EMT

Thank you for all your help and advice. When I had them measured there was .002 in the right and .010 in the left so just over cylinder and 1/4. I would normally shoot 1/2 and 1/2 in my O/U and was a bit worried I might have a few gaps in the pattern with the cylinder barrel past 25 yards. I will get a few boxes of the cartridges you have all recommended and give them a go. I will try and take some photos and report back with my findings.

Thats great, thank you.

I am hoping the PW massive might be able to help me out here. I have a lovely AYA No.2 which is choked cylinder and 1/4. Can anyone recommend a game cartridge that they have patterned in the past that threw a particularly tight pattern. Fibre only please. Its got 70mm chambers which is a bonus. I appreciate that it will pattern differently in my gun and the only way to find out is to pattern it myself, but I am looking to try and narrow down the field to maybe half a dozen. Otherwise it is going to cost a small fortune to go and by a box of every combination of make and load of cartridge on the market. Thanks in advance.

I have just been watching this Dave Carrie video of him at the Gamebore factory. They are using a machine there, which they claim is the fastest in the world and it just loads fibre wads. Its running at 15,000 per hour.

Hi Lloyd, It was me that posted the original question about the recoil pad. I had been quoted £180 to fit a Silver's recoil pad to my AYA No.2 which I thought was a bit steep. The general consensus was that I had been ripped off but when I went to pick it up, it was perfect! They had sanded the pad down to the actual wood and then re-oiled the stock. It looks the absolute dogs danglies and the stock looks way better than when I took it in. They have also shaped the pad and polished it. I went around the Game Fair stands checking the fit of all the guns with a silvers pad on at the weekend and almost non had that seamless transition from wood to pad. So was it expensive, yes. Was it worth it, I think so.

He didn't go into details but as soon as I get it back I will post some photos and a review on the finished item.

Thanks for the replies folks. I thought it was a bit steep. Yes they are supplying the pad but it is a one for one replacement so nothing to come off the stock. ?

Maybe I am just getting old and behind the times, or maybe I didn't realise the amount of work involved but I have just been told its going to be £180 to fit a Silvers recoil pad on my Aya No. 2. Does that sound about right and I am being a tight **** or have I been ripped off?

Absolutely spot on!

These were definitely not Devon high birds, just lowly Essex birds. It was still an absolute please to watch.

As mentioned in one of my earlier posts I had the opportunity to pick up behind a team of muzzle loaders last season. Having watched them shoot the best cartridge to bird ratio of any team last season, along with the fact I have never seen so few runners (my dogs were getting very bored) I assumed they must have been using either a lot of choke or very big loads. When I asked them what they were using, I was amazed to see they were using an ounce of 6 shot and apparently their guns were that old that choke hadn't even been invented then, so they were all cylinder.

I picked up behind a team of muzzle loaders last season and it really was something special. The whole pace of the day was much slower and boy could they shoot. In fact they had the best bird to shots ratio of any team this season. And the best bit was they let us all have a go at the end of the day. Fantastic team with some absolutely stunning guns.

It is an AYA No. 2 with 28" barrels. It was bought new by a Colonel Pickard from the Royal Artillery and he took it all over the world, shooting with maharajas etc. He sold it to a very good friend of mine. When my friend bough it, he spent a day with the Colonel looking through all his old game books and looking at his shooting photos. He said it was very impressive. I have watched my friend shoot with it, a lot better than I do with my O/U for years and when he bought a new AYA No. 2 he said I could have his old one.

Well I couldn't resist any longer. Bought this yesterday and love it.

The original pictures didn't do it justice. Thats much better.