Zapp

Well, in the end I went for something entirely different! I ended up getting a Franchi 712 Raptor, and my first impressions of it are very good indeed. I have done a spot of casual pigeon shooting and will be taking it out on the clay range at the weekend. Pete

I am on the verge of buying a semi auto, but torn between a remmy 1187 (£495)and a beretta A390 (£550). discuss! Pete

Excellent. Looks like I'll be buying that Beretta then :yp: ! Thanks for the help. Pete

Hi all I have a bit of a question for you all, though I feel a bit stupid for asking it considering I've been a shooter for quite a while. I am considering buying a secnd hand Beretta AL391, but have a sneaking suspicion it has a 3in chamber. This brings up a problem whic I had never really considered:- Can I use 2 3/4 carts in a 3in chambered gun? Also, can any AL391 (or any other auto) users recommend a good pigeon cartridge? I have been using 30g Rottweil Mk II no5's, but have heard that Hull Special Pigeon 6's are pretty pokey too. Thanks in advance Pete

Yeah, I do quite a bit, but only from the kits at the moment. Henryd, you say not to use the kits which require sugar. Why is this? Is it because of the slight "artificial" saccharine like taste these kits all seem to get? Could you reccomend a brand of "no sugar required" kit? For the record, I tend to brew IPA in summer and Stout and dark ale in winter. Pete

Dunganick, your post made me smile. It reminded me of a time years ago when I was shooting on a large farm in sussex, when my buddy and I encountered a group of, ahem, "caravan enthusiasts", who were working lurchers on land they definatley didnt have permission to be on. When we challenged them, they clearly thought we were also poachers, because one tried to claim he was the farmer. His expression was priceless when my buddy turned round and said "Jesus dad, you've lost weight since this morning" They left fairly soon after, accompanied with the usual over the shoulder threats etc. Pete

Theakstons Old Pec, ?Marstons? Old Empire IPA, Stella, Guiness, Red wine and rollies (Golden Virginia). Class act!

Hi all, thanks for the replies. I have seen pigeon milk before, and it definately wasnt that! The bird smelled as though it was rotten, so maybe trichominiosis as suggested by henry d could have been the cause. I can still smell it now.. yeuchh! Pete

Hi all I dont often post on airgunning, though I have been doing it even longer than shotgunning. These rifles all look like very nice peices of kit, but is there anyone here who has owned a "bells and whistles" gun, as I did, (I had a BSA Superten MKII when they wereall the rage), but got rd of it for a simpler gun. I sold my superten and got a BSA lightning XL, and although I now have to worry about compensating for different positions, I find it very liberating to have a gun I dont have to worry about too much (recharging etc). Am I alone in my airgun downsizing? Pete

Hi all Decided to do a bit of casual shooting on a nice little flightline on the edge of a field of wheat stubble I have access to today. I only had a couple of hours, due to family etc, so I packed 6 full body deeks and 50 cartriges and set off. I had been shooting for aot 2 hrs (pretty slow stuff), when I noticed a pair of buzzards hovering over a small wood to the south. Now, this is a rarety around my way, the birds are only just re-established themselves, so I was pleased to watch them doing their thing. After about 10 mins of steady wheeling in my direction, one of the buzzards made a beeline for my decoy pattern. I had an inkling that it was after one of the shot birds I had set out, and as far as I am concerned it was quite welcome to one. The buzzard performed a couple of low swoops, really close, which pleased me no end as they are really impressive creatures, and then dropped onto my pattern. Rather than the thud I expected, there was a familiar, hollow clunk as it landed. It had dropped onto one of my plastic deeks! This made me laugh out loud, and as I did, the buzzard looked straight at me for a second. Obviously stung by my laughter, the bird lifted off, but to my horror, clutched in its boney claw was my decoy! With a screech that I can only assume translated to "screw you big ears", the bird beat its wings and soared away, the decoy waving about haplessly below it. Away it wheeled, ignoring my shouts of abuse, until it got back over the small wood. At this point I saw a small speck drop from its claws and plunge into the woods below (to which I dont have access!). Lesson: Never, ever laugh at a buzzard if it is near your property! Also, I shot a pigeon today, and when I was sorting it out for eating, I noticed a disgusting smell coming from its crop. When I opened it up, the crop was lined with a cheese like substance which smelled like putrid flesh. I came across this once before about 15 years ago, but assumed my dog had brought a previousy shot but uncollected bird. Not so this time, I shot it and it landed in the stubble within clear sight. Does anyone know what the cause of this was? Sorry for the novel length post! Pete PS, I shot 11 today.

Axe I can only assume that the aircraft would have been slowly shredded as it went through each section and there eventually wasnt enough to keep going. Bear in mind that although airliners are soft when compared to a reinforced building, the impact would have been massive. Ever been hit by a large beetle while riding a motorbike? OWW! The principal is quite similar to how some tank armour works, hard layer (building) soft layer (grassy bit in between) har layer soft layer etc, using each succesive impact to degrade the projectile and diminish its kinetic energy until it disintegrates or stops. This leaves a distinctive pattern of big hole, smaller hole, smaller still until penetration stops. I will try to find an image of this and post it. Pete, If this had been a bunker busting weapon with a delayed fuse, there would have been small holes followed by a great big one, which is the opposite to what the video showed, as bunker busting bombs use kinetic energy to penetrate the target and then chemical (explosive) energy to destroy the target via the kineticly created hole. Damn you lot, you've got me into geek mode again! Pete

Well done to Shawn, what a generous thing to do! Also nice to see that the good Maj Coates' advice was not lost on the shooters; "Time spent on reconnaisance is seldom wasted". Well done all round! Regards, Pete PS Edit due to mis spelling Shawn, sorry fella!

Wake up! :( If noone objects, I'm going to watch ths and debunk it bit by bit. It will be a long post whe it comes, so please tell me if you all think it is a load of **** so I need not bother in the first place! Pete

I have to say it sounds like a load of rubbish to me. I will watch it again, but one this immediately springs to mind. Its the bit where they ask if a jet punches neat holes in reinforced buildings. I say, yes, they are far more likely to than any conventional weapon in current service. That kindof damage would be caused by something big and heavy moving very fast. That is kinetic damage, not explosive. Even a ground penetrating bomb would have blown the bejesus out of the first few sections and then caused only blast damage to the rest. Also, something like that would not have penetrated horizontally, as the are not designed to do so. Were it some kind of shaped charge like an explosively formed warhead, then the penetration would be uniform and would have caused more internal damage than external. In my opinion, that kindof damage is due to a big, heavy butrelatively soft object hitting the building with massive kinetic energy which dissipated until the object stopped or disintegrated. Hope that hasnt sent you all to sleep! Pete

Yes! I recognise this! Airgun world or airgunner ran a story on these guns in the 80's Give me a few days and I'll see what I can dig out from the archive at the end of my mums bed! Regards Pete