Vince Green

It seems like more or less all the clubs that shoot at Bisley have vacancies at the moment. Rising costs, shortages, average age and the various effects of lockdown has taken its toll. The NRA does nothing to improve the situation Several of my group have bowed out of our next shoot because they can't get ammo/ components. It is getting serious now. I'm down to half a tub of powder and 130 bullets. Not been able to get any since last year

As a former secretary of a big rifle and pistol club ,back in the day, I have known the police to come and take guns away never to be seen again. You need to be careful to establish that the guns were taken for safe keeping and not surrendered

This is the real problem. Nobody any better on the horizon in the Conservative ranks and Labour is not a viable alternative.

That's what I have done for years. They have to give you your prescription by law so they cannot refuse. They don't want to because they know what you are going to do. Opticians make their money out of selling the glasses. It's around 400% mark up (at least) and the staff have tough targets they have to meet.

you are going to have to pay in back so don't get too excited.

To be fair they are not re-introducing pounds and ounces. They are proposing to remove the ridiculous risk of a fine or even prison for selling (or advertising) goods by the pound. Now we are out of the EU we can exercise these freedoms

Effectively, millions of families are genuinely better off not working than taking a rubbish job on a zero hours contract with rubbish pay, rubbish conditions and no long term security. We have to see it both ways, the availability of a pool of cheap labour from Eastern Europe allowed the job market to indulge in a race to the bottom now we pay the price.

The problem lies in sorting out the real cases. Plus we have no incentive for the "lazy" civil service to query applications. If they get a pile on their desk and rubber stamp the whole lot they are done in an hour and can go back to their crossword or sake an extended lunch. If they have to start writing letter and querying things then it starts to look like lots of work. My cousin, now retired, worked for the (then) DHSS in Liverpool the whole of her working life. An interesting job, but they were not allowed to call anyone a liar even if they clearly were. So when people walked in wearing paint splattered overalls to sign on every week nothing was said.

You can never go wrong with a baikal and a baikal will never go wrong with you. I deeply regret selling my two. One of them was used as my beginners instructing gun when we ran the club clay shoots. It must have had close on a hundred thousand cartridges through it over twenty five years I had it, Still 100% tight, the stock was refinished a couple of times as a winter project and, while out of the stock, the action cleaned and oiled with fully synthetic car engine oil via a syringe. When I sold it, it was like a new gun

Thats big enough for my rifle. I will pick it up on Friday if that is OK with you? PM your address thanks

Can you tell me the inside height? Provided its big enough to take my target rifle I will buy that and collect it on Friday thanks

Having had a bad experience of safety standards at a clay shoot in Cyprus I would think twice about whether you want to shoot there

Our local medical centre effectively ceased to function at the beginning of the pandemic and still hasn't got back to running properly

The world has only got ten weeks worth of wheat left and Ukraine has not got a crop in the field for next year. Then there will be a global food shortage Germany is preparing for gas rationing. Fuel shortages are predicted for diesel for the rest of the year We are about to start a trade war with the EU Things can only get worse. That's not being pessimistic that's a fact It's only a matter of time before the great unwashed cotton on and start panic buying toilet rolls

We compete against shooters from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada India etc every year in The Queens at Bisley They are not going to come if they can't use their ammunition. The perceived wisdom suggests that faster twist barrels are needed for lead free bullets. How many people are going to shell out a grand for a new barrel if there is no guarantee it will work? These people are not going to compete with second best. Its not in their DNA. They spend a lot of money and time competing. They don't say oh well we are all in the same boat now The serious. 22 shooters use Eley Tenex and a lot of clubs have outdoor ranges still. Is there anything of that standard in the lead free ?

I've got some that I've picked up off the battle field at Verdun years ago. They didn't stick with them for that long but you raise an interesting question. I believe they were cast. But the ammunition required for an infantry soldier doesn't need to be that accurate. Good point though

No I'm not telling you because you will phone him up and start asking him questions. I know what you are like, I've been warned about you in the past

Target shooting is much longer distances. Bisley goes out to 1200 yds although 600 is more popular. To be V bull accurate you really want to be grouping around 4 to 6 inches at 600 yds consistently Barton Road is the same Millpool ranges are 600 yds but the cross winds are a killer because its exposed. That's the other thing, non lead bullets are longer because they are less dense. So crosswinds have more effect People also say that rifles tend to be more fussy about copper bullets and loads have to be worked up A lot of our club shooters are not going to pay double or treble the price for their ammo. That's if they can get it which is also in doubt. The way that copper or zinc bullets are made doesn't lend itself to high volumes of production. And they can't be made on the existing machines being used at present. So will supply meet demand Are the ammo makers going to spend the money on new machines and gear up? Or will they just say the market doesn't justify it?

That's interesting, what sort of distance are you talking about? And what price ?

No but the price of non lead is much higher than lead based ammo and the turnover comes from selling ammo and components to the target shooters who will go out and shoot fifty rounds in a morning on the ranges. Not the deer shooter who may buy one box a year Also the general view is that lead free ammo isn't accurate enough for target shooting when scores matter in a competition The business is hard now, everything is in short supply as it is.

Yes he will. I think he is struggling now so the loss of any more business will tip him over

He thinks it's all over if that's what you mean

My friend who is an RFD but also a very clever bloke and very aware of the bigger industry issues says this Lead free centre fire ammo Forget it the market is too small for the manufacturers to be interested and the importers to put up the money because the demand has collapsed. 22 lead free Basically dead in the water. It's rubbish

They would do more for environment by banning plastic wads and cartridges. But as I keep saying to anybody who will listen The environment is NOT the job of the HSE Why are they sticking their noses in when it's none of their business?

Society is as fragile as a soap bubble. Putin doesn't have to send over any missiles. All he has to do is cut off the gas supply and Europe will slowly start to collapse. So will their solidarity