MBW

I always remove my barrel with the bolt back in the open position. When you remove the fore end below the barrel between the receiver and the ring that goes round the mag tube with the gas blow holes in it , there is a black plastic dooda that moves back and forth ( excuse my ignorance I have no idea what it's called) this has a groove in it to let the barrel pass where it is wider at the chamber, if you wiggle the barrel and hold this black dooda down it might help, I had this problem with mine, once you get the barrel Out you'll probably find the outside of the barrel and the bit it sits in inside the action housing is manky and this won't help the barrel come off

+1 for rabbit guts, was taught that by my old head keeper, done it ever since, I feed barley and frosted potatoes every couple of days and a bucket of rabbit guts or a deer gralloch a couple days before we shoot the ponds, no particular reason just that's what I've always done, but i don't think it attracts many more if at all

As long as they don't nick the trail cam.......

Take one of the pens down for the wood to be thinned, then get as many snares as I can out and running, and step up the squirrel control (had 334) last year. The joys of taking on a new shoot

Cheers guys will post some photos once I get it done, I have an old gun stock waitin for something to make out of it. Think a couple of these might not be a bad idea. Had also fancied doing a buffalo horn one, if I get a knack for it, will practise on some antler before wasting any hard to come by materials though!

Have a nice bit of antler to play with, and it looks about right to make a handle for an opinel out of it. Has anyone done something similar before? How easy was it to get the metalwork back together again? I'd love to have a bash at proper knife making but for the time being I fancy something small to start with. Any help or ideas appreciated

75 since my last post. Mixture of traps and shooting 1058

The original fox calls are handy when lamping alone so you have hands for lamping and holding the rifle, but I find it isn't very effective long range, I often use it for making a fox stop to look once I am ready to shoot, the tenterfield is a pest to get the hang of, but once you get the knack your laughing, I find it very effective over longer ranges. Every fox I have called with it has ran full steam in, however the most convincing calls I have heard have been from folk using their hand, I just can't get the knack to it myself, it sounds more like a duck with a bad cold than a rabbit

Spot on thank you

It's a Winchester sx3

Looking to get an extended mag for my sx3, I have a 2+1 just now, once my variation comes through I'm looking to get the 7+1 extention. My question is seeing as I have a 2+1 will I need to get a new tube for the gun to make it a 4+1 before I put the extention tube on, or can I just go ahead and go from a 2+1 straight to 7+1 by fitting the extention tube? Thanks in advance

What about a £20-30 range knife something nice but not too nice that it can't be used day to day, or if he is a smoker you can pick up zippos engraved at a reasonable price on amazon

Had 127 since I started on a new estate in April mixture of trap and gun Total 936

12 since April for me Total 530 542

Black islanders are worth a look too, low maintenance, warm waterproof and wearable right out the box! Me and the wife have had them for years, ours wore out after about five years of total abuse and not an ounce of care towards them, they have changed the design last year but the ones we have are so far so good.

Too many to come up with one that stands out, but when I was keepering I always used to love sitting out on the hill for first light, going up in the dark getting laid out and just listening to everything waking up as the light comes in, then there's that half hour or so where time seems to stand still and you can sit and appreciate how lucky I was to be getting paid to do this! I used to love it when I'd pick up a fox coming back to lie up, watching him hunting mice and checking the wind and the reactions of all the other animals round about reacting to his presence. I always used to try and watch him for as long as I dared without loosing my shot, even if he was a fox that had been running rings round me for weeks I always used to feel a wee pang of guilt for admiring him for so long then disturbing the peace of the hills shooting him, and feeling sorry for him lieing dead in the heather, but that didn't last long when my mind soon turned to the grouse and other things that were safe for the time being. It's something I always loved doing and used to feel sorry for all the folk going to their work I would pass in the morning thinking you have no idea what you're missing!

It's a ball ache when someone does that, my mate works on an estate where the woman from the horse yard right in the middle of his beat was always chatting away to him asking if he'd had any foxes how his larsens were catching, seemed quite knowledgeable on the subject, and even phones to tell him she had seen one of his traps vandalised and call bird gone, and she had seen a man walking nearby, this went on for a while she kept seeing this "man" but could never give anything other than a vague description..... Matey puts a couple of traps out in obvious locations with trail cams watching all of them, the culprit - this ******* woman from the livery yard caught red handed by all the cams letting call birds out then smashing the traps up. Its a pest to do but often pays off, but a decent padlock on the door into the catching chamber is sometimes the best way to deter tampering

When I did a work placement up north, a female client was out with myself and the head stalker, she went to answer a call of nature and jumped over a dyke out of sight, after just about enough time for her to drop her breeks a sea king rose up out of the glen below us, the wind and them being down in there must have hid the noise as we didn't know it was there until we heard the noise of it as it rose up past her with the pilot waving to her as she was struggling to pull her breeks back up after being caught mid flow by the chopper and the pilots. She told us later that she could just make out the pilot doing a double take as he came level with her then waved...... Turns out they had been doing a drill with the mountain rescue lads and were up the glen waiting to be called in by the guys on foot. Not quite the tin foil hat stuff of the other posts but it was pretty funny

I was recommended altberg by a few folk off here when I asked about this a while ago, plumped for the peacekeeper model steel toe, foot plate and they're waterproof. British made and very good service, they can also be re soled. The leather is harder wearing than magnums I found, and as long as they're kept waxed using the leder griis stuff altberg reccomend they're fine, they didn't even need breaking in. They're good hard wearing boots and they're also extremely comfy and breathable, so far in the hot spells I've never had hot feet the same as I have with goliaths or magnums. They're pretty reasonably priced as well, expensive compared with dickies type boots but worth every penny, mine have lasted through repeated wetting and drying, lot of contact with cement, tar, paint, oil and petrol, and juices from a decomposing body or two. Couldn't reccomend them highly enough.

Rory Bremner Charlie whatsisname off long way round Both been guests on a shoot I used to work on And one of the hairy bikers so I'm led to believe

As above, can be done in any crop although most common job is pulling the oats out of wheat or barley crops

It's where you walk up and down the tramlines of the fields pulling out the wild oats and possibly weeds as well depending on the farmer some will spray weeds and you just need to get oats...... Nice job on a sunny day remember sun cream and decent gloves to protect ur hands

Steiner rangers in 8x56 is what I use. They're the mutts nutts for low light conditions, wee bit over the £300 price mark but well worth the wee bit extra if you can stretch to it

Cheers guys ill pass on the ideas so far, any more welcome though

Mate of mines getting into pigeon shooting and is piecing together his own set up, just now he is borrowing my stealth net, but he's after an army net same as mine. The one I got was inherited from my grandfather, ad is a proper MOD one but struggling to find anything resembling them online. Can anyone reccomend a decent website selling them?