Lennie

Excellent tutorial. Great pictures too! If I could be so bold, the only thing I would have done differently would have been to pull the legs so the tendons came out, but it's not essential.

I take it this sale is just for the barrel, mod and rounds, not the rifle itself?

Ok guys. Update for you all… I was waiting until my FAC arrived to make sure I wasn't jumping the gun (no pun intended). My father was a little bit surprised when I told him of the mentoring condition, to say the least. So he advised me to phone my firearms office in Kidlington – like a few of you did on here. When I explained the situation there they advised me to ask my Dad to write a letter explaining my experience with firearms and shooting in general, plus also agreeing to mentoring me if need be. My father wrote a letter, addressed to the FEO and received a telephone call a few days later from the FEO, saying everything was in order and the FAC was proceeding normally. I wasn't sure if I would still have the mentoring condition, but my father was convinced I wouldn't. Anyway, my FAC arrived last week and sure enough, just as my father had indicated, there was no mentoring condition. Obviously I'm chuffed to bits, but I'm still a little confused as to how they can go from a 2 year mentoring condition to none at all in just over a week. I think the advice I can give to anyone applying for an FAC is to get everything in order before the FEO interview (any experience evidence etc). Also, if you do have any issues with how the interview went, to not get down and give your Firearms Office a polite call and see if they can help out. Also wanted to say again thanks to everyone for all the advice. It certainly helped, especially those who advised me to give the Firearms Dept a call.

Hi David Thanks again. I will call today, after I get a few jobs out of the way this morning.

Cheers guys for all of your comments (this is why I think Pigeon Watch is the best forum of all shooting forums). My father has to write a letter to the FEO (via Firearms dept.) stating he's happy to be my mentor with his details etc. I was wondering whether to ask my father to reinforce my experience on his letter? Maybe they'll have a re-think and say I already have the relevant experience? It's getting very difficult to get a FAC and, while it shouldn't be easy, I don't think unnecessary obstacles should be put in the way of people with experience and own other guns and licenses already. I was actually saying to my father-in-law that I would rather go on a short course than a two-year mentorship – I'm wondering if that what they want me to say???

Thanks David I don't have an issue with BASC, I've never tried calling them before actually. I'm sure it's normally fine and next time I call I will give them a time which suits me best to receive their return call. Does everyone who's applying for a FAC grant and hasn't had experience with that rifle before have to go through the mentoring condition or is it really dependent on county, FEO etc?

See that's where the confusion is for me. Everywhere I've searched and read on here, everyone's said between 6 and 12 months for mentoring. My FEO said 2 years!!! It does seem like I've had an awkward one yesterday. I think I should go through the mentoring. Give it until the end of the winter, or 6 months and then get my father to send a letter in saying I've been mentored and go from there. Just to let you know; I'm 40 years old (in two months time), I'm a homeowner with a family and full-time job and a clean record. I even had a shave yesterday! What I'm trying to say is he hasn't looked at me and thought I'm a kid etc – not that it should matter anyway really. Anyway, it is what it is and I'll just have to live with it. Thanks for the answers though, because it seems like I can use my Father as a mentor.

Thanks Apache That's something else I've considered. My only worry is annoying the FEO. He's new (our previous one retired), so I'm likely to have him, as my FEO, for a long time! It may be worth calling my Firearms dept. and saying what you've said and take their advice. My biggest problem for mentoring is getting my Father out in the cold to go shooting these days Thanks to you Luckyshot for your reply too

Brilliant Billy. That's exactly the answer I wanted! Cheers mate

Hi Billy I told the FEO that I had been brought up shooting. I have owned or used my Fathers air rifles since I was a young boy, I own shotguns and I have shot my Father's .22 rimfire on many occasions. My father-in-law shoots every type of firearm and I have permission to shoot on two farms, a cricket club and go a couple of times a week with air rifle and/or shotgun. The only thing I said was I hadn't used a .17HMR before and it was of course a grant rather than a renewal. I guess if it's law/preferred for the applicant to have a mentor that's fair enough, but it seems slightly excessive to me. Anyway, that's slightly off-topic. The question is really; if I HAVE to have a mentor, then does my mentor have to own a .17HMR themselves or can they just have an FAC, a rifle and many years experience of shooting them? Cheers

Thanks Andrew By the way, I have spent the past two hours trying to get hold of someone at BASC in the firearms dept. and I haven't got through, apart from an automated message that no-one's available to take a call, but please lease details and they'll get back to me. Well I don't really want to do that, because I'm at work and it's a bit difficult to start talking about firearms while here. So I have to try and contact them when I can. Alas, no luck so far I will contact by Firearms dept. but I do expect some differing answers to my question too.

