Troosers Too

I know that I'd enjoy a shoot day without the gun a lot more than a shoot day without the dog.

I tried the search function but didn't get too much information, so here goes... I've been sniffing around for a reasonably cheap but practical bus. My heart says a defender but practical...it isn't. Also I'm not excited by the idea of having to work on it every other week. I've been seeing a lot of ads on Autotrader for Nissan Pathfinders at fairly sensible money with around 80k to 100k miles on the clock, however I'm also aware that Nissan have had all kinds of problems with the Navaras. Is there a particularly expensive service around the 80,000mile mark? Any of you boys with experience or knowlege of the Nissans? By the way it would get used for hauling the dogs, hauling guns on syndicate days, mostly local driving with the occasional haul up to Scotland. Basically it would get trashed while my wife gets the good car. Thanks for any information you can give. Cheers TT

I'm with Gnome. Don't give them the whole gun. You really have no idea who has access to that safe at night. The nice responsible guy on the desk who you gave the gun to might mention it to the halfwit night porter who takes over the shift later on. TT

What have you done!? I just found myself on the Guardian website reading all that smugnorthlondonleftie noise. I feel dirty - don't make me go there again! TT

Sniper, I'm right on the Worcestershire / Shropshire border at Tenbury Wells & we've got any number of munties in the woods. If you haven't got them yet, it won't be long. Cheers TT

Dammit, work got in the way there! Running Man, While I'd agree that there is more of a chance of getting small cal specialised competions handguns back, you mustn't make the mistake of thinking that politicians will make decisions based on the evidence, rather than what'll get them re-elected. Sadly we live in a state where two wee boys were disciplined recently by their school for playing soldiers and "shooting" at each other with their pointed fingers. Apparently it was threatening behaviour. There are an awful lot of people out there who think that all guns should be banned altogether so getting controls relaxed would, in my view, take a minor miracle. Cheers TT

Running Man, I'm not sure I understand your argument. Zero tolerance of drink drivers, window tax? The NHS has not been scrapped. Of course I'd fight any plan for further bans on firearms or prohibition or scrapping the NHS. But handguns have already been banned and to overturn that ban, the tiny minority of people in the whole British population who want that ban overturned would have to first convince hundreds of thousands of people to support them, convince a majority of MPs (most of whom have urban backgrounds & constituencies and hate shooters of any kind)to support them, convince the police... need I go on. Remember how many people turned up for the countryside march in London? That still wasn't enough to change the government's mind. Remember; all types of shooters are a very small minority in this country, of that minority, only a smaller group want the legislation changed. TT

The original question was "would there be much support?" It would appear from this thread that, even in the shooting community, there is some support but it certainly isn't universal. From the rest of the population (and more importantly, politicians) you can bet your *** that there would be a MASSIVE majority against. The ban may not have worked. There may well be more illegaly held pistols on the streets today than ever but that really doesn't mean much in this risk averse world. As Mungler said, it was a right that has gone & will never return. Remember the helmet law for bikers - there was hell on at the time about freedoms & liberty but only a tiny, tiny minority would support its repeal today. TT

I'm a layman but would have thought that surgery should really be a last resort in most cases. Every case is different, I know. My own experience with biff knees has been that having spent too many seasons skiing to a fairly high level with no knee injuries, I have been experiencing more & more pain in my right knee - to the point that it was really beginning to affect what I could & couldn't do. At first I put it down to wear & tear and rather thought I'd have to go under the knife. It was then suggested to me by my osteopath (skiing back injury) that I see a podiatrist. He, very quickly diagnosed that it was the way I was standing/walking that was causing strain on my knee & hips & suggested I try Orthotic footbeds. These were custom made for me & I've been using them for some weeks now & I can't believe the difference. I've now got zero pain when walking on the flat & stairs & slopes are no longer breathtakingly painful. Every day things seem to be getting better & better. I know it may not work in every case & that you need to take real professional advice but, for me, it has been a relevation. I only realised how accostomed to the pain I had been getting when, after about a week of using the footbeds, I suddenly noticed that walking was pain free for the first time in months. Best of luck with it whatever you do! TT

After playing with and interacting with the pup, as soon as it starts to flag a bit or you need to get on and do something else, pop the pup into the crate. Covering the crate with a blanket will also help as this can cut down on distractions though some pups don't like the feling of being cut off from the family. You'll be amazed how quickly most pups will consider the crate 'home' and will happily take themselves off there for a bit of down time.

