Gas seal

Hi yes I saw this on the website this morning. It makes sense about the woodcock season. It’s a lot more than woodcock if you read the green paper about wildlife in the U.K. it looks like a lot of changes are going to happen regarding wildlife and sooner than later. It also refers to outdated wildlife laws in the country. I’ve been following this on the internet about the woodcock and I found it very interesting.

Hi myth busters did a film on the curved/ bending a bullet .They also made a film on the 90 degree gun barrel. The film’s are on u tube it should answer the question about shot string.

Hi this is a photo took from a film about two years ago. I don’t know how it was taken from the film. I think it’s a cardboard wad with steel pellets. When I tested them they threw a tight pattern.

Hi I’m not saying plastic or frozen birds don’t work. Shooters using plastic decoys and electric machines will have to get them to the fields and back. Shooters using frozen decoys will use them and then leave them in the field. Most shooters will change their decoys for fresh shot birds or for fixing to their spinning machines, more so for corvids. Some shooters will use tipex or buy uv paint on there decoys. All I said about birds seeing different to us and dead birds ,more so with corvids , keeping birds away is true not part true. I also shoot large numbers of pigeons and corvids and I do it the easiest way I can both shooting them and keeping them of the crops. Fellside noticed that after a four hours that the dead crow decoys don’t work as well it’s because the uv has gone and it looks like any other type of decoy to the crows. If he scattered them on the field it would keep crows away for a few days. I think to many shooters try to bring birds to were they want them instead of shooting them were they want to be. When you can shoot pigeons or corvids on the ground with an air rifle you know you are in the right place.

Hi oldun nothing odd it’s just fact. All types of decoys and decoy machines are being used today, they all are no good without birds to shoot or are in the wrong field. I stopped using breasted birds in the late sixties when my brother would tie wings to the decoys then we left the decoys and just used the wings. Also the (dull) wings scattered over a bad patch of rape will keep pigeons off for a few days. Birds see the uv on the feathers of other birds as on living or fresh killed birds, when this fades the birds will see a shape of a bird, a decoy dead or plastic. Or for some birds food. Some decoys look like a work of art but they aren’t real birds. When shooting my friend will cut the wings off the pigeons and set them out, no wasted birds and easier to set out. The gadget I bought for pigeons is the spinning wings on a fishing line fixed to a pole. It spins like a kite and looks like a flying pigeon. That works in a good wind.

Hi all corvids are very alert, they have to be alert it how they feed. When shooting from any type of hide its no good popping up to shoot, the birds should appear over the hide then you see the birds before they see you. I use dead birds and the wings of dead birds for decoys. They will be more alert if they are decoyed and flighted to often . Hi Fellside I find using dead birds for decoys didn’t work well or deterred them after a while. The reason with corvids (and pigeons) is the sheen on the feathers goes. You can notice the difference when plucking a fresh pigeon to one shot the a day earlier. To corvids that feed on carrion it’s not a live bird . I will leave dead corvids on farm sheds or on there back in fields this will keep them away for a few days. If you look at corvids on a field they are shiny black not dull black. They also (shine) when in flight more so on a sunny day.

Steel shot cartridges should always be marked in millimetres. As Dave said don’t compare steel to lead shot. If you go for large shot size in 20gauge you would be looking at 76mm magnum hp steel cartridges or load 24gram faster cartridges. Just pattern them at 30 to 35 yards and then go and shoot them. I’ve loaded 20gauge and 28gauge steel cartridges for years and they work.

Hi Mark I’ve used a few thousand of them mainly for pigeons. I have killed pheasant, rabbits ,teal and mallard with them . I found them good enough I use them because of the bio wads. The fiocchi 20gauge steel are a harder hitting cartridge but they are high performance steel cartridge and have a louder report than the Eley . The Eley cartridges won’t have the range of the cartridges that you have been using. 28 and 30gram loads are 12gauge loads. More 20gauge steel cartridges with bio wads will be available with different shot sizes it’s just wait and see.

