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I experimented a few years back with alternative cameras. I personally don't like the shotkam as it doesn't give you "context" -it's way too narrow fied- even for clay, if you can't see the hold, pickup points and the landscape, what's the actual point? The alternative cameras I tried were much wider angle, and were more 'scenic' in many ways -- the ones I tired were cheap and only 30fps so you could barelly see the pellet cloud, but it was fun; only problem was always the mount for them, quite rubbish. It was a while back now, I don't think it should be hard to get a lot better these days -- but if get one, you can probably ignore the camera itself if the mounting system isn't adequate for a 12 bore explosion nearby.. One valid alternative is the aimcam. I got a pair, and that is quite fun and definitely more "scenic" -- gives you a lot of context as it's wider angle, and it doesn't have the "mount" problem. The first model I had failed out of warranty, but the guys there were super helpful and just replaced it with a much newer model, which still works great.

I shot tons (literally) of CompX 28 and 21's -it was my primary cart for years- and yes they will break anything, I did straight a FITASC parcour a few times with my hammer gun and 21g fiber, with some 60+ yarders clays. But, yes, you always wonder if the extra pellets would have broken that missed one, especially on side-on clays. But, they are very light on the shoulder, on the gun, and they are cheap. I eventually switched away from them, first to Fiocci Blues, then to Eley Select. Bit more punch, but much, MUCH better patterns (ie, ratio of "dust clouds" per broken clay). The last batch of compx I recently bought was pretty horrible in terms on QA, some carts were 'bulgy' and you had to push them down the barrel, they were also very 'boomy' and dirty. Not sure if they changed the production somewhere, but I had bought 1000 and returned 500 when I manage to get some (frankly better all around) Eley Select.

He is clearly an influencer, but apparently he brings in the goods -- I spoke to the MD of a shop that had a couple of his videos "sponsored" and he told me he clearly brings in sales. So overall, I don't mind. It's not too "pushy" and it's good eye candy when looking at something on YT.

Hi @kevin55 😉 did you buy it from... Kevin at WLSS? If so you are in good hands really, I bought my own #1 from him and he went out of his way, despite the situation we had (I was the one with the blown barrels on my #1) What model did you get? Age etc -- and steel/hp proofed? My own gun will get back for service next month, it "settled" nicely and now has a tiny bind when opening. I'm sure it's just the action settling in with the new barrels. It's been shooting very well otherwise, very happy. Needs some tweaks to the stock as well, something that was planned originally but I decided to take the gun and shoot it, then return it later. I'm glad I did. Hope to see you at Andy's in the new year!

We stumbled on this shop monday, it's run by an elderly couple, they are now in the process or retiring (within 12 months) but if you get a chance to visit, please do. Chap has a superb collection of SxS (I haven't spotted a single O/U int here!) -- a whole rack of AYA, and many other lovely guns. There's also a very extensive clothing room with some unusual things (and a large collection of ladies stuff). We spent a good 1.5h in there exploring, talking etc and... err. buying things. I left with some serious loot, including the best cartridge belt I've ever seen, super chuffed :-) But yes in a few months, it won't be there anymore, so if you want a nice visit to a really classy, old time style shop, with a chap who has seen it all and back again -- it's well worth the trip.

That was informative.. Now, what are the alternatives to guntrader? I don't think the replacement dodgy company is going to be any better as securing their data as the old one, so basically we can assume their system is just swiss cheese, and it's even possible they are still carrying a backdoor for further pillaging in the future. So, selling guns online, any other options with some acceptable "coverage" ?

Isn't there a case to email/write to the police force that deals with that director's licence, and informing them that there is a serious doubt about them being of good character? Would be funny if that guy had his licence(s) revoked... As we all know, there is no burden of proof here, it's really a question of the police force judgement of that individual. It would also be funny that, without a licence, he wouldn't be able to.... *gun trade* ... :-)

I might be wrong, and this is only my limited experience, but I find the "classic" english guns to have a basic fit (out of the box, without any changes) that are *significantly* different from a more modern AYA. Basically the basic measurements seems to have a lot more height of comb, making it hard to find a "fitting" gun out of a rack. I tried many (and I own several) and they never fit "just so", I'm ALWAYS lower than the rib on them; of course I can still shoot them just fine with a bit of practice... That's the difference when I took hold of my mid 80 AYA #1, it was /almost/ a perfect fit. While my previous "go to" SxS I had to put the top of the butt nearly halfway down my shoulder to shoot. Again, perfectly fine with a bit of practice, but anyway, that's my experience :-)

I own a Coral Deluxe, the "posh" one (cocking indicators, pistol grip, single trigger) we had bought it as a first light 12 bore for my wife, had it shortened a bit, and a comb raiser installed. Turns out she doesn't like the single trigger (she has a bit of a fat finger and sometimes double-trigger it). However I think it's a great gun, the action is bulletproof, with double top cross-braces. I shoot it very well, even in the shorter stock version. The engraving is awesome too, very pretty gun. On thing my wife didn't like is the cocking mechanism, it's quite stiff -- not a real problem for a bloke I suppose but definitely noticeable for a shorter person. Overall I like the gun, I think I will sell it at some point as we don't use it, but only because of that. My wife now shoots a Churchill XXV SxS for game, and a Guerinni for clays, so it no longer really has a use...

