army646

Well here is the latest. The head went for pressure testing, was not cracked but needed straightening and skimming. so the head is going back on with a genuine four notch Mitsy head and new stretch bolts. I let you know how I get on.

I did actually get done way back by the plod for riding me old Bultaco Sherpa 326 along an old disused railway line to get to the land where we practised. I actually made the copper show me the charge in his little book of law and the charge was: RIDING ELSEWHERE OTHER THAN ON A ROAD I had to resist making the sarcastic comment of ''well obviously Ociffer, it is afterall an off road bike!!!''

A good dose of motorcross early in the biking career generally imparts that ability to make almost an instinctive/instantaneous reaction or correction. This tend to avoid the reaction that you quite rightly point out here where he was too fixated, spotted the car, 'Carped it' grabbed a handful of brake, stood the bike up and ran wide/off. I reckon without the off road riding that I did before I finally buckled and put a bike on the road, there are many situations where I would have been off.

Another update for everyone and thanks for all the replies. The head has gone for pressure testing and I am waiting for the result. Apparently they also have a bad habit of cracking out of sight, in the back of the swirl pots where the injectors come through. I can get hold of a new bare AMC head from Serle's for sub £400+VAT.They recon/rebuild engines and heads . When you think about the work, time and cost involved in lifting the head, I am begining to think that it might be a false economy to buy another cheapo Chinese/Asian head if it is Knackered. To look on the positive side, the floor/chassis is absolutely solid and other than the head issue I am currently enduring, the motor in it is low mileage and is bob on and the truck owes me nothing. So I suppose if bite the bullet and spend the brass I will have at least another 5 years out of it for about £700 - £1000. Hmmmm!!!

A prime example of the sort of Knob, on the type of road that I love to make look completely stupid on one of me supermotos. Get some lessons **** and stop giving the rest of us bikes a bad rap!!!!

Plenty in North Yorks around harvest time last year. It can be quite difficult when you have young woodies about that have not really developed the white wing and neck markings.

Well thought I would just post an update and let everyone know where I am at with this one. I was present on Saturday morning when one of my mates mechanics lifted the head off my pajero. The head appeared to be fine. Gasket did not look too bad either. The head will be subjected to closer scrutiny on Monday. What I will say is that I did notice that the head bolts appeared to be unevenly torqued. One in particular near the front of the head did not part with the same crack as the rest. It looks like the mechanic who fitted the head may well not have paid enough attention to what he was doing when torqueing it down. So hopefully I may well get away with a fresh head gasket, sundry gaskets and bolts. Happy days!!! The advice from all sources with the Mitsy 4m40 engine in so far as fitting the cylinder head, is to bite the bullet and use a genuine '3 notch' Mitsy head gasket, not an after market one. Also to further dispell any fears with regard to head failures on these engines/vehicles. I spoke with an engine rebuilder who has been rebuilding these heads using bare Chinese pattern items for about 9 years. His comment was that although the early Chinese ones were rough looking they were really not that bad. The ones being produced now are fine and he has experienced very few failures. The only other options are genuine Mitsy or AMC (Spanish) produced ones at big bucks. What he did say was that unless the head had been 'cooked to death' repeatedly over an extended period of time, he reckoned that I would be really unlucky if it was cracked. So it looks like the heads are generally good for circa 80K miles but this can be dramatically reduced if they are subjected to prolonged abuse due to carp maintenance and overheating. I will keep everyone posted as to how I get on.

La Bala I think that you are right. The process aparently with the heads on the Mitsy 4m40 engine is to torque in sequence up to 50Nm, leave for 20 minutes or so, slacken them off and then re torque to 100Nm. Leave for another 20 minutes or so then crank them up by another quarter turn. The correct sequence must be observed each time. Fairly standard stuff really. Whether this was done I wouldn't know as my mate who is a Landy/4x4 specialist replaced the head. I have had years of faffing about in the rain and I am right for that.

Thanks everyone for your info/responses, I appreciate it. In reply to the suggestion that the rad should have been changed, it was slightly later down the line because it sprang a leak due to a stone getting flicked up the backside and the fan bouncing it off the rear of the rad. I did not have the sump guard on at the time. I caught it very quickly and it did not overheat, smelt the hot coolant first through the vents. Oh and the water pump was done with the head as it was leaking from the impeller shaft seal. Probably why the head failed originally As far as neglect is concerned, it gets everything it needs and is serviced regularly with good oil and bits and as I said before, she don't get hammered. It has to be right, as geen flag won't come and get you out of the middle of a field. Fair point though regarding a 1000m post fit torque down, nobody really suggests/advocates that anymore. At one time that was the norm. She has always been rock solid on running temp really since the head was done and I am really anal about running temperature because I know how intolerant they are to overheating. I maybe should have fitted an additional aftermarket temp sensor, as apparently the Mitsy temp sensor is totally in the wrong place and is not really telling you what is going on in so far as true engine head/ temp. If she has shown any sign of temp rise (x1 rad leak, x2 the other day) I generally stop and turn off/get the cab heaters and fan on full. The only time I have run her for any distance was to get home the other night, probably about five miles very slowly, watching the temp all the way which stayed down after she had been stood and allowed to cool. The heads on the 40m40 are a problem, bad design and tend to crack between the the valve seats and it looks like the aftermarket ones are worse than the originals. If it is just the gasket, I will be a lucky boy!!!

