or 15/20 a day out in the fields and to get that i'm going to be running alot of traps! I'm just finding it hard to believe that people are prepared to pay so much to have a mole caught! I wouldn't dream of paying that much!!

Love to know what you get for a mole mate?!!

Hi jon, I only do farms around me at the mo for pocket money so only charge £4 a mole so it would be hard to make a living at that!! I'd ring other contractors but they'd want my details and a site visit and i can't tell lies! I've heard £30 - 60 a mole being charged for garden work but find it hard to believe people would pay that much!! I don't want to over charge and look an idiot!

Hi All, Its looking like my current job may be coming to an end and i am keen to persue a career catching moles. I prefer to be self employed and have allways worked in the countryside. I've been catching moles for twenty years+ and i'm sure i could make a good go of it professionally. Up until now i've allways done it as a side line for farmers but that is only for pocket money and i assume garden mole control is the way to go to produce enough money to make a living? I was just wondering what you professionals out there are charging and how you work it? per mole or visit and how much? Is agricultural control worth doing? As i said before i'm an experienced mole catcher. Its just the business side of things i'm struggling with. I appreciate this topic has been covered before but up to date advice and prices would be a big help. Can you make a living off moles on it's own or do you have to have a second income or side line? Any advice greatly received. Thankyou.

Hi All, Heard on the grapevine that Peter has moved the shop and it's much bigger. Any feedback? I don't have the time to get in this time of year. Has he increased his stock levels? Service isn't allways great but for cartridges i've allways found their bulk cartridge prices pretty competitive.

I've just looked on a box and he's right. No proof mark on the box! I've used afew thou of his game loads and found them very good but it does make you think. Does that make them illegal to sell? I used to use Sipes or Supremes but you've got me thinking now!

I find that very strange. Ive allways found that anything loaded with vectan powder is the cleanest shooting cartridges you can buy. For that reason i tend to stick with Express and find them very clean with no misfires and their range caters for all the loads i use. I had a dangerous batch of Gamebore clear pigeon years ago. (the wads were in the wrong way!) All i got from them was a letter telling me to swap them like for like which i wasnt impressed with so have never bought them since. Afew free wouldn't have hurt. Allways found Hull pretty good but allways felt they made slow cartridges and thats now in my head and i like quick loads. I know i'm wrong but thats in my head now so i dont use them! Used Victorys for a year or so as i could get them cheap from a friend but ive gone back to Express as they were thumpy and i dissected afew and found alot of damaged shot and shot cut in half which can't do your pattern anygood! Ive also dabbled with Rio and Eleys and found them both ok but we bought 15k Rio's between us and alot of lads had mis-fires with them so i guess i was just lucky. Eleys are owned by the same Maxam group but don't seem to have the mis-fire problems of the Rio but i imagine they use the same primers. Cartridge choice is all in your head i think. If you buy cheap you look for flaws, if you buy expensive you look for all the good kills! Thats what makes our sport so much fun! I could waffle about cartridges for ages! In short, Express for me!!

OK. Thanks very much for the info. Gonna be a very expensive job!

Theyre the only 21gm loads ive tried so cant compare but i was impressed. Ive only shot skeet and club sporting with them but they dusted them no problem with 1/4 and 1/2. Its right what they say. 21gm carts do pattern tighter. Also found them very clean like most lyalvale carts. P.s Thats a tremendous price. A thou has got to be worth a try!

Hi folks, We're currently planning our bracken control plan for this summer using a quad mounted sprayer with a 100litre tank. My question is, how many litres of chemical should we be adding to a 100litre tank? There seems to be a big range of mix rates but i was wondering what you guys were mixing it at? Also roughly how many litres per hectare/acre should we be applying it at? I know that on our ground this will be very difficult to keep to due to the terrain but it would help us work out how much chemical to buy. Unfortunatley helicopter spraying isn't possible due to the amount of water we have and the increased buffer zones. Any advice greatly received. Thankyou.

This really is my pet hate!! Most of the shooting mags churn out the same old dross month after month and get away with it. Imagine the shooting and freebies this lot manage to brag! Makes me sick! If consumers stopped buying them perhaps they'd get a rollicking off the owners and start putting some efffort in! Afew suggestions 1. Why not take a gun along to afew clubs and let real people make some suggestions and actually be more critical of a gun rather than just stating the obvious. 2. How about some interviews with some of the top shots. What they use and what technique they prefer? 3. Visit some of the large sporting estates. Interview the staff and owners and find out about how they run their individual shoot. Agents etc. 4. Cartridges tests that mean something rather than plug the authors company! Interview the manufacturers and find out more about the decisions they make regarding what they load and how they percieve the market. Tour the factory and the history of the company etc. 5. Gunmakers. Interviews and factory tours. 6. History of the sport. How it has evolved over the years. Interview the big decision makers. I could go on and on!! We have a great sport covering a huge range of topics yet this lot can't be bothered and are reduced to making false claims on their cover just to get people to buy. I find it annnoying! Does anyone else agree? The lack of imagination is unbelieveble.

I'm pretty sure the police have gone about this the wrong way and he should win on appeal. If his last conviction was 2 yrs ago why didn't the police deem him unsuitable then and revoke his certificates at the time? I've heard of cases like this before and they usually win on appeal as it doesn't make sense. If someones unsuitable you dont wait two years to react. I'm not debating the rights and wrongs of drink driving/convictions but the police response should be taken at the time.

Can anyone tell me why a certain magazine pays a so called cartridge expert to plug his own range of cartridges and his company within his own articles? Selling cartridges doesn't make you an expert and the prices he quotes are his prices. Certainly not the prices i pay! Does this get up anyone elses nose or is it just me?! For what its worth i buy Shooting Gazette and Whsmiths Fieldsports magazine which is quarterly. Both are expensive but have original and well written articles and good photography. The other monthlys are just rehashed rubbish. I know newbies have to be catered for but no effort is put in. I once read an article by Mark Russel of Grimsthorpe which basically said when its wet practise shooting in your shooting coat! I don't need to spend 3 quid to be told that!