HW95J

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/home-office-writes-to-interested-parties-on-air-weapon-regulation Another day, another consultation! The results of the Scottish equivalent were enthusiastically ignored as we all know. Either way, we have to have our say on this. The antis listed in the announcement will be vocal as ever. It's a real pain up here, let's try and stop this nonsense spreading...

Does anyone know when the results are going to be published? I think if we've achieved anything through contacting MPs, it's illustrating that they have entirely their own agenda (no surprises there!). Responses don't engage with the issue in any respect or outline the thinking behind opposing views. While I'm not convinced that you can follow a logical pattern of thought and still conclude that these firearms should be further restricted- I would have some level of respect for individuals who at least try to debate. Especially when it's their well-paid job to do so. The MP I contacted clearly didn't share that opinion though, no response. For the Airgun Licensing we got the cracking line that whilst a vast majority of responses to the consultation were against; they had a vested interest as shooters and could therefore be disregarded. Whatever the phrasing is this time, it'll be something to the effect of: 'in spite of informed evidence and opinion, we know better than you'....

They are good guns- my advice would be to buy one ( in .177) and practice with it. My HW95K (admittedly in .22) was made in 2015 or 16 and is very good in terms of build quality, accuracy and power. There certainly is a bit of recoil but through practice you adapt to this and it will do the job just fine. Mine works well with RWS Superdome. I'd buy one and I'm sure it'll be fine, if not then they retain second-hand value quite well.

Bavaria is the best I've found here, though you are starting to get German Erdinger imported to Tesco etc which is great. Germany has a much better selection and Paulaner Muenchner Hell (Alkoholfrei) is my favourite when over. I can't drink beer and I don't want all the sugar that coke has to offer so alcohol free is a decent alternative (for those wondering why people bother!).

You would think by now that they would have a consistent policy. Some charge, some don't, some won't sign at all. One minute you can ignore the letter and then that changes. Is it really so difficult to decide what the process is? Either they can charge, in which case we need a standard fee- or they can't. A transparent approach would be easy, a brief note on a practice website stating their position would save a lot of hassle.

http://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/ak-47-assault-rifle-handed-771963 Headline: 'Deadly AK-47 Assault Rifle Handed in.....' Article Intro: "A deadly assault rifle was the first item handed in to a police station running a gun amnesty, with shocked officers posting a picture on social media." Reality: "Luckily, the AK-47 in question had been deactivated - but that didn't stop Sgt Hughes from taking extra care when handling the potentially deadly weapon." Simply replace the word 'deadly' with 'deactivated' and some of it reads ok Edit- "Potentially deadly"... If dropped on unprotected toes

Time for 'Amnesty Bingo' once the pictures from this one come out. Highlights will no doubt include: Majority of items on table= old air rifles. *Bonus points for mankier specimens and models renowned for their low power Dan Wesson air pistols (Shiny revolver type) Nice British-made shotgun that deserves better than destruction Rusty bolt action .410 or Rook/Rabbit gun *Bonus points if bolt is missing Webley Luger Something antique/obsolete covered by Section 58 (Replica) AK47 Feel free to add any classics that I've left out. My personal favourite from a weapons amnesty was a meat thermometer... I'm not against giving people the opportunity to hand this stuff in, but the Police really should acknowledge what is and isn't actually illegal to own. Selling on through RFD's and deactivation etc would be a better approach where applicable. Money to be made and history to be preserved. A total number of items surrendered is meaningless if it includes old starter pistols and bb guns on the same level as a sawn-off...

Big fan of Laekerol, I think it's Swedish. Can't stand normal liquorice but love that stuff.

I applied last year and had a 3 month turn-around. No communication from GP etc and certainly no charges. A few months later a family member applies in a different area of Scotland was charged £50, had to take a police letter with them in person to the practice as well. I was actually very pleased with the efficiency of the whole process for me, compared to that and the experience of others. However....I received a letter this week from my GP practice letting me know that they were doing the checks because of my firearms/shotgun renewal.....? No money asked for, also said to be aware that there is a coded reminder on record etc etc as we're already familiar with by now. Purely informative. My cert had been granted after this measure was introduced. I certainly haven't put in for a renewal, my certificate being just over a year old, so no idea what that was about. However, they wanted no cash and I have my ticket so no need to look into it really

Police and Crime Act 2017- I believe the same act which changed the status of expanding ammo. Not all that easy to find the info to be honest. Source: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2017/3/part/6/enacted “28BCertificates: limited extension (1)This section applies where— (a)an application is made for the renewal of a certificate on or before the day which falls 8 weeks before the day at the end of which the certificate is due to expire, but (b)the chief officer of police does not determine whether or not to grant the application before the certificate is due to expire. (2)The certificate continues in force by virtue of this subsection until whichever of the following events occurs first— (a)the chief officer determines whether or not to grant the application; (b)the extension period ends. (3)In subsection (2), “the extension period” means the period of 8 weeks beginning with the day after the day at the end of which the certificate was due to expire. (4)If the event mentioned in subsection (2)(a) occurs first, and the chief officer grants the application, any period for which the certificate continued in force under subsection (2) is to be treated for the purposes of section 28A(1) as part of the period for which the renewed certificate is in force. (5)This section does not apply in relation to the renewal of a certificate granted or last renewed in Northern Ireland.” (2)In consequence of the amendment made by subsection (1), in section 28A of that Act (certificates: supplementary), after subsection (1) insert— “(1A)Subsection (1) is subject to the provision made by section 28B for circumstances in which a certificate may continue in force after the period of five years from the date when it was granted or last renewed.”

