mink

Mine is the 3.5" model and i use 3.5" Gamebore No 1 steel with decent results but i do keep a couple of Hevi-shot in my belt for the tall ones. It is very easy to tip out the steel and slip in the Hevi-shot when needed. Also if you are loaded for duck and hear geese approaching you can soon swap shells, try that with a semi??? I keep an old SxS with shorter Barrels and a lot less weight for roughshooting, you will find the 3.5" chambered 425 pretty heavy to carry all day. But you are glad of the extra weight when letting off a few heavy steel loads, I personally have never been bothered by the recoil but i am a fat *******.

Justjoin are you a fisherman, most widfowlers are. It is very similar in a lot of ways.

Nice looking gun it would be great over pointers but i would not be happy useing it on "Tall Birds". Horses for courses chap.

SNH are even worse, they even try to tell you to shoot to wound so that the other birds get the message and yes shotgun only. they normally want the carcases inspected as well. And no we did not shoot to deliberately wound, after explaining our objection SNH seemed not to understand and we just ignored that bit of their advice. Although as most Ghillie/Bailifs only have game guns a lot are only wounded or lightly pricked anyway, and they then turn to the rifle (centrefire) and just blast the carcass with a shotgun.

"just out of range of my 56g " How did you get non tox in 56g, your not one of these jokers getting us all in trouble over lead use are you.

Get in touch with mark robson he is over on the east coast of Scotland and has some good Roe stalking, goose shooting , Pigeons etc. And if you fancy some proper wildfowling on the foreshore he is a member of ESAWC so can point you in the right direction there as well. He is on here and i think his username is M J Robson.

Been using the gun for a while now and no problems with recoil. After the first busy flight i was under i did not think about recoil until driving home, so no worries.

Hi V-Max, I would like to try your area with an experienced hand like yourself, but i could not reciprocate in the tay area as you can see by my post i am new to this area. The next time conditions are right for your spot and you are going out i would appreciate an invite, I can not always get away but weekends are always busiest on the loch so mid week i can usually work something out. My uncle and father tried the basin a couple of years ago and were not very impressed. Cheers mink

I have decided to join thanks for your help, maybe see you on the ice some day.

Hello again pinkfooty, I have just had a look at the esawc website and the application form. As i am a gamekeeper member of basc due to my work as a fishery warden and ghilley i pay less for my membership than normal and i am covered for my boat which i use as part of my work, would i still be a gamekeeper member if i joined esawc and did not pay basc directly. If this was not the case i would have to take out seperate insurance for work and the boat. Cheers mink

Hi pinkfooty, I curl for Glen orchy in the breadalbane province and occassionaly go to matches in perth but mostly play with the western half of the club at drimsynie and we dont start for another month at least. I did play at stirling last christmas in the farmers match. I considered joining esawc when it was first started but did not. I will reconsider. Good game Mink

Just back from the dornock only saw a couple of geese and three duck and nothing in range apart from lots of curlew who seem to know they are protected. What a hell of a drive, anyway back to the subject of my post I am interested in trying the tay and from maps the tentsmuir forrest area looks good. Can anyone tell me how far the NNR stretches and if there is space to shoot between it and the caravan park and golf course that are marked on the map this looks as if it would be a natural flight path from the sandbanks. I curl in perth a few times each winter so could combine a trip. Apart from tentsmuir any advice on the tay would be greatfully received.

Goretex is the only choice in coat or boots whatever the manufacturer. I have musto highlander coat and leggings not cheap but i've never yet been wet whilst wearing them and as a fishery warden i have been out in weather most shots would not entertain. Oh i have also had them for nine years so the price looks a bit more reasonable given there longevity.

inshallah do not buy a gun until you have had a couple of lessons, they should loan you a couple to try. And remember whilst shooting clays a sxs will give more recoil because of it's reduced weight but will not be noticed when firing half a dozen shots whilst roughshooting for a few hours. I have a heavy Browning B425 Waterfowl O/U for wildfowling, clay practice, and anyother time i expect to fire many shots and a parker hale sxs which cost £95 for rough and game. The 425 has single trigger and the sxs double and i don't have any trouble now but i did at first. By the way on DTL i am better with the lighter shorter barreled sxs if i can put up with the saw shoulder?

Hi i just bought 500 gamebore blue diamond 28g after trying kent velocity the recoil was much reduced and the cost was not that much more. far nicer to use and not too painful when i tried them in my sxs. Cheers mink

Hi Deer, If your in scotland i would be interested.

I have bought a browning b425 waterfowl, i will only be using it for clays over the summer so will post a report on recoil and various cartridge combinations next winter. And the address of the hospital that is rebuilding my shoulder so you can send flowers. Cheers Mink

I do not expect to be using many 3.5" loads, i envisage using 3" for most wildfowling. I would not be happy to use a standard 3" chambered berreta or browning on its limit for most of its shooting. On those rare occations when i am under so many high geese that my shoulder gets painful i will stop shooting as i will already have enough for my personal use(or such a bad shot i should give up). :yp:

I am in the process of trying to decide on my first wildfowling gun, at the moment i seem to have come down to the Browning B425 waterfowl or the Berreta silver pigeon s 3.5". Now I know that there will be many out there screaming about semi autos but i am fundamentally bigoted against semi's and will not consider one. I have an uncle with a 10 bore sxs and if it was just for wildfowl that would be my choice but i want to be able to use it for clays as well. So if anyone owns either Browning or berreta i would be very interested in there opinion. Cheers mink A pic of my wildfowling dog(she does'nt know it yet)