Well as the title says I am fed up! Went out yesterday scouting where the pigeons were at, with a view to going out today. Found the pigeons, sorted out my plan of attack, all was looking good. On the way back from probably what was a good 120 mile round trip I saw the temp guage on my old 2.8 Mitsy Pajero suddenly rise then drop back very quickly. Continued on a few miles further and it it did it again. This time I pulled up straight away and got out. Checked the header tank and lo and behold the level has gone up and it has vented a little from the overflow. Oh dear been here before! When I bought the truck the vendor had quite kindly epoxy stop leaked it as it had the good old crack between the valve seats on the cylinder head. Anyway £800 lighter brand new complete head, bolts, gasket and water pump fitted, sorted!! Well that was about nearly four years ago and she has been a good old girl until now. Took the thermostat out this morning but unfortunately bubbling and fizzing was seen at the neck of the rad with the cap off. Oh dear, these things generally don't do just the gasket, it is usually the head. I wouldn't mind but she only does 5000 miles a year max and does not get hammered. So, I could well be in the market for a new shooting truck and the question I need to ask is this, has anyone had any experience with a Nissan Terrano 2.7TD? Let me know your thoughts and experiences.

I suffer slightly from this problem when I transfer between my old Beretta 56e U/O and my A303 semi. It takes me a few shots on the clay ground to get my eye in with one or the other when I change guns. I have put this settling in period down to a couple of things: 1. Cast 2. Muzzle flip You will probably find that your SBS/OU will have some cast to the stock. Your semi will be totally neutral cast. Because pigeon shooters shoot 'game style' i.e. gun up from lap or hip and shoot it is a very instinctive shot. The cast in the stock or not as the case may be, has a big influence on where the shot pattern is placed. I would not be surprised if the neutral cast in your semi's stock is causing you to shoot behind the target. If you are shooting a tight choke try opening up to a quarter choke and see if you start clipping targets. Also don't forget that the action of a semi auto tends to absorb recoil and therefore you get less muzzle flip. You may well find that you are inadvertantly shooting low with the semi as you are probably subconsciously accomodating the 'muzzle flip/lift' that you will tend to get with your non semi auto gun. I have an Escort Magnum semi that I could not hit jack with for a long time. So I consulted with my local gunsmith, presenting him with my Beretta O/U and the Escort and informing him that I shot well with the Beretta but not so the Escort. He looked at them both then asked me if I was left handed, to which my reply was no, but why did he ask? He then preceeded to point out that the stock of the Escort was showing a hellish amount of left hand cast causing me to shoot so far behind the target, that I stood no hope of hitting anything with it!! I replaced the badly finished stock with a new one that gave neutral cast and voila!! My eye was back in and I was hitting stuff again. Best advice that I could give, is that when you go from one gun to the other, go and iron out the wrinkles on some clays. The advice that someone else gave regarding patterning your gun on a pattern plate (big sheet of paper) is a good one, because it will show you where you are placing the shot with each gun. If muzzle flip is affecting where you are placing the shot, it will show. Stick with the Beretta even the old ones are lovely guns.

Hi Have you still got the gun for sale. I own one of these and would be interested in the gun if you still have it. Let me know Cheers Nige

Was crowning out shot birds the other day and came across a couple out of a bag of thirty that had what looked like soggy patches under the joint between the wing and the body that was seething with loads of really tiny, clearish maggot like critters. When I say tiny I mean 1mm or so long. What I did notice is that the birds in question were young ones. Did someone post about this a while ago and if I am right in thinking were they the larval stage of some sort of feather mite from the nest. If I remember rightly are they called Hypopi or something like that. Anyone else seen them on shot birds recently? If I see them in the next bag I will take some photos.

Evening aga man Iam from Skipton area but was shooting up in N.Yorks/Richmondshire.