Filled it out. Slight problem is that even if you tick two different licences you still only get one question about feedback. So if one application was good and the other not, there's no way of expressing that. Still, I was very impressed with my application times etc so feedback was positive

British Gas pestered us for a while about getting a smart meter but I wasn't convinced. The current meters do what they're meant to do, ancient as they look. As soon as you bring software and wifi etc into the equation I can't imagine it being reliable yet. All readings submitted online but it's a rare day that their website actually works! Once they can get their website working I'd be more confident in anything more advanced. The cost of smart meter installation will surely have to be covered by people's utility bills, with that in mind is anyone actually saving anything?

Gave it a shot with WD40 yesterday, made a bit of progress but I think it would take a good while to do a thorough job- especially on textured areas like magazine release. It's a shame but it still functions, looking on the bright side at least it wasn't one of my more expensive guns!

If it was genuinely a concern about security, surely they would just make it a rule that the specific guns mentioned in the proposal had to be stored at a RFD or similar. Unless of course this is actually about general anti-gun sentiment and capitalising on a level of hysteria relating to terrorism and other recent events... As people have pointed out, centralisation would probably be less secure for a number of reasons. Not to mention highly impractical.

Good call, Crosman would be a good choice and widely available

I also have a G10 repeater, you cannot use one for dispatch. They are extremely low on power and if mine is anything to go by, it wouldn't make a clean kill even at point blank. Depending on how many you need to shoot I would recommend either an SMK CP1 for regular use (Runs off Co2 capsules) Or for less frequent, an SMK26 is valued by some people for this job as it runs pretty close to the 6ft/lb limit (as does the CP1). Whatever you get, and there are plenty of other suitable models, please ensure it has the required power for the task

It's worth noting that while you can continue to have airguns covered by your existing SGC/FAC until renewal, you can't purchase any more without an airgun licence. They would indeed love to have large amounts of guns out of the public domain or off 'the streets'. The hand-in scheme in Scotland resulted in a good few being turned over (by law-abiding people) but in comparison to the total estimated figure it was few. The same scheme minus the licencing would have achieved the same result for less time and money. Another consequence is that the market for second-hand airguns has crashed, lots of people sold them on to RFDs so it's flooded.

Have responded It's highly unlikely that i'll ever want to obtain the firearms covered by the proposals, my objections are on logical grounds. Firearms aside, the thought of having to pick a knife up at a shop having purchased it online is something else. Surely emailing a scan of your ID, which matches details on your card etc, would be the obvious choice. For one thing have they ever considered that many people don't live in the middle of a city?! As for the rubber spoons GingerCat, I say we put them on Section 5. If they fell into the wrong hands who knows what could happen! We all have to oppose this stuff, their 'reasoning' could be applied to anything from airguns upwards. If the same resources and enthusiasm that they have for restricting legitimate shooting sports could be applied to cracking down on the black market for guns...

Good suggestions, I'll start out with WD40 and work up to acetone if required. Probably next week before I get round to it, I'll keep you posted.

Have tried Gamebore Regal Game in 30g 5 (FW). This was noticeably quite light from both O/U and SBS

+1 for H&N Hunter Extremes in .177 (with a Remington express). I did get them in .22 a while back but they didn't wan't to group out of my HW95K, that rifle prefers RWS Superdome. I'm not sure if anyone else has similar experience with performance differing by calibre? Perhaps just a pellet-fussy gun

I suppose different materials will react in different ways, they must have chosen badly for the trigger lock. Though given how cheap it was, I doubt it was a consideration! Maybe there's some kind of solvent that would take it off?

Sounds like the most likely option, bit frustrating as there wasn't an excess of oil or anything. I just occasionally went over it with a cloth, must be residue of express gun oil or ballistol. Something to bear in mind for the future

I was thinking about selling one of my less used air pistols- so yesterday I opened up the case where it's been for probably 6 months or so undisturbed. It had one of those trigger locks you can get on Ebay for about £5 (I think 'Anglo Arms' brand). Having removed it I found that the rubber from the inside of the lock had fused with the gun in a few places such as the magazine release and even on smooth surfaces. Not sure how to remove it as it won't scrape off and it's a pain because no-one would want to buy a gun with random **** stuck to it! Not the end of the world but I thought I'd post as a word of warning in case anyone else uses these on higher end guns. It was stored in a pistol case in a cool, dark place so not entirely sure what caused this to happen.

Would love to see the results of that! The W. Bosher Round Action Will need to invest in a good few lottery tickets before it's anywhere near possible. For now my fanciest (and only) SBS is a Baikal with immaculate case-hardening