sterling

Thanks schmoo, I'll have a look at those. I've always been impressed with the baikals I've used.

Hi all, I have £400(ish) to spend on a secondhand s/a. Must be steel proofed. 3" chamber preferred. Please for the love of God, no hatsans... :yp: If you have or know of a suitable gun, I'd be very grateful if you'd get in touch! Sterling.

Give the Surefire EP4 or EP3 a try. I paid £16 for a pair and they were a great buy. You can still hear conversation, leaves rustling etc. but they reduce gunshots to a comfortable and safe level. They are fine for any outdoor shooting. This may sound daft, but learn how to properly fit in-ear plugs. Reach over your head, lift the ear up to straighten the canal, insert the plug. Makes a world of difference to how effective they are.

You could think about writing a well considered feature letter to the local paper about the need for pest control in farming and veg production. You could even provide some way for worried locals to contact you so that you can come to some agreement about your shooting. Even vegans should appreciate that their organic veg is made economically viable to produce because somebody is controlling the associated pests without poisons (shooting). A bit of good publicity could work wonders and even secure you more shooting permissions. Alternatively, get a moderated shotgun - they are brilliant for noise sensitive areas or roost shooting in summer.

Blunderbuss, that's good to know - thanks for doing some more research!

From what I can see in Scottish law from The Law of the Foreshore and Sea Bed: S 1(3)(a). "Recreational purposes" is not defined but s 9 contains a list of conduct which is excluded from access rights. The list is not as comprehensive as in the draft Bill referred to in the discussion paper at para 1.14. But excluded conduct still includes hunting, shooting, fishing, using motorised vehicles or vessels (other than for disabled use) and taking away anything in or on the land for commercial purposes or for profit. So it doesn't look legal to hunt on public foreshores?

Now that's interesting! A bit of research and a hunting roadtrip may be in order.

After a lot of hard work finding my UK shooting permissions, I believe I'm right in thinking there is no land in the UK which is open for public hunting? Having lived in USA/Canada and enjoyed free hunting and target shooting on vast BLM and Crown Lands, I want to know if any of you are aware of any areas in Europe which have public shooting land. This isn't purely academic - I have been known to emigrate for such things.

For anybody interested - I've just bought a ghost ring sight/heat shield from ATI for the mossbeg 500. It will only work on hushpowers with the short moderator (not the full-barrel models). It's a bit "tacti-cool" looking, but I'll see how I get on with it and report back.

Just patterned it at 15, 20, 25 and 30 yards with eley fourlongs and extralongs by obscuring the target with the mod. POA and POI seem pretty close. Fourlongs are dismal at anything beyond 15yds, but those 18g extralongs were throwing surprisingly dense patterns out to 25ish. Thanks for the input guys. After some quite successful decoying today, I'll stick without sights for shooting birds on the wing or bolting rabbits for now and take the air rifle for anything else...

That's well worth knowing thanks!

Thanks a lot for the suggestions guys! I've even tried using a zip-tie on the end of the can and then use the fastener as a crude bead. Safe to say I need something better. Sound advice too - I really must pattern this gun. I might get some unapproving looks but I think I'll drill and tap for a rail and mount a red dot - I'm just worried the aluminium receiver isn't up to it. I use the gun for everything from rabbiting and roost shooting to clays and decoyed pigeons if I'm feeling really lucky. I have to admit I often reach for the 12 gauge to make up for poor shooting though. Out of interest, has anybody chrono'd those surprisingly loud "subsonic" eley extra longs? I'm sure I know a supersonic crack when I hear one...

I thought fiat was a Geordie's destiny... Ok, I'm dredging the barrel a bit there, but it works and it works if you replace "Geordie's" with "Irishman's" too!

Yep, their engines are made out of some sort of chocolate alloy. Start taking a fiat apart and you'll be amazed at just how poorly designed and constructed they are. It's German cars for me from now on...

Brand new, never used Halfords HB063 lead acid car battery. Bought it for a 1.6 fiat which turned out to have a blown head gasket. Fits most cars up to 2ltr. Cost £67, want £40 for it. Obviously collection only.

Thanks for all the interest and PM's! - I have now filled all of the available spaces. For now, I'll wish the rest of you the best of luck finding your own permission. Look for birds, knock on doors...

GUN NOW SOLD! Thanks to everybody for the interest and enjoy your new gun!