Hello everyone I have searched the forum but can't find an answer to my specific question so I'm hoping someone on here can clarify for me… My FEO came round yesterday to speak to me regarding the grant of an FAC (plus he's renewing my shotgun cert.). At the end of the 'interview' he said I would need a mentor for my first rifle, a .17HMR. I said my father could mentor me, which the FEO was happy with. Without calling him back and opening a cans of worms, I wondered if the mentor has to own a .17HMR himself, because my father only has 22 rimfire rifles? I know he did have a slot for a .17HMR but never bought one and may have had the variation removed. If he has had it removed, would he need to reapply for it and would he need to buy a .17HMR to mentor me or would he only have to give me the 'required' experience with rimfire rifles? Maybe I should have asked the question; maybe the FEO should have been clearer in what was needed but you can't think of everything at the time. For example, if my father needs to own a .17HMR, could he just have the variation on his FAC, I then pay for the gun I want (i.e. give my father the cash), he has it on his license and keeps it at his house in his cabinet. Now, because he owns the gun and buys the ammo, would a letter from him in, say 12 months time, saying I had been mentored with his rifle until I had gained enough experience, be sufficient evidence for the firearms office to remove my mentoring condition? Or do we then have the problem that I can't shoot his gun on my land (my permission / occupier)? I guess the crux of it is, does my mentor have to own a .17HMR, plus I have to own one for me to gain the 'required' experience? Cheers

Hi all I'm selling my C&G 4-Gun cabinet. It's in good condition and reason for sale is, I've bought a new cabinet with locking top for ammunition as I'm getting a firearms certificate. The cabinet can be found here http://www.gandc.co.uk/cabinets.html SIZE: W:250 D:250 H:1300 Weight:27kg BS7558 I've fitted this with carpet tiles throughout, as can be seen on the photos. The cabinet comes with 2 sets of keys, as can also be seen on the photo. SOLD Cheers Lennie.

Hi Sparky You have a PM.

Hi all I'm after a 2nd hand gun cabinet with a locking top box. I live near Reading so can pick up within a certain distance. 4/5 guns will be plenty for me. Cheers Lennie.

If anyone does have a Deben Tracer Max for sale then I would be very interested guys? Lennie.

If it's still available then I have sent you a PM. Cheers

yeh, 1/2 and 1/4 already in...ill stick to them till i gain more exp cheers What are you intending to shoot? I'd just leave 1/2 and 1/4 in myself. Some people prefer Improved Cylinder for clay but for live quarry and if you want to keep the same pattern for all-round shooting, I'd stick to 1/2 and 1/4 chokes. With regards to you new gun… congratulations and hope you have a lot of fun. It's a great sport or hobby, whichever way you look at it. I didn't manage to read this thread before you bought, but I would say you did the best thing by trying out which is comfortable and going for a recognised brand like Beretta. If you look after it you'll only really lose the VAT and a bit more when you decide to sell in the future. In saying that, I picked up a mint s/h Silver Pigeon last week from a gunsmith for £740 so there are bargains to be had. Good luck.

This is a quote from Clay Shooting Magazine, part of it explaining how ejectors work. I'm sure you guys know this anyway; ----- Berettas, in common with many other makers, use ejectors that are contained within the barrel monobloc. Each ejector leg is spring loaded and held back under tension in the unfired position. If a barrel is fired an activating rod releases the leg so that the spring pushes it forward as the gun is opened. Closing the gun compresses the spring again, ready to work once more. http://www.clay-shooting.com/faq_series/faq_gunparts_pt3.htm ----- Now, reading a quite few posts, especially from the senior posters on here, it seems the consensus is saying snap caps will hurt your ejector springs as much as your firing pin. But if this report is accurate then the ejector springs are already held under tension, whether fired or not. So really, you can't do any more damage or wear to your ejector springs if you use snap caps. But you can certainly prolong the life of your firing pins by using them. I must admit, I wouldn't normally have posted but reading some of the posts regarding snap caps I felt that pressure was applied to anyone considering them, from senior posters. I've been shooting for 30 years, my father and father-in-law double that, so I feel as though I have the experience necessary to make a comment. I think they are useful and obviously if this report is correct and I'm sure it is, then some of the previous comments saying they are useless, have been misleading and inaccurate. However, that's not meant as patronising and if I'm wrong and it's proved so, I'll hold my hands up and you can shoot me.

SHOOTIST1971 on PS3. PS. It's PS3 all the way. No real reason for an Xbox – although Xbox owners will argue differently

Hi I'm about to put my Urika AL391 up for sale in Gun Trader, but I'm in Reading and it might be too far for you. If you're interested then PM me and I'll send you details. Took it to the Royal Berkshire Shooting School this Saturday and the gunsmith said it's the best S/H version of a 391 that he's seen. With that in mind and the fact it's a great gun with a beautiful stock and comes with travel case, manual etc, I'll be looking for £600. Cheers Lennie.