Mice!

I realise this won't be of interest to many, but as I've done some testing I thought I'll post it anyway. I did a lot of reading and followed topics on lead free pellets when there was a chance the lead ban may have come in. I've got one permission that now requires lead free, and a possible new place to shoot that would need to be lead free as well. Now I didn't read much positive about non lead pellets, but I hadn't tried any till last month, I'd been given samples in .177 but the pellets didn't look great, and I wasn't willing to mess with the accuracy of my .177 rifle. The .177 pellets are seriously light 4-6 grains, so I did some more reading and looked at what's available in .22 as I have a spare rifle, as you do. Looking at pellet weights and what was available I bought samples of H&N Barracuda (12.4g) and JSB Exacts (10.75). One article I read said the pellets can be very dry compared to lead and suggested adding some lube, so that's what I did. Both pellets looked brilliant, and I wanted the heavier pellet to be the more accurate. To start off I was only shooting at 16mtrs, not a lot of use I know, but my garden was wet through so this was the max safe range I could get without trampling up and the wet grass. It's fair to say I was very surprised, I zeroed with lead then started shooting the H&N, changed pellets and the target and shot some of the JSBs and the group was tighter, now lead free isn't supposed to group, I've seen posts from folk putting up far worse groups and saying how good a gun is grouping. Now zoom in on the pellets, a big factor with these pellets is they don't brake up, my normal backstop is a few sheets of lead over a thermalight block, and other than rifling marks the pellets look untouched!! They have cut the lead to bits and York chunks out of the block, lead does not do this. This is a few sheets of lead shot from a few metres setting the power on a .177 AA 410 All stopped dead, then bellow is the lead free shot at 20 & 25mtrs. They have cut clean through the lead, then been stopped by the block, my guess is shooting against a normal metal pellet catcher the pellets are going to be pinging everywhere!!!! After I'd done the test at 16mtrs, a few weeks afterwards I also shot some dead squirrels, I just positioned the squirrels in front of the above targets and took a single shot, each one punched straight through ( live squirrels won't sit nicely for you 😉) It was almost a month before I got around to doing further testing, and I'd also bought some bags to shoot off, wow what a difference they make, I normally get a small amount of movement with my heart beat but on the sand filled bags nothing. I set up, adjusted the scope then took the first shots, I'm using an old Webley Axsor, the head position is very fussy on this gun, and the trigger could do with being a bit lighter, but I've not really messed with it yet. Starting at 20mtrs, three pellets through practically the same hole 😳 that'll do, then back to 25mtrs. I set my squirrel feeders between 20- 25mtrs so that's the accuracy I'm needing. Red areas points to the direction cardboard was when shooting. I was hitting a bit low, wasn't quite settled on the first few shots, but again the pellets were grouping, settled in ( the mag doesn't load smoothly, takes a bit of force to close, this is with any pellets, it's the same with an empty mag) I finished off with the Red dot in the middle, two dots @25 metres, dot is 13mm The pellets shot so well I'm tempted to try them through the Rapid, but anytime I've tried a pellet it doesn't like its only ever been one shot, you can feel when this gun doesn't like a pellet. To say I'm pleased is an understatement and shocked, these at least are accurate and the H&N might well tighten up given chance. I shot two pellets over the chrono, being the weight of a .20 pellet I was expecting them to be going really fast, but they were going 640 ish, giving about 10.9 ft/lb ( I did write the figures down, 643 & 646 I think?) It's worth saying again if you got this far, be careful where you shoot non lead, it's a definite risk of ricochet, and I'd be surprised if ranges allow it. So now I need to order more pellets, then the final test, which is shooting squirrels off a feeder. Hopefully this is of interest to a few of you 👍

I measured the bore on my Axsor and BSA mods the other day, but I can't think if they were 7 or 8mm, BSA mod is off a .177, Axsor is a. 22

So you went with the big one 😅😅 It's obvious I know but shooting the rifle your hearing the action, you need to be stood safely down range to decide which mod is best, I did this with my BSA, the standard mod against a Hogan, shooting onto a lead backstop it was like holes were appearing by magic, there was very little in it really but I've kept the Hogan on, what you can't make quieter is the smack when the pellet hits.

Cheers mate 👍

A much better morning today, despite it being a miserable wet one again I was under the brolley in one spot, the feed was well hit last week and this week so it looked good. They came in 2, then 4, then 1 despite the rain getting heavier, over roughly 3hrs, the 4 arrived in ten minutes while I was messaging my mate. Been a while since they've piled into a feeder like this 😁

7 this morning 3F & 4M 1024

I've seen people block up one hole on an Air Arms mag so they know when to change mags in the dark.

I wouldn't have waited either, it had obviously clocked were you where and was deciding what to do. Well done.