Complains mostly came from a single house -- cruely a house that had been bought by a shooter, from the shooting ground family. However, a lawyer so started to become a nuisance. Last I heard, he hadn't realised the size of the development that had been agreed for the caravan park, and was trying to complain about /that/ as well. Too late of course... I wonder what sort of lovely view, and the quiet time he will have with several hundred caravans permanently onsite :-) As far as shooting ground goes, make sure to try Dovey Valley, about 20 minutes away from the old ground, a LOT of kit was transferred to Dovey, and they now have their own gunroom/shop, claymate etc...

I feel a bit sad adding some oil to this fire after the original protagonists have left. In the case of Hamster, left us for good. However I've been thinking about patterning, and how it might not be the best way to measure distribution especially at the end of the pellet range, where gravity has such a large impact. We all know that the pellets will start dropping significantly pretty soon -- and that effect is directly related to mostly the pellet size and it's velocity; that's why there *is* a shot string and not just a 2D shot "plate" -- not pellet are formed and energised equally. However, gravity has on one side more impact on speed, and LESS on dispersion when shoot upward. I shoot my .22 airgun off the shoulder at stuff in trees all the time, and the amount of "offset" I need to apply from 45 degrees to 65 degrees is huge. So, my point is, is there a case to consider that the pattern could be more "compact" longer when shooting upward? Also, second point, is there a case where a bird flying at 30+mph hitting a pellet (even stationary pellet!) might get some pretty serious hit from it? I've picked a roadkill pheasant earlier, on a piece of road that can't possibly have car going over 30mph and it had massive wounds. In that case the pheasant didn't move a lot, and the car was doing <30mph. Sure, larger surface area etc etc but it's similar to taking a small stone in your windscreen... even at low speed, you can get a very serious wack. What I'm saying is, for all the people who claim to kill many very high birds, /outside/ what we would normally consider in the realm of physics for pellets, perhaps there is a case to say that a bit of vectorial math is in order. Perhaps the shot "column" is more compact, and also perhaps the birds don't help themselves hitting a (loose) cloud of pellets at "high speed". I'm not saying all that to advocate anything mind you, far from it, I'm definitely more into the 26g #6 SxS shooter here, but I'm also an engineer, and I'd like to understand the huge gap between "oh no you can't" and the "of course we do" camps, while removing the obvious "oh but you can't see sheeeeeet anyway".

I find it useful to show on a shooting day in a new place to show you are actually insured. It's never *necessary* but I think it's the polite thing to do. Turns out we did find the cards, just had slipped down the pile of "catch up later" stuff.

What Invictus 5 did you get? Is it a 'raised rib' one? I have an Invictus V for about ~5 years now (very early ones), sporting, flat comb, flat rib, and it shoots (ahaha) flat. If you have a raise comb or a raised rib (Ascent) these are *meant* to shoot high. They will shoot high when you align the beads, if you do a "figure of eight" they will shoot even higher. For all intent and purpose, you would get used to where a gun shoot, regardless of the rib, with a bit of practice, but I understand perhaps you have the "wrong" ribbed gun. Otherwise, I've been shooting the skin of mine for years, and it's as tight, steady, lovely as when I got it, there's barely any visible wear after perhaps 10-12k shots/year. Hope you find one that fits you!

A bit embarrassing, as tomorrow we're on partridges, and I thought I'd triple check I have my licence and insurance and.... my basc card is expired! Now I *know* I have renewed, and I also have 1) CA and 2) CPSA so I'm covered, but I also know I definitely would have installed the card at its place if I had received it! So anyone else are missing their cards or is it just me (I'll call them tomorrow of course) ?

No! That's another story for you. The one I "bought" was in fact AYA made, like new (shot 4 times). So I bought it, but didn't take delivery, as I found the trigger a bit "floppy" -- there was a bit of play on it, and since I have a light finger, that was not nice at all. So off it goes to the gunsmith. Lockdown occurs, gun's away, as soon as I can get back to the shop I return and find immediately that 1) first trigger pull is now quite crisp (bit too much?) but 2) SECOND pull on that single trigger is floppy. Doh. Off the guns goes back to the gunsmith. Another lockdown later, I return and now, in the shop, with snapcaps, both pulls are now crisp. Hurrah! Off I go to a test shoot, the skeet range will do... and on the first pair I realise that the second trigger is now so crisp you need to pull like a donkey to trigger it, needless to say, the muzzle wobbles like crazy and it makes the gun pretty much unusable. So the recoil must be doing something to re-cock even more. Luckily, one instructor tried the gun and found the same problem, so it wasn't just "me" So, having lost confidence completely, I got a refund for that gun, promising myself I wouldn't even glance at a single-trigger SxS ever again. 2 days later, the shop with the AYA calls saying the gun was coming back from spain, and I still had first refusal on it! Pfew :-)

