ellebarto

I see a lot of people on here reviewing guns so I thought if I listed all the guns I had owned and a line through those I'd now sold, people can ask my opinion on them just as you are doing. Its like I said in this thread above, it was my starter gun. If I'm honest I loved it, it was easy to strip and nice to shoot. As I got better and more experienced I just wanted a better more accurate gun, not that it ever really let me down. The main reason it went was the force of its cartridge ejection. I do a lot of bunny shooting from within the land rover and the cases were picking against the windows and flying all over the place. I went to a bolt action so the whole process was just more controlled. I'd recommend them although be aware they have been discountinued so parts and mags are becoming a bit rare!

Yeah I think Thumbhole stocks are marmite to be honest. Ive got a nice little .22 Anschutz with a Thumbhole stock and I think both guns are fantastic. The very experienced shooter who taught me the ropes things they are both flash, difficult to mount and generally wont touch them!

I've owned CZ's in .22 and have the Savage .17 Thumbhole now. I've got a nice silver SAK on mine though. I've not seen bad reviews to be honest and mine is pinpoint accurate and just feels far better quality than a CZ with a fantastic trigger setup straight out of the box without having to go piddling around with customizing from day one! I dont have bad things to say about the CZ exactly, just that its most peoples starter gun and they then go and get something better. They are fine and reliable but need attention from day one to get them right. Unless your unlucky, the Savage will come out of the box on day one feeling and shooting like a premium bit of kit with no tweaking required. Money aside, if you put each gun in a shooters hands and asked them to pick I'd be very suprised if the build and quality of the Savage didnt win out! Youd have to go and do just that to see what I mean. If your in the Northwest your welcome to come and shoot mine! Obviously I'm going to be a bit biased but I had the exact choice you had and went with the Savage!

I've never really setup for foxes. I've chanced upon them and been out with a friend looking for them but I have no real experience. A local land owner has approached me to deal with a fox problem he has and if I do it right and do it well it could lead to some more permissions, which are like gold dust in this area. So , I dont want to rock up looking clueless and I want to be safe and do the job right. So within reasonable boundaries, I want to blag my experience to the land owner so he wants me to do the job, learn about the skill while doing the job and then acquire more permissions. This is the basic story, its initially a 10 to 20 acre piece of land. Generally speaking to the front aspect there are hundreds more acres of primarily grass land that I'm looking for permission on, to the left there is a bridle path to the right there is a road. Both would be in range of a stray rifle shot if I didnt have a solid back drop (450-700 yards). I dont believe the land has actually be signed off for rifles anyway but I will be looking into that with a view to future shooting if not the imminent fox problem. The land has horses, Lama's, bunnies and did have chickens until Mr fox got hungry. There is a copse of trees in the centre where I've tracked various runs and paths too, so I'm fairly sure of where they are and where they are going at night. The landowner has told me to just shoot my rifle and get the job done but I dont have an open licence and I only shoot .17 and .22 at the moment. Strictly speaking both can do the job but are not licensed to do so in GMP. So my plan is to bait an area between the trees and the chicken coup, maybe drag a few bunnies behind me for a night or two from the trees to an area infront of the coup, where I will leave the bunnies for the fox then after a night or two lay up by the 'feeding' area with a 12g and some SG shells or triple A perhaps. A fellow shooter has suggested that as long as I'm accurate and use a high velocity cartridge, my .22 is more than adequate and would be so quiet as to not draw any attention to the fact I'm using it, even though I shouldnt be. Basically, he is saying risk it because the risk is so small. Can any of you experienced fox hunters pick holes in these tactics or offer me any advice? It sounds simple and Im aware that popping a fox with a 12g is likely to be tricky but given the scenario, I think its my best and possibly only option. Thanks in advance.

Ive got a .22 MP5 clone that has a hologrpahic sight fitted but its a £45 bargain basement jobby that proved good value and I was planning to get another of those or at least try that to see if it does the job before I look at anything else. That does look pretty good though! $79 from the US direct!

MMMM!!! I suspect I'm 3 days late in getting that advice although it might still be OK. Been down the Eotech route and also decided on a cheaper alternative that appears to work fine. The pistol grip and forend I have on order are by black hawk and appea rot get decent reviews! Time will tell on the quality!

I set up early Sunday morning with a full pattern of Woodies, spinner and 2 bouncers, crows off to both sides on a field that was covered the day before! Almost every flight of pigeons that went over never took a second look but the crows kept coming in groups of 3 to 6 until about 10.30 and then it went dead completely. Driving home I saw a mix of crows and gulls in massive numbers on lots of the stubble fields that had just be ploughed over and I don tthink they had be seeded! I'll never understand this pigeon shooting malarky!!!!

