sterling

Price drop to £35. I need some bloody room in the garage!

Hi all, Christmas is expensive and there's always another gun to buy so for sale is my much prized Nixon "The Banks" watch. Cost £250 a couple of years back. It's just had a service; new batteries and seal and will last several lifetimes with good care. It's been used, so it has the usual scuffs around the band/face but still looks the business and with some glass buff, the scuffs would come back out. Comes with everything as sold; box, instructions and spare link. £80 cash on collection from Kidderminster/Midlands area or posted at buyer's expense.

Hi all, For sale is my set of Slazenger Challenge Eurostar adults right hand clubs. Sorry there's no bag with them, but here's the list of clubs: Sand wedge Drivers: 11/2, 3, 5 Irons: 3,4,5,6,7,8,9 Putter: Howson system 6 They're used and have the obvious signs of wear but have plenty of life left in them. Selling because I find myself longingly looking at the rabbits on the course instead of the holes. £45 cash on collection from Kidderminster/Midlands area or I will post if you're insane and want to pay for postage.

It's hard to say this without sounding patronising and I'm the first to admit that I take more calculated risks reloading than most would advocate, but I'll say it anyway. Shotshell reloading is nothing like reloading metallic cartridges. You can't safely develop loads and watch for pressure signs like you could with most pistol/rifle rounds. The difference between a safe load and a wildly over-pressured shotgun load is so fine that the first sign of a "problem" could be your shotgun grenading. Folks like you and I will continue to take little risks, but we really shouldn't recommend that other people do it. You never know who's reading this stuff!

Thanks a lot, that's exactly the info I was after! I'll be using fiocchi 615 primers, which are fairly cool and seem to perform like CX50's. Total load is just a hair over 19 grams, so I thought it should be safe with 14.5 grains of 2400, I just needed a little reassurance. Thanks again mate!

I find siarm excellent to deal with. Fair prices, good communication and they quite often throw in a little gift/treat of some sort. Thumbs up from me! Edited to add: I've never checked the legalities of importing particular components from Siarm/Italy. Primed cases, loose primers etc. Just make sure your parcel will make it through UK customs.

Yep, it is, but this isn't your average shot shell. Don't worry though, I know what I'm doing (minus the exact data).

Hi all, Do any of you kind folks have reloading data for 11/16oz or 3/4oz .410? I'm solely interested in loads using alliant 2400. I'm fairly certain a load in the region of 14.5 grains would be around the goal post. Many thanks!

Land permission now found, thanks lads!

Hi all, I have plenty of firearms experience + insurance and I'm searching for land permission for use of .22LR, FAC air and my shotguns (all suppressed if needs be). I'm willing to pay a sensible amount in exchange for written permission (listed on closed FAC) to shoot on land suitable for rimfire in Worcestershire, West Mids, Hereford etc. I'm also happy to offer the odd day's free help within my line of work - forestry, hedge-laying, fencing etc. Please leave a response in this thread, however brief and send me a private message with more detail. Many thanks! Sterling

Good to hear things have calmed down in N.I. now. Yeah I've noticed an influx of African folks around here too. You can tell the new arrivals - they're the ones in wooly hats and jackets when it's 25*C outside. I can't see their attraction to damp countries either... That's a grand offer thanks! I'm keen on pigeon decoying, rabbiting with ferrets/shotgun, virtually anything the .17 can take and I'm getting into deer stalking now too. I'm also a keen pistol shooter, which is costing me a fortune in travel costs. Well if I make the move soon, I'll drop you a PM to arrange a day's shooting. Cheers mate

Pigeons now taken. Thanks. Good luck with your search Muggins.

Just dropped some woodies this morning as a favour to a farmer. I've had all that I want and I've got 20 left. All shotgunned with lead shot. They're whole, on ice packs in cooler box. If somebody wants them, you're welcome to come pick them up tomorrow morning before 11:30 (19/08/12). I'm kidderminster area, DY12.

I've gone from consistently missing roosting pigeons with my full choke 410 mossberg hushpower, to preferring it to my 12gauge. It's taken a year, but here's what I've found: As others have already said; pluck up the courage to take your 410 around the sporting clays. Forget about scores, swallow your pride and persevere with it. Load your own or track down a decent 14 or 16gram #7 load. Don't cheat and go any smaller with shot size on clays, because with your 410 you need to practise with the shells you plan to shoot. From extensive patterning, I've found you get diminishing returns going over 16 gram. The magnum shot string is loooooong, pellet deformation is high and patterns can be worse than lighter loads. i.e. don't bother with eley extralong subsonics. On that note, also don't bother using subsonics in 410, they're not quieter. It defies physics, but thems the facts. As to using plastic wads through your hushpower; there are several threads about that which you should read. I personally now feel safe(ish) using short plastic wads (up to 14gram). I wouldn't shoot a heavy 3" plastic through the moderator and saddlery and gun room will tell you the same thing. With full choke and 16gram #7, I don't take shots at any game over 30 yards. The exception is sitting rabbits with 16 gram #5 out to 35 yards. I take a field tape measure and put a marker in the ground at 30 yards. Anything beyond that stick doesn't get shot at. You have to start being accurate with the 410, both with your shooting and estimating range. If you want to take a 40 yard bird on the wing again, get a 20 gauge.

