DoubleTap

Thanks all, really appreciate the comments and really helpful. Seems to be good news on the cartridge front so I best start properly looking for a nice camo example!😜 @Smudger687 cheers for the comments, again really appreciated. To be totally honest I’m not looking for a 3.5” in particular, but can only ever find 3.5” guns for sale! If I could find a 3” camo example this would be my preference because (as you said) I’ll very rarely be using 3.5” cartridges. Reason for fancying a Winchester is they seem fairly cheap but reliable. It will be getting abused jumping in and out of the boat, in the hides, covered in water, mud, ice, etc. so I’d rather not spend more money on the arguably better but more expensive Beretta/Browning/Benelli alternatives. Thanks again all, Tayler.

Yes lovely gun for the money really! I simply don’t have a use for it.

STILL FOR SALE (previously let down by buyer)

Hi all, I am considering a 3.5” Winchester SX4 but wanted to know if they’ll cycle 28g clay cartridges (something like an FBlack)? It will be mainly used for Pigeons/Crows and Wildfowl so shouldn’t be firing anything less than 32g through it for 90% of the time. However on the odd occasion I want to put lighter loads (no less than 28g) through it, do they tend to cycle them fine? If a current/previous SX4 owner could give me some insight that would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks in advance, Tayler.

SOLD

Hi everyone, Brand spanking new, unfired ATA SP Avantgarde in 30” multi choke for sale: £800 ONO Comes with 5x chokes, choke box and key, original box/packaging, barrel and stock socks and full manufacturer warranty information. I won this at the Essex Masters last year and simply do not have a use for it, hence the cheap price. The gun remains unfired and in perfect brand new condition. Lovely straight grain wood through the stock and forend (as shown in pictures). I’m based in Buckinghamshire and please do let me know if you have any questions and welcome any offers. Many thanks, Tayler.

SOLD

Hi mate, LOP is as follows: 15” with thicker pad 14.5” with thinner pad Cheers!

GG - thanks for the idea. I know roughly what the drop at toe and heel needs to be for me personally. I can obviously take some wood off or have the stock bent, but just on the off chance there is a Sporter stock kicking around somewhere before I go down that route! I’d much rather raise a Sporter stock up, than take the Trap stock down! Alan - thanks mate, I shall let you know if I am successful. The gun is actually for sale if you are interested in the whole lot!

Hi guys, I am looking for a Sporter stock to fit a Browning 525 Trap (2006). I’m not fussed about aesthetics - as long as it hasn’t got any cracks, splits, etc. Alternatively, if anyone could point me in the right direction of a gunshop, gunsmith or website that might have some available, that would be really appreciated. Many thanks in advance!!

Browning 525 Trap Advanced Briley 12Ga 32" £950 (ono) Buckinghamshire Description: A very strong and well-maintained example of the 525 Trap, perfect for Trap and Sporting disciplines, and for all Game shooting. Very good condition internals and action in general which have been checked over by William Evans (Bisley). Nice and tight, with top leaver over to the right (see pictures). It has had very little use for its age, and has been cleaned after each use since ownership! I personally have shot only a few hundred cartridges through it since ownership over the last few years. It has a nice piece of woodwork with straight (very strong!) figuring that looks lovely in the sunlight. Good pistol grip with right-hand palm swell (see pictures) and an adjustable trigger. Some minor dings/scratches that are to be expected for a 2006 gun. It has never let me down throughout ownership, and no reason to be selling other than it simply not fitting me anymore and wanting to move to a 525 Sporter One (or similar). I am looking for £950, but warmly welcome any offers - please do not hesitate! Note: the only change made to the gun is the addition of a thinner recoil pad (original 20mm Browning pad comeswith the gun also - see pictures). Other than that, the gun is completely original and how it came out of the factory - a true untampered with example (eg. no comb height reductions or stock reductions!) Specs are as follows: Barrels: 32" (Steel proofed) Chambers: 2 3/4” Rib: Vent. 13mm (vent. mid and top) Chokes: Briley Extended - IC M IM LF F XF Stock height: 32mm 42mm Trigger: Gold, Adjustable Year: 2006 (MT serial code) Palm swell: Right handed Comes with: Makers plastic hard case Original 20mm Browning recoil pad Spare firing pin and spring Spare adjustable trigger Two allen keys Teague choke box (chokes are Briley) Browning choke key MORE PICTURES TO FOLLOW

Hi mate, It’s 2 3/4inch (see photo). It is steel proofed yes.