Interesting. Can you post a few pics? I had gone off the idea having received contradicting advice but I guess if I sold the spare shorter barrel, then the legal implications go away. I've also developed a contact in the US who is happy to ship me anything as long as it doesn't go bang by itself so my project is back on! Personally I think it looks fantastic and the only thing that ever stopped me buying one was the weird way the gun cam up for the monster can on the front! This looks like the solution!

My local gunsmith does a 7day money back on 2nd hand kit, which I think is amazing, so I took this gun out and shot pigeon with it over the weekend. Not sure who will be interested but for future reference, mechanism was faultless. Its a 3 shot and never miss fed over a good 125 shells. Its nice and light and the camo finish is good. It was a 30" barrel model and that was its downfall. No use in a hide with my big gorilla like brother sitting next to me! The amount of times I swung my barrel round for a snap shot and dragged half the hide with me was annoying! It went back to the shop this morning and was taken back instantly without question. Excellent service! Researching what to get next now. My brother reckons I should bin the idea of an auto for pigeons and stick with my over and under clay gun but I have my heart set on a dedicated camo auto!! My whims cost me a fortune!

You will probably have to go through the learning process yourself but I've gone through a variety of calibres and Ive found most of my bunny shots are at 45 to 90 yards and a .22 at that range with a half decent mod is almost silently and very accurate. It really is all you need. If you just want to try something else or are getting bunnies at 100 yards plus then a 17 HMR is a good option but is quite a lot louder. Not great if your shooting anywhere near the farmers place! Anything over that for bunnies is massive overkill in my humble opinion. I have a Marlin lever action .357 for the range only (Cowboy rifle). Cheap, fun and a big boom! Would highly recommend that if its a big calibre 25 yard fun gun you want!

Every range is different and they have to be certified for the velocity not so much the calibre. Certain velocities will puncture the armour plate installed at ranges. For instance at my range I shoot .22, .38, .357 and .44 but they wont allow .17HMR because of its velocity. Bullet sizes its .17, .22, .38 and .357 are the same just different powder charges and then .44 but as Ive said the size doesnt really matter! I tell my Mrs that as well...............

I'll be getting the gunsmith to do the work, its just as with anything like this I like to understand the basics of the process before I take it in for the work. The crimp in the alloy doesn't look like something that could be pushed out so I guess its a new tube.

I've just chopped in my Hatsan FAC 9 shot for a 2nd hand Franchi 612 VS auto. Its on 7 days approval so I'm taking it out on the pigeons at the weekend. I've stripped it down and it appears in good order and the magazine tube has been crimped as you would expect. Now Ive got the slot on my FAC for a shotgun so I thought I might as well have this made into a 6 shot or whatever is available for it but if the tube has been crimped is it major heart surgery to make it FAC? Anyone any experience of this?

I'm with Wymberley on this! Stay with a make and you'll lose less on the trade in and if you enjoy your shooting you'll change it within 18 months!!

Have to say for a very cheap and fully moderated gun, its one of the best funguns I own. Because it isn't a bolt on can it also comes up very smooth and is light and easy to shoot! My current fav is wandering my permission just after dusk with this over my shoulder with a little pressure switch led torch. Feels very satisfying to startle a bunny and bring the gun up for a snap shot. Only pinged a few like that but worth ten with the rifle, although the farmer wouldnt agree! Cant recommend it highly enough for that money! Can do pics n stuff if anyone is interested!

I've bought a couple of these recently (one for my brother and one for me) http://www.guns.gb.com/410-phantom-synthet...ted-9103-0.html Single shot bolt action but its a nice effective gun, is very cheap and if your after a 410 I guess you want something quieter anyway! I'd personally recommend it anyway and they have a new delivery of them due in next week! For a few quid I've added a sling and an underslung torch and remote swith and Ive used it for bunnies at night and pigeons in the day (have to be good to hit a pigeon in flight) so I havent hit many with it!! I reckon youd pick that up for £290 and if you got bored with it, you could sell it in a year for £220 easily!

I'd say 75 to 100 yards. If I start by comparing it to my gun lamp. If a swept a hedge row at 100 yards from left to right anything at the foot of the hedgerow or 20 yards to the left or the right of the beam centre then I'd see the eyes flashing back or make out the rabbits movement. With this I kinda had to know where the critter was to start with or spend quite a long time searching 10 ft at a time with no vision outside the beam at all. If the bunny wasnt looking back (eyes not fully lit) then I wouldnt see it them! First night out so perhaps there is some technique or perhaps my eyes dont work so well in green light! As I said, no great numbers out so not the best test!

10ft across at that range but very dispersed! If you tighten the beam however to fox size an you have a rough idea where he is then I could see it being pretty good! Next time I go out wil try just that!

