chrisjpainter

Success! Which method did ye use?

Okay. The easiest way is to open the image as a file. Then open the snipping tool. Click on Start in Windows and either open the tool or just start typing 'snipping tool' and open it. Select 'new' and then drag a box round the open image. Open Pigeonwatch and in your post hit Control and V at the same time. It'll paste the image in. Should you want to make the image smaller in your post, double click on the image And change the pixel size, keeping Aspect Ratio ticked, so that it stays the same proportions.

Are you on a PC with windows 10 or 11, by any chance?

Chris Yates (angler and one-time UK carp record holder) is doing a programme on the radio looking for Hen Harriers in Wiltshire. Could be worth a listen BBC Radio 4, 16:30 tomorrow BBC Radio 4 - Reading the Air

Ah yes, I remember. Size is always a tricky thing to gauge, the juvenile lanner would be bigger. But the big clue is how streaked the chest is. Your other bird was much more heavily streaked on the chest with wider, more definite lines.

This is a Kestrel, same as ours, although there are some colour morphs across its range, which can catch people out in thinking they're the altogether more unusual lesser kestrel. There are only very small pockets of populations in Egypt, so it's a good find there!

No he didn't ask for that. He asked for a sensibly priced FAC-Air rifle advice. Sort of suggesting he already knew what would suit best... 'I'm after a new tractor.' 'certainly sir, I think this bicycle will do the job'

Yup. That was a shocker. Aus win 13-7. And both need a time-out on the naughty step.

I'm watching Aus vs Wales. And feeling very blessed to be an England fan. My word this is dire. It's like watching me fly fish. I know what I'm meant to be doing. I know how it's supposed to go and occasionally I pull it off. But the vast majority is desperately frustrating and mostly inept. The handling errors from Australia have been laughable at times. They should be thrashing Wales, but instead it's a 3 point game after more than an hour. Bring on the Red Roses tomorrow...

What with? We've already established a 22lr is an unsuitable gun for the job, and shorts give you no more RELIABLE range than an FAC air. Or even a sub-12 gun. So what's going to give you a reliable shot with extra stopping power and extended range? Your argument might be that the 22lr is a more universal tool - but this isn't about that. It never has been. It's about an appropriate gun for the @Walker570's situation. And that's quite obviously an FAC Air. Does it give the range? Yes. Does it give the accuracy? Yes. Does it limit ricochet risk? Yes. It's no good saying 'ah but if you were in lots of other situations, a 22LR is better'... 'cos he 'ain't! You're wrong about it being a one trick pony, but even if you are right, what do you get to do that trick? Something else that doesn't do it as effectively or safely, or something that does it perfectly? That's a moot point anyway, because it'd apply to using 22LR shorts as well. And those really are a one-trick pony...and not very good at that one trick anyway. At least with FAC-Air, they make a great squirrel control option too, where shooting low to high isn't an option with a 22lr.

It's almost as if 25 years shooting the same permission gave him a clue as to what might work for him! Agreed. Shorts are no option at all. Inaccurate at long ranges and irrelevant at short.

Not really. Poor decision making doesn't create over-penetration as such; the wrong tool for the job does. Over-penetration is the result of too much energy in the round at the range of shot. So you're left with either not taking the shot, or risking over penetration and the chances of significant damage behind that. How do you fix that? Having the right tool for the job. Then you can take the closer shots as well as the longer range ones. Not being able to do your job to keep the pests down because they were too close for you to shoot is the sign of poor decision making in choice of tool, not the over-penetration. Rimfires suffer from ricochets more because of the type of round they are. They're a large (compared to air rifle pellets) mass travelling at a low speed. So when they hit objects, they hit a larger surface area. They have too much energy to just deplete and drop on the spot, but not enough to punch through and embed. So if they hit anything with any kind of angle, they ricochet. A 22lr round has that worst of both worlds problem. And they don't deform as readily because of the slower speeds. When travelling at the same energy, the significantly smaller air rifle pellet is more likely to either embed (after going through the quarry), because it's imparting its energy on a smaller surface area, or expend all its energy and just drop. It will also deform, because there's a lot less lead, so even if they do ricochet, they won't go as for or retain anything like the energy, because whatever energy it did retain will partly be expended in the deformation process. Any round can ricochet, given the right environment, but because of the relationship between its size, shape and speed, a 22lr creates the right environment far more readily.

