Accuspell

Poor old nail... but it still does what it was built to do.

Does anyone know anything about them? First hand rather the same information that can be gleaned through goggle.

I was lucky enough to work on Shooting Times as a regular freelance, through the editorship of Tony Jackson, then a couple of quick changes of editors that didn't suit the title until Jonathon Young, who then took over The Field from Julie ? and Patrick Fong who was the picture editor. Those days magazines meant something, they were regarded greater respect because the information was vetted several times before publication and the contributors were carefully selected. What we have now is the result of only going to the lowest bidder. I remember going to the Christmas Party in The Guards barracks (club?), right opposite the Hyde Park lake. The editorial teams were seen as 'costs' and advertisers seen as 'revenue'... and that was when the contributors' paymnents were cut but advertising rates were increased and the start of 'The Great Slide'. If you want good journalism and photography you have to pay properly. To put it into perspective, I was being paid more in 1986 than in 2006, not pro-rata, actual fee, to the point where had I continued to work for them I would have been working for less than £30 a day, this is in the last 10 years. It is little wonder that the standard of content has diminished.

Seen through rose tinted glasses of nostalgia in reality. The similar era Simmonds WTCs were far better scopes, even the Tascos were better. That same nostalgia and the legacy of JD will provide a financial buffer though - £95 ish would be about the mark.

I think you'll find this is the crux of it. The clue was in the first couple of sentences: the scientists..... they get funding to do research. A group of them have gained funding to research the toxicity of lead and have discovered it is poisonous to humans! (Who knew? 😁 ) Yes, they are trying phase out lead from every facet of our lives, which is why the beneficial properties of it in petrol were cancelled out, and in paint and how many people still get their drinking water delivered through lead pipes? Or have they had them replaced with the even more toxic copper version? 🤣 You see, you make the mistake, like so many people, of thinking laws and Governments are there to make logical decisions based on common sense. Whereas they are actually directed by people with more power than the Government and who really fund things behind the scenes in their own interests. Whenever an authority or business tells you they are doing something for your benefit, e.g. smartmeters, you know very well it is for their benefit. When a Government tells you they are restricting freedom in some way for 'your safety', you know they just want to prevent the general population from having access to that, for their benefit and they use the 'public safety' argument to disguise it so it gains popular acceptance. The trick to life is to suss this out and just do your own thing. I am stockpiling lead ammo!

Because the EU lead group have been told by some scientists that lead is poisonous and shouldn't be used..... forget the shooting of the lead, think of the manufacture and transport of the products..... dear Mr. Eley / Gamebore / Lyavale ? Rio et al... are you making employees work in an environment where lead is processed? That is verboten.

Is this the place to talk about Saxby-Palmer cartridges, still in their original packets?

Staffs Police also admin the West Mercia lot from what I can find out... my renewal (been an unbroken SGC holder since 1975, and since 1986 with Staffs) was due on 25th November. My application and Drs report was with them in second week of September, well ahead of the 8 weeks cut off. I have been advised that my extension on the extension will need to be extended again and not to expect my renewal to be processed this side of April.... it was over 9 months last time.

Now that might be a very interesting gun. Could you do yourself a favour and fire a pellet into something soft and post a picture of the rifling marks in the pellet? If it is what I think it is, it would be a very rare gun and I could give you some more history on them.

How do they sit on the branch then? How high do you get your lofters? I have some ash and other trees that are good 'roosters' but they are over 90ft high....nearly a gunshot high. I have wondered about using John Darling's catapult and halyard system on them, but getting a good shot of the line through the branches would be difficult, so I haven't tried yet.

SOLD. thanks guys.

Read it again, it obviously went over your head. What were they served?

I have had it to the gunshop in Ipstones - the trigger length of pull is 14 1/2", if that helps. The asking price is always negotiable, obviously.

If it was your dad's, then keep it, always. Take it out and shoot it every so often. The more you use it, the better it will get and the better you will shoot with it. They are at the top end of field air rifles, way, way better quality than any modern 'spring' air rifle. The Theoben gas rams are cult rifles and the early ones were virtually hand built. What is the serial number? Can you get any pictures up? Sporting stock or thumbhole? They are very sought after now, both by those that want one to use and by collectors. I have a friend who now has over 30 gas ram Theobens, including my old SLR! Pictures would help, the serial number you might find if you turn it upside down and look in the cocking slot in the stock, it should be engraved (by hand with a dremmel) on the cocking lever. It will help to date it.

A rich man, a worker and a pauper were sat at the table in a cafe. They were served with a cuppa each and a plate of biscuits. The rich man took all but one of the biscuits, at which point he turned to the working man and said: "be careful, the pauper is going to steal your biscuit."