Shot 39 over rape last week, about 3 or four were juvenile birds with no neck band

I have had mixed results with mine, more often than not they are a bit wary of it. Where I have found that they tend to work well is near a tree. I suppose the birds on the rotary could look like birds dropping out of the tree. I have also found that plastics/artificials don't work that well for me on them. Dead birds are far superior if you have them. Must admit mine worked a treat for me last week.

Plenty in Yorkshire at the moment. Much better than last year. Wonder if they have moved a bit further north this year?

Just a quick refresh of an earlier post. I still have a few of the following nets for sale. Basically it is all unused, military spec. Prices + postage costs (Post Ofice - Standard Parcels - 2-3days) are as follows: Woodland 5x3m £20 + p&p @ £10.00 = £30.00 - 3 left If you want to know what the quality is like search this forum and you will find people who bought them last/this year, who you can then ask about the quality. You can have a look at the piccys on photo bucket at the following link: http://s1051.photobu...s/s439/army646/ Please note the woodland nets are what I would call a 'tri colour patch net' but to counter this the nets have been cut at 5x3m to allow them to be double draped, giving a run of 5x1.5m with better coverage (pictures show this). I have used one of these on a regular basis this year, backed with some 'real tree timber' print scrim net. This has become my favourite hide set up as the break up and resemblance to real foliage is better than any of the other nets that I have. They also work really well used in conjunction with the desert net when against a grassy hedge line. In the first instance, send me a PM to let me know which you would like and include your address details. If you include a contact number, I will give you a call, or alternatively I will reply to your mail and include my Paypal address to send the money to. Look forward to hearing from you. Best regards Nige

I have been a member of NPPC for a couple of years now and will renew my membership again next year. If you are working full time it is a convenient way to access shooting land. Back this up with a bit of your own permission and it works quite well. As far as John Shooter is concerned if you prove you are not an idiot and treat him with respect he will look after you. Nidge

Just a quick refresh of an earlier post. I still have a few of the following nets for sale. Basically it is all unused, military spec. Prices + postage costs (Post Ofice - Standard Parcels - 2-3days) are as follows: Woodland 5x3m £20 + p&p @ £10.00 = £30.00 - 5 left Desert 5x2m £20 + p&p @ £6.00 = £26.00 - 1 left If you want to know what the quality is like search this forum and you will find people who bought them last year, who you can then ask about the quality. You can have a look at the piccys on photo bucket at the following link: http://s1051.photobu...s/s439/army646/ Please note the woodland nets are what I would call a 'tri colour patch net' but to counter this the nets have been cut at 5x3m to allow them to be double draped, giving a run of 5x1.5m with better coverage (pictures show this). I have used one of these on a regular basis this year, backed with some 'real tree timber' print scrim net. This has become my favourite hide set up as the break up and resemblance to real foliage is better than any of the other nets that I have. They also work really well used in conjunction with the desert net when against a grassy hedge line. In the first instance, send me a PM to let me know which you would like and include your address details. If you include a contact number, I will give you a call, or alternatively I will reply to your mail and include my Paypal address to send the money to. Look forward to hearing from you. Best regards Nige

Just a quick refresh of an earlier post. I still have a few of the following nets for sale. Basically it is all unused, military spec. Prices + postage costs (Post Ofice - Standard Parcels - 2-3days) are as follows: Woodland 5x3m £20 + p&p @ £10.00 = £30.00 - 6 left Desert 5x2m £20 + p&p @ £6.00 = £26.00 - 5 left One of each of the above £40 + p&p @ £14.00 = £54.00 If you want to know what the quality is like search this forum and you will find people who bought them last year, who you can then ask about the quality. With every net you will get some micro cable ties of the right colour to carry out repairs further down the line if needs be. You can have a look at the piccys on photo bucket at the following link: http://s1051.photobu...s/s439/army646/ Please note the woodland nets are what I would call a 'tri colour patch net' but to counter this the nets have been cut at 5x3m to allow them to be double draped, giving a run of 5x1.5m with better coverage (pictures show this). I have used one of these on a regular basis this year, backed with some 'real tree timber' print scrim net. This has become my favourite hide set up as the break up and resemblance to real foliage is better than any of the other nets that I have. They also work really well used in conjunction with the desert net when against a grassy hedge line. In the first instance, send me a PM to let me know which you would like and include your address details. If you include a contact number, I will give you a call, or alternatively I will reply to your mail and include my Paypal address to send the money to. Look forward to hearing from you. Best regards Nige

Saw an odd rape field that was swathed and a couple that had been combined direct when down in Mansfield last week. Just been down the M62 towards Liverpool today and a couple of fields of cereals were already down to stubbles and the combines were out on a few more. North Yorkshire is probably a couple of weeks away in the main. Will have a look this weekend, see what's what and report back. Keep praying for no rain everyone. Nidge