After 19 months, after the original set of barrels failed proof for HP steel, after another set of barrels were made in spain and the gun re-imported, it's actually now mine. Luckily, with the joy of insurance, I ended up with a pretty much "new" AYA #1 round body, self opening, articulated front trigger for the price of a 1985 gun. Proofed for HP steel, action fully refurbed. On a side note, the shop said they now refuse to try to reproof anything at half/half, they go for 1/4,1/4 choke. Of 30 attempts at proofing at 1/2, they lost 3 sets of barrels. Since they now do 1/4, they lost none. Second gun is a 1937 Churchill XXV we bought for my wife (do not go shopping with your wife :-)), she loves shooting a Winchester SxS (24" barrels!) but the re-cocking is monstrously hard, this one has the same measurements mostly, but is butter smooth, and it looks fantastic with barely any wear and the action open/close/eject is like butter!

It's not just mongrels, I saw a man with 2 youngish lab, with absolutely zero control -- none, of course he was amazed than mine actually obeyed me, even in the middle of playing. "Wow how early did you start training her?" --- errrr since I got her really, 8 weeks old, everyday single interaction is "training"

25 months now, she shaped up fantastic, trained her off season to make 20 to 30 seconds "loops" around me, either flushing or picking up, and she's be fantastic in the cover crop -- didn't get to practice a lot this year, but the few times we had were just great. She's still switching. Not with toys, but birds, that "next one" always look a lot sexier than the one she picked! She's OK about 50% of the time, especially with massive encouragements. But hey, she's still young. And she has tons of fun!

It's a lot worse than this -- the case of PPE corruption means they gave *hundred of millions* to companies that didn't exist, or had like £5000 turnover the previous year, it was just a conduit to syphon money out. The worse case is the (financial, not medical!) small company that received 250 *millions* for masks that were defective on arrival. Also, a lot of these contracts weren't for medical stuff, but for PR too. How do you explain that? You might say "for speed" but there is absolutely no oversight here, and no consequences, its a clique that is pillaging as fast as they can.

I had that in a brand new X3, very very first drive on it, in the middle of nowhere, nobody in front, at the back or either side on an A road and a huge WHACK on the windscreen, and a rather massive star the middle. Never figured out what the hell happened, I suspect kids with a catapults or something like that!

I'm sure you've all seen the data about the nearly one billion delivered to random companies for PPE buyouts (mostly, crownies) with many contracts having only one contender, who just happened to be a crownie or a friend of or a relative of etc etc. If you haven't well, look into it, it's quite disgusting. Now, they are doing the same with the vaccine. Meanwhile, all the small shops in the country are going to be sunk by this second lockdown, while big donors (like, wow, supermarkets, contruction companies etc) get to continue operating as usual.

I do feel that in this country they are not trying to save you, they are trying to go thru the process but kill you in the end so they don't have pay your pension. I'll leave that ^^ here for a good pigeonwatch discussion :-) A couple years ago I knocked my head on a steel staircase and was bleeding quite a bit. I was OK but as you'll all know, scalp cuts bleed. There was an actual nurse around and she told me to go to A&E, *but to make sure to keep that bloody towel around my head* as I walked in and look worse for wear (to be fair, things had stopped bleeding and I was actally perfectly fine by the time we got to A&E, but the nurse had insisted I go and look "bad") -- no and behold, I went thru the backlog in 5 minutes and was with a doctor in less time that I ever was. Moral of the story, if you have any health problem, cut your clalp and look terribly bad as you walk in.

No worries here, I'll find "something" to shoot with in the meantime :-) :-) I actually don't think I shoot a lot, compared to the more "top tier" of the clay shooting scene, they must be shooting at least twice as much, perhaps more.

I shoot about 1K a month, give or take the higher/lower periods of the year. There is some signs of wear on my gun, mostly the top of the stock being a bit mat compared to the super shiny it used to be, but after 4 years it is still as tight to close as when new. I shoot 28g fiber clay carts thru it. Guerini Invictus V. For less than 450 I will have it factory refurbuished in the new year, re-bluing, serviced, re-oiling etc. Only problem is: 10 weeks without my gun!

That's a bit expensive isnt it? 80 clays for £38 ??! I mean the SxS champ was great, with a great lunch, well worth the money -- but here in the C19 era, you show up, see 4 other people, shoot 80 clays at 47p each (!). Hmm doesn't sound /terribly/ exciting to me. I'm a member at AGL, I like them and want to support them but well, not this time.