Just imagine for a moment that Russia and China have a quiet word with each other. They mistrust each other and if there is one thing a dictator hates is another dictator - but if they coordinated their individual plans and russia invaded Ukraine at the same time as China invades Taiwan..... trying to fight on two fronts, half a world apart? The result would be sobering. My bet is China will make a move into Taimwan in the spring -end April ish. between the monsoon seasons.

Putin is amassing 100,000 + troops on the border with Ukraine and the main news is focussing on some people having a glass of wine in a garden.... perspectives. the whole of Westminster and Whitehall were having 'get togethers' with drinks, it is how the system is oiled. The political party thing has nothing to do with it.

Your 9 hours ago some of us were still working - 16 hour shifts. Someone has to keep the economy going you know!

Does that apply to the other Political persuasions too? It has now come to light they were all at it.. Labour were also throwing parties during lockdown period. I don't think there are enough Greens or Libs to actually have much of a party! If the same treatment is meted out to all party throwers there will be no politicians left.

Just an old one with the long BSA barrel. My other one is actually older, but looks newer! That has the 16" Anschutz barrel on it.

He is on his boat in Portland, but his house in near Oxford. At some stage he will take a run up, and I will take a run down and we will get some of it sorted and photographed. It is going to take a bit of organising. Speaking to him the other day his Winchester 23 is a bit special, it has been specially nickel (chromed?) so it won't go rusty in the saltwater. Then coated matt black over the special coating - NOT Cerakote, way before that was available. Thousands of cartridges too. I got 500x 32g 6s for £100 off him.

I have sat by the fire most of the day with freezing fog all around us there was little incentive to go fishing or shooting. After lunch it started to thaw and clear a bit, so I decided to take the easy option and nip up to the wood. As we approached there was still thick fog but it wasn't as cold as this morning, Tigs put up a couple of packs of pigeons out feeding on some resting ground that will be used for muck dumping in the late winter and spring, then ploughed and drilled. We were heading for the trees though, which already had quite a few pigeons sat in them digesting. We settled in under a couple of very tall ash trees that are popular landing spots, they are a good 80 feet high, so a good shot to the top. I like being mobile so hardly ever take a net or anything, preferring to just make use of what natural cover there is. Keep tight to a tree and you can get away with murder, provided you are quiet and move very slowly and smoothly. I always clear the ground around the base of the tree too, to sweep away all loose ground cover, leaves, twigs, branches, anything that will hinder my footwork or make a noise. The leaf mould base is what I stand on, not woodland debris. It takes seconds to do. There we huddled and within 10 minutes the first couple of pigeons flopped in, but too far through the branches to slot a pellet, just too many twigs between us, so they were left alone to provide confidence to the next arrivals. Another 5 minutes at most and I was lifting the sight onto the first victim. I prefer boiler room shots on birds, they are always successful and provide a much greater margin for error than trying to hit a target the size of a pea through the branches. Tigs nipped out and fetched it back. We had a couple more from this stand and heard the cackling of the pheasants as they prepared to go to bed. I made a mental note of where in the woods they were going to rest up for the night, they always give their position away when they go up to roost, thinking they are safe from ground predators. By 17.30 (half past five) it was getting dark enough to start to make a move through the woods. The Nikon scope makes short work of these conditions, allowing me to shoot hours after those with more accepted scopes have to give up or use some kind of illumination device. Seeing to shoot right through to gone 19.00 this evening. I stalked carefully through the woods, going from tree to tree, making sure not to crack a twig and placing my feet very carefully. The pheasants were confident and it was simply a case of finding the trees they had chosen, approach with some consideration and choose the birds. Tigs fetches the fallen and if you do it right you can get a couple from each group. I finished this session with 5 pheasants, two brace and a hen and just four pigeons, which is plenty for a few days. For the purists, this is my newer Rapid, but it is still an 'old nail'. The barrel won't come to any harm, it had a good coating of Hammerite many years ago!

Yes, hide poles, decoys, nets.... loads of clothing. We have got to get together at his house and get the stuff sorted to photograph. He has an AYA 'Greylag' (I think he said it was an AYA - definitely the model was a 'Greylag') 10 bore and cartridges.

Islay is incredible. A fishing skipper friend of mine alerted me to it in the 80s. He was up there trawling and one night after a storm he said the woodcock were lying on the water like spent mayflies on a lake.... it was horrific to see the numbers that had perished. BUT it made me enquire as I already had shooting on Skye where the woodcock were thick with migrants. I shot 2x right and lefts and 12 singles on one day on Islay.... witnessed. If you want the best woodcock shooting I have ever encountered or heard of, get in touch with Mark Piper at The Gearach.