Vince Green

We used to shoot foxes with a .22 R/F years ago on my Uncle Harry's farm because thats all we had. Even shot clean through the heart at close range they still run but hopefully don't get that far before they drop. They still usually need a shot through the head to depatch them. You can't easily head shoot a fox with a .22 R/F because the bullets richocet off their skulls (its true, I kid you not). A foxes skull is like a panzer tank, all curves and angles that deflect a bullet. Using an air rifle? Can't see it myself. However, lets just examine the other part of that article. He's talking about using a .270 for foxes. Why? Apart from the arguement that having one rifle for all your needs is cheaper than having several?. Again I can't see it myself. The .270 is a great deer calibre but I can't see any need for a heavier bullet at lower velocity for foxes. A very light bullet at high velocity is what you need.

The NSRA advice is to clean your .22 after every 400 shots or so to prevent lead build up but I know most shooters don't. I clean my .22 because I keep it in the loft and I'm afraid of rust. Well, to be honest, I don't clean it but I give it a squirt of WD40 before I put it away.

Its not just scopes that are like that. All sorts of things are not made where you think they are made or by the people you think are making them (ie the name on the box).

Before they tightened up on the laws over there you could buy .22 rifles in France without a licence and they were cheaper but they only seemed to sell the more rubbishy end of the range.

In our club we have had a spate of buying scopes off ebay from Hong Kong. Mainly Bushnells, they are very cheap and appear to be the genuine article but they take about a month to arrive. I know our local dealer buys scopes direct from Hong Kong to sell in his shop because he can get them cheaper than from the UK distributor. I'm sure other dealers are doing the same. I'm very pleased with the one I bought, its not up to the standard of a German scope but it only cost £25 and not bad at all. Its advertised for £98 in Britain. Its working well on my .22 Many of the branded scopes are made in China anyway and all you are doing is short circuiting the supply chain. Cutting out the middle man. A friend of mine bought a bipod from there recently, although its not branded as Harris thats clearly what it is. They are not clones, it comes off the same production line I'm sure of it. Everything is totally identical.

Out of the box Ruger barrels can be variable. Some are very good some less so. Its not a problem though because custom barrels are quite cheap. Its not intended as a match rifle so you have to work within the limitations. Every barrel on every rifle will shift its point of impact when it heats up through rapid fire and the steel plate boys need a heavier barrel to dissipate the heat.

They will be Hull Cartridge Company Three Crowns. As far as I know they are the only company now making "own brand" cartridges for dealers. Lovely cartridges though. We ought to start a campaign to bring back "real" paper cartridges.

The Holland and Holland one is actually an Eley Impax that has been rebranded H&H. You can still buy Eley Grand Prix paper cartridges exactly like that today. They still make them, beautiful cartridges. Imagine setting out on a frosty morning with a bag full of those. Much nicer than a load of plastic rubbish. They are not that old that they are valuable but still very nice. Real cartridges if you know what I mean.

AS said before Anschutz is king but if you want value for money a BSA Martini international Mk IV or V is by far the best buy to get you started. You can pick one up for about £100 and its easily good enough to last you for the first couple of years until you can save up the £1000+ needed to buy an Anschuz. The quality is excellent but they just aren't fashionable any more. I saw quite a few still in action at the NSRA meeting at Bisley this year. My friend has one fitted with a scope that he bought for .22 benchrest and he swears by it.

They use them in serious competions and the Rugers are considered the best gun for the job. These boys spend thousands on their guns so they must think its worth it. However they are a great fun gun as well in standard trim.

Try the IAA forum (International Ammunition Assn) they are cartridge collectors and should know.

The old NDFS used to make them but he retired a few years back and somebody else took over from him. I think the people at Nalan deal with him. Try them on 01202 743750.

Parker Hale was a good make, not the best but good enough. With all .243s it depends on how much use it has had. Barrel life is not that long because i.243 ts a bit hot. The rifle is going to be about 20 years old now probably.

Remingtons are a good make and you shouldnt be getting misfires. Also the misfires should eject with no problem. You don't say whether you are getting a good strike or not. There are a few possibilities but the first thing you have to do is switch brands and see how you get on with them. It might be a bad batch or something wrong with your rifle. If they are that tight in the chamber it could be causing misfires if they are not going in properly. Is your chamber clean? Is the rifle new or just new to you? It could be still full of protective gunge.

More calibres don't help the ammunition supply situation. If you stick to the obvious calibres, .243, .308, .270 etc it certainly makes it easier to find dealers who stock the stuff. Other than that go for what you fancy but be prepared for problems trying to buy ammo.

