Zechk

You don't - the passive modules are the exact same size as the electronic ones and interchangeable with the standard £100 plug. Essentially all of the plugs are the same - you just pick what insert you want (passive or electronic) and that's where the money is or isn't.

Best £100 I have spent on anything to do with shooting. I had mine done in the most lurid neon orange ever so I could spot them if I dropped them in the field. Super comfortable, effortless to look after and the best bit is you can use the passives when it's lashing it down without worrying that your 500 quids worth of electronic modules are going to get wet. I use them for everything, clays, game, foreshore, even for mixing cement under a car port the other day when the noise of the mixer in a confined space was making my vision blur. Just get them. Also for those in the London area the lovely lady at Aid2Hearing did my impressions and sent them off to Cens. Can't recommend her enough either. Edit: Oh and mine took 3 weeks!

At the risk of being in the minority, I have recently picked up a 28" Maxus Composite (The black plastic looking thing with a 3.5" chamber) for wildfowling and pigeon shooting and it's a fantastic gun. It's cycled everything I've thrown at it (although as it states in the manual you have to use 70mm or greater carts). The recoil is very soft, even with 42g mammoth steels in BB for geese and it's incredibly light and easy to point. It also came with a nice factory extended half choke which lengthens the barrels if you are after rangy duck with steel. It doesn't have a twist cap on the end of the fore-end, so breaking it down is even easier than most other autos. Even taking the trigger group out is a case of pushing out a couple of pins with a pen lid or whatever else you have to hand and since the internals are quite simple it's very easy to clean. Mine came with a duratouch finish which just shrugs off mud if you wipe it down with a cloth without scratching. You can also adjust the length of pull and cast/drop etc by changing shims and adding/removing spacers, but that's pretty standard stuff. The magazine cut-off switch is also a nice feature as it means you can eject your duck load and chuck a single mammoth in it if a goose happens to wander over without having to unload all three cartridges. Nicest thing about it however is the wonderful speedload system you only get with a Browning auto - rather than having to load the first cartridge into the ejection port and press the bolt release, you just shove it into the magazine and as long as the bolt is locked back the gun cycles it into the chamber mechanically and is instantly ready to fire. Makes quick reloading in the hide/on the foreshore an absolute doddle and it's put a couple of birds in the bag I would have missed otherwise so far.

Hi all, I've recently moved to Harpenden and am looking to find a game dealer who will take Woodies. I'm happy to change to steel shot if required and have a freezer which can accommodate plenty of birds. I was wondering about calling the chaps who advertise on here for frozen steel shot woodies, but if anyone knows of any other options (collect or drop off - I don't mind a bit of driving within reason) that would be ideal. Cheers in advance for any help

Canvey.

I've just ordered a load of these - Thanks Fenboy, I owe you one for the recommendation! Click and collect also means no postage which is another option if you have one near you.

Possibly mate, I'm living in Harpenden. Although I'm forced to drive all the way to Essex to do any actual shooting that isn't at clays (my Wildfowling club also has some rights for pigeon on a few farms). Getting any shooting in Bucks or Herts seems impossible. Where abouts are you based? (Edit: Put Berkshire but meant Bucks!)

Nice, that's even cheaper. Have you used them at all? For that price I'd be amazed if they float right way up

Congratulations on the duck! Lovely write up as usual.

Hi all, I picked up a Seeland catalogue the other day when I was in Rugged and Tough and noticed they were selling full bodied floating plastic duck decoys which were much cheaper than the 15 quid most places seem to be selling them for. I'm no expert in floating decoys as you can tell. I wondered if anyone had any experience with them at all? Seems a bit good to be true if normally they are so expensive. I wondered if the difference might be that they don't have a weighted keel, but I can't find the information online. The others I've been looking at are these: http://www.uttings.co.uk/p106166-sportplast-mallard-decoy/#.Vfh76BFVhBc which again I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts on.

I'd agree also. I use the same.

Crisps are also guaranteed to bring a flock of pigeons into your decoys, just like anything that occupies both of your hands and causes you considerable upset when you drop it on the floor and tread on it trying desperately to grab your gun.

What nobody has mentioned is that they are useful if you are very new to shooting and want to practice mounting and firing etc in your living room. I got back into shooting after a long break recently and found it useful to swing my new gun around and get used to the trigger. Particularly since mine is a fully mechanical action, so it doesn't rely on the recoil force of the first shot to select the second barrel. I found that I was keeping my finger on the trigger too long at the clay ground and not selecting the second barrel properly. A bit of snap cap practice (listening for the second 'snap') cured this in no time and led to less embarrassment on the stands Also, using spent cartridges isn't something most people suggest although I'm no expert. A real snap cap has a spring behind the 'primer' so that it pushes back against the firing pin like an actual cartridge going bang. A spent cartridge has no spring, so using one is basically the same as dry firing. Final protip: Watch out if you are ejecting brass snap caps on a wooden floor. I ended up with a nice dent in both :(

Will Garfit's book is all you ever need IMO. The Kindle edition is perfectly ok as well - I often take it with me to look things up. Oh and yes, join BASC - definitely worth it.

Is that the battery that came in the package with the magnet Pinewood do, or did you buy it separately JDog? I'm thinking about the charger and battery included deal.