The point is that you and I might not remember his name but his neighbours and others do. He was practically branded a perverted killer by the gutter press. Why? Because he's a bit eccentric and has funny hair! He has nothing to lose in suing those lying scumbags for as much as he can get. TT

WGD is right. Get the dog's stool samples checked by the vet. It might possibly a paricite problem. More likely is that the dog has some kind of food intolerance that's causing the problem with the cowpats & blood (my niece's lab had exactly that problem). It seems that quite a lot of young dogs react badly to the wheat and maize that is in a lot of the complete foods. WGD's plan for letting the dog's gut rest for a short while & then getting him/her on to rice & chicken is sound. Once things settle down, try gradually introducing something like Skinners Duck & Rice & see how that goes. Good luck TT

We've been using Safe 4 & it seems to do the job. You'll get the details here:-- www.safe4disinfectant.com Cheers TT

Done.

Damn , they look smart. If I ever wear my current priest out, I'll be looking for one of those. All you new priest holders can look forward to the pleasure of smacking yourself firmly on the thumb with the priest while trying to subdue a lively January cock bird. If you are like me, you'll then leave your throbbing thumb on the safety catch of the gun when taking your next shot & rammig the top lever into it to compund things. Cheer TT

Wait 'till the zip itself goes - they aren't so helpful then.

I have to agree with HDAV on this. I went to the Midland last year as I'd been working on the week-end of the CLA and was badly disappointed - I won't bother with it again unless I feel the need to parade around all day in a crowd dressed from head to foot in realtree like everyone else. The CLA is way, way better but, as usual I'll be working that week-end. TT

For a blazer, you'd probably be best to go for single breasted. A double breasted one will tend to make you look like the commodore of the Isle of Wight yacht club. "Pink gins all round - what ho!" Enjoy the game! TT

Most spaniels I know seem to think that walking to heel means being in the same field as you. If your wife is really struggling, you might try a halti (if that's how you spell it) lead that has 2 loops (one for the dog's neck and one for the dog's muzzle). They don't like them very much but certainly pull a lot less. Training is the real answer but it is hard for most of us average dog owners to be really sucessful with a strong ESS. A lot of spaniel owners will tell you that their dogs will walk ok to heel off the lead but pull like trains on the lead. On thing I did notice on you post was that you said "get on" when you walked off with the dog sat by your side. Try using the "heel" command and use "Get on" as the command to go out & hunt. My springer is much keener on "Get on" than she is on "Heel" Good luck TT

Help! Last week I was in a gunshop with Mrs TT who was looking for a new waistcoat. While she was rummaging about, I had a sneaky look at the guns on display. Anyway, I spotted a nice looking Browning and thought I'd have a wee sniff. Dammit! It came up & mounted beautifully & felt really good. It is 525 Autumn edition but I'm not really up on the Browning range as I've used a Beretta for years so I don't know too much about the gun. I couldn't ask much, or show too much interest at the time as the boss was beginning to give me "that look", but I'm quite interested. Do any of you guys have any experience of them, at all? What surprised me about the gun was that, because I'm a big, gangly thing, I have to have a great long stock extension on Berettas, but this thing seemed to come straight up to my eye on, what looked like, a pretty standard stock. Obviously I'd need to have a few swings with it before I were to buy it & smuggle it into the house but it has me quite excited. Thanks for any opinions or information Cheers TT

Only plaswad Sipes have a yellow case. The fibre wads have a silver case. For me they work brilliantly TT

Jimbo Tough decision and only you know how much you want to be a full time keeper. Really look at what Hiilmouse has to say as he's the man who's doing it and has the tweeds to prove it. There's a lot of commitment required so if you go into it thinking, "Oh I can always go back to selling houses", I don't think it will work. If you look at what he has to say and still think that it is what you really, really want to do then go for it. A word of warning, though - turning a passion or hobby into a job has its problems too. A long time ago, I was a very keen skier and fell into working in the ski industry, initially working in a shop, then instructing and eventually working for one of the big ski & binding manufacturers doing demos and skiing for their promo videos. Eventually skiing became just a job for me with no more satisfaction than driving a truck or working in the tax office. When I eventually got out of the business, I didn't ski again for ten years - I had no interest in it any more. Best of luck with whatever you decide to do. TT

Great product if what you want is an expensive, non-warm, non-waterproof pair of gloves! Don't bother with them. TT

Like the Falcon, we've used Tuffies for at least 5 or 6 years & they've been excellent. Cheers TT

Skinners for my lot too. We were using Skinners Field & Trial 23 but recently tried them on Skinners Duck & Rice to try to reduce the amount of wheat they were getting & they've done really well on it. It is a little more expensive but they don't seem to need as much of it so I think the cost will work out to be much the same. Ours also get a small amount of tripe and or pheasant stock, which they love. The springer can be a bit fussy about what she likes to eat but she's always been happy on Skinners products - the GSP is the same. The lab, like all labs, would eat an anvil if you covered it in gravy. Cheers TT