Well that was the purpose of putting a review on here! The reality is very often a mile away from practice! Early days still and I have yet to have a fox in my sight or indeed anything like a decent number of bunnies! Grass needs cutting as well on my permission so perhaps its down to conditions more than the kit! Trying to keep an £188 open mind on it!!

I dont ever do that to be honest but perhaps I will in future and on that basis it would be a better bit of kit! I guess my review is based purely on my style of shooting and hopefully there will be a better balanced part 2.

Its all about the fit for your first gun. Dont worry about anything else at all. The mechanics of an over an under are simple. If it comes up well then you have half a chance. If you can spend at the top of your budget, maybe even a bit more then Browning and Beretta usually keep there value better if you get into it and want to move on to a better gun! Not because they are better but because the names are more familar to people (I think)

Right then, having been introduced to this bit of kit by chaps on this forum I developed a contact in the US and managed to get one delivered for £188. So far so good! I'd watched every utube clip of people using it and it looked an amazing bit of kit. OK it's not NV but it looked to give excellent illumination, was compact and from utube it looked to light up the kind of quarry I was after (bunnies & foxes) pretty well. At the moment I'm going out at night with a scope mounted lamp powered from my cigarette lighter and I'm shooting from the Land Rover. It works but I'm all wires and switches and the bunnies are starting to get lamp shy! So anyway, the ND3, first thoughts are its fantastic quality. Everything from the box and padded carry case it came in, to the mounts and fittings. 10 minutes max and I had it fitted to my .17HMR Savage with a Leo 4.5-14 45mm scope. By no means the best glass money can buy but no slouch either. http://www.photobox....album/479891909 It all just fitted nicely and was compact and still fitted into my slip so again nice big thumbs up for that! I even had a quick go in the living room at trying to line up the focal point of the beam in my cross hairs and the adjusting dials for elevation and windage were, well, fantastic. Dead simple very strong and robust and a minute later it seemed to be done! Right then off to blast some bunnies! I hadn't shot with the Savage for a while so I started by checking the zero at 75 yards. Now I'd never done this before at night so I put a reflective dot on a target and flicked on the ND3. Have to say initial thoughts were it was pretty damn impressive. Perfect NV type illumination through my scope. In fact it was so bright my biggest issue was the reflective dot bouncing back too much light and even though I thought the rifle was perfect at 75 yards it seemed to be shooting 10 mil to the right and in darkness I couldn't seem to correct it. I think that was more down to me being dazzled by the reflective dot though! I did some fine adjusting to the elevation of the ND3. Again, I was very impressed with the ease of this process and considering I had only loosely attached the ND3 for now (as per the instructions) it all seemed solid and sturdy and I just nipped up the mounts a tad before hitting the field. Now this is why I have called this part one. My permission was strangely quiet and I only saw 4 bunnies in 2 hours. Farmer had been ploughing all day, it was a bit windy and a bit wet. Not really bunny conditions and I wouldn't usually have gone out but I had my new toy to play with!! So to the end of my night and a bit of a downer really on the promising start. What I was finding was that the green ND light even on its widest setting wasn't identifying targets very well. I'd sweep an area I thought would usually contain bunnies and it seemed to light up everything it hit (lots of beads of due looking very bunny like) but reveal nothing. I'd then click on my scope light and holding it in my hand sweep the same area and on more than one occasion it would reveal a bunny that the green light had not really helped me identify! The green light just didn't seem to reflect back their eyes as well as red or white light. So in those cases it was quickly off with the powered light, chuck it in to the passenger seat, lean over for the rifle, try and remember where the target was, click on with the ND3, where the have you gone and…………..too late! So about 4 bunnies scoped and one kill at about 90 yards and that was my night. In fairness the one I hit at 90 yards sat there for a minute or two happily munching not knowing I was scoping in on him to test its capabilities where if I had lamped him he would have given me 10 seconds max. So then how do I summarise my first night with the ND3. A really promising start but overall disappointing. If I have to sweep the ground with a lamp before scoping in with the ND3 then it's going to fall short of what I wanted from this kit and the amount of money I spent on it but then the lack of wires to line up the shot is a bonus, the green light does give you good detail through the scope and when you do identify a target its very well lit up in a narrow beam that does scare everything else away! I'm obviously going to have to give it another go in better conditions with more quarry but perhaps the best way of expressing my initial thoughts are by telling you that as I drove off my permission I was wondering if I could get one of you lot to take it off my hands for £150 and go back to my £60 scope lamp!!

MMMM!!! Do they taste different??!?!

North of England! Youre in a whole different country!!!

Know nothing about trail cameras but if you find a dealer in the US, my recommnedation would be to find one via ebay with good feedback, email them first and ask if they will mark the parcel as either a gift or a trade sample with a $1 value! Not a gurantee however its never failed for me yet! I have my crafty wife and her knowledge of import duty to thank for that little gem!!