5 this week. 855

I was out yesterday from 7 till 5 and only took 2 squirrels, I was in and out of three woods, the weather was dreadful and there just wasn't anything about, even when the sun came out it was a trap and rained shortly afterwards. Watching the birds raid my feeder was entertaining though! I shot one at 8am and the next at 4pm from the same feeder! Amazing how many birds went in and out. And people say feed wheat 😅😅 Better day today, I had two on camera but only 1 showed up, windy but dry, till I packed up 🙈 Then I checked the new feeder on my way home knowing I was going to have an hour, there was a squirrel on the feeder, I got to the woods edge and didn't push my luck any more, 30mtrs Pfft Whack drop. I had a scan and spotted another that may have been there all along, I waited it out and despite it not being happy it joined the other on the floor. 2 males. Big and small And the Sun was out 😯😯 That's 27 from here now. I had a msg off my mate mud morning saying his feeders are getting hammered, he's shot 10 in two sessions.

You've missed the Early morning rush, first light till 9 ish. But this is where a trail camera comes in, it takes out any guess work, I had one area getting busy around 11am which meant I could be somewhere else first. Other areas stopped at 4pm, while a mile or so away they were active till dark.

I had a pair on my sunflower seeds this morning, I saw the green and thought the Green Finch were back, then looked again when I realised they weren't right. First time I've had Siskin in the garden 😁😁

It's broken mate, the bolts on the wonkey side 😉

It'll be better then new 👍 And we like pictures...

Two very different days, I was out yesterday later than normal, I waited for the rain to ease off then walked a wood I've not looked at for a while, and saw nothing other than birds 😁 It was a bit wet and muddy in the wood. But nice higher up, new nettles poking through, a lot of this will be unreachable soon. Then off to another wood for a few hours, only saw two, only one came to the feeder. Big male, look at his tail.. There was a Buzzard hanging around so I left him lay out, when I came back a few hours later the tail had been stripped. Back for lunch and checked another quiet spot on the way, this feeder was empty after no activity for a few months so topped up and I'll look at it next week. Then back for an afternoon session at the second wood again, I saw three here and took another two. All three males. I was waiting for it to get dark so I could check two bigger woods as the stalkers were out in them yesterday, 18:45 and it was still light enough to look around, first day of spring and you could feel the warmth. Checked and topped up the next two feeders and it was 9pm when I left the woods, long day. Up this morning and at the wood by 06:15, in and waiting by 06:30, first grey was seen at 07:00 and I thought here we go, it never even looked at the feeder, just went straight past 😳 I sat for 2.5hrs watching Nuthatch's, Blue tits, Great tits, Willow tits, Coal tits,Tree Creepers, Woodpeckers, a Pheasant playing peek a boo, Robin's, Jays, Pigeons but no squirrels came to the feeder. Compared with yesterday it was very cold, and a fine mist started around 830 ish. I did spot two squirrels further away but they were staying where they were. I went for a look at 9am, I needed to stand up and took a large pregnant female, then spotted a hot drey where the second had been up the hill, but it was staying tucked up, so the day wasn't a right off but I packed up and headed for the second wood. Only to find a mini bus with volunteers in the wood so I just turned around and headed for home, if the rain hadn't have been picking up I might have chanced somewhere else but I got the feeling it was just one of those days. Few, I thought I'd put this on earlier but it's still here.

How's this for tidal... normal.. The lane I'd driven down earlier was flooded as were the surrounding fields, flat as a Mill pond. I also noticed a few fields along the M6 last week still had stubble on them, probably because they can't get on them.

Another 4 831

@Ccbambi You might want to delete your payment details, folk normally send this by PM, no idea if anyone could mess about having that information 😉

I nearly put that earlier 🤣🤣 plus the time involved, I'm not saying it's perfect but.... Nice little trip out 👍 And the Scandal isn't recent either, so their punishing people who weren't involved 🤔 I post very little, the little flap they have that an envelope is supposed to fit through does make me laugh, because as a lad I delivered free papers so I know what I can get through a letter box, like the birthday card my wife got, but had to go and collect and pay for, a flat card that was apparently a large letter, still flat and would go through a letter box any way around, but it would have been a couple of hours out to go and post it.

He was a member of Westmorland, and hasn't heard of Fylde wildfowling club, and given where he lives he would have done 🤷‍♂️

Makes a nice change reading that 👌

I'm out tomorrow but going blind ish, the woods I want to be in the stalkers are in. But one of these woods is probably less than a mile from the new spot I'm shooting, the new place had squirrels on camera till dark, but not busy early, while the other wood the squirrels just stopped coming at 4pm dead. Cameras definitely help.

I've got a feeling my mate was a member until a year or so ago, I'll msg and find out.

You can still buy the batteries, I bought a double pack last year 👍

Are these going out as singles? If there are any left I'd like one please 👍