Gordon R

Had one of the cheap £15 no make from Ebay - had it for five years. Thought it was faulty - tuned out to be cable - in the mean time I had bought another. Binatone £35 - excellent..

Sorry - I don't agree. Conor O'Gorman has as much right as anyone to express an opinion and I would be sorry if he left. I don't often agree with him and sometimes despair at his evasion, but it's a free country.

Can we be clear - BASC did not come up with a voluntary transition away from lead shot??????? The" big boy stuff" was in response to you complaining about repetitive posts and then stating that you would carry on reading them. If you don't like reading them, just stop reading them. It isn't "big boys" making you read them, so just who is it? As for being a "minder", you flatter me. I support posters I agree with and question those who peddle rubbish.

Your post above seems to cut directly across the podcast, which concentrates almost wholly on the game market. By the way, steel shot will not stop birds ingesting shot - steel or lead.

That is a typical response from those who are quite happy that BASC volunteered to give up lead, without bothering to consult its members. Big boys kept making me read the same old posts. 🙂 I wish I had the will power not to read them.

Konor has invested some time and effort in trying to get straight answers to relatively simple questions. He can't get any, so posts again. Then some members pop up and ask why he keeps posting. If they find it boring - don't read. Is their answer to just ignore the lack of proper responses and let it go? I find the stick he has had from the odd member or two bizarre. I have asked questions which are never answered, as has Scully, Old farrier and Rewulf, plus others. Same response - patronising comments and useless links / podcast.

Some time has passed since my summary of the podcast. I don't see any disagreement with the opinion I have posted, so I have to assume that BASC accept it as accurate.

Despite its age, that is a very modern looking 101.

Conor - you are too sensitive. I have read the patronising and arrogant stick you dish out. You need to get used to incoming. Any worthwhile messages you put out gets lost in your evasion and sniping. If you don't like it - just ignore it.

Conor - just spoken to daughter in law. Thinks it wouldn't go down well with some parents and the kids are a bit young., but she has many contacts in Bolton schools, so I will ask her to spread the word.

Conor - thanks for that.

Conor - do you have any information about what age group the BASC talks are aimed at? My daughter in law owns several children's nurseries. They have had, from memory, talks from the Police and Fire Brigade amongst many others. Not sure whether the children would be too young or even whether my daughter in law would be interested, which is why I ask the question.

I have done a few before, but used a scroll saw to cut out the comb piece. I was never happy, as the scroll saw was hard to keep in an accurate line. In a rush of blood to the head, I purchased a band saw yesterday, as I thought it would be easy. Tried the band saw today on some spare wood - great in a straight line, but useless for bends. I quickly realised that I needed a narrower blade. I thought I would crack on with the actual mechanism. I bought some aluminium flat bar 1" wide, 1/4" thick. I bought two different sized aluminium tube, which in theory should have slotted straight in. It didn't. A bit of gentle drilling sorted that. After a bit of increasing the bore on the larger tube, I managed to cobble together one mechanism. I will fit it on one of my spare guns and have enough to do another three. After doing the sporter, I might just put one on my trap gun. Photo is where I am at the moment. I need a narrower blade to cut the comb

The woodwork looks well finished and the gun itself looks way better than "good condition".

Against my better judgement, I listened to the whole podcast. If you want to hear about Carribean holidays or Carribean February weather - this is the podcast for you. Exciting topics about whether you would prefer to wear wellingtons day and night or never wear them at all. Terry described that as "a difficult one", finally coming down on the side of never wearing wellies. I was surprised and shocked by his response that he would never wear them. I confess to missing the link between the Carribean / wellies and lead shot. Terry said that the debate about lead shot started 40 years ago, but immediately moved to the ban on using lead over wetlands in 1999 and then to the current transition. I listened a couple of times just to make sure I hadn't lost 15 years. I am still unclear about what he meant. When questioned about whether the voluntary transition was successful, he said that significant progress had been made by manufacturers of ammunition. He didn't seem to grasp that about 6% of birds shot with steel, was some way short of 100%. Classic "they was coming in" and HSE minus the silent aitch. At around 23.20mins, he did refer to tests on gel covered in pheasant skin demonstrating that steel shot penetrated better than lead. I read the same research which seemed to indicate no difference. A bit odd. When asked about the dangers of lead water pipes, he was quick to point out that this had been banned for new builds in the last 20 years. He waffled on about existing lead pipe by helpfully pointing out that a householder could replace the lead pipe which was within their boundary. If a householder had lead pipe right up to their boundary, I struggled with the rationale in replacing a relatively short section, at a not so small cost. He seemed to be unaware of any barrels scored by steel shot, which he described as soft iron. He wasn't hot on detail about the need for a protective wad to enclose the steel shot. I don't know why manufacturers bothered about the protective wad, as Terry gave me the impression that barrels don't need protecting. The whole podcast seemed to deal with the sale of game shot with lead or steel. The alleged damage to the environment was given negligible coverage. As some would say - listen and make up your own mind. It's up to you.

Sadly, I have to agree. He does seem to place a lot of faith in his ability to convey a message in one of his "phone calls", which cannot, for some strange reason, be published on this forum.

Rewulf - a blind man can see you are correct. You just need some of those rose tinted BASC glasses and you can be cured.

Whilst BASC might think a voluntary ban on lead is fine, HSE are looking at lead shot - full stop, which does include clay shooting. Few share BASC's rose tinted view and suspect that non shooters will lump game and clay shooting together and want to ban lead in both cases. They would argue that one of the main shooting organisations thinks lead is bad and they agree. Some might claim that the voluntary transition to non lead has been a success. That is delusional.

Not sure how Amateur ended up taking stick on this thread, as he is correct. Some people just don't like facing reality.

Rewulf - on the money.

Rewulf - decent post with a very interesting link. Can I suggest you would be best listening to the podcast. It has little or nothing of import to say and was just a bit amateurish. However, it will the the best part of an hour of your life, which you will never get back. 🙂

Gotta love the junior lay-bys every so often. Only useful if you conveniently break down at that spot. Slim chance and no chance.

Congratulations to you and your wife. I hope to be around for my 69th anniversary. If we get to our 60th, I understand my wife will be presented with a medal.

Bargain.

I agree. If a bird was shot with steel, but had ingested a lead pellet, what killed it? How could any game supplier say that the bird was lead free? Are they opening up every bird to check on cause of death? Are they X-raying birds? The answer is neither.