shootingmike

Thanks guys.. Will try a tube of some sorts with a cap on one end.

Just got 6 silo socks, 4 head down and 2 with head up. Any ideas for carrying them? Nice and light but a bit awkward with the metal spikes set in them.....

Thank for that, will take a look…

Thanks guys, will take a look at the Peltors too. @bigroomboy what podcasts do you listen too? Always looking for some decent shooting podcasts. Guns on pegs isn’t too bad, but mostly listen to American ones like ducks unlimited and Midwest flyways

Anyone tried ISO Tunes hearing protection (electronic earbuds or earbuds on a cord)? I'm looking for something that allows ambient noise through for wildfowling / clay shooting but protects against the gun noise. Don't want to go the moulded route as a have strange small ear canals so can forsee problems with attempting to mould. Wondered for a while if something like my AirPods Pro would work, where microphones allows external noise in, but then kick into the noise cancellation mode when the gun is fired. Or any other brands? Can see Howard Leight do something similar, but hard to find outside the US. Thinking corded might be a good option if wearing on the marsh.

Thanks all, very helpful. Will probably wait for the Brandecosse to come back in stock. Really like the look of them.

Very helpful Dave thank you! I really like the look of them, but the ones I fancy (Brontolare 9 inch) are out of stock until spring in my size, hence considering the alt bergs

Anyone have an educated opinion on these? Had some Alt Bergs before but they were too small. Seemed well made though. Love the look of the Brandecosse. Price similar for both in tall / medium length boots.

What state are you in? I was listening to a podcast the other day where Delta Waterowl were talking about huge duck numbers in the main flyways, and they have a planned programme to raise 1 millions ducks which is well underway. I gather in some states (from YouTube), there are limits of 6 mallards a day per gun? Is it just your local state restricting the bag limits so tightly, or are there just very few ducks?

Thanks all, some brands for me to look at there 👍

Can anyone recommend any full leather boots that don’t cost more than a small car? Preferably tall(ish), looked at the Jack Pyke hunters and the Hoggs Aanoch so far….

Thanks all. I guess until the shops open and I can handle some guns to see how they shoulder, I can’t really do much.

I’ve only ever read good things about the Franchi. That said, the reviews of the ATA’s seem decent too. I just don’t know whether to go semi auto again or O/U

So I’m looking at a new gun before next season. Shot with a 26” Escort for years, never missed a beat. can’t decide between the new Franchi Affinity Elite 3.5 with the Cerakote barrel, or one of 3 ATA’s (black action, 3 inch camo or 3.5 inch camo). My local marsh is pretty muddy so the benefits of plastic guns are obvious, but I feel like a wood stock gun would be an all rounder for clays and hopefully some game in future... Any thoughts?

Cheers all, when I looked a few years ago before we bred ours, lab pups were going from £350 to about £600 or £700;for fox red. Saw some not particularly well bred or attractive pups yesterday at £1200 and only 3 left!

Where do people look when after a new gun dog pup? My last dog was family bred so I wouldn’t know where to start. Came across Pets4homes website, but am seeing pet black labs (as an example) at ridiculous money!

I’ve read on some American forums that Browning have been offering replacements. It’s a known issue. I’ll see if I can find a link .... https://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=502778 or... https://www.duckhuntingchat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=907070

Cheers all. Nice to hear some real accounts from people. Sounds like it’d be fine then. Have they sorted the bolt handle flying out on new ones, or is it still a rat tail file job?

Cheers Lads. Pity as I feel like that’s the way I was gonna go. To be fair I rarely shoot clays anyway and could just use a 32 g for the odd pigeon day

Thanks Holloway... I don’t really want 3.5 anyway but it seems to be the only option unless you go for wood. Also looking at the Franchi but think the sx4 seems more wildfowling friendly

I’m deliberating between SX4’s and Franchi Affinity’s and keep going back and forth. Most of my shooting is 3” steel at wildfowl. I like the idea of the franchi, but am drawn to the SX4 as it seems they’ve thought about Fowler’s more (back bored, bottom threaded chokes, oversized controls). All the SX4’s I see are 3.5 inch apart from the wood stock which I don’t want. Does anyone who has one have any issues with ounce loads for clays or 1&1/8 for pigeons? i know I need to shoulder both really but just wondering....

Thanks lancer, that’s great. Bang on too - it is the B&P S35 was and cx2000 primers I have. Sounds like they’ll be fine in any of those cases then. Just need to work out how much powder to try now.

Cheers gents. I used to load mainly the Remingtons but with some American wads. I have different wads now, which seem to be the exact same wad used in the Gamebore mammoth 36g 1’s and 3’s so am just my trying to replicate their excellent load and improve it slightly if possible

I’m trying to get back into loading 3” steel after a couple of years off. I have powder, wads, primers and shot and am trying to work out which cases to load. My plan is to get Clay Game to test me some loads, but I don’t know whether to use some Remington cases I have, or an assortment of others. The others are a mixture of Gamebore mammoth, eley bismuth and some express. Other than brass length, are these all Cheddite cases does anyone know?

Thanks for all the responses guys. How much more noticeable is the recoil on the franchi? I’ve never shot an inertia gun...