I’ve owned a few single shot Baikal shotguns. The catch under the action is for disengaging the ejector.

Hi kitchrat I can’t remember the cost of cartridges, to far back.I used Baikal cartridges in the dark for duck the flash was blinding. I never used them in the dark for rabbits they were to loud. We used old hammer guns and my first new gun was a Baikal single barrel. My brother and I bought one each from mams catalog, couldn’t do that now. We had to be frugal with cartridges . I shoot pigeons in tramlines and on tracks next to the crop I will often shoot two or three with one shot, on the ground, steel shot is good for this as it has a tight pattern.still frugal. It’s like shooting pigeons with an air rifle, different type of shooting harder than it looks. With the cost of cartridges going up more people will be frugal with them. I was always told that they don’t grow on trees.

Hi Holloway you could try firing a primer in a empty case it should be as loud as a 22 blank. The primer might be cheaper than blanks. I’ve used them they just make the barrel dirty.

Hi oldun that’s a lot of duck killed with lead pellets. Do you know if anyone was prosecuted or any business closed down. Wildfowl clubs have used no lead shot for over twenty years a lot of members have never used lead shot for wildfowl. It’s written in the lease no lead. If a member used lead shot he would be reported to the committee and the police. Any one seeing wildfowl shot with lead on any shoot has a duty to report it or we are all responsible for it. The BASC did an article on game dealers selling duck shot with lead pellets but did they do anything about it. It could be a good idea to buy lead cartridges, if the law does change and the government buy back lead cartridges it could be profitable. If the law changed it will be like any other law and state a date it will start from.

Hi the NI general license has been updated today. . It valid from tomorrow until 17 October 2022. Maybe that’s when it will be changed. I hope this is useful for NI shooters.

Hi marsh man times have really changed 1,000,000 urgently required, I wonder who required them. We have more pigeons now and a generation that doesn’t want them. It could be the love for chicken not dark pigeon meat. I was always told not to eat to many or you will get gout. I used Russian or Cheap cartridges l even made lead pellets to load my cartridges. I would never thought I would be shooting pigeons with steel pellets and bio wads or air gun pellets made from alloys. As Bob Dylan said The times they are a changin and more changes to come.

Hi krico wildfowl clubs have made and removed restrictions on shooting for years and it works. It’s better to restrict your self than have restrictions placed upon you. We have resident woodcock and lost a lot of woodcock mainly to disturbance by dog walkers. I would never shoot woodcock until late November. I would shoot flighting woodcock before lamping rabbits. I don’t shoot woodcock now or grey partridge I would prefer to watch them , we have a lot of partridge maybe because they are not shot. A commercial shooting estate nearby doesn’t shoot woodcock. A lot of partridge and woodcock are in the ground of disused factories . A lot of these places are full of wildlife.

Wildfowl clubs could delay the start of the duck shooting season as and when required, we have cold weather restrictions , we now need warm weather restrictions. The farm shooters could restrict their shooting. I think the commercial shoots would require the law to change. Canada geese are different they are on the General License and also have a shooting season they can stay together for safety with their young in large numbers. The start of the woodcock season will be the first to be changed, by law.

Hi l use a ( sub 12) air rifle. I have used the non lead pellets BSA green star in .177 l found them accurate and very flat trajectory. I’ve used them for woodpigeon and rabbits and I found them good enough they seem to hit with more of a smack. I found the pellets caused more bleeding the same as steel shotgun pellets. I always test any new pellets on fresh shot pigeons to see the damage before using them on live quarry. Two years ago I tried hades pellets in my BSA ultra and they wasn’t accurate a few months ago I bought a gamo gx 40 the hades pellets were very accurate. I think the very lightweight non lead pellets will be better for 12ft lb air rifle, a heavier pellet would be needed for a higher power air gun. When I zero my air gun before I use it I fire at used cartridge cases I show a picture of one I shot with a hades pellet. I don’t think I could do that again.

Hi Wisdom if you look at Gemini chokes website you can see that some chokes fit a number of different makes of shotguns. If you have any questions you can email them they are very helpful.