The low pressure blowbacks used to happen from time to time with those Portugese cartridges they were selling a while back. Was the case all black and sooty?

I think 7s are cheaper generally because they are predominately used for clays and clay shooters get through a lot more cartridges so the dealers know they are fast moving and can offer discounts. Sixes move more slowly off the shelf. I still can't get on with the idea of using 28gm loads. Obviously the manufacturers like making them because they use 14% less shot compared to a 32gm load and so they are cheaper for them to produce. However, for the shooter it must be placing him at a disadvantage to use them compared to say 32gm loads. Whether that disadvantage is significant is a matter for the shooter to decide but having 14% less shot in the air can never be better can it? We spend a lot of time and money on our shooting, so I want the best cartridge I can get and paying a bit extra for my 32gm cartridges so I get a 14% denser pattern is money well spent.

Anything to do with 10/22s you need to talk to South Yorkshire Shooting Supplies. (Google Rimfire Magic). They have all the parts

I've always preferred 32g 7s and relied in the denser pattern to make up for less individual pellet energy but I wouldn't say it was a big deal. The pigeon has quite a small body under all those feathers so pattern is important and 7s still have more than enough enery to bring down a pigeon espescially when hit by several pellets. I'm very much a fan of small shot and denser patterns to do the job.

Technically, if the police had got involved they would have said you should take your gun home by the shortest practicable route and in the shortest practicable time. Making detours to buy your lottery ticket would be seen as bending the rules. You can have your gun in a public place, provided it is covered, with reasonable excuse but stopping off to buy lottery tickets would not be seen as reasonable. Also, going ito a Post Oficce with a gun may not be illegal as such but it could be a Public Order offence. (Conduct liable to cause alarm or distress to a member of the public). There is so much flipping hysteria these days where guns are concerned that you have to be so careful. As others have said, years ago nobody would have given it a second glance.

Cleaning is important with a C/F rifle, you will always get someone who says they never clean their rifle but thats up to them. When you fire a few shots see how hot the barrel gets. Thats caused (mostly) by friction between the bullet and the sides of the barrel and it causes copper to be deposited on the walls of the barrel. Try this, swab your barrel out with Hoppes and leave it for an hour. Then get a torch and examine the rifling just inside the muzzle, you will see big streaks of copper in the rifling once your eyes get accustomed to what you are looking for. Also always oil your bore after use, C/F barrels do go rusty, I have seen them. Perversely, the better the quality of the barrel the more inclined they are to rust. This is to do with the type of steels thats used. The softer steels apparantly make better barrels. Top match barrels are never stainless steel. Although saying that no doubt somebody will come on here now and point out that a lot more F Class barrels are stainless but I didn't say F class I said match.

We have a lot of "parrots" as they are called around here (NW London) they seem to favour living around the shopping centres and the towns rather than the more rural areas. Presumably they are decended from escapees originally.

Give it a good clean with copper remover and try again. Then use copper remover every time you clean it for the next hundred or so rounds. New barrels are always a bit rough and take time to run in. Target shooters use copper remover between each shot for the first five shots then after ever five shots, then ten shots and at the end of the day until the barrel has had about a hundred shots and then after that as and when the group starts opening up. Always remember to put several dry patched though the bore after cleaning before you shoot and always do it before the first shot of the day to remove any oil,

They are still in production, you could email them with your serial number and get a date. They would also be able to answer you question about the chokes.

You are absolutely correct. Its Common Law in Britain that you always have a duty to behave in a responsible manner whatever the situation. Not just in terms of firearms but in general. It could just as easily apply to leaving power tools switched on with kids around or leaving something dangerous propped up against the side of your house if it falls and hurts someone. You are leagally responsible for the consequences of your negligence. If you gun gets stolen from the boot of your car the chances are you could have behaved in a different way (like taking the gun home first) which would have prevented the risk from occouring in the first place. So in that situation the Police can rightly say that your behaviour was negligent under the circumstances and withdraw your licence. Not only that, they could twist the knife and prosecute you for criminal negligence. An easy conviction from their point of view. Leaving you gun locked in the boot of you car unattended is nearly always going to be hard to justify as being the most prudent course of action you could have taken so the best advice is simply don't do it. There is another aspect to this discussion that hasn't even been touched on, most guns are expensive, some incredibly so. If they get stolen from the boot of an unattended car, even if they are insured, the chances of getting any money out of the insurers is zilch. They will wriggle out saying you didn't take reasonable precautions to protect them. Their case would be that much stronger if you got prosecuted for negligence.