Not so long ago a kind PW member took me out for my first shot at pigeons before I had my own permissions and I'd like to do the same for someone else. I have an opportunity for one person to join me decoying in Hereford/Worcs area. I'm not a veteran and have a lot to learn but I'm by no means new to firearms or their safe use, so whilst I may not be able to teach you everything about decoying, I can give you the opportunity to get your new gun out and safely have a go. Decoying will be over rape on large acreage. I can't guarantee a big bag, but if you don't take some pigeons home for the pot, you'll have only your shooting to blame. So the conditions I want you to respect are: You are new to the sport and dont have ANY of your own permission! You are over 18 and can show licence + insurance (if you haven't got any, get some) You bring own shotgun + carts Reply in the thread and send me a PM. Hopefully we'll get you out shooting soon

I don't know exact age, I've looked at all of the identifying numbers/ marks and can't see an obvious date. I'd go out on a limb and say early 1990's but I could be off the mark. 2.75" chambers. There are shallow scratches on the stock and yes that's the worst side. There's the odd mark on the barrels - it's not a safe queen, it's been used but well looked after, cleaned and functions flawlessly. Saying all that, it is a tidy looking gun at this price range. I can add more pics tomorrow, but I'll be honest I've got several folks wanting to view this week. I'll keep you posted though and thanks for the interest.

Hi, this is my Lanber. I'm happy to answer any questions and arrange viewing. Please note: I will only conduct viewings/sale with members who have a history of activity on this forum. Thanks for looking!

I've got a .410 mossberg 500 (non-ribbed barrel) with a 9" removeable hushpower fitted. For those of you successfully shooting with this setup, what are you doing for sight options? I'm not having much luck obscuring the target with the moderator - I find myself removing it a lot of the time and not surprisingly the mod doesn't suppress the shot much when I leave it at home I've considered drilling/tapping the reciever to fit a rail and mount either a red dot or ghost rings or alternatively, clamp a rail on the barrel just behind the mod and use a tall front sight. Any better ideas would be much appreciated!

You can't legally drive your car on the road without supervision or a valid license. Would you definitely get caught? Would you definitely get caught taking your shotgun onto public land at night or storing it loaded under your bed or sawing it off and carrying it in your coat? Nope, laws don't prevent illegal things happening. Hey, anybody hear about that shooting in Durham?

It wouldn't prevent a nutter killing people. Nothing will. The sooner the media and the public realise that, the sooner we can get back to improving (not necessarily making it more difficult) firearms laws and licensing. You can't buy a car and drive it on the road without testing because it increases the chance of accidental injury or death. The same could be said for firearms tests. It might not make a huge difference to the stats, it just makes sense. proactive rather than reactive. We already have too many reactive gun laws. I've done a canadian PAL/RPAL license test. You demonstrate safe handling and operation of the type of firearms you plan to own and that's it. Not too guelling. It's not meant to be a pain for sensible people, it's meant to stop "special" folks from owning weapons.

I'm sure you can imagine just how complex the system must be when you consider the niche areas like veterinary humane killing, deer stalking on national trust land etc. none of which I have any experience with, so I can't have a full picture of how to improve licensing. I do think however that evidence of "good cause" should be shown for owning a shotgun. I know of more than one person who lives in an inner-city flat with shotguns and have never used them for any purpose, sporting or otherwise. I also think that a Canadian style licensing system would help, where an individual has to attend a course and prove safe proficiency with a firearm before they're allowed to walk into a shop and take one home. Currently, any simpleton who is uncapable of even operating their TV remote can get a SGC, a gun and some carts, head home and then try to work out how to use the thing. I'm amazed more new shotgun owners don't have ND's. Just an observation about the criminal records criteria - Not having one just means you haven't been caught. Some of the most prolific criminals have never been caught. I don't have any bright ideas about this one though and their proposed phsyc profile from a GP is just as useless. Hypothetically; a chief FEO who conducted an interview made someone out to be an idiot for enquiring about reloading shotgun carts. They were told unequivocally that you can't reload ammunition. Don't ask me how I know this. So maybe making sure firearms officers are actually informed might be a good place to start!

What a surprise - the BBC being irresponsible with uninformed reporting . This "debate" was obviously on the cards when all news reports made a point to emphasise that the firearms allegedly used by Atherton were legally held. We all know what happened in the wake of Hungerford and Dunblane and the pessimist in me expected a similar reaction to the Cumbria shootings. Now we have the Peterlee shootings to add to the list. I'll go out on a limb and say I think it is time the UK firearms laws and processing were revised, but not under pressure from the uninformed, gun-fearing masses.