Browning

I just might take you up on that offer Brian, my sister moved to Norwich last year and she's been nagging us to go for the weekend and see their new house. You're not that much further south than her.

Hi Brian, I went there a few of years ago when we went to Paphos for a week. It's OK if you're happy shooting the trap disciplines. Skeet was not open when I was there, and there was no sporting available. Not a patch on Dubai (but I guess you've been spoilt there) and you're not likely to shoot next to Princes... On the whole it's OK and I'd recommend giving them a call and shooting a few rounds. Have a good one mate.

Sorry for getting off thread Jammy. My shooting pal bought a Savage .17HMR a couple of months ago. It certainly looks the part from afar. When comparing it directly with my CZ .17HMR I would say the CZ has it in terms of close up quality. (Remembering that they are both low cost rifles). The Savage trigger was better than the standard CZ trigger, but once you give the CZ a Brooks kit (£12.50) it surpasses the Savage trigger. The Savage stock was not inlet quite so well, and would need a chunk of material removing to properly float the barrel. All in all I have to say I prefer the CZ. Only problem with this is they only do blued barrels and wooden stocks at the moment (As far as I know) so that may be a limitation if you're looking for stainless/synthetic. My pal didn't get on with the Savage (or maybe he just didn't like it after he bought it) and swapped it for an Anschutz this week. If you fill in your profile you may get better answers regarding prices of gunshops that are closer to your area. Can't comment on Savage prices, but I paid £295 for my CZ Varmint 16" from Rugby Guns. Hope this helps.

This is an interesting thread, and I can see it bouncing backwards and forwards between the two camps forever.....so I thought I'd throw in my 'two penneth'. I have owned and shot .22lr for over 20 years, and had my feet firmly in the 'I'll never buy an HMR' camp....... until I used one on a few vermin control trips. I then bought one and used it extensively for all my vermin control jobs........I have now sold my .22lr. In my opinion they are absolutely the dogs danglies for accurate, hard hitting vermin control up to 150 yards, once you've got used to them and stay within the limitations.

Mrs Browning has the job of naming ours, we have Bailey (Her favourite drink), Tia (Maria....her second favourite drink), Jack, (Daniels....her third favourite drink)..... I'm just thankfull she doesn't drink Cabernet Sauvignon.

Beat me to it Fister.

If you can 'show good cause' that you need a .243 for deer, then I can not see any reason why you would also want a .22-250 for fox?? Just have fox and deer placed under the .243 and save yourself a lot of money. After all, a .243 can do everything a .22-250 can do....just faster and with heavier bullets. First of all you need to decide what species of deer you wish to stalk. Once you have decided that you can then decide which caliber(s) would be best suited for the purpose. For what it's worth I agree entirely with Devilishdave. .243 for fox and small deer (Munty/Roe/CWD). Larger caliber for Fallow/Red/Sika. (My personal choice is .270, but Daves recommendation of .308 is also spot on)

Oly, it would help if you filled in your profile so people know where you are, you may get more accurate replies that way..... No mate, mines a heavy barrelled Rem700 in .243 he's 'tinkering' with.

Fister, I hope you didn't keep them talking too long at SYSS, I need Dave to stay tied to his lathe until my rifle's finished......

I have just bought 500 from Norman Clarkes in Rugby, he has plenty in stock.

I find it appalling that the CLA are not refunding the trade stand costs to the traders who had booked space. If this is true then it is an absolute disgrace and I for one will think long and hard about supporting the CLA in their future events.

My 8th birthday 1967......Webley & Scott .410 bolt action and a box of carts. First target - cardboard box First quarry - rabbit Still in my gun safe, still use her for training the dogs and the odd play around, and will still be in my gun safe when I'm dead and gone.

Hi John, I have T8's on my .243 and .270. I always remove the Mod after a session and before putting the rifle away. I give the inside a quick spray with VP90 after every couple of sessions, and if it's been rained on I put it in the airing cupboard to dry out. I have bush mufflers on both, and have never noticed any heat haze, even whilst working a load up. My zero is always spot on after removing and replacing the Mod. I've had the T8 on my .243 for about three years, and it's had a lot of use, with no signs of rust at all. Same as anything, if you look after it you'll be fine.

My .243 load for deer is 85gn Sierra Gameking, 41.5gns H414, Fed210 Primer, Lapua case. I use this on Munties only, as there are no Roe on my patches, only Fallow for which I use the .270, 130gn Sierra Gamekings.

I'm going through the same process with my new Remmy Conor. I've kind of narrowed it down to the PES or A-Tec which were both recommended by the lads that are building the rifle. I need to decide by tomorrow so it can be completed...... I currently have T8s on both my rifles, and they have performed faultlessly for years, but wanted something strippable on my new one.

I took the liberty of emailing Hornady yesterday afternoon, and asked them all about V-Max bullets and deer. Here is there response, word for word, cut and pasted directly from their email response:- "V-MAX Bullets were designed for small varmint hunting only. They probably won't penetrate deep enough, or have a controlled expansion on any deer to put them down in a repeatable manner. We don't recommend it. Good luck!"

Oly, the only way to get experience is to try something. Fortunately for me, and the deer that I am shooting, I will never have the experience of shooting deer with a varmint bullet.

I can't speak from experience here, because I have never been (and will never be) stupid enough to use a varmint ballistic tip (i.e. 75gn V-Max) on ANY deer. I have too much respect for the deer that I shoot. I have in the past, and will again in the future, invited like minded shooters from this and another forum to stalk deer on my permissions with me. If any of them had turned up loaded with 75gn VMax I would have sent them packing before they even got out of the car. Luckily they didn't, as they are all experienced stalkers with respect for their quarry.

I would suggest that the DSC instructor is a **** and should not be in the position that he is. Where was the course taken?

Is anyone seeing any numbers of wild Pheasant or Partridge chicks around? I usually see plents of broods around the shoot, but his year so far I haven't seen a single brood.

Oly, I'm afraid there are no hard and fast rules to this, the only way to be certain is to try to work up a load for a particular bullet in your rifle. For instance, I could never get decent groupings out of my Tikka T3 (1 in 10 twist) for 100gn bullets, but GM on here swears by them in his T3. A shooting pal of mine gets excellent groupings with 105gn A-Max in his T3, so you just can't tell until you try it. If your rifle has a 1 in 9 twist I would say it's definitley worth trying the 105gn A-Max. My next .243 is 1 in 9 1/8 twist (Strange I know) and I know of a couple of lads using the same rifle who get fantastic long range groupings from 105gn AMax.

You're right Fister, I just had a brain dead moment and forgot to mention it. The rings are IOR 35mm low tactical rings, they are coming with the scope. They are supposed to be very good rings, but I guess I'll find that out when they arrive. If they're no good I'll buy some decent ones, so may have to bare that in mind when I get the bases. I believe they now come with torx screws instead of the ones shown here, and I'm getting the low rings instead of the medium shown here.

Can anyone recommend a good base/bases for a Rem 700 action? I can't make up my mind whether single or double bases would be best. The rifle will be used probably out to 500 yds at the very most, so I shouldn't need a tapered base. I already have the rings coming along with the scope so just need to source a good base to fix them to.

"Right turn Clyde" (Remember Every which way but loose?)

Welcome back Kip! I'm glad to hear you got everything sorted out