Thanks Gordon, lovely woodwork isn’t it. It will be a shame to see it go, but nice to see someone else getting some use and enjoyment out of it!

Browning 525 Trap Advanced Briley 12Ga 32" £950 (ono) Buckinghamshire Description: A very strong and well-maintained example of the 525 Trap, perfect for Trap and Sporting disciplines, and for all Game shooting. Very good condition internals and action in general which have been checked over by William Evans (Bisley). Nice and tight, with top leaver over to the right (see pictures). It has had very little use for its age, and has been cleaned after each use since ownership! I personally have shot only a few hundred cartridges through it since ownership over the last few years. It has a nice piece of woodwork with straight (very strong!) figuring that looks lovely in the sunlight. Good pistol grip with right-hand palm swell (see pictures) and an adjustable trigger. Some minor dings/scratches that are to be expected for a 2006 gun. It has never let me down throughout ownership, and no reason to be selling other than it simply not fitting me anymore and wanting to move to a 525 Sporter One (or similar). I am looking for £950, but warmly welcome any offers - please do not hesitate! Note: the only change made to the gun is the addition of a thinner recoil pad (original 20mm Browning pad comes with the gun also - see pictures). Other than that, the gun is completely original and how it came out of the factory - a true untampered with example (eg. no comb height reductions or stock reductions!) Specs are as follows: Barrels: 32" Rib: Vent. 13mm (vent. mid and top) Chokes: Briley Extended - IC M IM LF F XF Stock height: 32mm 42mm Trigger: Gold, Adjustable Year: 2006 (MT serial code) Comes with: Makers plastic hard case Original 20mm Browning recoil pad Spare firing pin and spring Spare adjustable trigger Two allen keys Teague choke box (chokes are Briley) Browning choke key MORE PICTURES TO FOLLOW

Yh I'll let you know how I get on, good luck

Cheers guys, so it looks like I'm alright. Guess I will be able to go after all!

I'm 16, turning 17 soon, and I was wondering if it is legal for me to go and shoot some pigeons on my own, on land where I have shot most of my life, however always accompanied by an adult. There's quite a few pigeons dropping in on the farmers standing winter barley, however due to tomorrow being a weekday, my dad (who usually supervises me) cannot shoot due to work. So I was wondering if I would be able to get dropped off at the field, and set up for the day myself, and shoot on my own, without breaking any laws. I've searced the BASC site and other sites but cannot find a straight up answer with regards to the legal age that I have to be before I can shoot on my own without any problems. Once again, I am 16 years old. It will be much appreciated if anyone could help me out. Cheers.

Good shooting buddy, the smile says it all! Hopefully the start of many years roaming the woodlands! Keep on tonkin'

Shot at A1 Shooting Ground. First time, really good fun, quite tricky when they go edge-on or head upwards! Only downside is the price at £1.20 a bird. If anyone's thinking of going, I strongly recommend it but do shoot tight chokes, and heavy(ish) cartridges. I was shooting 28g 7.5's through 3/4 choke and it worked well, however if I shoot it again, i'll be shooting 32g 6's for sure. Camera quality isn't great, but you can see the hits and misses any how. DoubleTap

Ahaa cheers

Cheers lads!