Yes urban pigeons are less weary. In some areas all of the wood pigeons I shoot will be urban. Some will sit on nearby lamp posts before flying to the field. When the crops are (ready) for them to feed they feed in the tramlines even narrow tramlines. This is good for using the air gun and it’s easier to pick up the pigeons. A few local people would ask for pigeons shot with the air gun but not many ask now. This year l used non lead air gun pellets and they killed pigeons and rabbits . I use steel cartridges and they kill pigeons. I’m waiting to see if any non lead 22 rim fire come along and I will try them on pigeons. Pigeons do a lot of damage to crops that’s why I will shoot them in growing crops and leave the others on the stubble.

Poking pigeon nests was part of the rabbit clearance. It didn’t work pigeons just built another nest .Oiling eggs was the more effective as the pigeons would take longer to start another nest. Urban wood pigeon are increasing in numbers every year. I think it was when red clover wasn’t grown pigeon died in large numbers in the first winter. Mechanical pigeon deterrents will move pigeon to another crop or to another part of the crop , this could cause more damage. The best deterrent is the scary man. Most of my pigeon shooting is over growing crops. When it’s stubble it’s left to the pigeons . With pigeons they are better on stubble than growing crops. As soon as a field is cut I will shoot any rabbits at night and from tomorrow Canada geese. If the cost of shooting pigeons with shotguns is to high the answer for anyone who wants to keep shooting could be the air gun. It’s a different type of shooting and pellets cost a lot less than cartridges and no license required.

Hi it could be not how long can we afford to shoot pigeons but how many pigeons can we afford to shoot. Pigeon shooting has changed a lot over the years. Shooters paying a lot of money to shoot them others with (free) shooting. With little demand for shot pigeons it doesn’t seem worthwhile trying to sell them. Today Wild Justice wrote to super markets and the game dealers regarding lead pellets in game , this would include pigeons, a lot of pigeon shooters won’t use steel or say it’s no good. If the shooters who won’t use steel stop shooting pigeons and other shooters shoot less pigeons then numbers will increase and would anyone bother trying to sell pigeons.

Hi try Gemini chokes Italy. If the gun isn’t listed you could email them with the gun details. I bought extended steel chokes for 28gauge over and under and 28gauge semi auto. The over and under is a Lincoln and listed as F.A.I.R.

Hi simcgunner l noticed you are in the USA. Maybe you have limits or tags for pigeons , in U.K. there are no limits for birds shot and they can be shot all year , no closed season. There’s not a lot of demand for pigeons now in the U.K. the pigeons I shoot go for animal feed or l give them to anyone who wants them to eat. With avian flu in the U.K. the government advice is not to feed birds of prey with any shot wild birds as the virus can remain in frozen birds for over one year. As said its pest control, when crops are still growing a lot of pigeons will be left where they fall . Some shooters will pay hundreds of pounds a day to shoot pigeons and the agent will try to sell the shot pigeons for a few pence, a bit like commercial game shooting. I would say a lot of pigeons now go to as you say ( fertiliser) .

Maybe you didn’t hear of any one being prosecuted for shooting over stubble fields using the general license because the licenses were illegal. Now we have legal licences it’s also the first time we have stubble fields to shoot or not. The Northern Ireland general license is about to be changed chances are it will be similar to the Welsh general licence. It’s up to the individual how they use the license for the country they will be using it. The licences give advice it’s common sense to use it. The simple answer is to have individual license with the users name and the user to be informed of any updates ( licences have already been updated). It shouldn’t be long before this happens, the sooner the better. Then if anyone is prosecuted they will have the licence taken and it won’t affect any other licence holders.

A friend asked me if I could identify birds in a photo on his computer. It was a photo of dead pigeons laid out in neat rows on a stubble field. The top rows were woodpigeon and the bottom row had about six stock doves. He showed me two more photos that had stock doves in the rows of pigeons. He told me that the stock doves were described as feral pigeons in the story that went with the photos. The photos were from this website and it was the first time I had seen this website .