Evening all Nearly harvest time again and how the years seem to fly past. Right! last year I got hold of a large quantity of unissued desert camo and woodland camo net, basically more than I needed. I sold most of it off and then sat on the rest as I ended up too busy fitting a bathroom that I had been putting off for way too long (got to keep her sweet, she makes mi tea after all!) Any way I have x10 desert and x8 woodland that are up for grabs at silly low money to my fellow pigeon shooters as I need them out of the way. Details as follows: Prices + postage costs (Post Ofice - Standard Parcels - 2-3days) are as follows: Woodland 5x3m £20 + p&p @ £10.00 = £30.00 - 8 left Desert 5x2m £20 + p&p @ £6.00 = £26.00 - 10 left One of each of the above £40 + p&p @ £14.00 = £54.00 If you want to know what the quality is like search this forum and you will find people who bought them last year, who you can then ask about the quality. With every net you will get some micro cable ties of the right colour to carry out repairs further down the line if needs be. You can have a look at the piccys on photo bucket at the following link: http://s1051.photobucket.com/albums/s439/army646/ Please note the woodland nets are what I would call a 'tri colour patch net' but to counter this the nets have been cut at 5x3m to allow them to be double draped, giving a run of 5x1.5m with better coverage (pictures show this). I have used one of these on a regular basis this year, backed with some 'real tree timber' print scrim net. This has become my favourite hide set up as the break up and resemblance to real foliage is better than any of the other nets that I have. They also work really well used in conjunction with the desert net when against a grassy hedge line. In the first instance, send me a PM to let me know which you would like and include your address details. If you include a contact number, I will give you a call, or alternatively I will reply to your mail and include my Paypal address to send the money to. Look forward to hearing from you. Best regards Nige

Just come back from a weekend in the lakes with a few mates. Stood on Sunday morning watching a pair of birds nesting. I would say that they were sitting on eggs. Talking to a shooting buddy who said he was out over Christmas and actually looked into a nest in a bush that had chicks in it on Boxing day! I think that the year has been a bit of a weird one with the unseasonal weather throwing everything out of kilter. I must admit I did start to question where the hell all the birds have gone in Yorkshire when I had a day out last weekend. In a nutshell the skies were devoid of birds and so were the woods. Put it this way I saw more birds sat on the lamp posts on my way to where I shoot than I did whilst sat in the hide. This is land where there was thousands last year. Have they decided to go covert and taken up walking so that we can't shoot them?

Had a day out yesterday up near Ripon, N.Yorks. I must admit that it is the first day out that I have indulged in this year, as I have had a bit too much to do. Due to the lack of pre reccying trips because of the time and commitments issue, I elected to shoot over land that I shot last year that is surrounded by a few woods and was holding good flocks of birds at roost on an evening. My thinking was that seeing as the warm weather has started them of mating they would probaby be 'tree hoping' and chasing each other about. I therefore chose to shoot some ground between two woods that last year were holding birds at roost. The intention being to intercept them as they flew between the two. Right, finally got there at about 7.15Am to be greeted by a good old fog and a realisation that the rape is well and truly up due to the unseasonably mild weather and having recently been top dressed. So whilst I am having a bit of a 'shufty' about looking for where they had kept the crop down a bit, one of my shooting buddies landed which was a bonus, as we might be able to use our chosen shooting positions to keep the birds moving about if needs be. Any way, we stood nattering for a good hour, catching up and waiting for the fog to start to show signs lifting and looking for birds moving. There were a few, but not that many, which I was hoping was down to the fog, but my shooting buddy informed me that he had really struggled over the winter months finding any real numbers of birds and had literaly burnt gallons of fuel doing so trailing around Yorkshire. Now I must point out that this bloke is not a 'newbie' he has been at it for years. We finally decided to set up some time after 8.30Am having still not seen that many birds and in the hope that the sun would eventually burn the fog off and the birds would begin to move. We both shot areas where the rape was shorter in front of each of the woods near where the flight line would normally exist. Fog lifted just before dinner, but with no appreciable increase in bird activity and I mean no where on the surrounding horizon that could be seen with the 'nocs'. Hmmm! Basically this was the situation all day, I bet if I had seen 30-40 birds move all day I would have been lucky! finally threw the gear in the back of the car at some time after six. Finally tally for the pair of us one shot, one lost. Anybody in North Yorkshire done any better? Anybody in North Yorkshire seen any number of pigeons? If so could you send them Ripon way and not to the city centre to sit on the lamp posts, as this is where I saw the majority of birds on Saturday. So come on then, prove I am c**p, if you have shot anywhere in N.Yorks this weekend, how many have you shot and over what?