Cheers

Harvest finally started on the farm after what seemed like an eternity, and the first thing we did was obviously set up for the pigeons. We'd seen quite a lot of pigeons in groups of up to 500 hammering the laid Barley, and had shot a couple of times as well however we gave up on that due to the damage that we were causing to the crops and the amount of birds that we were loosing due to not being able to work the dogs in the Barley. We waited for Harvest Other farmers first started cutting in the area a good 2 or 3 weeks before our permission was cut which was very frustrating at times. Despite this, the farmer eventually got into gear and cut his Winter Barley. Atlast! We'd driven up to the field the day he'd cut and the pigeons were already feeding hard so we decided we'd have to shoot them as soon as possible to avoid them moving on to another field and missing out on a good day. Plus, with the weather set to change for the worst it looked very promising. We planned to get to the field around six-ish, set up for 7-ish and shoot til it got dark however we failed to keep to those timings and rolled up on the field at 8. Like predicted, the pigeons were already feeding, about 100 of them so far, not the big number that we had been seeing. A flight line was in full swing as well so we decided to set up near that in order to get maximum pigeon activity. The field had been baled already so it seemed right to use two bales to conceal the hide a little. The pattern looked good as well with three bouncers/floaters included in it and around 10 normal decoys (shells and dead birds mix). We were fully set up by 9-ish and Dad went to move the truck out of sight. As he was moving the truck out of the way, I put a few bits of straw in the netting and before I knew it, three pigeons dropped straight in, hovered over the decoys, saw me, and just flew off! It was looking very promising and gave me the impression that we'd shoot a very good bag. I was wrong... Dad walked back up the field and we got into the hide. We waited and waited before the first pigeon came in... then a feral came in... and theat was about it for about 2 hours. Dad and I decided that we'd give it 15 minutes and then pack up as nothing was happening. The pigeons from the morning had gone else where and the flight line had completely stopped. It was only until about 11:30 when we started seeing pigeons again. There was a very small trickle of pigeons 100 to 200yds down the hedge from us, some were seeing the decoys and not showing much interest, but most of them were flying straight past us and not even looking at the decoys. We put the rotary out in an attempt to get the pigeons attention and hopefully draw them closer. We've never had a days pigeon decoying when the rotary has worked for us, weather it is the placement of the rotary, or over-usage of them I don't know, but they never seem to work for us. Today was no exception either. It was rubbish as per usual The birds actually started flaring from the pattern it was so bad. So instantly we brought it in. The sun came out and for some reason, the pigeons started coming from all directions. It was like someone had turned a switch on. Anywhere we'd look, there'd be a pigeon in the sky. The flight line had started up again and birds were dropping in from everywhere Both mine and Dads shooting was off to start with however after a few misses and a few choice words, we got our eyes in By about 14:30 we'd shot around 40-50 pigeons. Things were going really well. The pigeons were decoying lovely, some dropping from height as well, which proved for some testing shooting. We kept adding dead birds to the pattern and had now increased our pattern to about 30 decoys, which we never usually do, however a big pattern was working excellently today. It was only my Dad and I shooting today, but normally my brother, Cameron, accompanies us, only today he'd blown us out for a girl Despite this, Dad and I carried on shooting and enjoyed his share of the shooting that he'd usually get Dad got a call from Cameron saying 'so and so couldn't meet up with me today so can I come shooting?' The best of both worlds hey?! Obviously Dad said yes and Cameron was with us within the hour, with some more water and food! Anyway, we shot through till about 17:00 when we decided to have a count up of what we'd shot so far. We counted 90 exactly. With me eager to shoot 100 we carried on. By this time the pigeons had slowed up to a steady trickle of birds on the flight line. Shooting was limited and my hopes had started to fall away. But slowly and steadily, the bag started growing one by one until we reached 96. Just four more to go. There was a footpath on the field about 150yds in front of us. There'd only been 2 people on it all day so it was not a problem at all. 2 more people came across it and they both stopped and stared as a lunatic springer went crashing across the field after a winged pigeon. The two walkers just stood there watching us for what seemed like ages. They would walk 20yds and then look at us again, and they kept doing this all the way up the field. It doesn't seem so bad however we only needed 4 for pigeons to reach are targeted 100. 4 pigeons came straight into the decoys but because the stupid walkers were stood directly in front of us, we could do nothing about it. 3 more pigeons came in after that, again, we couldn't do anything about it due to the walkers being in line of the shot. I'm sure pigeons know when its safe for them to feed! 3 more came in shortly after. this was getting ridiculous, the walkers still hadn't got off the field. At long last!the walkers did eventually get off the field and we shot our four and called it a day. 100 birds picked, or so we thought. We packed the decoys and the hide away, and started to lay the birds out to count them. It turned out we'd miss counted when we thought we were on 90 and instead it turned out we must've been on 88, so that left us on 98 as a total! Dad went to get the truck to collect all the gear and me and Cameron stood behind the hedge on the off chance that a pigeon may come floating through. Surprisingly quite a few did come through however they were at silly height and were not worth a shot, until one did come through reasonably low. I dropped that to make it 99. We continued to stand there for a minute or to and waited for dad to come back. He came back and that was that. We didn't get our 100 but never mind. We'd clicked 116 anyway so we had shot over a hundred, just not picked 100 Also, two other blokes had been set up the other end of the farm and they managed 29, so we did well. Will probably be shooting the field (or a different one) again next weekend. Sorry for the massive thread and me going slightly off topic half way through but anyway, cheers. DoubleTap Just a quick picture of the bag...