Velocette

I've recently been buying odds and **** of cartridges from several auctions if the price was unmissable (Hoping that the cartridges would be too !) Amongst some I collected from Ryedale Auction last week were 6 boxes of these Lyalvale Express 25g No.6 in 12g. I took a handful out last Saturday together with my regular Pigeon Select just to see what they would do on crows and the odd pigeon. Shot out of my Brno O/U with 10 and 20 thou of choke I was surprised at their effectiveness at all normal ranges ie out to 40 long paces, dropping half a dozen crows and two pigeons just sitting under a vague flightpath. Did these used to be a clay cartridge ?. It does say competition and game on the box but I cannot find any record of them in an internet search. At less that a fiver a box I think that these may really be a bargain.

In Vintage motorcycle circles there was always a close affinity between the Vincent Owners and the Velocette Owners to the point where we used to run joint race meetings at Cadwell Park. There was always the slightest degree of aloofness from the Vincent owners, based we believed on capacity not engineering excellence. However, this competitiveness invariably surfaced with the the suggestion, "Have a go on mine, if you can start it ! ". A Vincent was relatively easy to get going with that huge sickle shaped kickstart and the challenging ride, akin to a plank with a hinge in the middle on top of two old gas stoves being dragged down a cobbled street was manageable. The Velocette on the other hand rarely disappointed and handsomely repaid the casual prod of the uninitiated with screams and acrobatics ! The starting ritual was only acquired gradually over years of apprenticeship and looked so easy to the onlooker but they never stood a chance !!

Never used anything but Paramo in its various combinations with Snugpack Sleeka and windproofs for static work. Stay warm and don,t worry about staying dry.

Just had a complete replacement right knee, three weeks ago. It's all healed up, able to walk over a mile without a rest and all the flexibility is coming back with a series of daily physio exercises. Just starting to be able to walk up stairs normally, downstairs will take a little longer I expect. I should have done it years ago ! The only downside is the aching discomfort when trying to get into a comfortable sleeping position but that's improving now. I was taking 6 Paracetamol a day for the first week but now can get by with three or four a day, and these are only to make exercise more comfortable.

You have PM.

Inlet one of these into the stock where the bipod stud currently is and fix it with araldite. Had one on my 452 for over ten years and its never shifted. If you PM me an address I'll send you a couple.

Me too, its remarkable stuff ! I have never seen so much muck come off both the outside and inside of my barrels. The outside I could understand up to a point as they have been anointed with Renaissance Wax for ages which may have got grubby but still protected. It was the black dirt from within barrels that surprised me despite previously cleaning with traditional tools and products. I still don't think that Fibre Eley Pigeon Select are a particularly dirty cartridge but "Eds Red" certainly shifts whatever it there.

It may be worth looking at simply upgrading the bulbs at the front instead of the faff of fitting spots. I've fitted Osram Night Breaker? bulbs in both our Suzuki's , Jimny and Vitara and the results are very much better that standard.

I was stuck for some bits for my old Davis hammer gun and in desperation contacted the great man for some advice. In a blink the parts were through my letterbox and fitted to the gun. Had a walk out today and all is well. Thank you for your much needed help !!

You have PM.

This chap in Moscow seems to be able to comment on the situation without censorship and is in daily communication with fellow enthusiasts in the West. https://sportingbookworm.wordpress.com/

Just to add a variation to the list of possible ways to transfer a shotgun, I saw a gun I wanted at a dealers in the South West. After short exchange of information, pictures and a scan of the front page of my certificate I paid for the gun by bank transfer. The shop then sent it to my RFD who I paid for his trouble and it was entered as GIVEN by him when filling out my certificate. ? All seemed well and West Yorks were happy to accept this when I notified them of the acquisition. I seemed sensible at the time.

Stonepark, after you mentioned the possibility of reversed choke I checked the bores of the barrel set I used, to a distance of about 6" from the muzzle and found that the last 2" were about 1.5 thou larger that the bore. This was measured with a comparator gauge and was the same in both barrels. I then checked the other barrel set, which I haven't pattern tested yet and found that they were exact cylinder right to the muzzle. Clearly there is more patterning to be done with this barrel set. Wymberley. I will try the Fiocchi cartridges again because in other guns I've found them to be quite reasonable and perhaps this reversed choke situation is giving a misleading result and the barrels are indeed guilty !

