Browning

Well done on getting what you asked for SS. .22 C/F for small deer species is here in October. Personally (and this is my opinion) I would stick with the .243 for deer. Whoever told you .243 was too much for small deer was talking rubbish. I have shot no end of Muntjac and never noticed too much meat damage. What I did notice, was that they died cleanly and quickly. As long as you use the correct bullet type (i.e. Not a varmint bullet) you will be fine. I have never owned .223, but have .222, and if ever I am going foxing I always pick up the .243, it is one of the most versatile rounds in production (again, my opinion). I disagree with the statement made by al4x by the way, about "you can do all species of deer ", personally I always pick up the .270 when going after Fallow or larger. I think the .243 is pushing the limits on Fallow, with no margin for error. Good luck with it

B)

Martin is absolutely spot on ! You can have the best pup, with the best breed lines available, but if you don't put the time in it will never make a good working dog. On the opposite side of the fence, you can get a show pup that failed to make the grade, with no FTCh names in his breed, and still make him into a creditable gundog....if you put in the time and effort.

Beer: Theakstons Old Peculier Hard Stuff: Jura single malt

Nothing wrong with a Border Terrier in the beating line Ant, as long as you can keep it under close control, if not then keep it on a lead, I'm sure your dog will enjoy the day out as much as you. Maybe have a quiet word with the 'keeper first though, some shoots only like dogs by invitation.

Nice beast Henry. Job well done. Good job you got him yesterday.....looks like our stalking will be stopped again if this new F&M scare turns out to be correct.

My personal opinion, based on shooting one of the lads Black Ice at my local clay club....is that it is one of the most unbalanced shotguns I have ever held. Extremely front heavy, and a fairly ropey trigger. Compared to my old Beretta and my new Blaser, I can only describe the Cynergy as 'cheap and nasty'.

I'm pretty sure they recommend using carbide dies for nickel cases as the carbide is hard enough to withstand the scratching etc.

Ballie, I shoot 75gn VMax, 46gn H414, Fed 210 primers out of Lapua brass. I'm still playing around with loads as I've only had the rifle about a month. Yesterday was a fairly quiet day and I was averaging groups of 0.6" at 100 yards whilst shooting off a bipod from the truck bonnet. I haven't had it out to 200 or 300 yards on paper yet.

For an interim rifle that you will be moving on in 6 months why pay over £1000 for a Sako when you can have the Rem SPS varmint for £500? I have one in .243 and it is every bit as accurate as my Tikka was.

I hoped that would be the case. Thankyou Conor.

I need a favour from any Rem 700 C/F users. I'm getting primer cratering on a fairly weak .243 load (44gn H414 with a 75gn VMax) which is a full 2gns below max load according to Hodgedon load tables. I've heard that Rem 700 and Savages can cause this if they don't have bushed firing pins. So it's not actually primer crateriing, but part of the primer pushing back around the pin. I've checked for other signs of excess pressure (primer edges still rounded etc) and there are none. Would you mind checking a few of your fired cases and seeing if you are experiencing this?

Shaun - Already done that mate, water of the proverbial ducks backto these stupid pair. Winchester - Excellent stuff, just what I was looking for.

Can anyone point me in the right direction concerning the law over dog walkers and public footpaths? I have two particularly stupid women who insist on walking their dogs off the lead over the land that I keeper. I have asked them politely on three occasions to please keep their dogs on a close lead and not let them wander into the hedgerows. Last night I got an emphatic "No I won't, he's not doing any harm". So I need to take this to the next step and confront them and write to them, stating specific laws etc.

Allegidly it is too short... I am 6'2" with long arms and the twin triggers are not helpfull with fat fingers... I dont really know to be sure. I have had the benefit of two or three years shooting at good clubs/schools with new modern expensive guns that I borrowed. This felt very different, and raised a few eyebrows when I turned up with it. I was told it is a good game gun but no good for sporting clays??? Do you disagree... this seems to be a minefield of subjective comments and sparked a debate on Saturday about where I should start.. Hi Nick, I absolutely disagree. Any shotgun that you can shoot well on game will shoot well on clays for you. Both my Laurona's were double trigger, but also each trigger acted as a single trigger. i.e. Front trigger shot bottom then top, back trigger shot top then bottom. Have you tried this with yours? If it's too short then I have a 1" stock lengthening spacer that fits under the butt pad. You can have it if it will help.

Nick, Why is the Laurona not great for clays? I used one for many years and did very well indeed with it.

Nice looking pup there Martin. A great shooting partner for the future?

Luca, Try SYSS at this link:- SYSS

Thanks for your replies lads. I guessed as much. My main concern was could the back of the jag damage the crown as it was pulled back through. I gues as it's tapered and made of brass there's not much chance of that as long as it's pulled back past the crown carefully.

When cleaning my rifles I usually push the patch through, using a spear tip jag. Then remove the patch and unscrew the jag beofre withdrawing the cleaning rod in readiness for the next patch. My question is.....is there any need to remove the jag before withdrawing the rod? Or is it OK to withdraw the rod with the jag still attached?

Hi-Def Spex....absolutely the dogs danglies. Not cheap but then you get what you pay for.

Happy birthday Stuart, have a good one.

Depending on how long the birds have been in the release pen I would have expected some, maybe even most, of them to make their way back to the pen at some point. After all they know where home (shelter, food & water) is pretty soon after they are released. It may be worthwhile putting some feeders and drinkers around the pen, you may be able to entice them back? I can't see it being anyone trying to catch up the birds for their own shoot.....this would be pretty much impossible with poults in an open release pen. Possibly badger if they around that area? Other than that just some scumbag cut the hole and the birds walked out.

Mung. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever that you should need a DSC1 cert to get an FAC for .22 centrefire. DSC1 is a deer stalking cert, and therefore could only be asked for if you were looking at deer calibers (.240 or above at the moment in England) BASC would have a field day if your FEO put that limitation on you. If you can show 'good reason' to own a .22 centrefire round for foxes i.e. Written permission from a landowner that has land passed, or will pass, for that caliber then you should be OK. You already have SGC so that will help. Go for it and see what they come back with, they're not as scary as some people make out.

Excellent link Cranners. That is by far the best article I have read on this subject. Why on earth can't (wont) our British media ask questions like that.....