Bogwoppit

My Missus shoots mine left handed, she doesn't wear loose tops when she's shooting anymore!

Have you ever looked at the feet of ferals in the town? Looks similar to what you describe.

I've been through this recently with my own dog, she got spiked by a bramble over christmas. Ended up going to the vet for drops and anti inflammatories. He recommended the tea bag too but said the saline was a bad idea because it can really irritate the eye and cause more swelling. I'd keep going with the teabag a couple of times a day and keep the dog out of strong sunlight and windy conditions for a couple of days. If there's any flare up at all then straight to the vet. bw

I started mine on the noisy feeding at about 4 months. She was then left in the outside pen at the house wile I was out shooting in the fields so heard the shots from a long distance. The big step was bringing her gradually close to a clay shoot. Then I moved onto to shotgun cartridges with the powder and shot removed at distance by a friend, gradually decreasing the distance and increasing the noise whilst doing a couple of retrieves after the shot.

I did my no.4 with boiled linseed oil, the look is pretty good considering the wood but the feel is unreal, like silk.

I was out on sunday on the rape, there were a few about but they weren't really feeding hard at all. Managed to get to double figures just about but they all had ivy or beech in the crop.

I have a late 70's early 80's no.4

Molly left, Angus right. Sorry about the orientation on some of these, can't get it figured out.

More Molly

My bitch Molly, 2 years old now. The family crew

No pigeons on any of the rape I shoot, not a sausage. Saw a few snipe yesterday but not many, only got one jack snipe. Not one woodcock despite some lovely ground.

That's great news, hopefully the weather over the last week will have them down this far. I'll be out on the bogs this weekend.

Great! Where was that? I'm hoping this cold snap will put the pigeons on the rape and the snipe in the fields. I'll try get out this weekend for another look.

I was out at the weekend in kildare, no pigeons and no snipe yet.

Stock finished and gun reassembled. It's an old enough stock that has had some abuse over the years but I'm happy with how it's turned out. The marks still on it give it a bit of character and tell a story I suppose. On review, the only thing I would do different next time would be to stain the fore end a bit darker so that it matches the stock a bit better. Doing the job was a lot easier than I'd imagined, it just takes time and elbow grease! I assume that the linseed oil finish is enough to protect the stock from the weather when I'm out or should I give it a coat of something else for a bit more protection? Thanks for all the help guys. Bw

Yes, I've been doing that over a long period, lots of heat.

They look great! I don't think mine will turn out that good as the stock had been badly looked after before I got it and had been over oiled resulting in discoloration The real motivator for doing this one is to make it easier to sell in order to finance an upgrade to and Aya no.2

First coat on, I'll let it dry the ill rub it down with some steel wool. I'm planning on leaving 24hrs between coats

Thanks for the offer, very kind, unfortunately I'm in Ireland. Thanks for the replies guys, I think I have enough to keep going and get this done. This is why I love the forums Bw

I was thinking 25/75 weak mix for 1st coat, 50/50 for 2nd, 75/25 for 3rd and then full strength for each coat after. Can you recommend a sealer or are they all the same? What do the beeswax and red oil do? I also have a mark to fill so I have to find some filler, not easy to find one the right shade but I'll either go with teak or mahogany. Bw

I think I'm going to try boiled linseed oil as I can get hold of it over here. Is it just a case of applying a lot of coats? Should I thin down the first coat with white spirit? I've stripped the stock already, do I need to seal the grain? I'm thinking of staining the fore end to get a better match, what's the best way of getting the colours close? Thanks guys.

Thanks guys. I can't find anyone selling this in Ireland so I'll have to look into getting it shipped over from the UK.

I'm currently stripping the stock on my Aya, the varnish is being quite stubborn in a couple of spots but I'm getting there. I'm thinking of using the Birchwood Casey Tru Oil kit to finish it, has anyone else used it before? Thanks Bw

Wow, just wow!

We were out again on Sunday at a duck shoot, just doing some picking up this time. There weren't as many birds about this time but the first retrieve we got was a pretty good one. There was a bird down in a wide channel when we arrived the wind was blowing it further all the time. The dog couldn't see it so I sent her out blind. She spotted it when she got out about 30 yards and went straight for it. I measured the distance after on google maps and the swim was about 120 yards, well impressed. She also managed to find 2 birds that at least 5 other dogs had been sent for and another wounded bird that hadn't been spotted. Didn't get a chance to try her with 2 birds in the water though but we're still working on it with the dummys. Thanks for the advice. Al