My word, its a lot of walking to and fro with sheets of unruly paper to do this pattern testing ! However, I am starting to see some light now. I tested at 30yds simply because its a reasonable decoying distance and it will give me some guidance as to the likely state of the pattern density a little further out which I will fine tune at a later date. The original cartridge which gave me no confidence was the Fiocchi Pigeon 32g No.6 but as I have none at the moment wasn't tested. I shot 10 cartridges of each of the following types at 30 yds, listed according to their relative success or failure. Hull Imperial Game. 28g No.6. ranged between 45 and 50% Hull Imperial Game 30g no.6 ranged between 45 and 48% Henry Krank (Eley) 30g No.7 gave an average of 38% Eley Pigeon Select 30g No.6 gave an average of 43% Gamebore White Gold 28g 7.5 gave an average of 41% Eley HV Pigeon 32g No.6 gave an average of 33% Given that all this is at 30yds and roughly the distance I would use this particular barrel set at then I can only conclude that my limited and untested attempts with the Fiocchi cartridge gave a very misleading view and a lesson to all to pattern test before chasing other solutions to poor performance ! I'm rather glad that the Hull cartridges seemed to work well as they are a favourite in my posh Baikal, choked at 5 and 15 thou and seem to knock everything out of the sky that I point it at. I'm not sue that I would like to pattern test that one for fear of finding something which knocks my confidence in it. I'll take this gun with me on Saturday as a second gun and use it when the opportunity presents itself .

I think they were.

You have PM.

Now I feel left out of all these memories, surely there are some gathering dust in someone's "never again" cupboard.

Although I'm a great fan of their guns, I feel that my education is incomplete as I've never had the chance to fire any of these legendary cartridges through them. Does anyone have a few knocking about that they may wish to sell ? I promise to only fire them through a SxS, at dusk, preferably next to an unsuspecting guest ! Sorry, this should be in Cartridges or Wanted. Feel free to move Mods please.

Snap caps,,,,Pah ! Get a Baikal IZH54 which allows you to lower the hammers gently by opening the gun then pull and hold both triggers when closing it. Simple.

Lots of good advice there which makes me think that mechanically adjusting the barrels is a non starter and I should do some testing with a variety of cartridges to get some tightening of the pattern in one set of the cylinder barrels. Its only a fancy but I do use two other guns choked at 5 and 15 thou which give lovely patterns out to 40yds with my favourite Eley Pigeon Select 30g No.6. I've got a couple of boxes of Gamebore White Gold, two boxes of Henry Kranks 30g No7 (Eley?) and some Imperial Game 28g No6 to try this week some time so its out with the survayors tape and the lining paper !

The bore of the ported/ventilated section of the barrel is quite a lot larger that the barrel I.D. so shouldn't interfere with any choke adjustments. However, could you recommend a high antimony clay cartridge to try in 28g 7.5 ? I have limited experience of target shooting and only use the Fiocchi TT1 type for the occasional straw bale shoot locally, purely for the fun of it. I agree that tuning the ammunition would be a far more sensible option. As an afterthought, I may try some steel cartridges where I am allowed to because it seems to be claimed that plaswad+steel do pattern more closely than fibre. This too would have to be pattern tested to check its veracity. Thanks for the advice.

Sorry for the delay answering. just watched a very exciting Tour de France mountain stage. Plenty to think about there before making any mechanical alterations. My bore gauge gave no sign of a choke restriction in any of the barrels but I'll check that. Cartridge selection is something I've started to try, using 30g 7 (Kranks) and 32g 6 Eley Pigeon HV but not on a pattern plate yet so absolutely no proper evidence at all yet, just a feeling that the pattern was a bit slack. I use Eley Pigeon Select in 30 g 6 as a base cartridge with the occasional Fiocchi TT1 28g 7.5 which does seem nearly right. I'll give a proper pattern test with these and some other similar cartridges and report back. Thanks for the help.

I believe it is.

I now have a second set of these fierce looking Brno 301 barrels also choked cylinder and cylinder. Whist I do use the original cylinder/cylinder pair, to some effect on the right occasion I would like to have a tad more choke, 0.005" in at least one barrel of the new set and wondered if this can be achieved by jug choking. The barrel walls at the muzzle have plenty of meat on them so they should be safe to open out a little. Has anyone had this done, by whom, and were they happy with the result ?

A chap like this was it !!