Unless you're shooting a lot, you can get away with very little kit. My 410 hushpower reloading equipment consists of a set of scales and a roll-crimp tool from siarm. Total cost: about £25. A suitable socket and screwdriver do for capping/de-capping. Then all you need to buy is your consumables (primers etc.). If you're planning to load heavy cork/fibre loads for your hushpower, expect to only make a saving of around £25/1000 over buying factory rolled unless you have access to lead and make your own shot. I can send you some .410 data if you need any.

That's reassuring to hear davie and a great offer too thanks! I haven't had a chance to do any wildfowling yet and duck is so tasty, so when I get myself set up with some good shooting, I'll be in touch to see if we can exchange some! I know Royboy, the lads in N.I. on this forum seem to be a fantastic bunch and I don't know what I've been so worried about. Reminds me I should really put out some more offers on the forum to take folks out shooting. I've been pretty selfish of late.

Haha, no need to be embarrassed - my joke was about the Englishness of sainsburys, not implying you were racist. I guessed you either meant the valleys or the highlands. It could have been anywhere though really, there's not many countries an Englishman can go where he doesn't have some history he could feel guilty about. Very kind offer, thanks Brisa!

Thanks a lot Dazza, will do! Brum is still 60% white christian. So if Thunderbird is right, there must be about 600,000 people shopping at your local Sainsburys! The queue might be shorter at Tesco mate. With that said, I'm not racist by any stretch and the irony of me being prejudiced in my own thread about being English in Northern Ireland would be too much! Thanks all for the input and well wishes!

That's sound advice Tam, thanks a lot. When I get over there, I'll be in touch!

Ouch, that's a heavy load! When hunting in the US, I saw a 12 gauge buckshot load used on a whitetail deer from about that distance. It was horrible. The pattern, if you can call it that, had hits anywhere but the vitals and needed a .357 to finish the poor animal. For curiousity's sake, it's fun to have a few unusual shot shells but for me, I have no use for anything smaller than #8 or bigger than BB.

I'll keep it visible in the thread and off PM for now just in case somebody else stumbles across this thread and the info helps them (unlikely though). It's subject to finalising a job offer at the moment but if I make the move I'd be looking at the Stranmillis area.

Hi all, I'm a young English man emigrating to Belfast and it goes without saying that I'm a keen sport shooter too. I lived in the Republic of Ireland for 6 months and despite steering well clear of religion and politics, I had a couple of very scary moments there. I know the areas to avoid around Belfast but my question is this; am I asking for trouble approaching rural land owners for shooting permission with my unmistakably English accent? I'd be really grateful if any folks with experience of the current situation in NI could offer advice on the level of tension remaining there. Many thanks in advance!

bedwards is spot on with 5 or more .36 cal balls being on SGC. Don't ever try to fathom the wisdom of this law though. The .410 with one .36 ball leaving the barrel is section 1. My 12 gauge throwing 9 of the same balls is SGC. I guess it comes down to legal "need". Don't let the old fuzz know that most of us outside of PSG don't have any need for a 12gauge with buckshot that big though.

To the OP: I did exactly this as a dangerously curious 12 year old with some .22 blanks which I forced the crimp open on. I, like you, poured out the powder and had a poke around inside the case with a nail to get every last bit of powder out. Same shocking result. I then *hypothetically* thought it'd be interesting to crimp a bit of lead solder in a blank and set it off in a length of brake line in a vice. The lead solder shot through both sides of a carboard box. Next was the homemade cannon (powder from the blanks), the coke can launcher, the rocket powered action man....... I can't believe you did this as an adult, but if sharing it prevents another bright spark from qualifying for a Darwin Award, it's worth doing. The fact that most of us are still here despite an interest in things that go bang, gives credence to the existence of angels.

Sounds sensible. I usually wear them but stupidly forgot them this time. Part of me wishes I had got the hushpower O/U 20g and I might part with the 410 at some point too. Anyway, I should stop rambling and let an ancient thread come to an end