There are so few situations that justify FAC-Air. In most cases, either a sub-12 air rifle or rim fire would be better options. But @Walker570's situation is one of those few! 22RF would be a disaster waiting to happen. farm buildings are a ricochet paradise, not to mention the over-penetration issue. But if you need the range, then a .22 FAC-air and a heavier pellet is ideal. As to all this nonsense of 'oops I hit a cow, but it'll be fine'. whatever the injury to the cow - small or great - it's a properly dim-witted thing to be doing! My guess is Walker's got a reputation to keep and permissions to retain. 'Sorry farmer, I accidentally shot a cow with a ricochet' is a quickfire way to lose all permissions. And what if it wasn't a cow? What if it's a person he didn't know was there and hadn't seen him shooting? I'm a fan of the S510. If you're not rattling of 100's of shots a session, then it's a perfect tool for the job. If you need a few more shots, the later generations R10's or the old school SuperTens are brilliant FAC's and any generation of Rapid. Just avoid the Weihrauch HW100 in FAC. For some reason there are more wrong'uns out there than good'uns! No idea why, but it just didn't take to higher powers, curious for such a great gun at Sub-12 level. Oh and I wouldn't buy new. There's no such thing as a 'sensibly priced' new FAC. Prices are always so much better at second hand level, because they're nowhere near as popular and tend to be harder to shift. But either go down the route of a dealer or find someone selling where you can test it first. There's a good way and a bad way to get a gun to FAC levels. The good ones have FAC-rated internals and are designed to take the higher powers. Any gun built to be FAC originally will be like that and anyone who's had a sub-12 tuned up should have these parts put in in place of the originals. But there's also the bodge way of not changing either all or some the internals and pushing parts beyond their working tolerances. Never ideal...

The Ridgeline Pintail II's got a side half-length zip. Used for ventilation, but also for making it a doddle to get on and off. This will get a lot of use as my jacket for Scouts, so not so much shooting. How warm is it? I tend to retain heat pretty well, so don't want something overly insulated!

Anyone going to be watching/following? It's on Sky Sports and not behind a PPV for once!

You'll never look at yours in the same way! I'm not great with logos. Genuinely, it was only about a year ago that I worked out the Browning logo was a buck/stag. Before that I just thought it was a chap with a crazy headdress/hat with his arm across his body.

I could never wear Buffalo clothing. Every day I'd see the logo and think, 'yup. That's a bison, not a buffalo.' A bison's more closely related to a cow than it is to a buffalo. If they'd made the logo look like a Dexter, I could have been on board...

Thanks Scully. 'Country Covers' gets rerouted to Fortis; is that who you meant?

I'm looking for a new smock. The one that caught my eye first was the Ridgeline Pintail Explorer II about £90. Other options would be the Monsoon and...anything else anyone wants to suggest? I did also se the Game Stalking Smock. Cheap, for sure, but does anyone own it? Packed with features, but the waterproofing and breathability figures are worse than the Pintail II. All suggestions and personal experience gratefully received! Game Talking Smock:

Amazing. That's the last time they'll cheat in a comp. No one's going to let them compete now. I doubt they'll be able to prove anything from previous fishing competitions, but at least they're gonna go down for this one. Any idea what the likely sentence will be? I'm guessing custodial if it's grand theft

Proper test match! France's defence was savage at times and I think England will feel they let a few points go begging (Scarratt's drop for example) but a great watch. 27 in a row now.

England 10-0 France at HT Heavy stuff so far. England are the better side and France are going through a mighty amount of work. I think that'll pay in the last 20, especially with a couple of injury subs already made. More of the same, please!

It's always a similar story with Daystate. If it's a regular service, great. If it's something you've done that was dopey, they're fine. But as soon as there's any accusation that the problem is the gun and not the owner, their customer service is shocking. I've had an Air Ranger, a mk4 and an Air Wolf and I'm done with them now. They make some of the nicest looking rifles on the market, but the manufacturing quality is just not up to scratch. So the likelihood is that something will go wrong with it, but they'll still blame you. My HW110 was considerably cheaper and much more reliable than any of the Daystates. It's no less accurate either. It's not the best looking of guns, but when it comes to it, I enjoy shooting something that works a lot more than something that doesn't!

This is the only acceptable alternative

Right. Not a perfect start, by any means. A bit scrappy in the first half and not as clinical as we should have been. Fiji were a typical pacific island nation in the first half: very loose and free flowing, but lacked quality. They tired badly in the second half, England got better and better, although they'll be narked with the last minute try. Still. 14 tries in the bag and Dow on the scoresheet. hurrah!